MOUNTING Questions for New Projector - Needs to be Perfect! (1 Viewer)

I just bought the Panasonic PT-AE4000U after reading rave reviews. I have a current dedicated home theater room and system. This will be an upgrade to my 4 year old Acer 720p Projector - so I am hoping to be wowed! I want to make SURE that I setup this new unit not only correctly - but OPTIMALLY! Please view the pictures so the following makes sense: 1. I have a space cutout in the ceiling for my current projector (this was done when the room was finished and made into a HT room). As you can see, I have a very unique/odd way of placing the projector. I use a wood peice, and rest it on bolts with cardboard in between. This serves me 2 purposes. First, it lets me level the projector - but SECOND and most importantly - when I had the projector bolted directly into the ceiling - the subwoofer (which is RIGHT below it - and will not work anywhere else) caused the picture to SHAKE! The cardboard absorbs this and there is no picture shake whatsoever. If there is a special holder/mounter that deals with shaking and leveling I would love to know about it - so I can have my projector installed in a professional manor rather than this jury rig. 2. As you can see in the photo - the acer projector is as HIGH as it can be while being as FAR back as it can be - to fill my 120" screen. This also helps as its projection angle is very far down - so you can see that it is slightly tilted UPWARDS. I am hoping NOT to have to do this with the panasonic - as I read it has far greater adjustment controls. 3. I have never 'calibrated' a projector OR TV for that matter. I am curios about recommended HD Discs that I can get to help me with this - something that would be very user friendly. Also - is there perhaps a guide to tuning THIS specific projector (or should I just google search for that)? I have my computer system hooked into the projector - so something I could DOWNLOAD would be ideal! If the pictures are too small - here is a direct link to the full uncompressed photos: http://www.aaa-computerrepair.com/pictures/p1120400.jpg http://www.aaa-computerrepair.com/pictures/p1120402.jpg http://www.aaa-computerrepair.com/pictures/p1120403.jpg

I don't have any expert advice on projector mounts that absorb vibration, but I can't help wondering if you might have an effect on structural vibration by putting your subwoofer on a solid slab and putting something between the floor and slab to absorb vibration from the speaker transmitted to the floor. If it works, you could use whatever type of projector mount you wanted. The other possibility would be to suspend a surface with sound or vibration isolation clips (RSI clips) and secure the projector mount to the surface. These are what I mean: http://www.soundisolationstore.com/products/resilient-sound-clips.html?gclid=CJSNgeqVzK0CFQ1W7AodlgG2fw

What projector mount would you recommend that gives me the most flexibility in adjustment? Side to Side/Back and Forth/LEVELING etc... I wish there were something like the steering wheels in cars now - you know, where you press the button and you are able to move the wheel up/down/left/right and then SET IT. That would be great for a Projector mount... turn the thing on - slowly move it until it fits the screen perfectly aaaaaaand SET IT!

The Panasonic MUCH more flexible on settings. I leveled mine and hand the picture offset set and focused in about 10 minutes using a generic mount that I got free with the projector. Digital Video Essentials and Avia are the 2 most recommended calibration discs. Vibrations - Depends on your house, your sub and how loud you listen to your movies. Bob recommends a solid surface for your sub to keep vibrations to a minimum. My subs sit on a concrete slap. In fact, they are close to a 3 foot deep footing on the outside wall. I've knocked my projector out of line and out of focus with nothing more than music. It was some stuff set up to demo those SPL cars and I run dual 15's on close to 2,000w.

How important is leveling the projector perfectly? Does anyone know if this projector has settings that would allow for me to adjust the picture if it is not perfectly level? I know it have horizontal/vertical shift and keystone - but do those accommodate for not being level?

I have the PT-AE4000U and while it has lots of horizontal and vertical lens shift, it does not have any lens rotation -- you have to do that by leveling the projector. The first thing you are going to notice is that the Panny is very large and heavy and you will need a pretty strong mount for it. I found another solution. I built a square wooden box which I mounted to the ceiling and set the projector inside the box right-side-up. That way leveling is simple as you just raise or lower the individual projector feet to level it off. But that's just my solution as I like DIY projects (including building the screen) rather than buying expensive prefab equipment.

Mark - thanks for the quick reply! That seems like a good way to go if I have trouble using my existing setup. How do you like this projector?

Oh I love it. The main reason I chose this model is because I have a Constant-Image-Height screen and the lens memory has presets allowing you to zoom from 1.78:1 to 2.35:1 with the touch of a button and no need for an anamorphic lens attachment. It's also got a pretty good contrast ratio and good color. It's a nifty little projector!

LordX said:

Mark - thanks for the quick reply! That seems like a good way to go if I have trouble using my existing setup. How do you like this projector?

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