Projector Setup Questions

[mrmagoo_83]

SO I just obtained a project screen, haven't even measured it yet, but its free so it works.

Now I need to look at getting a decent, read as cheap, projector. I have a game room that is roughly 20x16. One end has three windows facing North, the opposite wall is empty, correction there is a huge entertainment center that was there when we moved in that will be coming down soon. I plan to place the screen where the entertainment center was located. In the middle of the room is a ceiling fan, so I am not sure how this affects my location of a projector.

I am looking for opinions on a mid-level project to watch movies on, but not like "Oh my God, I feel like we are at the movie theater", and not one that makes my wallet mad at me. I plan on movies here and there, and lots of Xbox 360. Modern Warfare 2 on a huge screen so I can really see the bullets fly. Does such a projector exist?

And my second question is recommendations on how to work around the ceiling fan, or if I can mount it in front of it, I do not know how far away a projector must be from the screen.

 

[onyxbfly]

In my experience most modern projectors will suit your needs albeit not the really cheap ones. Look in the 3-500 range. Also keep in mind that your projector may be a one time investment, that being said see if you can get vga, hdmi, component connections etc. That way if you upgrade your components over time you can get the most out of your projector.

 

[bencorn]

Look into the used market as well. You may give up 500-1000 bulb hours but you can also save hundreds by doing so. You can get some pretty decent deals on 720p projectors too because a lot of people are upgrading their systems to 1080p. But like onyx said, try to make sure you get all the connections, mine doesn't have HDMI and I kinda miss the ability but for the time being I just use a DVI/HDMI converter to get the job done.

 

[RedComet]

OP,

I used a projector ("PJ") as my primary display in my apartment. I used this website to read reviews and they have a projector calculator that will help you figure out the basic dimension of your screen size and relative location the projector needs to be.

http://projectorcentral.com/projection-calculator-pro.cfm

Also, before you spring for a PJ, make sure to download the user manual for it. My unit's manual had a chart with screen size vs thrown distance and it included some equations to calculate the screen size / vs thrown distance, too.

With any projector, the bulbs are rated for so many hours. So, even with getting a used PJ, you will have to replace the bulb sooner or later. My unit is rated for 2,000 hrs and a new bulb cost $400. My advice, is when looking at a projector, new or used, be sure to make a note how much a new bulb cost.

The ceiling fan shouldn't be an issue depending on where it is in relationship to your screen wall. I have my projector on a shelf that is a just above a normal door frame. I have a cieling fan that is just slight above the plane of the unit and it does not interfere at all. Make sure you plan your cable runs appropriately.

 

[mrmagoo_83]

Thanks for the advice.

Cable runs are going to be a pain, I am by no means a small man, and I looked in my attic above the game room, I would need to hire a circus midget to get up there and crawl around. There are so many ducts and wires running around I am not sure how to even start to get over above the game room.

The ceiling fan lies directly in the center of the room, so 10' from the end wall where I had planned on hanging the screen. Going to have to see what my options are. The bulb cost is what scares me the most, that outrageously over priced for a dang light bulb.

 

[Trepidati0n]

Don't be too scared of bulb costs. The easiest way to handle lamps costs is when you buy the PJ, buy the spare right away and use the original and the spare to about 100 hours each. Then put away the "spare" one until the primary burns out. The advantage of this is most lamps have "free replacement" if they burn out quickly and you already paid for your spare lamp. .

The other way, is to put a jar somewhere near the projector. Throw a $1 in every time you turn it on. This ensures that when the lamp does break , you have cash to lessen the sting and also stops you from turning it on at a whim.

Projectors are a beautiful, but they do require a little bit a thought and an understanding of what you are getting into.

 

[onyxbfly]

My friend actually went out a limb and brought this model or something similar from a diff seller on ebay. The model he got came with an extra bulb so ymmv. He also got free shipping. He hasnt had any issues with it but he did get over the craze quickly. Or rather the novelty wore off he went from watching movies and playing games daily to when ever he can make time for it which seems like never these days lol

http://cgi.ebay.com/HD-LCD-PROJECTOR-V1000-1080P-HDMI-Theater-Brand-NEW-/120582791467?cmd=ViewItem&pt=LH_DefaultDomain_0&hash=item1c134b612b

Not endorsing don't know the seller just providing options etc

 

[mrmagoo_83]

I got my hands on the actual screen today, had to help unmount it. It measures 86" wide, not sure how tall, I'm assuming it'll be square, or pretty close.

