Most ideal 720P FP for my theater/living room? Details given.

[E-A-G-L-E-S]

I'll list some details to help the knowledgeable make some reccomendations.

1. Room recieves a little ambient sun light during the day...can be cut down almost completely if needed.
2. Weekdays - night viewing only.
3. Weekends - sports throughout day and night.
4. Must be mounted on coffee table or AV rack(vaulted ceilings that go way high)
5. SD picture is not of much concern at all....as I watch DVD's & HD programming 90%+ of the viewing time.
6. 1100 lumens...saw a FP with this and it is a little too dim....so 1200+ lumens
7. Budget -- $1600 for projector
8. Seating -- ~12' from wall
9. Lens will be between 8' and 9' from screen depending on where i want it.

Questions:
1. How much difference does the type of viewing material make?(different quality screens as well as DIY ones)
2. How much difference does HDMI make for FP's over component?(same as flat panel tv's?)
3. I was told that the smaller the screen(image throw) the better all projectors look, so a projector that can do 100"+ would look better on a 92" or 84" screen....is this true?
4. Do I want/need/situation warrants a CRT or LCD or DLP?
5. How big do I want to go - IYO - with a 12' viewing distance whild saving as much PQ as possible?

[Sonnie]

At that price and needing high Lumens, and I would suggest higher than 1200 if possible... I think there are only a few to choose from. I'll throw a couple of suggestions at you.

If you went LCD you could consider the Epson PowerLite Pro Cinema 800 at about a street price of $1500-1600. 1600 ANSI Lumens with a CR of 5000:1.

If you went DLP you could consider the Mitsubishi HD1000U at about $1000 street price. 1500 ANSI Lumens and CR of 2500:1.

Our DIY screen guys are the absolute best anywhere... they can put you on the money for a screen in ambient light.

Personally I have yet to notice a difference between HDMI and Component, but HDMI is easier to run long runs with one cable. I hate the connection myself though.

What I would do is buy the projector you want and mount it. Get your worst ambient light condition and project an image to the size that looks best to you. Then build or buy the screen to fit.

I believe the smaller the screen size, the better the image. With a 12' viewing distance on an LCD, I would say no more than a 92-96" screen or you may see some SDE. You might be okay with a larger size using the DLP, but in that room with the ambient light, I'd play it safe.

Hopefully some of our more knowledgeable guys can help you answer these better and help with the other questions as well as maybe have some other pj suggestions.

[E-A-G-L-E-S]

Sonnie....thanks.
What do you think of the Mitsubishi HC1500U or HC3000U?
for screen, I'm thinking Gray Screen, which I copied down the paint brand and mix from this site from i believe username wbasslet? Would that be good for my situation? Was thinking 102", too big?

[mechman]

Matt,

Both the HC3000 and the HC1500 are great projectors. When you're ready to talk screens you can start a thread over in the screen forum. Come over when you're ready.

mech

[E-A-G-L-E-S]

Which would be better for a low light/non-no light room?

For screen I read through you and wbassett's thread on DIY's...was thinking gray screen? Should I still start a thread to find out what is the best for me? And does that depend solely on the projector choice?

[mechman]

E-A-G-L-E-S wrote:

Which would be better for a low light/non-no light room?

For this lighting situation you could go lighter - Sherwin Williams Soothing White. How soon before all this is going to come together? The only reason I ask is that I have a large gray painted screen 'shootout' that I'm working on now. I'm planning on having it done by the first week of October. I don't know what your schedule is like but if this is all farther out than that you may want to wait for it.

mech

[Sonnie]

E-A-G-L-E-S wrote:

Sonnie....thanks.
What do you think of the Mitsubishi HC1500U or HC3000U?
for screen, I'm thinking Gray Screen, which I copied down the paint brand and mix from this site from i believe username wbasslet? Would that be good for my situation? Was thinking 102", too big?

I probably should have suggested the 1500 over the 1000 since it does have another 100 lumens, otherwise it's pretty much the same machine. I would not recommend the 3000 since it only has 1000 lumens and you said what you said about the 1200 lumens unit.

102" might be stretching it in your room if you have ambient light, but again, don't build or buy your screen until you've settled on a size. It may be that with enough brightness (lumens) that the 102" screen will be okay. I'm just concerned about you having some ambient light in your room... the larger that screen gets, the more brightness it needs to keep that pop to the image.

[mechman]

Sonnie means the 1500 has another 100 lumens than the 1000. According to PJ Central, those two are pretty much identical. The only thing the 3000 adds is the Brilliant Color and 4000:1 contrast ratio as opposed to 2500:1.

mech

[Sonnie]

Yeah... that was one too many zeros there.

