[mozart9t]

Hi

I'm new to the world of projectors and have learned few things from reading online but I don't think I have a good idea yet of what should I buy.

I have a 40*15 room and the wall for the projector is 15.7 wide and 8.5 high and it's a light controlled room.

I was thinking of 150-180 screen so one setting in the far back can watch with no problem.

the Sony VPLHW40ES and the Panasonic PTAE8000U on amazon for $1800 and $1500, which one would you recommend ?

I'll install it on the ceiling about 16 feet from the wall, is it enough for this screen size?

any ideas or recommendations will be appreciated.

 

[mozart9t]

this is the room

 

[dreamer]

this is the room

I wouldn't recommend the Panasonic for any screen larger than 100" unless it was a pitch dark room and the walls, floors, and ceilings were dark colors. It just doesn't have the lumens unless colors are adjusted way out of wack. Accurate color in a dark prepped room would allow a max 125".

The Sony could do the 150" screen but not the 180". Same for the Benq W1070.

A Benq HC1200 could do the 180" no problem.

You should really consider painting or possibly drapes on the walls to cut down on the amount of light bouncing off the screen, around the room, and washing back onto the screen again. Think about commercial cinemas -- they do not have light colored walls and ceilings for good reason.

 

[mozart9t]

well, I don't have the privileges to paint the walls , it's kind of a living room and the projector won't be used most of the time, only to watch sports or movies.

why is the sony not good for more than 150" ?

reviews says the Benq isn't good for home theaters though

 

[ben38]

How about the Epson hc3500 or 3600e? When i auditioned the 3500 at the store, I blew it up to about 200 inches and it was still bright. It was way brighter than the Panasonics, and even had a little edge on the benq1075.

 

[AV_Integrated]

Let's start with this: Your room is weak. It's a nice 'living room', but it's not a home theater. Looking at better home theater models doesn't make a ton of sense. You have light walls, light ceiling, light carpet... Nothing about that is what any movie theater has, so buying a more expensive projector isn't the solution. More expensive projectors tend to deliver better results in better theaters. They don't fix bad rooms.

So, what you have and possibly should consider is more of a living room projector. The Epson 3000, the BenQ W1070 are my top recommendations.

I like your thought that at the back of a 40' room people should be able to see your screen. Well, at 150" that's not going to be an issue, and you will have enough light output with either of these models to fill a 150" screen nicely.

You SHOULD be using a fixed frame screen. It's the best value for the money. But, if you must use a retractable screen, then I would recommend a tab-tensioned electric screen. They are significantly more money, but next to fixed framed screens, they offer the next best quality, then it's a long drop down in quality to manual or non-tensioned electric screens.

Go ahead and learn to use the calculator at Projector Central.

BenQ W1070: http://www.projectorcentral.com/BenQ-W1070.htm
Calculator: http://www.projectorcentral.com/BenQ-W1070-projection-calculator-pro.htm

Epson 3000: http://www.projectorcentral.com/Epson-PowerLite_Home_Cinema_3000.htm
Calculator: http://www.projectorcentral.com/Epson-PowerLite_Home_Cinema_3000-projection-calculator-pro.htm

For the W1070, you can achieve a 150" diagonal with the LENS between 12'7" and 16'4" from the screen. The lens must be between 2" and 5" above the top of the screen.
For the 3000, you can achieve a 150" diagonal with the lens between 14'4" and 23'5" from the screen (go closer to 15' for best results!). The lens may be shifted optically allowing greater vertical placement flexibility.

 

[dreamer]

well, I don't have the privileges to paint the walls , it's kind of a living room and the projector won't be used most of the time, only to watch sports or movies.

why is the sony not good for more than 150" ?

reviews says the Benq isn't good for home theaters though

You said you have "light control" but you are not able/willing to make the room dark. "Light control" means preventing light from ANY source from hitting he screen -- including the projector's own light bouncing off walls/ceilings/floors and returning to the screen. So you do NOT have "light control".

The Sony, Epson 5030 and Benq W1070 are all in the 1500-1700 lumens brightness range. The Benq HC1200 is roughly 2100 lumens. Ignore the lumens advertised, pay attention to what reviewers have actually measured when the projector has the most accurate color and grayscale.

My conclusion went like this: Brightness is spread across the total area of the screen, actually divided by the area in square feet to arrive at a brightness-per-sq-foot or 'foot lamberts' number. You want a projector and screen that yields at least 15 fl. You need to consider the dimming of the lamp and whether you will still have the brightness you want through most of the lamp's lifetime. It will dim by 25% or so in the first few hundred hours and then drop to 50% slowly over the next couple thousand hours, so figure you will soon have only 1200 lumens on the first three and 1500 for the HC1200. A 150" screen is basically 66sf and a 180" is 100sf. 1200 lumens divided by 66sf yields 18fl but divided by 100sf yields only 12fl. In a room with dark walls/floors/ceilings, you could use a higher power screen material to boost this a bit, but in your room you can't do that because you will already have light bouncing off the walls and back onto the screen washing out your contrast.

 

[mozart9t]

thanks guys for the help

when I wrote light controlled room I didn't think about the walls and floor colors, I didn't think it would make a difference

I got my friend's projector today to just to get an idea of how it might look like, first, 100-120 screen is not small as I thought even though ~185 was REALLY nice . second,I decided to cover the walls with black drapes when using the projector as you guys suggested, and part of the floor but I don't think I can do the celling.

I guess my question is, if I bought the sony and had the screen at 185, the walls and floor covered, is screen going to be bright enough to watch sports ? or should I consider smaller screen ?



BTW my friend's projector is Epson EB-X11

 

[mozart9t]

That's how how it looked like at about 185 on the same green wall

 

[ben38]

That's how how it looked like at about 185 on the same green wall

The Epson eb-x11 is a really bright projector. Even if you take a lot of lamp life into account, It's probably still pushing over 2000 lumens. The Sony hw40 is bright compared to other "Home theater" projectors, but there's no way it can match the brightness of an eb-x11. At 185 inches, you're not going to get good brightness out of the better home theater projectors like the Sony hw40 or Epson 5030. They're not made to be "Living room light Cannons".
Forget about the Sonys or the higher end Epsons. You need to look at the true light cannon champs that can put out tons of light while still maintaining a decent amount of contrast.

 

[dreamer]

That's how how it looked like at about 185 on the same green wall

That green wall is not bouncing as much light off the screen and onto the ceiling and side walls as a white screen would. So I think a white screen would be brighter with the Sony than the x11 against that green wall. That means it would be bouncing much more light off the ceiling and crystal chandelier, though, even if the walls closest had dark drapes pulled. So it might be brighter, but look more washed out.

 

[James of Az]

This my help its my setup 3600e
14' away 148" by 72"

 

[James of Az]

http://youtu.be/MZZMt_NlDIA