Jonathan B
I'm in the process of redoing my basement and we're converting it into a home theater.. the one thing im stuck on is if i should get a projector or a tv.
i will be using it to play a lot of video games (xbox 360) and watching movies, so i need something that will have no delay for the video games.
Light willl not be a problem as it's in the basement and the lights will have a dimmer regardless.
Please leave answers with reasons and suggestions!
thanks!
Answer
Projectors are ideal for dedicated rooms especially when the ambient light can be completely controlled. The primary reason of course is image size, with a projection system you can easily have a 100" screen or larger whereas with an HDTV this would be far more difficult and expensive.
Projector Central is a great resource for information on projectors... http://www.projectorcentral.com/home-theater-multimedia-projectors.htm
Personally I like JVC but there are a number of less expensive 1080p projectors that provide great picture quality for the money.
By doing some of this yourself you can save money in some areas. The screen for example is quite easy to DIY using bulk DaLite screen material. http://store.cousinsvideo.com/cut-to-size.html For my DIY screen http://www.mfk-projects.com/theatre_screen.htm I used a 1.3 gain material. http://store.cousinsvideo.com/81323.html This is a good general purpose material with a good balance between gain and viewing angle. You may want to make some drawings of your room including seating positions and the screen so you can determine the required viewing angle for your screen. You will need to know this to choose the right material. To give you an idea, my screen would have cost around $4000 to buy but cost only a little over $500 to DIY.
Choosing colors for the room is critical. My theaters original colors sucked! I chose what appeared to be a nice red and blue based on the color cards in the store but this was a major mistake. Ideally the walls should be flat black but that gives too much literal meaning to the term, "man cave". You don't want the room to be a cave, you do want to be able to illuminate it when not watching a movie. I found a very flat "River Rock" neutral gray by Ralph Lauren at Home Depot. Above the chair rail I used this and it works great! Not too much light absorbed with lights on and virtually no reflection of the projector light. Below the chair rail I used a very dark blue just to give it some contrast. The ceiling is now flat black. Originally the ceiling was medium gray and that just didn't work out at all. Way to much stray light reflected back onto the screen washing out colors and blacks. Definitely flat black for the ceiling. With canned lights in the ceiling you can't even see the ceiling with the lights on, it's like looking into a void. My theatre is still in the works but you can see the progress here. http://www.mfk-projects.com/home_theatre.htm You can see the difference between the new color scheme and the original. The original colors just really sucked, I was embarrassed to direct anyone to my web site!
You probably also want to consider room acoustic treatment. To be done right it needs to be done professionally and it needs to use a balance of diffraction and absorption. Too many DIY'ers just throw up absorption panels everywhere making the room too dead. You will get some absorption from seating, people etc but a little absorption on the walls here and there even if randomly placed will likely be better than nothing. Eliminating first reflections can be done using a mirror to determine absorption panel location. Sit in your primary seat and put absorption any place along the wall where you would be able to see a speaker in a mirror held up at the location by a helper.
mk
What is the best projector for a living room with ambient light?
saahiltriv
The room is 26 feet long. It has 5 windows with vertical blinds and 2 skylights that I plan to place blinds on. I want a screen size of about 150" inches. I have heard that I would need 2000 lumens of light from a projector. It will most likely a ceiling mounted projector. I would also appreciate low fan noise, but I will be using a surround sound system so I'm not too worried about some fan noise. I am willing to spend a decent amount of money, but under 5,000 would be preferable.
Answer
It is true that in a room with some light you will need a brighter projector. But even a brighter projector will not give you the picture quality that a dark room will produce. You need to black out as much as possible. You may need more than blinds.
If, however, you cannot block out the skylight light, then I would say that 2000 lumens will probably be the bare minimum that you should use. I would recommend 2300 to 4000 lumens to be safe.
Also, to achieve that picture size, you will need a high resolution projector. Preferably SXGA.
Cannon makes a great projector with a high quality image. You can really fine tune your picture with this machine.
http://powersellernyc.com/product/view/Canon-LV7565-LCD-Projector--5100-Lumens-XGASXGA-22262.html
If you are looking for something a bit less expensive, you can always to into this InFocus.
http://www.provantage.com/infocus-c460~7INFP03P.htm
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