[E-A-G-L-E-S]

Just got back from Theater Xtreme and saw four projectors in action.
-Mitsu HC1500
-Mitsu HC3000
-Epson Home Cinema 400
-Sharp DT-500

They could not replicate my situation though as they no room near my size.(they had much smaller and much larger)

So I'm wondering which of these units I should go with?(they are all around $1000 except the Mitsu 3000 which is $1500) Is the 2500:1 as opposed to 4000:1 is a big difference?

[mechman]

You will be happy with any of them. What did they recommend?

mech

[E-A-G-L-E-S]

The only one they had in stock. He was most definitely 'pro' Mitsubishi though.
Was petrified that I was going to do a DIY 'gray screen'.

[Sonnie]

Of course he would be petrified since he won't make money selling you a screen. That's a normal reaction from a retailer.

Of those, I would go with the 1500 since it has the best brightness. These manufacturers are really exaggerating the contrast ratios nowadays. The 2500:1 is probably much closer to usable than the 4000:1.

Were you able to view any of them in ambient light similar to your worst lighting situation during the day?

[E-A-G-L-E-S]

No....best situation during daytime to no-light only. The HC3000U did fade a little more than I'd prefer when there was light but in dark it looked good for a 720P.
So you think the 1500 out of those four, anyothers you would throw in the mix?

Also, I've decide to mount a brace on my rear wall to standard mount the PJ @13.5' instead of sitting on the coffee table @ 9'.(vaulted ceilings so that is not an option)

[mechman]

Well I love to show what my HC3000 can do in the light!



All the lights on in the room and still a very watchable picture. The 1500 would be just as good if not better. The only thing it lacks is the better contrast ratio and the Brilliant Color technology.

mech

[Sonnie]

I don't know of any others in your price range with the lumens you need other than the ones mentioned. I think the extra lumens in the 1500 is going to make the picture better than watchable in lighted situations. My Z4 is very watchable at 1100 lumens and even higher contrast ratio rating, but I would rather have better than watchable if I were going to be using it frequently for games and such during the day.

It might be good if they would let you take one home and test it prior to making a final decision. Then you would know what is acceptable to you.

[mechman]

Sonnie offers some good advice and I'd like to add that when we're talking ANSI lumens it's no where near where the actual lumen output will be once your projector is video optimized. I will have the capability of measuring mine in a couple weeks (not the knowledge yet though! ) but if I were to guess... I'd say I'm throwing somewhere around 400 lumens at the screen.

mech

[Sonnie]

That's probably the same with contrast ratio as well... generally we don't get near anything close to the rated ratio.

[E-A-G-L-E-S]

Thanks guys....just gotta decide which one of the group to go with.
Then I'll throw it at my sanded wall and see what size I want to go.
Then the gray screen most likely but i'll start a thread for that.

[E-A-G-L-E-S]

Oh, and obviously hard to tell on the net, but yours is in more light and yet seems 'much' less faded?
Also, that 3000 is a nice picture and i don't want to get the 1500 or another unit and then say I should have gotten the 3000....man picking my DLP was much easier than this, lol.

[<^..^>Smokey Joe]

I note you stated 8 or 9 foot from screen. You might be lucky to get the screen out past 78inchs at that range.

Bare in mind viewing angle. SMPTE found that a 25~33deg viewing angle was best for movie theatres. But the sweet spot is 30degress.
This means the screen size is found by calculating the distance from your seating by a 30degree viewing arc.

You can be too big.
Anywhoo, If you are going to do alot of mix viewing, sports during the day and movies at night.

Some things to consider. You could choose which is more important, sports or movies. Movies you could be more critical about perfection, sports one can be less so as the event itself is more important than seeing hairs within flaring nostrals, if you know what I mean.

Display size can increase lums by using a smaller area. ie have a larger screen for movies in dark conditions, decrease the display area for daytime sports viewing along with a daytime calibrated setting.

Keep things and ideas flexible.

CR ratios are numbers really met in reality. CR is an important value, but only if real.

<^..^>

[E-A-G-L-E-S]

E-A-G-L-E-S wrote:

Also, I've decide to mount a brace on my rear wall to standard mount the PJ @13.5' instead of sitting on the coffee table @ 9'.(vaulted ceilings so that is not an option)

So I think 95-102/3 is possible, no?

Your other points about changing screen size for daytime viewing and quality for night movie watching being more important....but if the projector is too dim it doesn't matter how good the PQ is as I'm afraid I'd have to go really small to defeat the sun.