At what screen size does a projector become cost effective?

[ControlD]

Well things continue to progress in the basement. The drywall is hung and finished and I got primer put on this past weekend. All of the electrical work is done. So, I had a spare hour last night and decided to go ahead and hang the projector. I have never hung a projector before but there isn't much to it. Took about 30 minutes, most of that time was figuring out the mount itself and what legs and screws to use.

Once it was hung I went through the adjustments to get a rectangular image (it was a neat trapezoid to start) about the size I wanted. I hooked my Bluray player up, Big Hero 6 was already in the tray so I just went with that. My goodness. It looks glorious. Just on a primer covered wall. I can't wait to get this room finished and a screen hung. My wife was hoping we could watch Walking Dead that way last night but I have no way to get a TV signal to it yet. Stupid me, I was thinking there would be a tuner built in but that wouldn't make sense. I ordered a Tivo Mini that should be in tomorrow so we can try that out next weekend.

 

[purbeast0]

why was it a trapezoid at first? that doesn't sound right, unless you just mean it wasn't level with the floor and projecting perpendicular to the wall.

and lol when i got my stuff, before i had my speakers and in-wall wiring set up, i brought old speakers into my basement and ran like a 50ft coax from my main floor to the basement so we could watch a football game down there.

 

[sdifox]

why was it a trapezoid at first? that doesn't sound right, unless you just mean it wasn't level with the floor and projecting perpendicular to the wall.

and lol when i got my stuff, before i had my speakers and in-wall wiring set up, i brought old speakers into my basement and ran like a 50ft coax from my main floor to the basement so we could watch a football game down there.

mounting projector and screen to be perfectly squared is not exactly easy. That is why I like mounts with screw drive adjustments.

 

[SLU Aequitas]

When you're ceiling mounted, you're projecting down at an angle, which results in a trapezoid shape until you adjust the lens angle.

 

[SLU Aequitas]

Also, I'm lucky enough to have contractors so I broke the Rule lol. Getting there!

 

[purbeast0]

mounting projector and screen to be perfectly squared is not exactly easy. That is why I like mounts with screw drive adjustments.

yeah but i wasn't sure if he meant that he was adjusting the keystone on the projector or if he was adjusting the screws on the mount. adjusting the screws on the mount is normal, having to adjust the keystones is not and usually means you are mounting it poorly.

 

[ControlD]

yeah but i wasn't sure if he meant that he was adjusting the keystone on the projector or if he was adjusting the screws on the mount. adjusting the screws on the mount is normal, having to adjust the keystones is not and usually means you are mounting it poorly.

I didn't do any keystone adjustment. Basically, I would tilt the projector down a little bit and then use the lens shift to drop the picture back down. I did that three or four times (maybe more) and slowly the picture started to square off.

I bought a projector with a ton of lens shift so I was probably a little lazy in the initial mounting.

 

[ControlD]

My screen should be delivered today. Things are getting close to being finished! Hopefully this weekend I can get the screen mounted as well as the speakers. I need to get the electrical run in the A/V closet. That just leaves putting a floor in the room and mounting the window blinds and I can move onto the next project.

I'll try to get some pictures put up once everything is mounted.

 

[ControlD]

So the room is pretty much finished, so I thought I would share a picture.

Before I started, the room had some really dark wood paneling on the walls (no drywall), carpet and two can lights.

After gutting everything this is what I ended up doing.

Here is an in-progess picture showing the actual projector:

The project consisted of the following major points:

- drywall
- DIY board and baton paneling
- new ceiling texture (was popcorn)
- cut in nine can lights
- all new electrical
- entertainment pieces (speakers, projector, etc.)
- vinyl plank flooring

It took awhile but I'm pretty happy with it and I love watching stuff on the big screen.

 

[sdifox]

Need bigger speakers

 

[ControlD]

Need bigger speakers

LOL, I was waiting for that!

 

[purbeast0]

looks nice man, hope you can clean up those wires though!

 

[ControlD]

looks nice man, hope you can clean up those wires though!

Thanks.

I have the subwoofer wire tucked behind the quarter round now (it wasn't installed in that picture) and the projector wiring is all cleaned up now. I'm not sure if I can do anything about the center channel speaker wire or not though. I wasn't 100% sure how I was going to mount the center when I cut the box in so there might always be a bit of wire showing.

