New guy, thinking about making spare bedroom into a theater room (1 Viewer)

[Brian Dye]

Hello everybody, and great forum so far. New guy with a few questions. My girlfriend and I are both 21, just bought our first house, (2 story 3 bedroom). The room I was "using" as my computer room never worked out (All bedrooms are upstairs, I ended up putting my desk downstairs, I hated being "secluded" when I was using my computer) so now the room is just close to empty. I would love to make a little 2-3 seat movie theater/game room up there, but have some questions about projectors. I've owned 2 projectors in my time, one is currently the Brookstone Portable Pocket Projector Projects 60" and is the size of my iphone) and had one I bought on clearance for $300 one day at SAMs Club, I ended up selling it though as I had no use for it at the time. My questions are:1. I want HD and really good picture quality but would like to keep it under $1000 as this is only gonna be used once in awhile. The room will be very dark, only 1 window on the side wall which will have black out curtains. 2. What kind of size can I get with having the projector only roughly 10' (Maybe 12') from the wall? (I can get exact measurements once I get home, this is all brainstorming while waiting for trucks at work)3. Would a smooth matte white wall be sufficient for a good picture or should I actually invest in a projection screen? 4. What are some budget friendly in-wall speakers? The closet will house all the electronics. (DirecTV reciever, Blu-Ray player, PS4, reciever and sub) I have attic access over the room so I'll be installing recessed lighting and all the wiring from the speakers/projector to the "electronics room" Thanks for any advice and help! Looking forward to an awesome summer project!

 

[schan1269]

My questions are:1. I want HD and really good picture quality but would like to keep it under $1000 as this is only gonna be used once in awhile. The room will be very dark, only 1 window on the side wall which will have black out curtains.
BenQ 1080ST (ST stands for Short Throw)2. What kind of size can I get with having the projector only roughly 10' (Maybe 12') from the wall? (I can get exact measurements once I get home, this is all brainstorming while waiting for trucks at work)
120" or bigger with the 1080ST3. Would a smooth matte white wall be sufficient for a good picture or should I actually invest in a projection screen?
Depends what you want. A smooth painted wall(or painted plastic) can be the equal of a screen4. What are some budget friendly in-wall speakers? The closet will house all the electronics. (DirecTV reciever, Blu-Ray player, PS4, reciever and sub)
5.1? 7.1? 9.1? 11.1? (and not kidding on the 9 and 11)I have attic access over the room so I'll be installing recessed lighting and all the wiring from the speakers/projector to the "electronics room"
As long as you do it "code"...Thanks for any advice and help! Looking forward to an awesome summer project!

 

[Jim Mcc]

Depending on your screen size, the Benq W1070 is a great choice.Screen size is based on your seating distance. What is it?As long as the screen wall is smooth, with no flaws, it will work well.A lot of people like the in-wall speakers from Monoprice.com

 

[Brian Dye]

That BenQ seems to be the one ill go with, thanks for the suggestion. I cant wait to get this started. Gonna pay some stuff off first and then start this!

Im still contemplating on in-wall speakers, might just go with towers and a center up front and some in-ceiling speakers above (And as far back as I can) for the rears, since the seats will be up against the wall.

Is there anything special to mounting a projector? I would like it as close to the ceiling as possible, so it'l be aiming down a tad bit. I think I recall my old projector having adjustments for the angle to make the picture straight and whatnot.

I saw a thread of someone doing something similar, BUT way more in depth vs. what im going to be doing. He made a little "bar/concession" area out of the closet with a mini fridge, and countertop, I may just have todo that too!

I have a feeling that my living room will be used rarely once this is finished

 

[schan1269]

The reason for the ST projector is, if you mounted it all the way back...you'd be standing in the way of the projector if any gaming is Wii/Kinnect(you didn't specify).

You don't "angle" the projector. You mount it to where the top of the image is where you want it. If that requires a 1 foot drop...so be it. If that requires 4" from the ceiling...so be it.

Your budget, and size of the room, doesn't allow much lens shift...if any.

 

[Brian Dye]

Hm, gotcha. No Wii as of now, only a PS3, (Soon to be PS4/X One). Main games are CoD/GTA so theres no PS Move/X Kinect.

The screen will be higher up on the wall, so it actually will work out, im so used to having a flat screen on a little TV stand that sits relitively low, so I was imagining the screen being down there, and the projector aimed down.

Thanks again for the input. Just watched a few videos on YouTube and the BenQ seems to be the best bang for the buck ST/budget projector. I also saw a "Black Diamond" projection screen and started drooling!

 

[schan1269]

Which BD screen?

