Axiom Home Page Forums General Discussion Home Theater Time to select my projector and screen size

My little HT room is getting close to being done. Well, that’s a relative term seeing how it’s taken my four years to get to where I am now…….I’m figuring three months out before I need to mount a projector on the ceiling.

So now I need to put some serious thought into which projector to buy. I thought I had the screen size figured out, but don’t after all. It’ll be somewhere near 7’ wide. The throw distance will be 13’. The max seating distance from the screen will also be 13’. The ceiling height is 8’3”. The room dimensions are 12’ wide by 15’ 6” deep and it will have pretty good light control. I’m going to build/paint my own screen and already have the paint for the newest version of that home brewed ‘missississippi mud’. If it doesn’t work out, I’ll buy some screen material and build one. Pinning down the right size screen would be very helpful right now and any input to that regards will be appreciated from you guys that have already gone through this.

For projectors, I would like one that does a good job up-converting to at least 720p. I do not have HDTV where I live, so up converting is pretty important to me. I have been looking at and reading up on the Pany 900 and the Sanyo Z4. I’m not real sure if either of these actually up convert the signal? The reviews say that the Sanyo has the edge over the 900 for sharpness, but the Z4 does not convert from i to P all that well. – whatever the hell that means. From what I understand, they just convert from interlaced to progressive????

I’ve spent some time at AVS looking through all the crap there. Can’t say I’ve learned anything. Too much BS to wade through.

Every time I set a budget, I blow it, but this time I actually need to stay within budget. That being said, $2500 would be a real push and hurt like hell. $2000 would hurt a little. Somewhere between $1500 and $2000 would ideal, but I’m willing to feel the pain if there’s something out there worth going to $2500.

Mike, have you checked out Projector Central?

I just got my first projector in Dec. I have the Panny AE900 and could not be more pleased with it. The Picture is great and was a great price. You can get it for well under $2000 plus a $400 rebate and $300 Blockbuster card. I used the Home Depot paint mix called silver screen ($18). I have a 106" screen.

I own a Z2 and love it, "Nickbuol" on this website has a Z3 and loves it, I'd like to go to the Z4 some day as it works great for constant height screen setups using anamorphic lens.

Anyway, I assume your going to go with a standard 16:9 screen to match the ratio of the projectors? A good rule of thumb is that you want to be back 1.3 times the screen width or more, so if you have a 7ft wide screen, your talking at least 9ft or more. The 13ft seating distance will work good.

You also want to make sure your projector from 13ft throw back can achieve the screen you desire by adjust the zoom on the projector. Using the Z4 calculator on projector central's website, you can see that from a 13ft throw distance you can achieve a image for a 7ft wide screen with having the zoom about half way.

As Randy I've got the Z2 and it's a great PJ for the price! I heard great things about the Z4 and I would look into it if I were you. I know you can find it for less than $2,000 in some places.

mdrew,

The $2,000 (or less) Optoma HD72 DLP projector that I saw demo'd at CES in January was amazingly good, almost the equal of the $10,000 HD81 Optoma.

The HD72 has a 720p native resolution. The Pansonic LCD is a very good alternative choice but for me, the best DLP projector images have a little more "punch" and contrast than the LCD models, but LCD has made great strides in the last year or two.

Regards,

That's my big dilemma. I change my mind everyday on whether I'll go with DLP or LCD for my next PJ. They progress made on both sides makes it hard to decide. (Then again I'm not planning on upgrading my projector any time soon... Saving for them Axiom speakers!!)

OK lets make it hard on him,at least we all like Axiom speakers.

I just read a review on the 72 earlier today, after posting this question. It is most definitely on my short list now. It might just the perfect unit for my application as it recommends a throw distance between 11 and 13.5 feet for a 106” screen.

What does ‘native’ resolution mean? Will it up-convert a 480i cable/satellite signal or 480P DVD signal?

And yes, I’ve been surfing protector central quite a bit, that’s where I saw the review. The H72, 900 and Z4 all seam to be neck and neck with their own little pro’s and con’s.

And don’t worry about confusing me; I doubt I can get more confused than I already am. It is very helpful when y’all throw things at me. I can then take them one at a time and do some concentrated studying.

I’m not sure what aspect ratio I should go with. I had assumed that 16.9 was the best way to go.

The native resolution is the resolution at which the PJ will display. LCD and DLP projectors are fixed pixel display devices (not like CRTs). That means that whatever resolution you feed them they will scale it to their native resolution.

Technically if you want to have the crispiest image you would have to feed the PJ its native resolution. Of course HD has more than one resolution so you have to compromise.

Now it's up to you to decide whether the scaler in the PJ is of good quality. Some DVD/Receivers will upscale DVDs better for instance. For my part I like to upscale through a PC (and I'm currently building a HTPC) better than when my Sanyo Z2 upscales (though it's definitely not a bad image!)