 

[Verge]

My friend actually went out a limb and brought this model or something similar from a diff seller on ebay. The model he got came with an extra bulb so ymmv. He also got free shipping. He hasnt had any issues with it but he did get over the craze quickly. Or rather the novelty wore off he went from watching movies and playing games daily to when ever he can make time for it which seems like never these days lol

http://cgi.ebay.com/HD-LCD-PROJECTOR-V1000-1080P-HDMI-Theater-Brand-NEW-/120582791467?cmd=ViewItem&pt=LH_DefaultDomain_0&hash=item1c134b612b

Not endorsing don't know the seller just providing options etc

Google "white van scam" and that is what your friend just bought.


Would have been better to spend 160 on a monitor, and sit really really close to it.

 

[onyxbfly]

Google "white van scam" and that is what your friend just bought.


Would have been better to spend 160 on a monitor, and sit really really close to it.

Figured someone would say that could be true but I have seen it and it looks good for what it is, It looks comparable to any projector that I have used for movies and or office work. Ill ask him to grab some pics for me if he has time and I'll post them.

 

[EricFX1984]

get yourself an older CRT... they are cheap and most of them will display 720p, 1080i, 1080p and higher...

the colors are amazing on a CRT projector, LCD and DLP... not so much

the blacks on a CRT are real blacks, not so on LCD or DLP

DLP can sometimes see a color swirl effect, LCD you can see the screen door effect... not so on CRT

also on DLP and LCD projectors the color will shift at around 25% into the bulbs life, at around 50% the bulb will start to get dimmer, much dimmer, CRT does not do this

best of all no bulbs, the tubes tend to last 15,000 to 50,000 hours...

in many cases you can upgrade the projector to accept HDMI...

 

[Verge]

Figured someone would say that could be true but I have seen it and it looks good for what it is, It looks comparable to any projector that I have used for movies and or office work. Ill ask him to grab some pics for me if he has time and I'll post them.

Work projectors look like garbage, they aren't for home theater. It might look similar to them, as it is garbage as well. Trust me, you could pick up an older 720p projector off ebay for 200 bucks that would look night and day better.



Eric, a lot of people are way to stupid to even try to setup a crt projector. Is the OP one of these people? Who knows.

 

[onyxbfly]

Work projectors look like garbage, they aren't for home theater. It might look similar to them, as it is garbage as well. Trust me, you could pick up an older 720p projector off ebay for 200 bucks that would look night and day better.



Eric, a lot of people are way to stupid to even try to setup a crt projector. Is the OP one of these people? Who knows.

I have a wk projector will easily do 11 ft by 9 ft hooked it up to my pc via vga for shit and giggles and it looked good We even watched a dozen or so movies and It looked good enough for me. (old apt) I have a Epson emp 835. If I had more space I would try dvi to vga and see how that goes......Perhaps it looks good because it is a 3 Lenses LCD projector and it cost a grip when it was new It will do up to 300" and up to 1080i

 

[Verge]

But with 600:1 contrast, why bother. It's like watching a movie through tinted windows.



Not to mention, you need to understand the difference in what a projector can display, and its native resolution. An 835 is 1024x768, it can't display 1080i properly. Interlaced resolutions are for crt's anyway, they don't really work with fixed pixel digital displays.


If it makes you happy, awesome. Since this is the HOME THEATER pc's section, i would figure people wanted home theater projectors. If you don't see the difference, more power to you... and you are kinda lucky in a way, as business class units cost a lot less so it's much easier on the wallet.

 

[onyxbfly]

@Verge

Interesting call on the 600:1. If you have a any links and or pics I would be interested in seeing what 1080i not properly displayed looks like. Don't get me wrong I'm not trying to start a flame war. I simply don't know. If I had something to compare it to I'm more than interested. Is the difference night and day like comparing HD to SD? I received it as a gift. Its not like I went out and purchased it. But I have to say it looks great. If I were going to buy a projector for dedicated home theater use I would get one that does 1080p with the modern connectors hdmi, component, dvi......

 

[BallerX]

Google "white van scam" and that is what your friend just bought.


Would have been better to spend 160 on a monitor, and sit really really close to it.

Wow, That thing is certainly not 1080p. It's 1280x1024 which is only 720p.
Also your friend got taken for a ride. He could have bought an Epson Home cinema 720p for that much money.

I have an Epson Powerlite 710c that is 1280x1024 at 2000 lumens. I got it for $699 two years ago at Office Max.

 

[SJetski71]

@Verge

Interesting call on the 600:1. If you have a any links and or pics I would be interested in seeing what 1080i not properly displayed looks like

It downconverts the "supported" signal of 1080i into 720P, hence where the phrase "not properly" comes in.

It doesn't mean it can't look nice, especially since downconverted signals usually look better than upconverted ones.

