Quote:
Originally Posted by Brown Radagast
What are your lighting conditions?
% breakdown of content you will be watching?
General seating arrangement compared to where the screen will be mounted?
The answers to these questions might help others here offer some suggestions. Enjoy the world of HT (or the nearest equivalent, depending on which group's definition you apply)! |
Great questions - sorry for the vagueness before. I think alot of people are buying this PJ so I would expect a fair amount of interest (and hopefully opinions) on this subject...
Let's say equal parts HDTV, DVDs, games via HTPC. I would rather have it too bright than the other way around. I'd really like the games to pop, and I'm not a film purist. But I don't want the blacks to look gray. I'd like to err on the "big" side, size wise. I love the immersive feel, and am not concerned about the proper THX distance, etc etc. That is why I chose this PJ - no SDE
The room is hardly optimal - wide room with light-blue walls and off-white ceiling. Other than that the light control is pretty good when I want it to be, but I want to be able to have ambient lighting as this is technically a basement living room.
Primary seating is a couch 13' from the screen, the PJ is shelf mounted at 16'6" from the screen. There is some other seating off to the side (well outside the cone of the HP) but it's not going to be used often. I'd like the picture to look OK from there but it doesn't have to be as good as from the couch. DVD usage will more likely have people seating off-center whereas the HD and gaming will have fewer people, thus in the primo seats.
Overall I'd like a bright image which rejects ambient light. But I don't want to blind people in the appropriate primary seating. So I guess my priorities are, in descending order of importance:
1) bright and big
2) black levels not too bad
3) viewing angle
So... I am currently debating between a 106" HCMW or a 120" HP to pair with the AX-100. My thought is that the larger screen might benefit from the extra gain, whereas with the smaller screen would perhaps be better off benefiting from the high contrast screen. I've never owned a PJ or screen before this so I don't know what to expect brightness wise or black level wise comparing the lower gain HCMW with the white cotton sheet I have hung up now. I'd like it to be brighter AND with better blacks... willing to sacrifice viewing angle so long as it's not unwatchable at 60 degrees.
I think the 106 is big enough, but only just. I may prefer the 119, though it will require some work shuffling speakers around so they aren't behind the screen.
I believe I understand the tradeoffs between the screens, but what I don't know is how much it will matter with this new (relatively bright) PJ, and if perhaps it would be too bright (is this possible?) with the HP. Jason @AVS says "get the HP", but other forum sponsors are recommending the HCMW. Neither did I give this level of detail though.
I have learned alot here, and among those tidbits that I really want to be careful before I order a screen. Having never seen any of these in person, let alone paired with this PJ - any thoughts more experienced forum members may have will be very useful!
