[mndavenport]

I am building a 13X18 home theater room. I had been planing on either the new Panasonic or Pioneer 50" plasma, but in reading this thread I noticed that there appears to be good projectors in the $10,000 to $20,000 range, whereas I had thought $50,000 was the minimum to get a good picture. Within that range what should I look for?

 

[mndavenport]

Thanks for the quick response.


The screen will be on the long wall, and I have beams along each long wall, so with a ceiling mount from lens to screen will probably be just 10'. I'll have to think about a projection booth. The room has 3 shuttered windows in one corner, one on the scren wall, the other two adjacent. Ceiling and walls are plaster.


I have a Meridian 561 processor with Meridian DSP 5000 left and right, DSP 33 center, subwoofer TBA, and will probably get Thiel Powerpoints for surrounds.


A 6 to 7 foot screen would be fine.


I mostly watch dvd's plus ocassional basketball or football. I cannot currently get OTA HDTV, but when new room addition is done I'm going to get an antenna expert out and see what might be possible with an antenna on the hill behind my house.


I'm reasonably computer savy.


I don't like fan noise and got rid of a Panasonic STB because of its fan and got the Toshiba instead.

 

[MrWigggles]

For a 8' wide screen nothing beats a good CRT. It appears that you can afford a good CRT so I would suggest a Sony G90u. They can be had for somewhere in the mid $20K or a used for the mid teens.


If you projected on a 1.5 or so gain screen (a curved screen would be better if you could do it), you will get a great image.


The only minor problems with the G90 other than its size are the necessity to do convergence on occasion and the need for a slight gamma correction that many DVD players can do for you (panasonic makes a few)


It sounds like you are pretty picky about fan noise and that will probably eliminate an HTPC as an option for you to use.


This also means that most projectors you will need a hush box to suit your needs. The G90 was pretty quiet the last time I heard it.


Good luck


-Mr. Wigggles


------------------

The Mothership is now boarding.

 

[mndavenport]

Mr. Wiggles,


Thanks for the inf. Excuse my ignorance but wat is a 1.5 gain screen, and on a curved screen how far do the outside edges extend from the wall?

 

[Mark Hunter]

MN,


With a 13'x18' home theater room and a $10K to $20K budget, you are definitely going to want to consider your options. Plasma is great, and I think that it has a bright future (pun not intended), but you could really do something pretty special with a front projection system in your room.


You can't beat the immersive theatrical feel of a front projection/screen system.


Early warning: You are probably going to get an earful on this topic, as it is just about a daily conversation piece at this place. The folks are friendly and helpful, and will probably guide you to the 2-3 best projectors for your situation...but they will each have their pros and cons.


You will then need to decide what is most important to you and get the demos of the "short list" to make a decision.


Tell us as much as you can about the room, and maybe we can offer some ideas.


Questions

* Do you have complete light control?

* What is the composition of the ceiling? Do you have exposed beams?

* What is behind the rear wall? If your room allows it, you might be able to install a projector in a "projector closet" like a movie theater. See theaterphile.com for pictures of my home theater for ideas.

* What types of source material would you be using? Do you get HDTV in your area?

* How big can you go with your screen? Related: how large are your front main speakers, and would they interfere with your screen width? With a room that is 13' wide, your front mains may be the limiting factor on screen width if you plan on having the speakers flank the screen.

* How computer-savvy are you? A strange new discovery is that a correctly-built computer can compete with high-end scalers for great picture quality, but at the expense of ease-of-use. This is another common question to struggle with.


Anyway, tell us whatever you can, and you will hear a lot of opinions on the topic. Keep in mind that most folks who have gone through this process believe that they know what the best choice is (after all the research), and will be somewhat biased to recommend their own equipment (myself included). That is something to consider as you are making some decisions.