Projectors and screens

[thinfourth2]

Okay current knowledge of protectors and screens is zero, zilch, nada, bugger all, nought even lower then a student working in dixons on a Sunday morning after a piss up.


We are looking at building an extension which will have a nice big lounge which I want to banish the television from however the wife wants a telly for watching films on.

I hate idiot boxes as they tend to get switched on and left to pump out mind numbing bilge and don't want one in the lounge.

So I might be able to sneak in a compromise.

I was thinking of a rolling up screen and a projector.

Now let's say for a 100" screen does the projector have to be a fixed distance from the screen to remian in focus and fill the screen. I would like to punt the projector to the back wall so it isn't hanging in the middle of the lounge.

The lounge part will be roughly 6m long by 4 wide .

So can you narrow the width of the projected image and keep it in focus as my experience of projectors is the little crappy things used for presentations.

Oh and it wil have an excellent sound system, well by my low standards

[thinfourth2]

Ah ha

I see

Just need to build the extension now

[megaphone]

A good rule of thumb for standard lenses, the projector throw distance is 1.5-2 times the screen width. So on a 100" (8ft) screen the projector will be 12-16ft back. But you must check the spec of any projector as they do vary, higher spec projectors have lens options giving a shorter or longer throw.

[5potTurbo]

My brother recently had a home theatre made, but with a 90"+ fixed screen and Epson HD projector.
You can see the screen's not THAT far away from the projector:
http://pistonheads.com/gassing/topic.asp?h=0&f...

[OldSkoolRS]

For a 6 metre throw you might find that you have to search a little bit harder for a model that can zoom an image small enough to fit on a 100" screen. My JVC projector is 6 metres back and can just about go that small (I've also owned, but wouldn't recommend, Panasonic AE models such as the AE2000 and AE3000). Many of the cheaper projectors (especially those that use DLP techonology) aren't very flexible as to where they can be mounted, so check any prospective models carefully using the owners manual (most are downloadable) before committing to a particular model. Often the cheaper models will be set up for a 'short throw' so they would fill your 100" screen from maybe only 4 metres.

Also, it's worth noting that a projector's picture is highly effected by the room: Not just how dark you can make it, but how light the walls and ceiling are (ever been in to a Cinema painted in magnola for example?). Light room colours reflect the light back to the screen making dark areas look washed out. You can buy special screens of course, but these are often more money than the budget projectors. However, cheap screens will tend to curl and wrinkle over time, so try to look for a 'tab tensioned' screen: I've had mine for 4 years now and it is flat as a board, but it wasn't cheap. So in short, find a tab tensioned screen if you can and try to paint the walls and ceiling a darker colour, at least those near the screen, or accept that the blacks are never going to look fantastic.

[thinfourth2]

OldSkoolRS said:

Also, it's worth noting that a projector's picture is highly effected by the room: Not just how dark you can make it, but how light the walls and ceiling are (ever been in to a Cinema painted in magnola for example?).

Never thought about that

In summer the room will almost never be dark as it will have huge windows

So back to having an idiot box in the corner

[OldSkoolRS]

Ambient light is a killer on projected images. I have on occasion watched with a single lamp on for various reasons, but the image has no depth at all and blacks look mid grey of course. But even if you can black out all the light it's surprising how much a light walled room lights up when a 220 watt projector lamp is going full tilt.

FWIW might be better off going for a good sized TV instead and only put it on when there is something worth watching...or in that case, just put a picture of a large TV on the wall.

[thinfourth2]

OldSkoolRS said:

FWIW might be better off going for a good sized TV instead and only put it on when there is something worth watching...or in that case, just put a picture of a large TV on the wall.

A good sized telly is a small one

I hate the fecking things

The wife wants one

[OldSkoolRS]

I reckon I actually 'watch' my TV about 20% of the time it's on as my OH watches stuff I'm not too bothered about, so I'm on the laptop browsing the web pretty much all the time the TV is on. However, when I do put the projector on the lights go off and I put the laptop down and then I concentrate 100% on the film/concert. At least it means that my 5 year old TV can stay until it dies as I don't feel the need to upgrade something that I hardly watch and that the OH is more than happy with. (Come dine with me at the moment ).

As a compromise, have you considered a 21:9 TV so that you don't get the black bars on films that are 2.40:1 aspect (ie most of the new ones)? Trouble is people then feel the need to 'fill' the screen the whole time even with old 4:3 stuff which just looks silly stretched to twice it's width, but used properly they can make 2.40:1 content look 'special' rather than disappointing because the black bars are wasting screen area.