Living room projector - Help

[Sidekicknichola]

For the last few years I have lived in where I had a lot of light control in my living room and because of that have used a projector/screen as my main tv.

Recently just bought a new place and my Optoma HD20 @ 1500 lumens won't cut the mustard due to the amount of windows in the living room.

.... I've been shopping ~70" TVs and even those seem small after getting use to 110" screen for years.

I'm looking at this projector as a solution - http://www.projectorcentral.com/Optoma-TH1060P.htm
- It is rated at 4500 lumens.... which would be 3x brighter than before. Base on the photo(s) below, any idea if this projector would be a viable option in a room with as much light as you see below

Thanks!

 

[olds]

The image isn't working for me but it may be blocked here.

 

[purbeast0]

based on that projectorcentral link, it looks like that projector is for businesses and presentations, not for movie watching.

i personally don't even know what that really means and how they are actually different, but i just thought i'd point that out.

 

[Sidekicknichola]

based on that projectorcentral link, it looks like that projector is for businesses and presentations, not for movie watching.

It seems like it has been tagged as a multipurpose projector... it has a 1080p native resolution and HMDI inputs, so thats all I really need.... the biggest concern is lumens, and this things seems like it is a light cannon.

I found a thread here that seems to answer my questions - http://www.avsforum.com/t/1412458/optoma-th1060p-4500-lumens-why-is-there-such-little-buzz

Thanks!

 

[Kaido]

First thought - can you install better blinds or drapes? Target sells the Eclipse brand of drapes with Thermaback for blackout capabilities for a very reasonable price:

http://www.target.com/p/eclipse-twine-thermaback/-/A-12835397

Somfy makes motorized drape systems if you want to get fancy:

http://www.somfysystems.com/

Second thought - you have you considered building a Silver Fire screen? They help in brighter situations:

http://www.avsforum.com/t/1311989/the-official-silver-fire-v-2-thread

Some screenshots:

http://i551.photobucket.com/albums/ii457/jdevelvi/DSC05962.jpg

http://www.derekreynolds.com/gallery/albums/FinishedBlackFlame/IMG_0232.jpg

http://i.imgur.com/FMPnz23.jpg

http://i551.photobucket.com/albums/ii457/jdevelvi/DSC05960.jpg

http://i551.photobucket.com/albums/ii457/jdevelvi/DSC06098.jpg

http://i551.photobucket.com/albums/ii457/jdevelvi/DSC06099.jpg

http://i551.photobucket.com/albums/ii457/jdevelvi/DSC06100.jpg

It's not miracle cure, but it helps when there is more ambient light to deal with.

Like purbeast0, that is more of a conference room projector. What that means is that you get a really bright picture (high lumens - 4500) but a lot less contrast (2500:1 in this case). My other concern would be blowing out highlights (like clouds would be all-white instead of mixed shades of gray). In comparison, I have a LED projector that only has 500 lumens, but the contrast is 6000:1 and the picture quality is amazing. So if you can get away with some method for light control, such as a combination of a special DIY screen designed for improving the image's contrast in bright situations and perhaps some blinds & drapes, you might be able to get away with a less-bright projector that still gives you the picture you want. Also check over on AVS Forum, they have a lot of discussions on stuff like that:

http://www.avsforum.com/t/1459959/projector-in-bright-room

 

[Kaido]

It seems like it has been tagged as a multipurpose projector... it has a 1080p native resolution and HMDI inputs, so thats all I really need.... the biggest concern is lumens, and this things seems like it is a light cannon.

I found a thread here that seems to answer my questions - http://www.avsforum.com/t/1412458/optoma-th1060p-4500-lumens-why-is-there-such-little-buzz

Thanks!

Hah, beat me to it, took me too long to type up the last post :biggrin: And it's not always bad to have a ton of lumens, as illustrated in these posts:

http://www.avsforum.com/t/1412458/o...s-why-is-there-such-little-buzz#post_22247638

http://www.avsforum.com/t/1412458/o...s-why-is-there-such-little-buzz#post_22277090

My first projector was a high-lumen Optoma, not designed for home theater, that I used as a combo PowerPoint projector and home theater unit. Worked just fine. Some of the highlights blew out, but I wasn't even using a dedicated screen at home at the time, and it handled video games just fine

 

[Sidekicknichola]

can you install better blinds or drapes? Target sells the Eclipse brand of drapes with Thermaback for blackout capabilities for a very reasonable price

That was my first thought, but the previous owner just spent $8,000 on the blinds in the living room, they're super nice other than the fact they're white. The photo only shows one wall, but the windows you see are like 4'x6' each and there are about 10 of them in the living room / kitchen area .... and most importantly, the Mrs. likes the current ones.

you have you considered building a Silver Fire screen? They help in brighter situations:

I haven't yet... I currently have a 110" Elite Screens fixed frame screen that has been working great... if I could re-use it, that would be ideal, but of the silver fire makes that much of a difference, maybe that is the way to go.

