[nychometheater]

HI...Have a living room that I want to turn into HT. ( Putting the Fujitsu 50 Plasma into the Bedroom). THe LR is 11'3'' wide and 23' long. I've decided to plan the room the long way so I need a long throw distance of 23 feet. ( I do not want the pjocetor hung in the middle of the room...wife would kill me!!...and I can't hide it in the ceiling...I can only hide it in the back wall. Some HT guys around here have recommended the Marantz VP12s3 with Long throw lens and A stewart LX110HGHW1223.5 screen. Someone else recommended a "seleco" ( or Celeco) HG200 DLP. ( I"ve never heard of that last company...


Any suggestions for a long throw projector? BTW...it wont be a dedicated HT room so there will be some ambient light...any thoughts on that either??

 

[DanHouck]

Neither one of the projectors you mentioned can handle much ambient light. Not enough lumens. I have the same problem, am currently using the Sanyo XP21N LCD that has both the necessary lumens and throw for my room. I may end up waiting until the price drops enough on one of these new 3 chip DWINS with lens options that fit practically any situation.


Be interesting to see if anyone else has some ideas here.

 

[johng]

The "seleco" is the now-rarely-used US marketing co. name for the Italian manufacturer Sim2. A forum search will provide many positive posts about the Sim2 HT-300+ and the new 'Link'. It has the throw distance you are looking for, BUT, as DanHouck noted, it is a projector designed to be operated in a Cinema Dark room for optimal performance. The image is fabulous, but the trade-off is watching in a light controlled room.

Good Viewing,

John G

 

[eags]

Man this situation hits pretty close to home. I too am planning my first front projection home theatre and have a similar situation. My family room is 15' wide by 23' long with some ambient light issues. My wife nixed the idea of a projector in the middle of the ceiling too. I will put a 50" Sony LCD rear projector in one corner of the room for daytime viewing and will have a 110" firehawk behind a trap door in a ceiling soffitt on the long end. The soffit sticks out from the end of the room about 18" and the cabinet that will house the projector on the opposite side of the room will be about 2 feet deep which will cause the lens to be about 19' away from the screen. I considered the Marantz but ended up choosing the Runco VX1000ci because the cost of the Marantz with the long throw lens was almost the same price as the Runco and the Runco comes with a scaler. In addition, the Runco is brighter (1500 lumens as opposed to 1000 lumens for the Marantz)...seemed like a no brainer for my situation. The house is still being built so I won't get to see the setup until May.

 

[vegashomes]

Sharp 12000 and Toshiba Mt800 should work. I didn't think my wife would like my Dwin ceiling mounted but now she actually finds it kind of neat when people look up to see where the picture is coming from.

 

[DanHouck]

I've looked at Sharp 12K and concluded it doesn't have enough lumens where there is some ambient. Otherwise, a really fine projector.


Dan

 

[greenday]

Why dont u guys make/buy a case to put the PJ in some kind of material that matches your current room decoration.

I saw lot of options that are very nice and go along with the rest of the room style (made of wood, steel,alluminium,etc)

Try to look for HT config photos from users here at this forum


Nuno

 

[gpshumway]

The projectiondesign Action 1 has a fairly long throw, and may be bright enough to handle ambient light.


See recent review threads by Jasot Turk and Ken Hotte (KBK)

 

[nychometheater]

Thanks you guys. I really appreciate the feedback. A few other thoughts. First off, I am in NYC so this is a condo on the 11th floor...not a house. The LR is shaped long as described with widows on the south end and no other windows or entrances except for a passthrough on the north wall which is 3 or 4 feet wide. THis exits to the foyer which also does not have windows. SO, while there is light from the windows, there should be sufficient ability to block it out. MOre importantly, I really will be using this at night when the kids are asleep so it would be dark anyway. Does this change anyones comments????

 

[Alimental]

The InFocus 5700 should be able to do a 115" diagonal or greater screen from that distance, assuming that the lens is actually 22' away, not 23'. It is the longest throw of the IF projectors.

 

[arca]

A throw of 23' and a 110" diagonal screen (95" wide) means you need a throw-ratio of 2.9 at least. I've never come across a HT-projector that will do 2.9 without an add-on lens. I'm in the same situation (I need 2.8) and have had to accept that I will have to pay extra for the aestetics of long throw.


Edit: Ok, I was thinking of mounting behind the back wall. if you mount it in the living-room on the back wall, maybe the projectors mentioned will be enough.

 

[Free]

I believe that the max throw on the Action 1 is only 2.25:1. If you stick with your 8' wide screen, that will only get you 18 feet back.


I would recomend the JVC SX21 or HX-1 with a Max throw of 2.6:1, and get a slightly bigger screen.

 

[nychometheater]

Good points about throw distances: I've heard that you do not want to use a projector that is set at it's maximum throw, that you would prefer to use it in the middle. Any feeling about that???

 

[arca]

Minimum throw: uses a larger area of the lens and thus is more sensitive to any imperfections in it's curvature.


Medium throw: good for flexibility? You have margin to vary the image size both bigger and smaller without remounting the projector.


Maximum throw: uses the smallest area of the lens and is less sensitive to imperfections in it. I've also heard it recommended by screen manufacturers, since the light hits the screen more head on and isn't reflected off to the sides as much.

 

[gpshumway]

I'd say it depends on the projector. I don't know of any projectors which using the maximum throw distance is a disadvantage. Using short throws can cause hot spotting on high gain screens, and if the projector is cieling mounted, reduces the effectiveness of a retroreflective screen.


The barrel distortion on an infocus 7200 is apparently minimized by using the maximum throw. Maybe others know some projectors which have problems using maximum throw.

 

[thebland]

I am using a G-150 / Firehawk combo and a 30 ft throw to a 10' microperf.


1000 rated (and measured lumens). The lens is a standard zoom for the model.


Pictiure is perfect.

 

[DutchBeamer]

it is the ProjectionDesign 0.5 (Matterhorn) that has a throw of 2.8

(also their 4:3 XGA and SXGA PJ's have a 2.8 throw)


I've read that using max. zoom (minus a bit) is normally the best way; light comes in at the smallest angle, so doesn't bounce off your screen.


just found that part: in the review IF7200 by proj.central:


Lens: The 7200 and MT8 have a manual 1.38x zoom and focus lens. This is a longer zoom range than we find on most digital projectors these days. It throws a 100" diagonal 16:9 format image from a distance range of about 11 to 15 feet. Ideal placement for this screen size would be at a throw distance from lens to screen of about 14 feet—as far back as possible without hitting the extreme end of the zoom range. Why? When you have the lattitude to do so, it is advantageous to keep the angle of the thrown image as narrow as possible so that it bounces off the screen in a more uniform manner. Very short throw distances will cause light hitting the outside portions of the screen to bounce off at more oblique angles than the light with strikes the center of the screen. However, we also like to avoid the extreme ends of zoom lens, especially those with longer zoom ranges, since they tend to be optically more precise toward the middle.