Unlike many on this forum, I am unskilled in architecture, carpentry, contracting, speaker building and projector choosing. I have opted to pay somebody else for my ignorance. Computer security? I'll be your man. Building a theater? Here's my wallet. Well, when we went to the place that will be setting up our smarthome, and hiring the subcontractor to build our theater, we sat in their test theatre. I was blown away and my wife and I both had to check for the projector, because their 142" DNP screen looked so much like a huge HD LCD. Well the guy shows us how great it is in the light, which was cool. Then I asked the price- I audibly gagged I was told later. I've since looked around, but as I said, my knowledge is limited. I asked my wife how often we'd honestly have any lights on in a windowless basement room while watching something. "All the time, especially when we have kids in there so we can watch them, or if we entertain." Is there a similar option for a more reasonable price if I'll apparently be having a semi lit theater?
My wife is awed by DNP, but there's got to be cheaper options
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If you paint your room in dark/semi dark colors and use potlights over the seated area you can still get a very nice picture with lights on with a normal white screen. By directing the light away from the screen and reducing room reflections the light rejecting properties of high contrast screens (which are very expensive and add their own set of drawbacks) are not needed. This is by far the cheapest route and also yields the best picture quality. Maybe not what most want to do in a livingroom but in dedicated cinema/media room, why not? It doesn't have to be a coal mine to be effective, but avoid white and very bright colors, including the ceiling, and especially close to the screen.
From the description of your space it sounds like you have good light control. The real trick is to keep the light off the screen. If you have downlighting around the seating area that is independently controlled from lighting that would hit the screen your probably ok with a conventional screen.
What projector were you considering?
What projector were you considering?
good question. I have no idea. I plan on using it for gaming, obviously for movies as well. We're having a company build the theater and probably set everything up, but I worry that they're going to push a projector we don't need. I also really like the anamorphic lense I saw, not sure of brand. I really like the pictures I've seen of anamorphic widescreen gaming, so.... I've seen a number of posts about BenQ pj's but I hand't heard of the company until last week.
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Draper have a new high contrast low gain material out called " high performance" which looks to be a competitor to the 08-85 Supernova screen material. You might want to check this out.
Comes a little cheaper than the Supernova.
Comes a little cheaper than the Supernova.
Here is my 2 cents.
Determine what it is that you want. Not specific equipment but what performance and value are you looking for?
You said your a network guy so do you want Foundry, Cisco, Juniper, Dell, Linksys?
Once you have some idea of where your at find a local integrator that has long term history or excellence, has lots of happy clients to speak to and most importantly someone you trust is looking out for your best interests.
If you want to go pfSense/DIY AVS is a great place for info.
But its also a place for lots of opinions that might not necessarily line up with what you really need.
Here is my 2 cents.
Determine what it is that you want. Not specific equipment but what performance and value are you looking for?
You said your a network guy so do you want Foundry, Cisco, Juniper, Dell, Linksys?
Once you have some idea of where your at find a local integrator that has long term history or excellence, has lots of happy clients to speak to and most importantly someone you trust is looking out for your best interests.
If you want to go pfSense/DIY AVS is a great place for info.
But its also a place for lots of opinions that might not necessarily line up with what you really need.
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Sent you a PM
Thanks trans_lux, I think that's what I needed. I just need to decide what it is I'm looking for and move from there. With that perspective, price is less important if I'm getting what I'm looking for. It was almost like you shook me, slapped me in the face, and yelled "snap out of it! Pull yourself together man!" Thanks!
Haha, that was not my intention.
As with anything there are multiple paths one can take.
The AVS majority are DIY guys.
We enjoy the process, discovery, up, downs and I think mostly the pain
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If your not up for going it your own its best to find someone to do the heavy lifting.
I do know that people who succeed in any given venture understand their strengths and weaknesses and surround themselves with people that can fill the gaps.
Haha, that was not my intention.
As with anything there are multiple paths one can take.
The AVS majority are DIY guys.
We enjoy the process, discovery, up, downs and I think mostly the pain
If your not up for going it your own its best to find someone to do the heavy lifting.
I do know that people who succeed in any given venture understand their strengths and weaknesses and surround themselves with people that can fill the gaps.
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