Projector quandry! (1 Viewer)

[Rene Bremmer]

Hi, I'm new to the Home Theatre Forum, but I've been researching my theatre for a few years now and have finally started construction. I am building a themed theatre (LOTR) and would like everything THX certified.

My problem is this: According to THX specs I Need a 106" diag. wide screen (16X9) at 12' viewing distance My projector throw will be about 12' and I need to find a conservatively priced ($2000-$2500) projector that will give me an excellent picture. If anyone can help or give a reccomendation that would be great! Thank you, and I will start scanning in pictures of my progress soon.

Rene' Bremmer

 

[Doug_H]

I am not aware of any PJ that can throw 106" from 12' but there are some options using a mirror.

I have never done this but there is info on the web and I am sure someone here can help. The basic idea is that you shoot the PJ backwards into a mirror which reflects a larger picture.

Now that being said a 106" picture that is watchable from 12' if that is your intention will probably not be found for that money.

I am watching at 13' and have a 96" picture. The PJ is 15' so I figured I could take advantage of the max size. It was impossible to watch the movie without scanning your eyes back and forth which made us dizzy and caused headaches. That was at 105"

I am among the group that believes THX is a marketing ploy. You pay THX to slap a logo on your equipment and it is supposed to be the best. It just isn't so. In line with that my understanding is that THX requires a 16x20 room that may be unattainable as well.

When THX started placing their logo on computer speakers and cars I realized they provide some basic guidelines that help but it is mostly about marketing.

imho I could be wrong

 

[Rick Guynn]

The new Sanyo Z2 as well as the older Z1 and the Panny 300 have tht kind of throw. All are under $2k.

Go check out prjectorCentral's search feature to find more with that kind of throw range.

RG

 

[Eric Samonte]

THX is nice but all their "requisites" r far too expensive to follow. I remember u have to have a perforated screen because u would need the center channel behind the screen. Walls should not be parallel to each other, etc. The closest I probably get is my set of speakers which r THX certified. And getting an AVR with their logo on it could cost another $1000.
And another thing, all what they say might be good in paper but could really suck in ur room as room dynamics play a crucial role in HT design and function.
But all this is pointless if ur building from scratch and money is not a problem.

 

[Scott Dautel]

By all my calcs ... the Panasonic PT-L300U (LCD) fits the bill for your requirements.
Street price today is around $1500.
A 12' throw distance will produce a 16:9 image from 100" - 118" diagonal.
This is a 1/4HD PJ, so I calculate that you can sit as close as 10' to a 106" diaginal image without major problems caused by pixellation.

The unit projects 800 lumens at 800:1 contrast ratio ... not bad, but you will want a fully darkened room for that size image.

Scott

 

[Thomas Willard]

I have had a Panny PT-L300U for nearly six months. I have a 68 inch wide picture on a not so fancy matte white pull down screen and the picture is fabulous. I sit about nine feet from the screen and no screen door effect is evident.

I run the bulb on low and have the brightness turned down and have plenty of light with the room nearly dark. the 16:9 native display with 540 lines scales a 1080i signal very nicely. It also gives you everything a DVD is capable of using component video input. Noise level with fan on normal (below 2,000 meter altitude setting)is non-existent.

Model 500U is coming in January, but don't know any of the specs yet. Definitely stay with a projector with native 16:9 image. Otherwise all HDTV and most newer DVD's will wind up wasting resolution you won't be using.

 

[Scott Dautel]

Hey Thomas ... when you have a moment, could you check something for me? With your setup in a dark room, move closer & closer to the screen and note the point where screen-door effect (SDE) or individual pixels become noticeable. I want to know the viewing distance that begins to feel too close for your projector. By my theory, it should be around the 7 foot mark. I assume youre eyesight is "typical" (i.e. ~20/20 corrected).

Thanks ... Scott

 

[Thomas Willard]

At about seven feet I begin to notice the SDE. Keep in mind that even with a high resolution image (say a 35mm slide) if you are too close to the screen, you will the image too large.

 

[Scott Dautel]

I agree with your comments re the image size. For my setup, I have a 33 degree image field from the "sweet spot". I think you could go perhaps up to 40 degress, but any more would be too big.

for your 68"w screen, at 7', your image field would be ~44 degrees ... perhaps a bit too large.

Scott