My projector is directly over my head by around 3’. Yes, there is fan noise. It is noticeable when it’s just up there running without any sound from the speakers, but as soon as I hit the play button, I no longer here the projector even at very low volume. In other words, it’s very quiet…..and I hate fans. The fan on my receiver is noisier than the projector fan. My receiver is also about 3’ away from where I sit behind me. Then there’s the hard drive on the DVR….crap, I’m surrounded by these dam spinning noise makers now I think about it. Thanks, now I’m going to be noticing them more…..
Don’t know what to tell you about the LG. Sounds like it doesn’t work too well to me. I’d just get an Oppo and worry about HD/Blue Ray later. You could wait a year but I suspect in a year there will be something else to contemplate. I’m not buying one yet because I think both formats will prevail and I’d rather have a universal player that will play both formats, and do that job well. Until then, I’m quite happy with the Oppo’s.
Screen formats? You mean aspect ratios? You can go with either 16/9 or 2.35 cinescope. 16/9 is much simpler and much less in cost. You just buy a screen size you want and you’re done. With 2.35 constant height set ups you have to shell out money for an anamorphic lens ($800 - $5000), buy or make a 2.35 screen, figure out how to side mask it or buy a masking system ($1500 +), either use the projector or DVD player to stretch the image or buy an external scaler to do that ($2000 +). Or, find all this stuff used and save some money. Or, you can do the poor man’s method and just use the projector zoom and get creative with masking. This is not an option for me as I don’t want to screw around with lens shift and focus all the time. I tried it and it sucks.
If you stick with 16.9, you’ll just have the black bars and if that doesn’t bother you or the loss of about 33% of the picture, I wouldn’t worry about it. Just be happy with what you got and save yourself a lot of money and aggravation.