Thanks for the input!

 

[Sidekicknichola]

.... a better idea of the extend of the windows in that room... each window is like 4'x6' (they're big) and there are lots of them.

 

[NutBucket]

Damn. Nice looking place.

 

[Kaido]

.... a better idea of the extend of the windows in that room... each window is like 4'x6' (they're big) and there are lots of them.

If the Mrs. is open to it, you could throw some drapes up there to compliment the blinds and solve the problem. Not a great pic, but here's something off Google images:

http://www.this-co.com/assets/images/new-york-motorized-shading.jpg

So when it's movie time, hit a button and have the drapes slide out in front of the blinds.

Also, great-looking place :thumbsup:

 

[Sidekicknichola]

Damn. Nice looking place.

Thanks! We got it at a steal, buying this place will cost us like $50 less a month than renting our current place is.... and we get over double the space!

you could throw some drapes up there to compliment the blinds and solve the problem.

Drapes would certainly be a cheaper route to go.
I just went to Bestbuy to see if they had any "bright" projectors in the magnolia section, brightest one was 2400 lumens and honestly was watched with a fair amount of ambient light.

Also projector central is saying I only need the room down to ~20% light to make the Optoma I link'd work... I assume that means 20% for an optimal view experience, I'm thinking if I get it to 30% it would still be watch-able.

 

[Kaido]

Thanks! We got it at a steal, buying this place will cost us like $50 less a month than renting our current place is.... and we get over double the space!


Drapes would certainly be a cheaper route to go.
I just went to Bestbuy to see if they had any "bright" projectors in the magnolia section, brightest one was 2400 lumens and honestly was watched with a fair amount of ambient light.

Also projector central is saying I only need the room down to ~20% light to make the Optoma I link'd work... I assume that means 20% for an optimal view experience, I'm thinking if I get it to 30% it would still be watch-able.

Yeah, for sure. Like you can see in the screenshots, it's still watchable - the only real catch aside from being dimmer is that the black levels now become whatever the color of the wall is from the ambient light, but your eyes get used to it decently well.

 

[Sidekicknichola]

I posted to AVS forums as well, but everyone there said this projector is amazing in higher light for presentations, but as a HT projector it is trash.

One comment they left -

I have two 1060P at work (Church) and they look pretty well with media presentations (PowerPoint or ProPresenter) but with videos or movies they look terrible.

 

[purbeast0]

yeah that is kind of what i figured based on the reviews that talk about it as a presentation projector and not a movie projector, especially considering how cheap it is.

 

[Sidekicknichola]

Oh well... I got excited because Woot had it refurbished this week for under $1000.

... looks like I'm going with a TV, now just a matter of trying to figure out how big to go.
80" would be great, but the price jump over 70" doesn't seem to make it worth it.

From what I've been seeing:
60" - ~$700
70" - ~$1400
80" - ~$3500

... my biggest love of having the projector was NFL Sunday Ticket - Game mix.... so I could have 8 games up at once and actually see them all..... I use to have 4x40" tvs in a grid for this purpose

... if the Mrs. allows, I might go with a 60" and then two 32" tvs stacked on the left/right of the 60"... the dimensions work out almost perfectly.

 

[jdoggg12]

Have you considered the vizio models over 60"? They're very reasonably priced and reviews are very good considering the price-point.

 

[Sidekicknichola]

Have you considered the vizio models over 60"?

Most of the prices I used above were based on the Vizio models.... I missed a couple of weeks back they had the 70" wifi Vizio LED for $1250 on Woot (refurbished). Hopefully a deal will pop up again soon.

Best Buy is running a LG 60" plasma right now for like $650, I might have to take a peek to see the screen for glare sake... I doubt it has a glare reducing screen like some higher end plasmas..... might be a good cheap option.

 

[Chapbass]

Use this: http://www.amazon.com/Panasonic-PT-A...onic+projector

I have one as my living room has some huge windows in it (I'll take some pics today or tomorrow) and it looks excellent. Even when just throwing it on a wall (no screen, I know its blasphemous, but theres nothing I can do about that right now..long story..).

