mustang guy Posted October 8, 2011 Share Posted October 8, 2011 Many of you have been through this, and I am starting to realize just how complicated and expensive it can be. Here are the specifications and details for my application: Ambient light situation 10' width wallspace Ceiling projector (not selected yet) Used for Blu Rays, DVD's and HDTV Seating area about 24' back Viewing angle 60 deg Concerned about black contrast w/ambient situation Retractable wall hung I need help here. When I go into the various sites, I am totally blown away with information. Can somebody who has been here, done this, help me wade through the choices and various calculators? Perhaps somebody can make a simple recomendation, and we can start there. I don't have a projector yet, but that decision may have to be made in this thread as well. I don't have a budget yet. Hopefully that will become aparent in this thread. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Moderators Youthman Posted October 8, 2011 Moderators Share Posted October 8, 2011 It doesn't have to be extremely expensive. My entire HT was done on a super modest budget. Craigslist and Bartering saved me a TON of money. Well, with ambient light, you will likely want to get a high gain screen so it reflects more light. My Panny projector looks awesome in a room with controlled light but ambient light washes out the image too much on a standard 1.0 gain screen. The higher the gain, the more reflective the surface. I believe you can also get a Grey Screen to help with contrast. I have a Stewart Grey screen that a friend is selling that has a 6.0 gain. I didn't even know they made a 6.0 gain screen until I saw his. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Moderators Youthman Posted October 8, 2011 Moderators Share Posted October 8, 2011 Projector Central helped me a bunch. Once you pick out a projector, you can then see the optimal distance they recommend for mounting it. Is 10' the screen width you have to work with or the entire width of your room? Is 24' the distance from your screen or the distance from your front wall to the back wall? You will have to decide whether or not you want a 16:9 or 2.35:1 (or even wider) aspect ratio. Since my HT is almost entirely for Blurays (except for my son playing video games), 2.35:1 was the best choice for me. My room is 13' wide. Because of my false wall, the max screen I could go with was an 8' wide screen which equated to a 103" diagonal screen. My front row is 11'. If my room was just a few feet wider, I would have had no problem with going with a 110" screen with no eye strain. My build thread, although quite lengthy, has LOTS of questions that I asked and documents the process I went through to get much of the questions you have answered for my situation. Hope that helps. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Moderators Youthman Posted October 8, 2011 Moderators Share Posted October 8, 2011 I see you have a 55" tv. My original plan was to use a 50" Plasma so I used masking tape to draw out the exact size to see how it would look. As soon as I did it, I was so underwhelmed and knew that wasn't what I was going for and would not provide me the Cinema experience I was looking for. You are going to be blown away at the difference a "big screen" will make in immersing you into the movie. From this... to this... to this... to this... to this... To this... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Moderators Youthman Posted October 9, 2011 Moderators Share Posted October 9, 2011 I did a lot of research and basically, mine came down to price. I had a hard time swallowing the fact that I was going to have to spend over $500 for my screen and that was one of the cheaper ones. I went with a 103" Elite Cinema235 Screen and could not be happier. The velvet covered aluminum frame looks fantastic. Carada gets really good reviews but they were several hundred more and I just didn't want to spend that much (yep I'm cheap). Jason just purchased a Jamestown and I believe he likes it and it was very affordable. I'm no expert as this is my first HT and first projection system. I did a TON of homework and research and if I had to do it all over again, there isn't much I would change in my system. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Moderators Youthman Posted October 9, 2011 Moderators Share Posted October 9, 2011 I appologize for consuming your thread....I will be silent now. [] Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Fish Posted October 9, 2011 Share Posted October 9, 2011 Very nice, I have a Jamestown screen, 130 inches diag, 1.2 gain(they say), delivered to my door $300.Compared to the ones I've seen local at stores or in use I'm very satisfied. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
cornfedksboy Posted October 9, 2011 Share Posted October 9, 2011 Very nice, I have a Jamestown screen, 130 inches diag, 1.2 gain(they say), delivered to my door $300.Compared to the ones I've seen local at stores or in use I'm very satisfied. I'd recommend the Jamestown here, but I think I read that the OP was in need of a retractable screen. That will significantly increase the budget. When I recently went through this, and I had a totally different set of needs, I determined that in order to get the right screen, I needed my pj FIRST. With a lot of ambient light, get something bright (of course). Add in your concern for blacks, I'd recommend looking at some of the higher end Epsons. The Home Cinema 8700 UB would do very well for a basic PJ at under $2000.00 or the Pro Cinema 9350 or 9700 UB for $2500 or $3500.00 respectively. Others probably have better recommendations as you move into the land of auto-iris and remote anamorphic lens. They were so far out of my budget ($4000.00+) that I never seriously considered one. Once you have your pj installed, you can get several screen samples and test the brightness and contrast with your lens versus various lighting conditions. From there you can find the right screen configuration for your pj. The pj/screen combination is very much like matching an amp to a speaker, except it is VERY recognizable, even to the casual observer, when you're well matched or have made a poor decision. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rennoc442 Posted October 9, 2011 Share Posted October 9, 2011 I see you have a 55" tv. My original plan was to use a 50" Plasma so I used masking tape to draw out the exact size to see how it would look. As soon as I did it, I was so underwhelmed and knew that wasn't what I was going for and would not provide me the Cinema experience I was looking for. You are going to be blown away at the difference a "big screen" will make in immersing you into the movie. From this... to this... to this... to this... to this... To this... Wow an acutal moving picture show! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ajoker2c Posted October 9, 2011 Share Posted October 9, 2011 http://www.avsforum.com/avs-vb/showthread.php?t=1334832 Definite contender for this room if you can mount projector a little lower from ceiling or shelf mount behind sitting area. I have the 106 Manual which is 9ft across. Won't be a bad seat in there with narrow veiwing cone. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mustang guy Posted October 9, 2011 Author Share Posted October 9, 2011 The room is 50' wide. The main viewing sofa sits about 32' from the back wall. This aint no ordinary home theater. Here is a scale 3D drawing. My intent is to put a retractable 10' 6" or narrower screen under the current TV. The reason I need it to retract is it will block the office window when watching movies. I am going to use tarps on the building side windows hanging from a taught wire to darken the building as needed, but there will still be a substantial amount of ambient light as you can see. I will be fabricating a ceiling mount for the projector, that will bring the projector down from the 20' perlins. I will be watching HDTV, DVD's, and Blu Rays, so I will be getting a 16:9 screen. Here is my current setup: Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
cornfedksboy Posted October 9, 2011 Share Posted October 9, 2011 That is pretty cool! Unfortunately, you are way out of my league for general advice as your area is ridiculously large. How do your La Scallas sound? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mustang guy Posted October 10, 2011 Author Share Posted October 10, 2011 The LaScalas sound much better now that I am driving them with an Integra pre/pro (DH-80.3 and DTA-70.1). The two THT's are running off Crown amps. All connections between pre, and amps are XLR. Here is a picture: Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Recommended Posts
Join the conversation
You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.
Note: Your post will require moderator approval before it will be visible.