Black Diamond is the worst choice for a light controlled room. All the benefits of the light rejection are unnecessary.

 

[schan1269]

This is the only SI BD screen to even consider in a light controlled room.

http://www.screeninnovations.com/screen-materials/black-diamond-ii-hd-08-black/

 

[schan1269]

Here is the SI screen you should be looking at.

http://www.screeninnovations.com/projector-screens/fixed/pure-zero-edge/#SliderNav0

 

[Brian Dye]

Wow that screen is crazy. Didn't know there was such technology for a projectors screen. I think were just going with a basic screen, with a stained wood type surround like I've seen on a few threads on here. Still deciding on what colors and theme todo in the room, thinking a darker red, our local theater has a red theme and it looks great. Probably black leather theater style reclining chairs. There won't be any Wii type gaming, occasionally some GTA and COD on the PS3/4. Thanks again for all your help and suggestions. One thing I was thinking though, I would like to go with a 100-120" screen, and the room length is roughly 12', so would we even need a short throw setup? I'm just thinking out loud here, but I would assume a standard 1080p projector would be a bit cheaper?

 

[schan1269]

1080P projectors are $1000, unless clearance or on sale.The 1080ST is, darn near, the cheapest DLP already.

 

[ManW_TheUncool]

FWIW, I just picked up a refurbed W1070 from BenQ off Amazon's Marketplace for ~$750 shipped (including sales tax). BenQ's been putting these out at that price (~$680 before tax) on Amazon every now and then it seems, and I bought the last one of the most recent batch.

Just received it yesterday and put a bunch of hours on it. Originally thought I might need to ceiling mount it (in part due to fan noise), but I'm gonna do w/out ceiling mount for a while and see how it plays out -- I'd like to keep it portable (and unmounted) for sporadic use away from the home.

This thing is definitely bright and handles my livingroom situation fairly well (as I've pretty much decided not to go w/ a dedicated HT room for now), and the fan noise seems tolerable enough w/out ceiling mounting (farther up and away) for now.

Also thought about going w/ a 9ft-wide 2.4:1 screen and zooming down to 16:9, but that's really too wide for us plus will definitely require ceiling mount (at ~10.3ft from screen perhaps).

Tried all sorts of configs on Projector Central's calculator, and you might find it helpful as well:

http://www.projectorcentral.com/BenQ-W1070-projection-calculator-pro.htm

Right now, since it looks so good even on just our plain white wall, I may go w/out an actual screen at least for the near term -- maybe figure out a way to black matte out the not-so-black bars when viewing wider movies. Considering going just 7ft-wide for 2.4:1, which fits in a ~100" diagonal at 16x9, and maybe zoom down some for certain "smaller" movies.

The W1070 has just enough lens zoom (plus a touch of digital zoom, if need be) and a small amount of vertical shift flexibility to make it possible... though definitely not the easiest to maintain, especially since going between min and max zoom will apparently shift the image by a few inches. But since I'm just projecting on wall for now, the zoom/shifting issue might be more manageable than w/ actual screen -- also, helps that I'm not mounting it at this point. Will also need to keep 2 separate calibration settings between 2.4:1 and 16x9 (or narrower)...

I also thought about the W1080ST, but it's a bit more expensive than the W1070 and seems to have more issues as well near as I can tell from scattered reports. And that unit has no vertical shift at all -- not that the W1070 allows all that much shifting. Yeah, the shorter throw would probably help in my case, but there are other factors as well...

The screen will be higher up on the wall, so it actually will work out, im so used to having a flat screen on a little TV stand that sits relitively low, so I was imagining the screen being down there, and the projector aimed down.

If you're ceiling mounting, the unit should be upside-down. And the W1070's vertical shift will help some so the screen doesn't need to be quite that high up.

I guess you can also apply a slight bit of keystone adjustment if you do need to point it down ever so slightly during installation...

_Man_

 

[Gregg Loewen]

I guess you can also apply a slight bit of keystone adjustment if you do need to point it down ever so slightly during installation...

never never use ANY digital keystoning.

plus a touch of digital zoom, if need be

never never use any digital resizing.

 

[ruben2235]

The Benq 1070 is a great projector but for a small room I would go with the Benq w1080st it's a short throw projector which will give you a bigger picture in a smaller room

 

[FoxyMulder]

Whatever you decide to get it will give a better quality image if you darken your ceilings, floor and side walls.

Don't ask people for calibration settings either, each room, screen and projector has too many variables for that to work and it can make your image worse, just get a decent calibration disc and get the basics right, the Benq's colours are usually good from the outset compared to the competition but you might want to work on the white balance by eye.