[hokey_days]

I am designing a home theater in a room that is 19 feet long, 12 feet wide, with 8 foot ceilings.


I have an Infocus X1 and would like to ceiling mount it.


I do not have a screen yet.


The room is not built yet, so I am not sure how to do this.


I will be using the X1 for DVD watching, Xbox games, etc. So both widescreen and 4:3 I guess. I have plans to upgrade to anothe projector down the road, but not sure which one.


Please help:

1) For that size room, and considering I would probably be sitting around the mid point (i guess), what is a good screen size to go with (please be specific on width).


2) Based on screen size recommended, where do you recommend I mount the projector (how many feet back from the screen wall?) I guess ideally it would be best to have projector either in back or in front of the seating area, right? That way noise from projector is minimized.


3) And what would a good seating position be for the room (how many feet back from screen?)


I know Infocus has a calculator to determine the throw, but part of the problem is I am not sure how big a screen would be good for that size of the room. I want the picture to be big, but not too big that picture quality is affected.


thanks!!!!!!!!

 

[edwardr132]

Most important is where is the couch/seating area going to be in the room? How far away from the screen is the seating going to be? To give you an idea....


I am currently running a 4:3 100 inch screen (92" widescreen diagonal) in a 10'6" wide room and 15' deep room. I see very little screen door when I am sitting about '13-14 feet away. I don't know if I would go much larger than that due to the lamp output making a picture dimmer as you go larger, unless you have a high power screen.... I do see screen door about 12' or less..... If you don't own the projector yet, I would wait for the projector to arrive, then shoot it up on a blank wall, then decide what to do. I would reccommend a good screen over those DIY ones if you can afford it. They make a difference. My screen is an electric Targa one in Matte White.


If you decide to go with a gray screen, the picture will be better with better blacks, but you will have to go smaller to compensate for the less light reflecting on it. If I had to do it over, I would probably use a high contrast gray screen for the same size I am shooting on. That would absolutely rule out going any bigger than 100" 4:3 in my opinion.


Quick Tip, when figuring out where to ceiling mount it. Borrow somebody's ladder; Put in on the top of the laddar; Don't trip on the chord and then adjust where the projector should go slowly carefully measuring what screen size is where based on both zooming and desired picture quality.