Buying my first projector - all help appreciated!

placeholder

placeholder

placeholder

Soldato
Joined
14 Jul 2007
Posts
3,443
Hi guys, I think im after a bit of advice from people who know more about this sort of thing than I do. I apologise in advance for the potentially long post but hopefully all the info is relevant. In a nutshell im looking for any help/advice/recommendations anyone can offer up about the purchase of a projector and screen.

Basically ive decided to change round the use of a couple of rooms in my house to make better use of them. I have a very small spare bedroom which is unused and my own bedroom which has gradually been taken over by my gadgets and media. My sitting room is just couches and a TV. Ive decided to move my bed into the small room and just put a TV on the wall there which allows me to turn the larger bedroom into a media room. The sitting room will remain as it is.

At first the plan for the new room was couch, new TV, computer stuff and that was about it but after reading James’ 3d gaming room thread it got me thinking! The room isn’t that big but maybe I could get a projector and motorized screen in there as well. It would be mostly used for watching football and movies with a little gaming thrown in. I was surprised at the prices being mentioned and the fact that motorized screens are down to about £100 these days.

My questions are really centred around what sort of budget would I need to do this to any sort of standard? Is £600ish for the projector and £100 for a screen realistic? Which ones would people recommend? Is there a minimum room size/viewing distance where anything smaller/closer would be seen as ridiculous? I notice 3D projectors being mentioned – I had never considered a 3D TV before because I think they are a bit gimmicky but is there more merit in a 3D projector?

Basically I would have everything (Sky HD, PS3, computer input) plugged into a tv for day to day stuff but have the projector for “special” when the lads are round for the football/boxing etc or when I fancy watching a film.

This thought only entered my head today so if it seems like I haven’t really thought it out its because I haven’t! I wont be buying anything until the New Year because the rooms will be getting redecorated first, however if there were any bargains available round Xmas or in the sales afterwards I would buy them rather than miss out.

Once again sorry for the long post and any help and advice is very much appreciated as always. Id also be happy to be linked to any places where people have got useful info themselves.
 
Last edited:
£600 will indeed be enough for a decent PJ. The Optoma DLP HD23/HD230X sell for around £450, but i would see if you can demo one first to see if you are sensitive to Rainbow effect (RBE)

Placement flexibility is the main concern because most DLP projectors can only be placed on the ceiling or coffee table due to their offset. An LCD PJ offers greater placement flexibility and can be shelf mounted on a rear wall, ceiling mounted or placed on a table. Lumens is another factor. For movies in a darkened room, a 1000 lumen PJ will be sufficient and will give a great picture, but if you go for a higher lumens output PJ in the same darkened room, it may be too bright and cause eye strain on bright pictures and it will wash out black due to the extra brightness. On the flip side, a lower lumen PJ will not be as good with ambient light and will also looked washed out, so it's finding the right balance which can be the tricky part.

First and foremost, what will the viewing conditions be (ambient light/dark), and where did you intend mounting the PJ?
 
A higher brightness projector can't realistically compensate for a room that's too bright - you can't project black so there's a lower limit to your black level that can only be changed by making the room darker. If you have to divert some budget into thicker curtains then do so.

I'm not aware of DLP and LCD projectors having different lens offsets as a rule though :confused:. What you need to be aware of is that distance to the screen has a huge bearing on the finished picture brightness. If you have the ability to ceiling mount the projector then you're going to get a brighter image than if it was twice the distance away on a shelf and zoomed in a bit more, at the cost of a bit more work installing it.

Don't discount 3LCD models based on old opinions, there are some excellent looking LCD projectors available now in the same way there are some terrible DLP ones.
 
Just to add as well, if you're decorating the room ,i would put some time into thinking about what you're going to do with the room with the PJ in, particularly around the screen. If it's a dedicated room, i would ditch the idea of a roller screen altogether and paint/build your own. Make the walls around the screen and side walls as dark as possible with the use of black velvet or non sheen felt. Black matt paint can be used, but it does still reflect some light so isn't as good as a material, and reflected light onto a PJ screen is bad for the picture (it washes out blacks making them grey and you lose colour vibrancy)
 
Thanks for the replies. I'll fill in what blanks i can and see if it helps. Its already clear that there will have to be some compromises made, whether they are game-changers or make the projector a bad idea remains to be seen!

