New to projectors need some advice on them & a screen. (1 Viewer)

[Boots Rojas]

If you want to do something totally industrial...stack three of these right where you want to put the projector....put all your stuff in it...
http://www.chiefmfg.com/Products/NG1F3633 (three nets you 7 feet in height)

Not sure if I understand what you mean?

 

[schan1269]

You want to build a shelf in the middle of the room. Instead of made of wood, make a tall AV rack. Put all your gear in it with the projector perched up top.

 

[Boots Rojas]

Not sure how asteadicly pleasing that would be. Awesome idea though.

 

[Jim Mcc]

Not sure how asteadicly pleasing that would be. Awesome idea though.

It would look terrible !!
Boots, did you read my suggestion in post #98?
This is post #104, and we've accomplished virtually nothing.
Assuming the projector is mounted to ceiling, where were you planning to put your component rack? I always suggest the rear of room, but that won't work in your room.

 

[Boots Rojas]

It would look terrible !!
Boots, did you read my suggestion in post #98?
This is post #104, and we've accomplished virtually nothing.
Assuming the projector is mounted to ceiling, where were you planning to put your component rack? I always suggest the rear of room, but that won't work in your room.

That's where I was thinking in the back of the room in the corner on a component rack.

 

[Jim Mcc]

Are you good with carpentry at all? How about a nice looking wooden A/V rack/cabinet that would sit behind the couch, about 6' tall? The projector(with lens shift) can sit on the top shelf. I think that would be tall enough for the lens shift to align image properly, but you should verify that(if a projector is ever chosen). The base would need to be built so it's stable and not top heavy. If not wood, maybe you can find a nice looking chrome one or something.
But I still say remove the fan, and ceiling mount the projector where it needs to be. You said yourself you hardly ever use the fan. You or an electrician can use the power from the fan to put an outlet in the ceiling for the projector. Then fish the wires back to wherever you put the AV rack. Installing a projector and running/fishing wires and cables is not easy in a finished room, but it only needs to be done once.

 

[Sam Posten]

http://www.hometheaterforum.com/content/type/61/id/172360/width/200/height/400
Here are a cpl other angles to give you a better idea of the area

You have a photography studio in your living room?

 

[Sam Posten]

I'm going to give you my opinion Boots, you aren't going to like it but here it is:
That is a terrible room to try to put a projector in.
Buy a nice flat panel and be done with it. You aren't going to be able to get much bigger than 80 or 90 inches, but that's the reality for panels today.
The windows in there alone are forever going to make PJ viewing less than great. On top of that you are going to have to remove the fan to make it work, or put a projector right in front of where your doors are, on a shelf that is going to make that room a mess.
$2500 is peanuts compared to what you are going to have to do to 'fix' that room to make it work.
Is a basement build instead possible?

 

[schan1269]

You have a photography studio in your living room?

That stuff in the corner was the basis of me recommending the poles earlier. I "assume" that stuff comes out of the corner and gets set up in the room for...well we don't know exactly what(and I'm not asking)...
Anyway, Bogen/Manfrotto poles will fit right in...

 

[Sam Posten]

LMAO Sam.
Boots: I'm actually confused tho, is this a basement or a main floor?
Either way, my recommendation stands, I think this is a really tough space to work with. VERY LARGE windows on the rear and one side, a double walk through door in the rear, and an odd shape rear to boot. Yeah, maybe you could put a rack in that corner next to the door but you are gonna be at 20' away and having to jimmy around vertical and horizontal shift. And nobody has even mentioned shift considerations yet. I'm not familiar with the Knoll, is it as flexible as say the Panasonic 8000, the Epson 5020, or the BenQ 7000?
Even if you put black out shades on those windows you are going to have serious light leak around them.
Even if you do put a PJ screen up for movies you are going to want to put a panel in that room for Daytime watching. Or you are going to only use that room after 5PM in the winters and after 8 during the longer days of spring and summer...

 

[Jason Charlton]

Originally Posted by Jim Mcc /t/326076/new-to-projectors-need-some-advice-on-them-a-screen/90#post_4016242
This is post #104, and we've accomplished virtually nothing.

I was thinking about this yesterday... deciding what projector to use in a room involves several interdependent factors: screen size, throw distance, mounting location, available projectors. You have to iterate through these, ironing down details as you go to arrive at the best solution for this situation.

I don't think any one of these factors has been definitively answered yet.

