At what screen size does a projector become cost effective?

[sdifox]

Get fixed screen

 

[Aikouka]

Do you already have a receiver & speakers? If not, check out this Atmos system by Onkyo - $699 with receiver & sub:

http://www.amazon.com/Onkyo-HT-S5800-5-1-2-Channel-Theater-Package/dp/B00YMN69XS/

I thought Dolby Atmos is the in-ceiling audio stuff? That thing doesn't have any ports on the back for ceiling speakers.

 

[SLU Aequitas]

I thought Dolby Atmos is the in-ceiling audio stuff? That thing doesn't have any ports on the back for ceiling speakers.

It does, #7 & 8 on that picture; "Heights/Back" which suggests they can be processed.

Moot point as he already has a receiver.
Double moot as .2 (two ceiling speakers) isn't really enough to get the effect, .4 is really minimum with .6 (not currently supported by consumer line receivers that I know of) is suggested.

 

[Kaido]

I thought Dolby Atmos is the in-ceiling audio stuff? That thing doesn't have any ports on the back for ceiling speakers.

It's flexible. The core idea is that the video uses up to 128 audio tracks with pan metadata, so they can take the audio through 3D space & not just the center or satellites. So rather than picking a specific speaker for the audio to come through, they program where they want the sound to be within basically a 3D box, and then your local system processes that information to see how best to distribute the sound.

One of the central ideas is the ceiling stuff, but the most basic system consists of a surround-sound system that has an Atmos receiver with a pair of Atmos-enabled speakers (has an extra speaker on top to bounce the sound up to the ceiling, instead of actually installing speakers in the ceiling). Two is minimum, but Dolby recommends four. Here's a good article that gives more information:

http://thenextweb.com/gadgets/2014/...ys-atmos-home-theatre-mobile-3d-sound-system/

I'd like to try it out just from a geeky perspective. My basement is getting overhauled right now due to water damage, so maybe it's a good time to look into it :awe:

 

[ControlD]

Don't get me looking at new technology, I'll be wanting an audio upgrade if I am not careful.

Monoprice has some decently priced screens that seem to be reviewed pretty well. That looks like a decent option.

 

[SLU Aequitas]

My 7.1.4 setup is coming along, looking forward to testing out some Atmos movies soon.

 

[slag]

I have a w1070 setup and love it to death. Still need to make my screen with blackout cloth (I don't want to paint the wall), but love love love it over my 73 inch dlp. I absolutely love watching the 3d movies as well on it. I do have an HDMI handshake issue that I never had before with the dlp, but I just restart the htpc and everything is fine until I turn off the projector and receiver again. Minor inconvenience.... My house was prewired, but kind of in a weird way. The rear speaker wires were in wall, there is a center rear as well that I don't use. There's a front center channel that is wired up high, and the central speaker wire area is under the screen, so, I had some wiring manipulation to do, but it all worked out. I have 8 foot ceilings, but my screen height is only 6 feet. I plan on making it larger when I use the blackout cloth as I'm going to set the screen out from the wall about 4 inches to go over a couple plugins and other things that I currently can't so I can increase my screen size.

 

[ControlD]

Thanks for the input slag.

I think I will go for either the w1070 or the ht1075 when I actually get around to purchasing. Trying to get drywall people in to give me an estimate is taking longer than I expected. I could do it myself but it will take forever before I am finished. I suppose if I see a really good deal before then I can go ahead and purchase, but no sense buying now and having to wait a couple of months before powering it up. That would be terrible for my state of mind!

 

[BurnItDwn]

Im in a 25 x 10 room with a 106 inch screen. It works damn well, have used this setup for like 5 years or so. I did have a bulb blow up, but I replaced it.

Prior to this i had a 61 inch rear projection set. Currently I have a 50 inch modern visio LCD in the living room

My projector was a combo from costco when they included mitsu hc3800 projector, + extra bulb, + electronic controlled screen ...

I would recommend a similar setup if its an option and if you can keep the light levels down. (mine is in basement and window at very back of room.)

 

[ControlD]

Im in a 25 x 10 room with a 106 inch screen. It works damn well, have used this setup for like 5 years or so. I did have a bulb blow up, but I replaced it.

Prior to this i had a 61 inch rear projection set. Currently I have a 50 inch modern visio LCD in the living room

My projector was a combo from costco when they included mitsu hc3800 projector, + extra bulb, + electronic controlled screen ...

