Thinking about a projector (1 Viewer)

[PeterK]

We were planning on getting a 53" panasonic rear projection tv for $2000 CND. but we made a cutout and put it in our basement and it seems small. Is it possible to buy a decent front projector for that same budget? we would only need a screen size of 60-70". Can it be done for under $2000?

 

[Matt_M]

You could get the infocus 4805 for around that price.

 

[PeterK]

We would mostly watch DVD's on this but would also do some tv watching. Can you hook a satalite reciever into a projector. If I had a 70 inch screen what would the picture quality look like for tv and DVD's. Also, I would have to buy a screen. I am assuming that would cost a few hundred buck easily. ???

Also how far back would a projector have to be to display the 70" screen. What about different aspect ratio's how does a projector deal with that. tv would be watched in 4:3 but most movies would be in 2.35:1

 

[Scott L]

According to Projector Central if you were to get the 4805 the projector would have to be about 10.8' away. I used to have my 4805 at 80" but my couch was too close and I could see a little SDE and the overall image was just too big. I moved the proj up to 75" and it's much better.

Digital NTSC TV from Comcast looks good via composite. I really didn't think much of the Faroudja DCDi vid processor before I got it but it can really make total crap look decent.

You can choose which AR you want on each of the 4 inputs. It's really very user-friendly. This is my first FPTV and I was surprised how easy it was to setup.

 

[PeterK]

80" screen size or 80"s from the projector to screen? Does screen size correlate with projector distance or does the projector go at a fixed distance and then has an adjustment for screen size.
Will my room be able to accomidate a projector. the room is only 7' tall. would I need to hang the projector down. from the ceiling? how much? would there be any noticable stretch on the edges of the screen due to the light traveling farther to the edge than the center?
I am still not to sure about how the different aspect ratios work.

 

[Jim Mcc]

PeterK, why do you want such a small screen size with a projector? What is the length of your room(screen wall to rear wall)? The screen size is determined by how far you will sit from screen. You have the same problem I have in my room(my ceiling is only 6'8" tall). Every DLP projector in my budget would not work in my room because they all had a large image offset, and/or too long a throw range.