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What projectors for huge screens? (1 Viewer)

micah bjj

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What projectors do people use for large screens like 140" plus that will give a good picture?

I figured cheaper/entry level projectors wouldnt be suitable for this size image. Is this true?
 

Max Leung

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Actually, instead of getting a high-lumen projector, you can get a high gain screen.

A table mounted projector with a Da-Lite High Power screen will get you 2.8 gain if you sit within 10 degress from the center of the screen. It should be plenty bright for a 140" diagonal screen, assuming 1000 lumens. With light control, you could probably get away with a 500 lumen projector...

Or if you have lots of spare change, you can get a 6.0 gain Vutec Silverstar (approx. $50 USD/sq.ft.), but unfortunately it ships fully assembled at 120" diagonal size or smaller only.
 

micah bjj

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What I am interested in knowing if people buy projectors like the 4805, HS20, Pana500, Benq8700+ and use them for huge screens, or do you need a really expensive projector to get a great picture on that size screen
 

Max Leung

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Most of the expensive (8K - 20K range) projectors have the same brightness as the less expensive ones. 800-1000 lumens seems to be the norm.

The Runco 710, for example, is roughly $20K (with long throw lens) and it is DIMMER by half than the HS20, Benq 8700+, etc.

Expensive != brighter.

No question, you'd go for the higher gain screen.
 

Leo Kerr

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If you're talking spending $20k or so on a projector, go with a real projector.

That would not be Runco or anyone like that. Fully outfit with a really nice short-throw lens, you should be able to get a Christie X-5 for about $25k-$30k. Christie offers an upgrade to 1280x1024 now.. it's a 3-chip DLP, 5k lumen projector, with a real ANSI contrast of 250:1. You can also get HD-SDI input cards, DVI input cards, and all sorts of other features.

We've got two of these puppies in use, and they've been dead-reliable to us. The only real problem you might encounter is that you'd need a power upgrade for it.. it wants 208-240VAC power. (You have 220-240 in the house, so no problem; just a 240v breaker and a new circuit run.)

http://christiedigital.com/products/...x5Overview.asp

Or, if you have absolute control over light in your theater, take a look at the JVC HD2k projector:

http://www.jvcdig.com/brochures/HD2Kprel720.pdf

It's a 1920x1080 3-panel D-ILA projector with a 2000:1 contrast unit MSRP $30,000. The catch is, it's 500 ANSI lumens. But, I've seen it running in a dark room with a 220" diagonal (that is, a 16'x9' screen) and it was unbelievable how good it was.

And no, I don't get kickbacks from any of these manufacturers. I wish I did; I wish I owned some of these units for my home use, but in neither case do I.

Leo Kerr
 

Seth_L

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Oddly Leo, leaves out the Sony Qualia 004, which is the digital projector to get, and it's not dim like the JVC.
 

ChrisWiggles

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The 3-chipper DLPs will maintain their CR better, and can be insanely bright. The qualia can do the large screens, but can't maintain it's (already weaker) CR in the brighter iris mode. The JVC is even dimmer.

Another thing to note, is that in any case I'd probably prefer something like a Qualia on such a huge screen, because SDE on a 3-chipper DLP would be pretty annoying that huge.
 

Leo Kerr

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I believe I saw a Sony Qualia running this spring. Sony, curiously, wasn't pushing it as anything great - they were more interested in pushing their crap 1080i cameras at the time.

(Sony! It's a four letter word!)

I was not particularly impressed by the image they were showing - and it was a native HD image. The ambient light was fairly low, and I spent most of the time fairly far away from the screen - twenty five or so feet from a smallish screen (maybe ten or twelve feet wide.)

Also, skimming some of the projector reviews on Projector Central of the Qualia, some said that the JVC wiped out the Sony all around. (Same initial cost, lower operational cost, smaller, lighter, better picture...)

Come to think of it, I saw one not long ago at Grammaphone, I think... looks like it, at least. I remember thinking it looked pretty good for a CRT projector.

The 'CRT projector' came from a visual artifact that was similar to a high intensity, high speed CRT projection system; a trifle bit of odd flicker that seemed to scan over the image.

Anyway, reflecting further, we have a Christie S-6 (a 6k lumen 1280x1024 projector akin to the X-5 referenced above,) projecting onto an 8' high screen. The image is surprisingly not bad, all things considered. Yes, if you're within six or so feet of the screen, it's pretty easy to see the pixel frames and the center-of-pixel dimples, but it's not that bad.

Leo Kerr
 

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