Black levels aren't the best (they were better with my previous projector, a mits HC6500), but lets just say that in the daytime before, my HC6500 was absolutely unwatchable (as in, you couldn't even see what was on the screen), where the PT-AR100U is completely watchable no matter the time of day.

 

[purbeast0]

i don't know about that panasonic model specifically, but i have a panasonic projector as well and have been more than happy with it so far. i'd definitely trust panasonic again for another projector.

 

[jdoggg12]

Use this: http://www.amazon.com/Panasonic-PT-A...onic+projector

I have one as my living room has some huge windows in it (I'll take some pics today or tomorrow) and it looks excellent. Even when just throwing it on a wall (no screen, I know its blasphemous, but theres nothing I can do about that right now..long story..).

Black levels aren't the best (they were better with my previous projector, a mits HC6500), but lets just say that in the daytime before, my HC6500 was absolutely unwatchable (as in, you couldn't even see what was on the screen), where the PT-AR100U is completely watchable no matter the time of day.

This was the go-to budget light-cannon up until this year. The new BenQ W1070 is now a better alternative in almost every way. I was about to pull the trigger on that panny for my living room HT earlier this year until I started reading reviews on the 1070. Both are pushing ~1800 calibrated lumens. Mine is set at an 11 foot throw and on smart eco mode is at about 28foot lamberts on the screen

Pardon the ghetto-rigging, but this is an example of daytime viewing light in my living room setup. http://i.imgur.com/Sv75zf2.jpg You can see the 110" screen dwarfing my 40" LCD... no in-use pic b/c i took that off my secuty camera from work. It also shows how small the W1070 is.. it's basically 2 small shoe-boxes side by size

 

[Kaido]

This was the go-to budget light-cannon up until this year. The new BenQ W1070 is now a better alternative in almost every way. I was about to pull the trigger on that panny for my living room HT earlier this year until I started reading reviews on the 1070. Both are pushing ~1800 calibrated lumens. Mine is set at an 11 foot throw and on smart eco mode is at about 28foot lamberts on the screen

Pardon the ghetto-rigging, but this is an example of daytime viewing light in my living room setup. http://i.imgur.com/Sv75zf2.jpg You can see the 110" screen dwarfing my 40" LCD... no in-use pic b/c i took that off my secuty camera from work. It also shows how small the W1070 is.. it's basically 2 small shoe-boxes side by size

Wow, thanks for the tip! Adding the BenQ to my toolbox!

Have you used 3D on it?

 

[jdoggg12]

Wow, thanks for the tip! Adding the BenQ to my toolbox!

Have you used 3D on it?

Not yet, no. Although the reviews have proven true in regards to every other aspect about it:

-great picture
-great out-of-the-box color levels (especially for a $950 projector) [I had to tweak mine a fair bit because I got use to the "pop" of LED TVs and tried to replicate that vibrancy]
-decent contrast but mediocre shadow detail,
-a little light bleed from the front exhaust
-no noticeable latency in gaming

The only thing I've yet to test is the 3D. The reviews say it's the best looking 3D south of ~$2500. It uses active 144hz glasses, which at the time were about $100/ea. I'll be picking some up soon so I can try out the gaming experience on such a huge beast

 

[Chapbass]

This was the go-to budget light-cannon up until this year. The new BenQ W1070 is now a better alternative in almost every way. I was about to pull the trigger on that panny for my living room HT earlier this year until I started reading reviews on the 1070. Both are pushing ~1800 calibrated lumens. Mine is set at an 11 foot throw and on smart eco mode is at about 28foot lamberts on the screen

Pardon the ghetto-rigging, but this is an example of daytime viewing light in my living room setup. http://i.imgur.com/Sv75zf2.jpg You can see the 110" screen dwarfing my 40" LCD... no in-use pic b/c i took that off my secuty camera from work. It also shows how small the W1070 is.. it's basically 2 small shoe-boxes side by size

Fair enough. I bought mine basically a year ago (July 6 2012), so it doesn't surprise me that something else has come along.

 

[jdoggg12]

Fair enough. I bought mine basically a year ago (July 6 2012), so it doesn't surprise me that something else has come along.

I wasn't discounting your panny, it's still a great PJ! The W1070 hit the shelves in 2013 and is a rare gem of value, like the AR100U

 

[Kaido]

I wasn't discounting your panny, it's still a great PJ! The W1070 hit the shelves in 2013 and is a rare gem of value, like the AR100U

I thought my Mitsubishi HD1000u was great until my friend upgraded to a Panasonic a few years ago, crazy how many strides the picture can take