Front projection or not?

I don't think you can get a front projector, 60" plasma or LCD flat planel TV for $3K. So the only choice will be a RPTV.

1. Your recomended seating distance is based on width, not diagonal. 60" wide is 69" diagonal.

2. It's also very conservative and not even close enough to visually resolve 1080 line HD. In the absence of projection artifacts, once they adjust to a theatrical scale most people find the best trade off between immersion and noticing DVD flaws is about 1.5 widths on a 16:9 screen. This matches the subtended field of vision you get in the farthest seat from the screen in a good THX certified commercial theater. That's 80" wide or 92" diagonal. They don't sell one piece consumer televisions that big.

If you want to sit farther from the screen than you do in a small living room you need two-piece projection. If you want that to work with ambient light you need a matching rear projection screen, mirrors, space to put those in, etc.

I sit 11' from an 87x49 (100" diagonal) screen. It's a bit small for good scope transfers where 9' is a better seating distance and about right for everything else.

Drew, George,

I understand that you're saying that I can go 80" (92" diag) or more without watching a movie like a tennis game?

You would be suprised at what you can get for $3000.00
Check out Videogon. You can get a great front projector for less than $3000.00

My Sony VPL VW10HT will throw a 100 diagonal image at 10 feet 4 inches. I hung a new Stewart Screen today and had to look up the throw distance chart in the sony manual.

100 Diag is a huge diff over 60...

I've had this projector for 3-4 years. It's well below 3k used now. Killer HDTV and DVD picture.