Opinion on best display device for HT room. (1 Viewer)

[Roy Christian]

Greetings everyone,
This is my first message on the forum so please forgive me if I am asking a question that has been discussed in the past. I am in the process of building a home theater in my basement. The rough dimensions of the room will be 13.25'W x 15.00'L x 8'H with no windows.
My first thought was get a RP-TV but the basement stairs have a 180 deg. turn which would limit the size of the TV. I like the idea of a projector & screen and eyed the Sanyo PLV-60HT as a possible option. The 42" Plasma TVs are interesting as well.
Does anyone have any thoughts on the best display for the size of the room that I have? My budget will be in the $4500-$6000 range. Thanks!

 

[BruceSpielbauer]

Don't completely discont all RPTVs due to the turn. There are a very few (Mitsubishis, for one) which actually come apart in two pieces, specifically for those "tough" installations. I know their 65" RPTVs come apart, and I believe their 73" ones do, as well.

That said, with no windows, you chould and should also be looking at the advantages / disadvantages of both front projection (although cost is a factor here), and also plasma. Both have concerns with ambient light, but you may not have any problems, in this area.

-Bruce

 

[LanceM]

I would go with a front projector if you are going to be able to sit across the length of the room from the monitor, although its a little short to use a big screen on. You would be able to get a pretty good projector for that much and even if you were watching it less than 100" it would still be your biggest option.

For me, plasma would be out of it. They look ok but just don't have the sheer size to give it that cinema feel; and I like to look at things from a cost:size ratio, all other things being equal. A lot depends on your intended use, if you are like me and want to use this for only movies, front project seems like a sure winner. If you are going to watch football and must see TV maybe you can hunt down a thin RPTV or swallow hard and get a plasma.

I can tell you moving my 61" RPTV down my just curved open stairs was no fun, I wouldn't want to imagine doing it down a closed stairway. Plus bumping them around too much can get them out of wack.

 

[Andy_S]

I have a 65" Mits RPTV (Model 65819) and I have a sharp turn at the bottom of my stairs. The delivery guys split in half and brought it down with no problem. There are instructions on how to seperate it too (in case you need to move it). It's just 4 screws. No electrical or anything. The top half just houses the mirror, the bottom half contains all the electronics.

 

[Gerald LaFrance]

Hi I would go with a CRT projector

 

[Gabriel_Lam]

With a 15' length, if you have the seating area near there rear (say 13' away from screen), your minimum screen size is 98.3" wide, which translates to a 122.9" diagonal 4:3 or 112.8" diagonal 16:9.
You have complete light control, a good sized room, you're building it now, and you have a good budget. It does sound like you're a prime candidate for front projection.

 

[Bill Lucas]

Gabriel,

How the heck did you come up with those figures? His room is only 15' deep. The MINIMUM screen size you recommended is huge for his room.

Roy,

If you plan to entertain in the room front projection may be difficult. Sure you have a wall to put a screen on but the depth of the room is problematic. Speaker placement will be difficult and if you want to cram more than a couple of people in the room seating options will be severely limited. I'd stick to a screen size of no more than 80" wide and I'd recommend something in the 72" wide range. You'll get a nice bright image with tons of punch and you can set the front row of seating closer than you could with a huge screen. Regards.

 

[Gabriel_Lam]

Bill,
From THX certification technical criteria.

The optimum audience viewing angle for the Cinemascope image (2.39:1) from the screen to the farthest seat in the auditorium is 36 degrees with 26 degress as the aceptable minimum. (Applying Dolby's recommended viewing angle using the screen to farthest seat measurement results in a viewing angle of approximately 31 degrees.)

THX Certification
Here's a convenient calculator:
THX and SMPTE viewing calculator
A 72" wide screen, like you suggested gives you a 26.3 degree viewing angle at 13'. To get a 36 degree angle, you'd need to sit no farther than 9.6 feet from a 72" wide screen.

 

[Bill Lucas]

Gabriea,

What about pixel structure and the fact that the seating distance is simply too darned close to such a large screen? What about proper speaker placement? Your suggestion gives little to no room to properly place speakers. I'm not busting your chops, just trying to give a more reasonable suggestion given the small size of the room. If all we do is post THX specs we'll never find out what really looks and sounds optimal.

BTW, in a 15' deep room the front row SHOULD be about 10' from the screen.

 

[Gabriel_Lam]

Bill,

Pixel structure is definitely a concern depending on what equipment you choose and your own viewing preferences and tolerances. What I was trying to give was a suggestion without coloring the choice with my own preferences. The THX specifications aren't perfect for every occassion and nor are they perfect for every viewer. However, they do give us a very good starting point from which to then customize from our own preferences.

In a 15' room, you probably have only 1 row of couches. If 10' is your viewing distance, than by all means, a 76" wide screen (95" diagonal in 4:3 or 87" in 16:9) is a good place to start.

 

[Bill Lucas]

Gabriel,

Okay, that makes a little more sense. My point is that if you cram the largest possible screen into a room (and what you suggested as a minimum was darned large) then in this case you cannot properly place the speakers. If you put the seating position against the rear wall rear speaker and side surround speaker placement is extremely problematic not to mention the fact that you have little room to work with on the side of the screen for main speaker placement. I won't even go into the image issues associated with driving such a large screen. There are few projectors out there that can do a large screen justice without significant compromise. Regards.

 

[Jan Strnad]

If I were building a home theater room in my basement, I'd definitely be thinking "front projector!" See if you can preview any front projectors and note at what distance you notice the pixel structure.

I'm envious of your opportunity!

Jan

 

[Neil Joseph]

I like the Sanyo 60HT also as a good FPTV choice. With native 1366x768 Pixels, 1200a.l and 700:1 c.r., you could do a nice 100-110" wide 16x9 screen in that room.

 

[Gabriel_Lam]

The 60HT is a great choice for about $4k. They did downgrade the CR to an estimated 500:1 from 700:1 though. The 70HT is coming out soon, but it's probably going to be closer to $6-7k. It'll have 2200 ANSI lumens, 900:1 contrast, and new MLA equipped 1366x768 panels. The old one did not have MLA and some people complained about the screen door effect.
Here's another rather interesting choice:
Sharp PG-M20X:

XGA native DLP with new 12 degree mirrors
1900 ANSI lumens (the PG-M20X-a has 1000+ ANSI lumens)
1000:1 on/off contrast, 800:1 ANSI (very high ANSI)
80 degree white section (smaller than the XB31's)
3x colorwheel
DVI connectivity (along with the regular connections)
37 dB
5.8 lbs, just over 3" thick. Very easy to mount.
Sharp PG-M20X Specs
Looks to be pretty nice for $2649 shipped.
The rather small clear colorwheel section will give it relatively good color saturation. The contrast is extremely good. With the money you save, you can get a good scaler, a good dvd player, etc.
Bill: Yeah, I definitely hear what you say about audio setup, and finding the right projector to drive the size image.

 

[Roy Christian]

Thanks Gabriel for the lead on another possible projector choice. The price is indeed a consideration and I wanted to consider DLP before LCD, until the Sanyo caught my interest. I will definitely consider and check out the Sharp projector.