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Help me pick a projector.

Hello,

I just bought a new house with a nice big basement. I am going to build a theater room. Need to get a projector.

My room is going to be about 16x26 and perfect rectangle. 7' ceilings, maybe a little more.

I want to get a screen as big as I can. 120-150" or even more.

My audio gear: b&k ref 50s2, b&k av-5000s2, DCM time window 7 main. Dcm tfv-10.0 rear and side rear. Dcm Surroundscape center. PS3 as source and a Sony BDP s500. Thiel smart sub.

I am going to first try doing a screen on the drywall. If that doesn't work, I will buy a legit screen.

There will be zero windows. So it can be super dark. I am not a videophile, but I appreciate a good picture. I have a 60" Panasonic plasma in the living room.

Thinking of a emotiva umc-200 possibly. One question, is it worth it? For hdmi and modern formats vs analog out from my sony BDP.

My real question is the projector. I need to grab one. I have 1500 in amazon gift cards to shop with. I don't mind a refurb and want good quality. I also want easy setup since I am doing it myself.

Any suggestions out there for my projector or thoughts on the processor?

Thanks!
dcmlover
baranowski
240 posts
 
Dunno your price range... but you can pick up a used 1080 p for pretty cheap and a great quality. The older Sony vpl 60 (that I have ) can be found now a days for pretty cheap and works great. Jvc had one about 8 years ago that I am sure would be great. No need for much newer, as there is not much that has changed. 4k is too young to think about. So all that is left to consider is 3d.
My new processor is the marantz av8801. .. I have no complaints.

Pm me with any questions as I do not check this forum often.

Bill
mitch4t's avatar
mitch4t
1,608 posts
 
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I used to show movies on a white wall in my place with terrific results until I got a legit screen. I hear the stuff called Screen Goo is pretty good if you want to use the wall as your screen.
courant
119 posts
 
Don't forget to research the MTBF for the bulbs and to price the replacement bulbs. Ebay is covered with used projectors in "good working condition" that not coincidentally also need new bulbs. You can only guess why...
avgoround
287 posts
 
I would look for one of the brighter, more current 1080p projectors, in the 2500-3000 lumen range. Optoma HD25-LV or Panasonic PTAR100u are supposed to be really bright HT projectors, that might just work well for you.
If I'm not mistaken, one or more of the recent projectors have been reviewed as having pretty descent color temp accuracy in the higher lumen output settings! (typically, bright modes on pj's are more green or blue in cast when you crank em.
JVC's are otherwise SUPERB projectors w superior black levels and contrast, which also have better than most brightness in the best cinema modes. Although, for a white wall image up to 150 inches, I think you still might look at others, and maximize contrast, brightness, and color saturation, for large screen applications, even if you sacrifice ultimate black level, per se. Also, pj's with marginal black level will still perform pretty well on a large screen, making black appear a bit better than it it, compared to the bright whites and color on the image that big. My experience.
zydo's avatar
zydo
242 posts
 
I'm still using an older Sony, and I like it a lot. When I added onto my house, I did a dedicated theater room. No widows, pitch dark at noon. I shot the pj on the wall for fun, even though I knew I was buying a screen. To my surprise, it looked fairly good. Then I went and demoed different screens. The shop I was at had different screen types they put up on the fly during movies. They all look different. Everyone has different likes, and dislikes too. Make no mistake about it, the screen means as much, or more, than the pj. (assuming they are of about the same quality) you probably could be content using a wall, but if you see the difference for yourself, you probably won't be happy.
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