[cmalinowski]

I was going to revive an older thread about projector placement, but decided that the slant of this was slightly different.


I've used the projector central calculator pro version to figure out possible placement of the projector in the room. I'm pretty free to put the projector wherever I want and am limited mostly by cable run.


So the projector calculator seems to care more about screen size than light hitting the screen, except to say "recommended image brightness for rooms with ambient light" and "recommended image brightness for low ambient light".


But the "low ambient light" has a range of ~11 feet (with my projector--epson 6100) with a screen gain of 1.0. To me, there would be some optimal, or at least less-than-optimal, placement for the projector based on light hitting the screen. But there doesn't seem to be a curve of any sorts that would indicate that.


So does it mean that the best placement for a "low ambient light" would be at the front of the range or at the back? Does it matter? How can I test without spending a couple hundred on a good light meter?


If someone can point me to more discussions on this, that would be greatly appreciate. I don't know if the lumens rating of the projector is based on light output at 1", 1', 10', or what. And I don't know what the drop-off is for projectors and whether it varies wildly just from type to type (3LCD to DLP to etc) or from manufacturer to manufacturer or from model to model.


If I search on "calculator" or "placement" or "calculator placement" the results are pretty much a hit on every thread on here. So I will admit to stopping after a while of "another theater build..." threads. Not that I don't love to see everyone's innovative ideas, but it's just hard to sift through for this answer and I would appreciate your help.


Thanks in advance for any help.


Chris

 

[cmalinowski]

Okay, I've done a little research... or rather something has found me that helps to answer this.


In this section on performance from a review on the Epson 6100 (which I am getting) it does discuss the brightness at various levels in the zoom range.


So, since nobody seems to be coming forward and saying anything else, my guess is that the obvious is true: Put the projector as close to your screen as possible to get the picture size you want. You can usually dim the source to meet your needs. Rarely the other way around

Chris

 

[BKEW]

cmalinowski I think you are on the right track. I have the Epson 6100 and at first I was not sure it was all that good, but I am very very happy with it now.


I did my research, found what is stated in the link you provided to be true.


I moved my 6100 from 17-18' to the 14' range suggested, reset everything and it looks so much better to wife and I.


Someone else provided this link in a different thread and I used it for placement based on my screen size and gain.

http://www.projectorcentral.com/proj...ulator-pro.cfm