How do I determine what brightness I need for a FP?

[DanielKellmii]

I want a front projector. The problem is that the room that the FP would go in is bright. I can close some vertical blinds and reduce the light somewhat. I might be able to add some curtains but they would have to be acceptable for my wife. So, how would I go about determining the brightness I need? (My room is 16'x18' The throw will be 16', maybe closer if I can hang it from the ceiling.) I don't want to spend $1500 on a FP that I can't use until 9. Is there some kind of specialized equipment out there that measures lumens? My wife works in a facility that used to do some optics, they might have some stuff sitting on a shelf that they would let her bring home.

I know that this is related to the screen. My plan is to show it on a specially painted wall (another thread) for awhile. I would rather spend the money on a better FP, and then move up to a nice screen.

 

[Neil Joseph]

I was in pretty much the same boat as you when I first moved into my new home and set up the new Holodeck. I have shutters installed but, as with many new homes, there were windows elsewhere with no coverings at all. The result, I had some ambient light from the rest of the house.

First off, my screen is silver which helped quite a bit. I used to project onto the white wall directly. Second, I painted the front wall flat black which helped a lot. My particular projector is rated at 1000 lumens although after calibration and running in cinema mode, I probably get around half that. I used to be able to not watch during the day when sunny but now I can with no problems, even with one large window at the rear of the house with no window covering yet.

 

[DanielKellmii]

Thanks Neil.
Can anybody else out ther tell me how many lumens there FP is and how well it works in your house? Those of you with fully light controlled rooms need not respond. That is not an option for me, so all that would do is make me jealous.

Should I set up a poll?

 

[Brent Avery]

Daniel:

I hate to say it but for $1500.00 you will not find a FP that will throw enough light on a screen that is of any decent size that makes owning a FP so great in the first place - something around 90" or so. Also depends on what you will be viewing, dvds, HDTV, 16x9 or 4:3 screen ratio etc. When it comes to LCD projectors like the Epson Home 10, Sanyo Z2, and Panasonic PTL500U ( all under 900 lumens ) and there is the Sony HS20 that supposedly outputs at around 1300 lumens - before calibrating it - but a better choice ( read more money - also has a long throw )a highly reflective screen to increase brightness is not really a good thing - it doesn't make for a very good image as colors will look too intense and black levels will suffer more. Which is why in general grey screens work better with LCD projectors as they need some help with black levels and they are enhanced somewhat.Mind you, your personal preference may nullify that.Then of course there is DLP and your selection is very limited here - the Optoma H30, Infocus has one out - the 4805 (?) I probably got that wrong as I am going from memory and it isn't that great! Also the older generation X1. I believe that the NEC HT1000 is going for a great price and it might do it for you on brightness as the next generation HT1100 is now out and the 1000 is being discounted from its original $5000.00 price (approx.) You should check out the AVS forum and look at Projectors Under $3500 - you will find a wealth of info there! You could also try used - but it would be in your best interest to control ambient light as much as possible! I have my Panasonic 500 mounted on the ceiling at 14' and fully zoomed out ( minimum size ) the screen is a 98" 16x9 - so you will have to consider that as well - some FPs are long throw and even 16' would be too close for a decent size screen. I hope this helps you in your quest for FP heaven.


Brent