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Ideal Screen Size for Theater? 2.35:1 or 16:9?

For you screen guys out there...

My dimensions are 16x43ft and part of that space is a pool table and full bar.  I will have one row of theater seating about 13-15 feet from the screen.  I am looking to mount and recess (hide) the screen in the rafters.  My question is this, what brand should I use? and what size screen should I get?  The screen will go across the 16 ft span. Projector is undetermined at this point but will be a good one.  The windows in the area can be "blacked out" I am also thinking of doing an acoustically transparent screen.  Thoughts? 

Also, should I do 16:9 or letterbox? I will use it about 75% for TV and sporting events and 25% on movies.

Thanks,
mgould
auxinput
2,920 posts
 

I did some calculations. My screen is 52" X 92", which equals 33.2 square feet of screen area. In a completely dark room, my 1000 lumens projector is just enough for my 1.3 gain screen after calibration (calibration will actually reduce some light output because projectors typically push the blue to make it brighter).

If you put up a 11 foot wide screen, it’s going to be 68 square feet (11 x 6.1875), which is twice as much area. With the reduced 0.9 gain of the Greyhawk, you will actually need a very bright projector, something towards 3000 lumens. This could limit your choice of projector (as many choices are only 2000 lumens) or push your cost a lot higher.

Reducing the screen down to 9 feet wide (108" x 61-3/4") would reduce the area to 45.5 square feet. Move your seating to about 13-14 feet away. This option would allow you keep the 2000 lumen projectors as options.

herman
2,244 posts
 
I have a 120" screen and a projector with much less output than Aux recommends. A Sony HW40ES with 1700 lumens and screen gain of one.  I use it set to output much less than that and it is more than bright enough. At full brightness it is way too much. My first row of seats is about 12 feet away and the second about 4 feet behind that.

Get a 16:9 screen and make a mask for when you want to watch the wider movies. Make a wooden frame and cover it with a non-reflective cloth like Fidelio Velvet - Black 1000. You can get it on amazon. 

for wide movies I set the projector to stretch the picture vertically so you use all of the pixels, Then it is shrunk back down to the proper height with a high quality anamorphic lens. The picture is fabulous in both 16:9 and wide screen.

Good luck, the journey to get it set up is half the fun
auxinput
2,920 posts
 

@herman - is your screen 120" diagonal? or 120" wide?  If it's 120" diagonal, the actual width is only 105" (8-3/4 feet).

Also, I specifically stated that mgould would need a much higher lumens if he was going to do a calibration (i.e. grayscale and color cube calibration using Lumagen Radiance -- which is highly recommended anyways).  The calibration will reduce the max amount of light the projector can output.  So, in essence, calibrating a 1000 lumens projector will essentially reduce it to something like 700 lumens (approximation).

In my room, if I don't do a grayscale/color calibration, I can certainly run my Sony 1000 lumens in "low light mode" and the brightness is just fine.  However, when calibrated, I have to use the "high light mode" because there just isn't enough output in low light mode -- the picture is just washed out and there's no "pop" in the color.

herman
2,244 posts
 
Since the standard is to define screens diagonally that's how I stated mine. My projector is calibrated and the output is reduced, but it is still plenty bright. The reviews mention that this projector has higher than average output when calibrated. I have to choose which mode to use based on the content but I have always been able to get plenty of light.

from Projector Central

Light output. The HW40ES, at 1700 lumens maximum, isn't unusually bright by home theater standards. What makes the HW40ES special is how much of its light output is still present after calibration.

Cinema Film 1, a bright and colorful mode that's well-suited to living room use, measures 1421 lumens on our test sample after calibration. 


herman
2,244 posts
 
I saw someone mention paint. I got  Kodak gray card and had the local paint store match it in a flat finish then painted the ceiling. It cuts  down on reflected light and doesn't look too bad either. It would be good to paint the walls too but that is an awful lot of gray in a room used for other things.


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