I would recommend a similar setup if its an option and if you can keep the light levels down. (mine is in basement and window at very back of room.)

That's good to know. I have a similar sized room and trying to decide on the screen size is tough. Right now I am thinking 100" simply because the following screen has really good reviews considering the price (and it ships Prime):

http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00HZRM9K0/ref=s9_simh_gw_p23_d4_i1?pf_rd_m=ATVPDKIKX0DER&pf_rd_s=desktop-5&pf_rd_r=0CKGKFHMTQ2DQGNR2VRT&pf_rd_t=36701&pf_rd_p=2090149182&pf_rd_i=desktop

Seems like a 100" screen should be enough

 

[BurnItDwn]

If you have good light control, you may want to consider a lower gain grey screen if its an option to improve the perceived black level. But, I am sure you have done, or are doing your research.

I like my setup so much that I hardly ever even touch my triple headed gaming setup in my home office with fancy radeon 290 video card, instead I find myself playing on my old basement computer all the time with the 106 inch screen.

That said, I just swapped out the old mobo/cpu for a 4690k and have an SSD in it ... but it still has only a 6870 video card since it only runs 1080p.

 

[slag]

That's good to know. I have a similar sized room and trying to decide on the screen size is tough. Right now I am thinking 100" simply because the following screen has really good reviews considering the price (and it ships Prime):

http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B0...rd_t=36701&pf_rd_p=2090149182&pf_rd_i=desktop

Seems like a 100" screen should be enough

You'll quickly want something larger.. and I mean, 2 weeks tops, quickly. With the real estate you have to work with, 100 inch seems pretty small to me.

 

[slag]

I am not up-to-date on 3D, but one link I saw mentioned buying third-party brands of active 3D shutter glasses for cheaper. This one says it works with the prior W1070, might be worth looking into:

http://www.amazon.com/SainSonic-Rechargeable-DLP-Link-Projector-Universal/dp/B00ES8U118/

The price has really gone up on these. I bought these on August 16th and paid $69.99 for them. $15.00 increase already. I needed 5 total, so I ended up buying a single for $17.99 as well.

 

[ControlD]

​

You'll quickly want something larger.. and I mean, 2 weeks tops, quickly. With the real estate you have to work with, 100 inch seems pretty small to me.

It seems like that would be hard to do without having an exceptionally high ceiling though wouldn't it? The general recommendations I have seen are to have the screen at least one foot below the ceiling and three feet up from the floor. This leaves at best a 48" vertical working distance. Even that 100" screen I linked to has a vertical size of 54" which means either mounting closer to the ceiling or the floor than is optimal.

Maybe those are just general rules however. I don't have much experience even viewing home theater setups that use screens of this size so I don't have much to go on. I can't imagine you want to get much lower than a couple of feet from the floor however.

 

[slag]

It seems like that would be hard to do without having an exceptionally high ceiling though wouldn't it? The general recommendations I have seen are to have the screen at least one foot below the ceiling and three feet up from the floor. This leaves at best a 48" vertical working distance. Even that 100" screen I linked to has a vertical size of 54" which means either mounting closer to the ceiling or the floor than is optimal.

Maybe those are just general rules however. I don't have much experience even viewing home theater setups that use screens of this size so I don't have much to go on. I can't imagine you want to get much lower than a couple of feet from the floor however.

I have mine 1 foot from the ceiling and 1 foot from the floor and its perfect. *6 foot high image* I think 3 feet up would be ok, but fairly high. Then again, my seating is rather plush and easy to sink into so it works for us.

EDIT: With letterboxing on many movies, you will have black lines at the top and bottom anyway, so the actual video itself starts 2-3 feet up while the projection might start at a foot from the bottom.

EDIT again. With a 6 foot vertical size, looks like I'm sitting at 147 inches diagonal. I'm going to make my screen over a 1x4 frame and set it out from the wall a bit on spacers so I can cover the speaker jacks in the wall. That should give me another foot combined top and bottom for a 7 foot vertical screen.

 

[sdifox]

It seems like that would be hard to do without having an exceptionally high ceiling though wouldn't it? The general recommendations I have seen are to have the screen at least one foot below the ceiling and three feet up from the floor. This leaves at best a 48" vertical working distance. Even that 100" screen I linked to has a vertical size of 54" which means either mounting closer to the ceiling or the floor than is optimal.