It's like trying to juggle...
while jumping rope...
on a unicycle...
on the deck of a ship...
in rough seas.

Gotta eliminate some of the variables at some point to make things even possible.

If you're intent on using a projector, then I concur with the suggestion of ditching the fan, using that as your mounting location and moving forward from there. That at least gives a concrete answer to where the projector will be, everything else can flow from that and a couple of viable projector options.

 

[schan1269]

LMAO Sam.
Boots: I'm actually confused tho, is this a basement or a main floor?
Either way, my recommendation stands, I think this is a really tough space to work with. VERY LARGE windows on the rear and one side, a double walk through door in the rear, and an odd shape rear to boot. Yeah, maybe you could put a rack in that corner next to the door but you are gonna be at 20' away and having to jimmy around vertical and horizontal shift. And nobody has even mentioned shift considerations yet. I'm not familiar with the Knoll, is it as flexible as say the Panasonic 8000, the Epson 5020, or the BenQ 7000?
Even if you put black out shades on those windows you are going to have serious light leak around them.
Even if you do put a PJ screen up for movies you are going to want to put a panel in that room for Daytime watching. Or you are going to only use that room after 5PM in the winters and after 8 during the longer days of spring and summer...

That Knoll 2100 is, in my opinion, the LEAST projector that will work in the room. It has enough light output(2000) coupled with the highest contrast you can find in a $2000 projector(considering original street price...not a "was a $3500 projector last year, now we are trying to unload them at $1400).
And like I also said. That room is a MINIMUM of a $2500 projection set-up. I've done rooms like that with projectors. But I won't talk to anybody(cause I've been 'round the block a few times) for under $5000 with a room like that.
Most rooms like that...straight up and no BS...
1. Two displays. One for daytime. One for after dark.
2a. If the person has to have "projector" because of size...then two projectors as well.
2b. 2 screens. Typically a high gain painted wall, with a darker gray roll down AT screen for night time viewing.
2c. an LCD(and you know I never recommend LCD) for daytime, with a projector for nights.

 

[Boots Rojas]

LMAO Sam.
Boots: I'm actually confused tho, is this a basement or a main floor?
Either way, my recommendation stands, I think this is a really tough space to work with. VERY LARGE windows on the rear and one side, a double walk through door in the rear, and an odd shape rear to boot. Yeah, maybe you could put a rack in that corner next to the door but you are gonna be at 20' away and having to jimmy around vertical and horizontal shift. And nobody has even mentioned shift considerations yet. I'm not familiar with the Knoll, is it as flexible as say the Panasonic 8000, the Epson 5020, or the BenQ 7000?
Even if you put black out shades on those windows you are going to have serious light leak around them.
Even if you do put a PJ screen up for movies you are going to want to put a panel in that room for Daytime watching. Or you are going to only use that room after 5PM in the winters and after 8 during the longer days of spring and summer...

Sam,
Yes this is the basement. I have a totally separate area for photography.
This will not be a everyday viewing projector.
Removing the fan is not that big of deal if I need to do so. I can install it in my home office.
I normally hang out in my garage "man cave"http://www.hometheaterforum.com/content/type/61/id/172402/width/200/height/400
My wife is either watching tv in the bedroom or upstairs living room.
We never go downstairs to watch tv. The wife goes to the movies every Saturday. I would like to have a place where we can go to watch a movie or maybe watch a motorcycle race on Sunday.

 

[Sam Posten]

Gotcha. I understand the desire to have a big ole projector and the frustrations of butting heads when the space you want to put it in doesn't exactly work right. I had many of the same issues. BUT. The house was my own and I didn't have to ask anyone's permissions to do things to the room or to have to apologize when it didn't exactly look great.

shelf by Kadath, on Flickr
Understand that to do this right there is a process here. It is, at it's fundamental heart, problem solving.
You have a goal. You have obstacles blocking that goal. You have considerations to keep in mind getting to that goal.
Nothing is impossible in what you want to do but you are starting the fight with two hands tied behind your back.
So my recommendation is to step back and make two lists. Really think about your goals and motivations, list those out. And then consider the obstacles, don't forget about budget as an obstacle.
And if the budget and other obstacles don't add up, think about alternatives. Is a big panel a better choice? Is another room a better choice? Are you going to be in those home long enough to make significant architectural changes that would be of a budget scale that you haven't even thought about yet? Or are you willing to live with a washed out screen given all the light those windows are going to present? Will that gnaw at you and make you regret the investment for the returns you get?
These are hard questions! And you might not like the answers. But if you just charge in and buy a used projector cause it was available somewhere and then have to make all these other changes down the line was it really worth saving a couple hundred bucks on something that was used to begin with?

