advice on projectors and screens

Take a look at the Epson PowerLite Home Cinema 8350 Projector for around $1,200 street price.

It should be alright at 20' as long as you use a screen with some gain (1.3-1.4).

Of course if your budget is a lot higher?....you didn't really say?

Dave

A link:

http://www.projectorcentral.com/home-theater-multimedia-projectors.htm

Dave

Man 20ft is far and your gonna lose some image pop, if its on the ceiling why cant you mount it closer? I would mount (from my 4 projectors of my own and many others done for friends) around 12-15 ft from screen but thats me.
If you are going to get a roll up screen do make sure it is a "Tab Tensioned" model or in short time your likely to get a wave in your screen............not pleasing to the eyes.
Go to Projectorcentral.com or google that along with "throw calculator" and examine those specs for any model you may want to buy.
You can get a Panasonic 4000 (great buget unit for around $2000) but if you just want to enjoy occasional music and such even a used 720p model will work perfectly and can be had for way under $1000. Dont let anyone convince you 1080 is this vast jump over 720p, its just not true. And this is from a guy who owns a $10,000 1080p LcOS unit. 720 will do wonders for you and you got tons of cash for concert videos or music.
I am glad to help if you want to shoot me a mail. Cheers

Thanks Chad, I threw out 20 feet because that is the distance from the rear wall to where the screen will be and would be the easiest place to put the projector. I hadn't done any research at that point and now see that is too far. It looks like a ceiling mount is the only option. I've also done a bunch of googling on DIY screens and that looks very doable. I'll look into the 720P models.

Thanks to everyone so far.

Also Depending on what you mean for budget, also look at the JVC HD250 which is for the money is fantastic. you can find them on the street around 2500 and sometimes less and throws a great picture.

I had a Epson 8350 and the auto iris bugged me so I prefer something without. The JVC line is a great product and even some of the older models if you go used are great. The RS1 and 2 are still good PJ's and can be found in the 1-2K range used.

For a screen you want something that can match up well to the projector. IE some can increase brightness with a higher gain, others will help your contrast and black levels such as grey screens. Personally I use a 1.1 gain screen and enjoy it but there are others I've been looking at doing as well.

AVS does have a lot of good info regarding PJ's and can normally be a big help once you narrow down models that you are looking at. As said before the darker the room the better as light kills the image.

Unless you want to do a black dimond screen from Screen Inovations which is nice but your looking at 2500 bucks or so for a 92".

Best of luck! It makes a world of difference going from a 42" TV to a 100" screen. Even with 2 channel it can be lots of fun.