Help newbie understand projectors, please?

better to use throw distance calculator from projector central website

naughtyca said:

better to use throw distance calculator from projector central website

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Right. But both calculators will still recommend me where to mount the projector. My original questions still unanswered though regardless which calculator I use.

Andrehdr said:

New to projector here.

Using Epson projector calculator, using Epson 3800 on 135” screen, it recommends me to mount the projector about 157” away from the screen.

My question is if I mount it a bit closer or bit further away from the screen, does Epson 3800 have zoom where I can either zoom in or out to adjust? If it does, why the calculator is telling me to mount it at specific distance since you can use the zoom to adjust the size picture to fit the screen? Is the zoom effecting the quality of the picture?

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You can mount it anywhere between 12' 11" and 21' 1" from a 135" 16x9 screen. The zoom will adjust to fill the screen.

b curry said:

You can mount it anywhere between 12' 11" and 21' 1" from a 135" 16x9 screen. The zoom will adjust to fill the screen.

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Oh ok. There is no ideal sweet mount, yes? Zoom in or out will not degrade picture quality?

Andrehdr said:

Oh ok. There is no ideal sweet mount, yes? Zoom in or out will not degrade picture quality?

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It will be reasonably consistent through the zoom range.

In general, you'll maybe have a very small improvement in contrast at the longer distance and a very small improvement in brightness at the shorter length. In practical use, it's doubtful you will see any difference.

I would mount it where it is convent for you. For me, that would be behind the seating area so as to be out of the line of sight. In other words, you don't see the projector between you and the screen. Mounting behind the seating area also tends to keep the cooling fan noise less noticeable.

Andrehdr said:

Right. But both calculators will still recommend me where to mount the projector. My original questions still unanswered though regardless which calculator I use.

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if you listened and tried the projector central website all these questions you have is answered, throw distance, zooming in and out, and image brightness when zoomed in an out