Maybe those are just general rules however. I don't have much experience even viewing home theater setups that use screens of this size so I don't have much to go on. I can't imagine you want to get much lower than a couple of feet from the floor however.

them be recommendations, not set in stone.

 

[Eug]

Just a contrarian opinion here:

I have had a projector throwing a 90" image for the past 8 years. Works fine, but when this projector dies, I'm going to replace it with a TV.

Why?

1) No need to shut off the lights.
2) No need to replace bulbs.
3) No need to refocus the projector.
4) No overhead projector fan noise. (Mine's quiet by most measures, but it's still not as quiet as a TV.)
5) Stray light doesn't affect the image much.
6) Better ergonomics, since you don't have to look up as high to see the top of the screen.
7) Etc.

I think I'll go with a 70"-ish TV. Actually, the main reason I didn't get such a TV back then was because TVs that large were insanely expensive. These days, they're priced much lower, which to me makes dealing with the hassles and annoyances of projection just not worth it.

 

[ControlD]

Just a contrarian opinion here:

I have had a projector throwing a 90" image for the past 8 years. Works fine, but when this projector dies, I'm going to replace it with a TV.

Why?

1) No need to shut off the lights.
2) No need to replace bulbs.
3) No need to refocus the projector.
4) No overhead projector fan noise. (Mine's quiet by most measures, but it's still not as quiet as a TV.)
5) Stray light doesn't affect the image much.
6) Better ergonomics, since you don't have to look up as high to see the top of the screen.
7) Etc.

I think I'll go with a 70"-ish TV. Actually, the main reason I didn't get such a TV back then was because TVs that large were insanely expensive. These days, they're priced much lower, which to me makes dealing with the hassles and annoyances of projection just not worth it.

Yeah, I have still been throwing the idea of a large TV back and forth as well. It would be nice to have a screen big enough to actually see 1080p however, and at 14' away that is going to require something at least 80", most likely bigger.

 

[Eug]

Maybe I'm biased because I usually sit ~12 feet away from a 42" TV in my living room, and I'm fine with that. So, sitting 9-13 feet from a 70" TV in the media room would still be a huge difference.

I find 90" at 9 feet a bit much though. And if you're into gaming, it's puke-inducing.

P.S. For the projector, I had to invest in $$$ HDMI cable for it to work properly over those relatively long distances. The Monoprice 26 AWG cables I bought would give me problems, and some of the 24 AWG cables also were problematic, so instead I bought built-to-length Blue Jeans Series 1 cable. Shipped to Canada it cost me over $100 per cable.

http://www.bluejeanscable.com/store/hdmi-cables/hdmi-cable.htm

BTW, by "long distances" I mean 15 feet to 50 feet. The 50 feet cables were a lost cause, but some of the cables at 15 feet even caused problems. I believe my main ones were 25-35 feet although I can't remember the exact length. In that ballpark anyway.

For a TV, I'd just be buying a standard 10 foot HDMI cable.

 

[ControlD]

We sit 15 feet away from a 46" TV right now. My wife constantly complains that the TV is too small for it to be used as a movie room TV. Now, the real question is whether a jump from 46" to 100" is just going too far overboard. Then again, I have never gone to a movie and complained that the screen was too small!

 

[sdifox]

We sit 15 feet away from a 46" TV right now. My wife constantly complains that the TV is too small for it to be used as a movie room TV. Now, the real question is whether a jump from 46" to 100" is just going too far overboard. Then again, I have never gone to a movie and complained that the screen was too small!

There is only "We bought too small"

 

[slag]

Maybe I'm biased because I usually sit ~12 feet away from a 42" TV in my living room, and I'm fine with that. So, sitting 9-13 feet from a 70" TV in the media room would still be a huge difference.

I find 90" at 9 feet a bit much though. And if you're into gaming, it's puke-inducing.

P.S. For the projector, I had to invest in $$$ HDMI cable for it to work properly over those relatively long distances. The Monoprice 26 AWG cables I bought would give me problems, and some of the 24 AWG cables also were problematic, so instead I bought built-to-length Blue Jeans Series 1 cable. Shipped to Canada it cost me over $100 per cable.

http://www.bluejeanscable.com/store/hdmi-cables/hdmi-cable.htm

BTW, by "long distances" I mean 15 feet to 50 feet. The 50 feet cables were a lost cause, but some of the cables at 15 feet even caused problems. I believe my main ones were 25-35 feet although I can't remember the exact length. In that ballpark anyway.

