[dlinsley]

In just a couple of weeks I'll be moving house, and the home theater room will be increasing from a 13x13 room to 12x19 (or 12x25 minus the bathroom to the side, so 12x19 + 8x6). So finally I'll have room for a second row, and I want to move to scope too

Ideally I'd like to just replace my 16:9 DIY screen with a commercial 2.35:1 and in a couple of months buy an A-lens (most likely the AVS1). I can initially play with zooming (or leave it at 16:9) but without replacing my RS-1 I don't believe it will be bright enough. But that's why I'm asking for your advice here. For anamorphic scaling I have a RadianceXD.


My current screen is 88x49.5 for a 101" 16:9 diagonal. Since the room is 139" wall to wall (so not quite the 12' I said above, but rounding out) I thought may be a 120" 2.35, so 110x47 would work well and leave around 10" either side after the framing. My RS-1 has around 500 hours on the bulb, and is plenty bright enough with my current screen. I've no idea of its gain, since I bought it as a pull-down 11 years ago and cut it into a DIY fixed-frame 4 years ago. But considering the brightness, it may be 1.4 or more and not 1.0.


So my question, after much reading of this particular forum, even with an A-lens will the RS-1 be bright enough for this size screen? Within reason of ceiling joists and the cupboard on the back wall, I can mount the projector anywhere to about 22' back from the screen. I've read here that ideally the further back is better to reduce pincusion but then you reduce the light coming out of the RS-1 since the aperture is smaller with the lower zoom setting. Or would I be better off considering a closer mount with a curved screen?


Many thanks in advance,

David.

 

[Deke6]

I have a 110" wide 2.37:1 FirehawkG3 (1.3 gain) with an RS2 (a little less bright than the RS1) and a UH480.


The projector is mounted 13 feet from the screen.


There's a lot of personal preference involved with this stuff, so my opinions that follow may not be valid for your circumstances.


I run the RS2 in high lamp mode and I have about 300 hours on my lamp. Brightness is acceptable, but I certainly wouldn't want to have much less. Certainly, there are folks who don't mind single digit foot lambert situations, but that definitely isn't appealing to my eyes. I know that mounting the projector more than 20 feet away would be too much of a compromise for me. YMMV.


I went with the shorter throw distance and bought a curved screen. However, to be perfectly honest, the pincushion is rather minimal even at such a short throw. I really didn't need a curved screen, and simply overscanning on a flat screen would have sufficed.


You'd be increasing your screen size by about 8 square feet, which isn't trivial. You didn't mention how far back your projector is mounted presently (I'll assume 12 feet based on your current room), but just keep in mind that you'll probably see a significant drop off in brightness by increasing the screen size that much and moving the projector back that far.


Again, it might be perfectly acceptable to some, but I wouldn't be happy with the result.

 

[John Ballentine]

I used my RS1 (w/1200 hours) on my new 120" wide 2:40 neutral gain screen (w/ UH480) for a few days and brightness was OK (for films). But I wouldn't have wanted it any dimmer. My replacement RS20 was MUCH brighter (w/ new bulb of course) - but even now at 500 hours, it's till plenty bright. But if I had kept my RS1 - I feel that it would have worked out fine (especially w/ new bulb).

 

[Jason Turk]

The RS1 should be fine for that screen size. You may have to be a bit more selective on your new screen choice, but that isn't all that huge a 2.35:1 screen. Remember also that your projector isn't likely going to get that much dimmer (at 500 hours it has dimmed the majority of what it will). Worst case you pop a new lamp in, but again, I don't think you'll have any issues.

 

[dlinsley]

Thank you for the quick replies.


I just remembered I do have some Carada screen samples I got 4 years ago, so I can tape them to my current screen to work out its gain

Currently my RS1 is ~ 11' back from the screen to the front of the lens. Would a 128" diagonal screen also work for brightness instead of the 120" (even if I have to go to 1.3/1.4 from 1.0)? And what kind of throw distance should I be looking at?

 

[littlerabbit]

this passage is so long

but still thank you for your information.

 

[Daniel Hutnicki]

i had a RS1 with a 120 wide screen. My screen is 1.5 gain and its plenty bright. I think if i had to do it all over again, I would have gone with a 1.3 gain. In case you care, I know have a RS20 and its plenty bright also

 

[dlinsley]

Thanks Daniel. Jason recommended the StudioTek 130 to me, so that will have the matching gain to your recommendation. I just now need the house close to happen so I can start using my Visa again

Very wierd that they care more about $2k on a card than $X in the bank to cover it, but oh well.

 

[Jason Turk]

Yeah mortgage companies are funny that way...go figure.