early planning for new HT

beckett · 12-09-2006, 04:09 AM

Great forum here!
I am new here and am in the early planning stages of a HT/multi-use room in our unfinished basement. The room size is irregular with a main 21' x 14' area and another 6' x 12' section which has been opened up with a 9 1/2" beam. This makes the section 20 ft long with 12' on back wall where I am planning to have screen for a front projector. My first concern/question is whether the beam hanging down 6' in front of the screen area will be an issue for the projector and what screen size/distance may work for this setup? (The cielings are 7'9 1/2" I would appreciate any ideas. I have no equipment so far and so far have talked my wife into about 5K total budget.

Jim Mcc · 12-09-2006, 01:01 PM

The beam won't be a problem. You just need to have the screen at least 10" below the ceiling. Your screen size depends on your seating distance from screen. What will that distance be? Assuming you want a HD projector, the rule of thumb is to sit about 1.5 times your screen width back from screen. In other words, if you sit about 12' back, your screen can/should be about 8' wide(110" diagonal). What is your budget just for projector? The first thing you need to do is decide if you want an LCD or DLP projector. Will you be watching in a dark room, or do you have a light problem?

beckett · 12-09-2006, 07:30 PM

Thanks. I was thinking the main seating would be in the range of 12-14 ft with some seating against the back wall. (20 ft total distance) I am considering building a small rise for the seating back there. Projector budget probably is up to 2000 which from what I've seen so far should get me a decent HD projector. I'm not sure yet about LCD or DLP. The room is in the basement with 2 windows which could be blocked out so the room could be dark, but also with kids would want to be able to watch in some lighting. The area behind the beam is protected and would probably have darker paint in that area. There is also an enclosed storage area where I could keep the equipment. I uploaded a couple of pics of the room if that helps. Thanks.

Jim Mcc · 12-10-2006, 12:02 AM

With your seating distances and room size, I wouldn't even consider a screen size less than 110" diagonal. Will you be ceiling mounting the projector? Do you know you need to have the room pretty dark when viewing for the best image? A little light is fine, but too much will wash out the image. I don't see any ceiling recessed can lights roughed in. I definitely recommend those, with dimmer switches, to keep the light off the screen. For LCD, I recommend the Panasonic AX100. And for DLP, the Mitsubishi HD1000. Both are bright projectors(you'll need the extra brightness when the lights are on), but both will also work good in dark rooms in low power mode.

beckett · 12-10-2006, 01:53 AM

Yes, I'll be ceiling mounting the projector. The room will hopefully be able to be quite dark. Thanks for the recommendations. From what I've seen so far, I'd probably go with DLP and the Mitsubishi sounds like a good one for the price. My next step will be to get the electrical done so I'll need to decide on projector placement, lighting, etc. How many recessed lights would you suggest for that area? Would you have 2 rows on either side of the screen? I also like the look of sconces on the sides of the screen.

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Jim Mcc · 12-10-2006, 02:25 AM

That's a big area, I'd say 3 rows of 2 lights. I also like the wall sconces. We just don't have them on during projector use.

beckett · 12-10-2006, 03:10 AM

Any thoughts about how I should set up the area of the screen? I'm trying to imagine how it will look with the beam, possible with trimmed posts on each side to accent the area around the screen?? I'm not much of an interior decorator. Also not sure whether to do a stage. If not I was thinking I could put the sub in the wall of the storage/equipment area. Thanks for the input.



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