For a TV, I'd just be buying a standard 10 foot HDMI cable.

FWIW, I've had really really good luck with Twisted Veins hdmi cables off Amazon and they are pretty cheap. I have a 50 footer and a 25 footer and a 10 footer going through two wall jacks and everything looks and sounds fantastic.

 

[Eug]

There is only "We bought too small"

I disagree. I find 90" in our home theatre room a bit too big. I've gotten used to it so it's OK, but I'd prefer smaller, which is why I'm thinking a 70" TV might just be perfect.

And in our living room, we built a custom cabinet to hide the TV. The maximum TV size it can hold is 43" and we're perfectly fine with that. We don't like the look of ginormous TVs in living rooms. Also, projection in the main living room is a total non-starter.

FWIW, I've had really really good luck with Twisted Veins hdmi cables off Amazon and they are pretty cheap. I have a 50 footer and a 25 footer and a 10 footer going through two wall jacks and everything looks and sounds fantastic.

I don't know those HDMI cables, but if it's going to be mounted permanently behind a wall, I'd suggest getting the best cables (within reason) that you can afford. The problem is that even if it does work with your current setup, it may not work with new equipment.

In fact, this is precisely the problem I had. Some cables worked fine with my equipment, but when I got a new Blu-ray player the same cable had problems. I'd get snow or screen flashing. Swap in the old player and it worked fine. Swap in the new player again, and same problem. Bought a new cable and all problems disappeared.

This seems to happen a lot more frequently with long HDMI cables, for obvious reasons. IMO, anything at 25' and longer should be high quality cables. Even at 15 feet it can be problematic. OTOH, with 3 foot cables you can often get away with total garbage. In fact, I'm using a 1.5 foot cable to attach a computer to a monitor, and the cable looks like a USB cable for a phone, but still works fine. Could you imagine trying to use a cable of that calibre for a 25 foot run? Of course not.

 

[purbeast0]

if you are thinking TV sized projection screen, go with the projector. if you are thinking like 90+ inches (and trust me, if you have room for bigger, you will want bigger) then go projector.

i have a 60" plasma in my living room, and a 120" screen in my HT. sometimes when i'm watching my 60" tv i think to myself 'my screen downstairs is literally 4 of these tvs in a grid' and try to visualize just how big 120" would be in my living room.

120" compared to an 80" or 70" tv is A LOT larger and immersive.

Eug's list is kind of flawed. the bulb replacing isn't true either if you want to get a large DLP because those have bulbs. some of them are true (and obvious though, like light controlled).

ergonomics thing though, that makes very little sense. if you set your stuff up right you don't have to worry about it. majority of people who mount tvs on the wall do it wrong too and put it too high, but they think it's fine.

the refocusing thing i don't get either. i've never had to refocus my projector in the nearly 3 years i've owned it. it's not like it is moved or throw distances change, it's in the same spot now as it was before.

the fan noise is negligible too. do you watch movies/tv with the volume at a whisper? if not, then the noise won't bother you because you won't hear it over your speakers.

 

[sdifox]

I disagree. I find 90" in our home theatre room a bit too big. I've gotten used to it so it's OK, but I'd prefer smaller, which is why I'm thinking a 70" TV might just be perfect.

And in our living room, we built a custom cabinet to hide the TV. The maximum TV size it can hold is 43" and we're perfectly fine with that. We don't like the look of ginormous TVs in living rooms. Also, projection in the main living room is a total non-starter.


I don't know those HDMI cables, but if it's going to be mounted permanently behind a wall, I'd suggest getting the best cables (within reason) that you can afford. The problem is that even if it does work with your current setup, it may not work with new equipment.

In fact, this is precisely the problem I had. Some cables worked fine with my equipment, but when I got a new Blu-ray player the same cable had problems. I'd get snow or screen flashing. Swap in the old player and it worked fine. Swap in the new player again, and same problem. Bought a new cable and all problems disappeared.

This seems to happen a lot more frequently with long HDMI cables, for obvious reasons. IMO, anything at 25' and longer should be high quality cables. Even at 15 feet it can be problematic. OTOH, with 3 foot cables you can often get away with total garbage. In fact, I'm using a 1.5 foot cable to attach a computer to a monitor, and the cable looks like a USB cable for a phone, but still works fine. Could you imagine trying to use a cable of that calibre for a 25 foot run? Of course not.

You can mask a screen if you find it toobig, you cannot make it bigger.