 

[onyxbfly]

@SJetski71,

Thanks for the heads up. You are right it does look nice. If and when I get a bigger apt and or basement I will do a full projector setup and if it doesn't meet my needs I will look into getting a projector for HT.

Thanks once again.

 

[Verge]

@Verge

Interesting call on the 600:1. If you have a any links and or pics I would be interested in seeing what 1080i not properly displayed looks like.

Digital displays have X number of pixels, the pixels don't change... interlaced resolutions were never designed for this.


1080i looks great on a crt, but that's what it was designed for.

 

[Archer75]

Panasonic AX200 would be an excellent projector and you can find it new for $900. It is a 720p projector.
I have the panasonic AX100 and a 145" screen and do use it as my home theater and it is quite impressive.

 

[computerpro3]

Holy shit there is some horrible advice in this thread.

Listen only to people that actually own projector setups. I would recommend the defacto budget standard 720P projector, the Optoma HD65. Anything cheaper than that and you simply wind up with shit.

 

[mrmagoo_83]

I was thinking the Optoma HD20, as it does 1080p, and is just under $1k, a little higher than what I was wanting, but seems to have good reviews, and I really want 1080p. Only problem now is the screen I got is 86" wide I think, and I think its a square, so a 16x9 resolution is going to over lap, or be undersized on the screen. But I may look at simply building a screen to mount on the wall, who knows, still waiting on my money from Uncle Sam right now.

Priorities:
Riding Lawn Mower (going to have a heart attack if I have to mow my new backyard with this push mower in triple digits again)
Projector

 

[RedComet]

I built a screen out of black out cloth and 1x3s for my Panasonic PTAX200U (720p unit). The biggest expense for the project was the black out cloth which I got from Jo Annes Fabric and the staple gun i had to buy. Overall cost will be less than $100. I was able to borrow other tools or I already owed them. According to AVS forum, you can even paint these black out cloth screens to achieve certain effects depending on your projector or lighting situation. Also, on AVS forum their are threads about just using special paint mixtures to "paint a screen" on a wall. So there are plenty of alternative to store bought screens.

Next step for my little theater setup is to construct a triple black velvet mask to make the image pop and look nice and framed. My screen is 16x9-ish and the mask would allow me to get the screen size just right.

 

[Verge]

Panasonic AX200 would be an excellent projector and you can find it new for $900. It is a 720p projector.
I have the panasonic AX100 and a 145" screen and do use it as my home theater and it is quite impressive.

That's a 3 year old projector, where would you find one new... and why.

 

[Archer75]

That's a 3 year old projector, where would you find one new... and why.

The AX200 is not quite 3 years old. Though that is irrelevant. And still available from your favorite projector retailers.

All I can say is I have the AX100 and a 145" screen and it produces a gorgeous image. I don't think you'll find a better or more highly rated 720p projector. There are similarly priced 1080p projectors but I don't own one and haven't seen them in action. All I know is the pannys are very highly rated. I also bought this projector when it came out and i'm still using the original bulb. Over 5000 hours on it. We use it as our main TV.
There is the new optoma HD66, it's contrast ratio is lower than the AX200. And it doesn't have lens shift. Something I can't live without. The optoma can do 3D if you care. Can't do 24p while the panasonic can.

You could buy a projector off of ebay used, it will likely need a new bulb and then your costs are similar to a new projector. I have an old panasonic 700u that I haven't bothered to sell because it needs a new bulb. Even if I bought a new bulb to sell with it the projector isn't worth more than the cost of that bulb. Prices have come down too much.

I'll give that projector away if someone wants to buy a 119" screen and can pick it up locally.

I built a screen out of black out cloth and 1x3s for my Panasonic PTAX200U (720p unit). The biggest expense for the project was the black out cloth which I got from Jo Annes Fabric and the staple gun i had to buy. Overall cost will be less than $100. I was able to borrow other tools or I already owed them. According to AVS forum, you can even paint these black out cloth screens to achieve certain effects depending on your projector or lighting situation. Also, on AVS forum their are threads about just using special paint mixtures to "paint a screen" on a wall. So there are plenty of alternative to store bought screens.

Next step for my little theater setup is to construct a triple black velvet mask to make the image pop and look nice and framed. My screen is 16x9-ish and the mask would allow me to get the screen size just right.

That's what I did, grabbed a paint formula from AVS forums, a sprayer and went to town on a wall. Then I built a frame out of MDF and velvet cloth. The result is a nicer image than the 119" da-lite HCCV screen it's replacing.

 

[Adidas4275]

i am a huge fan of my Epson 720 HC, which is out of production but the Epson LCD PJs have great lens shift and zoom option.... it really helps when mounting.

also they are fairly high lumens for the price and product a nice picture.