 

[Squeetard]

Prices jump on TVs after 65 inches.

I'll second this.

Edit: Oops. Guess I'm a bit late to this netflix and chill.

 

[13Gigatons]

Looks Great!

 

[ControlD]

Looks Great!

Thanks!

It was a fun project. I learned how to do all kinds of things I have never done before.

 

[SLU Aequitas]

Next project: build your own speakers!

 

[ControlD]

Next project: build your own speakers!

That might be a "down the road" project. This makes two rooms finished in the basement. Have one more to go then I can start having fun.

 

[SLU Aequitas]

It is a lot of fun, and they sound amazing I need to get back to building, I did my false wall and window plugs, but client work and new baby prep has killed all free time.

 

[sdifox]

LOL, I was waiting for that!

these are the dimensions of my centre

• [FONT=Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif]Width: 21-1/2"[/FONT]
• [FONT=Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif]Height: 8-5/16"[/FONT]
• [FONT=Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif]Depth: 15"[/FONT]

[FONT=Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif]and the mains[/FONT]


9"W x 17"D x 50"H and weights about 125lbs each.

 

[MongGrel]

Need bigger speakers

LOL, I was waiting for that!

Looking great to me, but yeah the speaker thing was bound to happen.

:thumbsup::thumbsup:

Have way more speakers than screen myself.

 

[ControlD]

My wife already tells me the system is too loud ....

But seriously, for the size those speakers sound pretty good. I actually put that sound system together to go with a 46" TV that was hanging on the wall, so everything was a pretty good fit at the time. I think we watched two movies down there after spending a weekend tearing off paneling and running all the wires. Two weeks later my basement flooded and I didn't get to use any of the equipment for close to six months.

If the flood had happened a couple of weeks earlier I probably would have gone with floor standing speakers but for now what I have will work.

I appreciate you guys letting me bounce ideas off you for the past few months too. Made the whole process less intimidating for sure.

 

[lsd]

Does it sound okay with the wood flooring? I would think you get a lot of echoing with the sound waves bouncing everywhere.
Also The white wood paneling looks nice but it too becomes a reflective surface. The light from the screen will reflect off the white and bounce back to the screen and make it look somewhat washed out.

 

[ControlD]

Does it sound okay with the wood flooring? I would think you get a lot of echoing with the sound waves bouncing everywhere.

The floor is actually vinyl, not wood so it might not be quite as reflective of sound. There is some echoing for sure, but now that I have furniture and other objects in the room it isn't too bad. Carpet would be better, but I'm not doing carpet in the basement ever again.

Also The white wood paneling looks nice but it too becomes a reflective surface. The light from the screen will reflect off the white and bounce back to the screen and make it look somewhat washed out.

That's a valid point. I haven't noticed any real negatives having the white portion of the wall, but I also am not using a home theater grade projector. This room is used for more than just watching movies also, so having it look nice and not like a bat cave was a directive from "the boss".

 

[purbeast0]

The floor is actually vinyl, not wood so it might not be quite as reflective of sound. There is some echoing for sure, but now that I have furniture and other objects in the room it isn't too bad. Carpet would be better, but I'm not doing carpet in the basement ever again.



That's a valid point. I haven't noticed any real negatives having the white portion of the wall, but I also am not using a home theater grade projector. This room is used for more than just watching movies also, so having it look nice and not like a bat cave was a directive from "the boss".

it does make a big difference. when i first got my projector up in my basement i was projecting on a yellow wall. the contrast was pretty bad just due to the color of the wall when looking at it.

i talked to my wife and told her i wanted to do the wall with the screen dark paint and she said to bring her options, so i went to HD and got some reds, blues, and browns i think. ended up going with a dark red.

once i had the wall painted, i then realized how bad the white ceiling made things as well. so i ended up painting the ceiling, as well as the adjacent wall.

it really does make a noticeable difference with the contrast, so if you can, i'd recommend trying to talk your wife into it. just show her some pictures of it done classy and not "bat cave" like. my wife loves how our basement looks now.

EDIT:

here are some before/after of the room that happened to be taken at pretty much the same angles.