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

Showing 1 response by avgoround

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.