Projector throw distance calcs

[Saga]

Looking for a spot of math assistance, as this generally isn't my forte. For the sake of clarification, this is for a home setup with very low to no ambient light (window is blacked out) and the primary purpose is PS3 gaming, with a secondary of Blu-Ray movies.

I have a 110" screen on a wall approximately 110" away from a projector mount location. Lens is approximately 105" away from the screen. Currently I'm using a VP6121, which has worked amicably for my needs for quite some time, but I'm looking for a brighter and sharper image, as well as true 1080 HD. The VP6121 has a throw distance of 4.0 - 32.0 feet, but is a 4:3 1280x1024 image, and I would ideally like to move to a 16:9 1920x1080. Additionally, the VP6121 fits the screen vertically quite well, leaving maybe 2-3 inches top and bottom, but due to it's aspect ratio leaves probably 40% of the horizontal unused.

I know the screen distance is my biggest problem, but at this time I don't have any other room to work with in the current theater room. I've been spending some time looking at projector's in the 1k range and currently have my eye set on the HD20 Optoma.. however with a throw distance of 5.2 - 32.7 feet I'm going to assume that the screen will fit slightly less space horizontally.. but more space vertically due to the wide screen aspect, correct? Clarification on that would be stellar.

Please go easy on me, I do audio, not video, so this is totally new territory for me and I'm open to suggestions, but all the other projectors in this range seem to have SUPER far throw distances (starting at like 8+ feet ..) which just won't work for me.

 

[CubanlB]

Take the easy way out, use the tools online. 11' - 13'2" would be the throw range for a screen that is 88" wide when shooting 16:9 (width of a 110" 4:3 screen)

These are really helpful...

http://www.silisoftware.com/tools/screen.php

http://www.projectorcentral.com/Optoma-HD20-projection-calculator-pro.htm

 

[RedCOMET]

Also, the projector you do decide to get, look at it owner's manual. They should be able to give you more precise measurement calcuations / equations than the stuff linked above.

My Pannasonic projector included a nice table about in its manual with distance placement vs screen size. It also included equations to determine screen size and screen placement , ie hight from the floor, width/height based on throw distance.

 

[CubanlB]

Page 13 http://marketing.optomausa.com/PDFs/usermanuals/Optoma_EP725_Manual.pdf

Projector Central calculations for the HD20 seem pretty spot on to me. And in my experience with epson, jvc, sony and panasonic projectors, projector centrals calculator is a great and accurate tool.

The other link is just for making calculations based on screen size and aspect ratio.

 

[HardcoreRobot]

projector central calculations were perfect for my HC3800

 

[Saga]

Alright, cool. I actually didn't fully understand the calculator because I initially didn't factor the zoom into the equation which made the numbers look waaaaaay off. So, according to projectorcentral we have:

VP6121: 1.22x zoom, throw distance approx 8'10", v: 48" - d: 81" - h: 64"
vs.
HD20: 1.2x zoom, throw distance approx 8'10", v: 40" - d: 81" - h: 71"

Cool, so thanks for helping me understand how to work the calc - this seems very accurate, as I stated that on the 55" high screen I have about 3ish inches either way. It seems that due to the difference in optimal throw distance I lose 8" of real estate vertically but gain 7" horizontally (due to going from 4:3 to 16:9) by upgrading to the HD20 at this distance. To me this isn't an acceptable "gain" for spending a grand on a new projector.

I'd greatly appreciate assistance figuring out what projector might fall into this category.. for this distance, it seems like I might seriously be stuck going LCD, and from everything I've read DLP is vastly superior for gaming. =/ Suggestions?

 

[Saga]

Too bad the HD20 doesn't have a short throw lens. =( It would be perfect.