Time to build my home theater dedicated room, suggestions needed

[kennyq3a]

Hello everyone,

I am new to this forum but have spent the past few hours reading up on a lot of threads about different DIY screens and setups. Now I embark on my own journey,

I just recently purchased a Sharp XR-30X projector to be used in a dedicated room in my basement with controlled lighting, which can be set completely dark.

To start, anyone have any experience or opinions of the XR-30X projector? I know it isn't "ideal" for movies or whatever, but I was able to get it refurbished for $325 so I couldn't resist.

As far as painting the wall in the basement, I am leaning toward the BW mix versus C&S , because lighting is not an issue BW should offer better blacks and colors if I understand correctly whereas C&S is for projectors with less lumens or lighting control issues?

I appreciate any input and thank you for your help in advance.

[jsegura3]

Actually C&S is best for dedicated home theaters with no light control issues. BW is for those that have ambient light issues. Although your projector has adequate brightness to use with BW, C&S may be best suited for you HT room. Do you prep work on the wall, make it as smooth as you can. Also take your time and keep reading, the more you learn the better your results will be. Good luck and post your results.

[ScruffyHT]

Might want to sell that projector and get one that is designed for Home Theater.

The 4:3 Native Aspect Ratio of that projector will not give a true picture for standard HD broadcast and be even worse for cinemascope movies

Think of that model Sharp like the old school square shaped tube TV's that chops everything off except whats in the middle of the picture

What you are looking for in a Home Theater Projector would be a native 16:9 aspect ratio and 720p or 1080p rez ... lots to choose from in the 899 and up price range brand new ( or as little as 600 on ebay ) ... goto projectorcentral.com and research one that fits your budget

With 16:9 most everything will fill the screen and cinemascope will have black bars top and bottom only

One step further is to go CIH ( constant Image Height ) and get a 2.35:1 cinemascope screen and add either a anamorphic lens to the 16:9 projector to stretch the image wider for cinemascope ( just be sure that the projector also has vertical stretch as a standard feature ... most optomas for eg have this )

or

the new panasonic ae3000 has a auto zoom feature for cinemascope whereby you dont need a lens ... regular 16:9 tv for most tv shows and sports and then zoom ( or slide the lens in front ) for cinemascope movies

with cinemascope you will see the majority of movies in their native aspect ratio

[kennyq3a]

Yea I noticed that the native resolution for the projector is in a 4:3 ratio, but I was hoping that by being able to use the stretch feature and play movies in 16:9 that it wouldn't make too much of a difference. I was more concerned with a decent contrast ratio (which it has as 2200:1) and was thinking that the 4:3 native was moreso insignificant.

I guess when I use the 16:9 mode it will trim the resolution from 1024x768 to 1024x576. My friend had an infocus SP 4805 which looked fairly good and it was native 16:9 but only 854 x 480 so I guess that with this projector I would still be getting more pixels than his.

Was I wrong ? Thanks again for your help

[Harpmaker]

Hi kennyq3a,

Welcome to the Shack!

With the brightness of your PJ, I'm thinking BW would be the better mix for you; but it depends on a few things you haven't mentioned yet.

What are the colors of your walls, floor and ceiling in your HT?

How far away is the PJ from the screen?

What size is the screen?

How far away will viewers be from the screen?

[kennyq3a]

The ceiling has no colors (unfinished with piping), the floor is carpet, and the other walls are a mix between hanging insulation and white paint.

The projector can be set up to a maximum of 22 ft from the screen, viewers will be about ~ 15-20 ft from the screen, and I am thinking of making the screen 4:3 aspect ratio, with about 120" diagonal (96"x72")

EDIT: updated screen size

[Harpmaker]

Armed with that info, it seems you could go either way (BW or C&S). The lighter the walls/ceiling/floor in the HT, the more ambient light there will be even with no other light on in the room except for the PJ (light from the screen is reflected back onto the screen).

Since this is going to be a dedicated HT room, the darker the total room finish is, the lighter the screen shade can be. You will reach a point where viewer-preference makes the deciding vote as to screen shade.

Honestly, I would prime your wall with Kilz2 (or other water-based primer) and use that "screen" to do a base-line calibration of your PJ, and then watch some movies/TV and see how you like it. C&S will have similar white-levels to the primer while increasing the apparent contrast a bit. BW will lower while-levels, but it will provide even more contrast enhancement and over-all color richness; at least in my experience. I will admit that I like a darker screen than a lot of people.

C&S is a very good screen mix, but it doesn't take much ambient light hitting the screen before apparent contrast starts going south. BW tolerates a lot of ambient light while retaining a great picture, but it is a darker gray screen.

BTW, according to the Pro calculator at PJcentral, to get a 120" 4:3 image with your PJ it can be anywhere from 17' to 14' 9" from the screen.
http://www.projectorcentral.com/Shar...ulator-pro.htm

[kennyq3a]

Thanks for the info, I think I will be going with BW for now, I will update with photos later in the week as the projector comes in and the room is finished.

[ScruffyHT]

kennyq3a wrote:

Yea I noticed that the native resolution for the projector is in a 4:3 ratio, but I was hoping that by being able to use the stretch feature and play movies in 16:9 that it wouldn't make too much of a difference. I was more concerned with a decent contrast ratio (which it has as 2200:1) and was thinking that the 4:3 native was moreso insignificant.

I guess when I use the 16:9 mode it will trim the resolution from 1024x768 to 1024x576. My friend had an infocus SP 4805 which looked fairly good and it was native 16:9 but only 854 x 480 so I guess that with this projector I would still be getting more pixels than his.

Was I wrong ? Thanks again for your help

If you have controlled lighting then brightness and contrast are not that much of a issue

the projector you have is designed for business presentations not home theater

as a example look at the hd70 from optoma which you can buy on ebay for about 600 and up

Native 720p high-definition home theater projector
Bright 1000 lumens with 4000:1 contrast ratio (with ImageAI™)
Native widescreen with a 16:9 aspect ratio
ImageAI technology adjusts light intensity output to deliver remarkable contrast levels
Whisper-quiet at 28dB to ensure silent operation