 

[Boots Rojas]

Gotcha. I understand the desire to have a big ole projector and the frustrations of butting heads when the space you want to put it in doesn't exactly work right. I had many of the same issues. BUT. The house was my own and I didn't have to ask anyone's permissions to do things to the room or to have to apologize when it didn't exactly look great.

shelf by Kadath, on Flickr
Understand that to do this right there is a process here. It is, at it's fundamental heart, problem solving.
You have a goal. You have obstacles blocking that goal. You have considerations to keep in mind getting to that goal.
Nothing is impossible in what you want to do but you are starting the fight with two hands tied behind your back.
So my recommendation is to step back and make two lists. Really think about your goals and motivations, list those out. And then consider the obstacles, don't forget about budget as an obstacle.
And if the budget and other obstacles don't add up, think about alternatives. Is a big panel a better choice? Is another room a better choice? Are you going to be in those home long enough to make significant architectural changes that would be of a budget scale that you haven't even thought about yet? Or are you willing to live with a washed out screen given all the light those windows are going to present? Will that gnaw at you and make you regret the investment for the returns you get?
These are hard questions! And you might not like the answers. But if you just charge in and buy a used projector cause it was available somewhere and then have to make all these other changes down the line was it really worth saving a couple hundred bucks on something that was used to begin with?

Great advice!
I think my next step is gona be putting up the blackout curtains & see where I'm at, & at that point figure out the next course of action from there.

 

[Boots Rojas]

Great advice!
I think the next thing is to put up the room darkening curtains & take lumens reading & then go from there.

 

[Jim Mcc]

Great advice!
I think the next thing is to put up the room darkening curtains & take lumens reading & then go from there.

Don't waste your money on blackout curtains unless you're sure you will be going with a projector. Because if you go with a TV, you won't need the blackout curtains. I would check to see what the cost is to put blackout curtains on all the windows, before deciding on a projector though.

 

[Boots Rojas]

Don't waste your money on blackout curtains unless you're sure you will be going with a projector. Because if you go with a TV, you won't need the blackout curtains. I would check to see what the cost is to put blackout curtains on all the windows, before deciding on a projector though.

Question
If the blackout curtains work good.
Should I still be looking at the Panasonic AR100U & Knoll 2100 are they going to be to bright?
Post 58 by you said you think it's possible to find a projector for $1,100b that would work with a 150"
diagonal screen & be bright enough. ...
Your thoughts on this now?

 

[Jim Mcc]

Question
If the blackout curtains work good.
Should I still be looking at the Panasonic AR100U & Knoll 2100 are they going to be to bright?
Post 58 by you said you think it's possible to find a projector for $1,100b that would work with a 150"
diagonal screen & be bright enough. ...
Your thoughts on this now?

In post #58 I said "I DON'T think it's possible"... I just checked again at Projectorcentral.com and there's only 1 projector under $1,100 that will be bright enough for a 150" diagonal screen, and that is the Viewsonic Pro 8300. BUT it's not designed for home theater. It's classified as a "Data/Text" projector. There's a review of it at Projectorreviews.com. This is not a projector I'd want in my theater.
The Knoll projector will be OK if you want to use a 150" screen. BUT it's probably too bright for a 120" diagonal screen.
You need to decrease your screen size. 150" is WAY TOO LARGE for your seating distance anyway. We've been thru this before. A 120" diagonal screen is perfect for your 13' to 14' seating distance.
If you want to do this right, 1) remove the fan, 2) put up blackout curtains(unless you are only going to watch at night), 3) go with a 120" diagonal screen, 4) Ceiling mount projector. The following projectors will work great if you do as I suggest. There are slightly better projectors if you want to spend more money.
IF YOU WANT:
DLP - Optoma HD33 - NO lens shift, so install will be a little trickier, about $1,400
DLP - Acer H9500 - Has lens shift, makes for easier install, about $1,600
LCD - Panasonic AR100U - Has lens shift, makes for easier install, about $1,300

 

[Boots Rojas]

Panasonic AR100U seems that back around Feb-Mar of this year with a panasonic rebate people could by the projector for around $700