Firstly it sounds like my budget will be good enough to get something half-decent so no worries on that score.

The room isnt going to be a dedicated room for the PJ in so far as i wouldnt want a permanent screen in place all the time. The room will have other uses and the PJ wouldnt be an everyday thing (at least not in theory), it would just be for sports and films, but the room itself will be used daily with the tv, sky and computers.

Decorating wise, i would be rewallpapering and it would be in very dark colours anyway, dark grey and black, just because that is what i like. The room itself can be made very dark and is naturally quite dark. There is one window but its got blinds which are down all the time anyway, failing that heavy curtains could be bought, but velvet and felt round the screen doesnt seem too practical.

Mounting the projector can be done in whichever way would be best. The wall opposite is shelved so it could sit there. It could be ceiling mounted too, or sit on a coffee table if required (although that wouldnt be the preferred option).

What sort of distance is the minimum between screen and PJ? As i say its not a big room. I havent measured it yet and my judgement isnt the best so i wouldnt even guess the size!!!

I suspect i would be quite impressed with whatever i got, simply because i have never owned or been in anyones house, who have owned a PJ in the past so this is whole new territory for me! Hence all the questions.

Does it still seem doable, and does anyone have any further thoughts?

Again many thanks!
 
Last edited:
Caged said:
I'm not aware of DLP and LCD projectors having different lens offsets as a rule though :confused:.
Click to expand...

The optoma and many other DLP projectors have a fixed offset which means they can't be shelf mounted on a back wall. They either have to be above the top of the screen (ceiling mounted) or below the bottom of the screen (table) This isn't a problem with lens shift as you can mount the PJ almost anywhere, but most DLP's don't have lens shift whereas most LCD's do.
 
I think for the sake of simplicity, i would go with a 1080p LCD PJ with lens shift. There is no set minimum distance for Projectors because they all have different throw ranges, so what you need to do really is narrow 3-5 affordable projectors from each manufacturers (epson/sony/panasonic/sanyo/benQ/mitsubishi) and pick the best one after much review reading. It's all fun.

Screen wise, avoid the cheap amazon/ebay electric screens. They curl at the edges and ripple on the viewing area. At the very least expensive i would go for is an optoma 16.9. These still curl at the edges, but they don't suffer with the ripples like the cheap amazon/ebay screens do. If you want a perfect screen, then tab tensioned roller screen is the way forward, but these are even more expensive.
 
Lethagized said:
most DLP's don't have lens shift whereas most LCD's do.
Click to expand...

That's a generalisation that isn't really true. I've just done a quick filter by lens shift on a retailers website and there's a healthy mix of both types.

It's sort of irrelevant here as looking at the prices coming back you aren't getting a unit with lens shift for what funds you have available. I'd say brands to look for are as listed above, with the exception of Sanyo and Panasonic - Sanyo don't exist any more, and Panasonic don't do anything in your price range.
 
Short throws are great but it's important to be aware that the closer your projector gets to your screen the more apparent any screen geometry issues tend to get because the light isn't hitting from the front as much as it will be hitting from above/below.

On a related note, you should aim to be able to mount your projector towards the middle of the throw range for the screen size you want - if you need to go to the extremes of the zoom range then you can run into distortion issues.
 
Caged said:
That's a generalisation that isn't really true. I've just done a quick filter by lens shift on a retailers website and there's a healthy mix of both types.

It's sort of irrelevant here as looking at the prices coming back you aren't getting a unit with lens shift for what funds you have available. I'd say brands to look for are as listed above, with the exception of Sanyo and Panasonic - Sanyo don't exist any more, and Panasonic don't do anything in your price range.
Click to expand...

In my own defence, i did mean within this price range. I saw no point in mentioning the more expensive DLP's with lens shift hence the reason i said most don't have it, so to clarify, Most don't have it at this price range.
 
my suggestion is to have a look at the throw distance/ratio first. doesnt matter how good your PJ is if you can only get a 30" display out of it, there theres no point.

my first personal PJ was optima HD800 thats 4 years ago. cost me £900. it was one of the first 1080p that drops below £1k. but the mistake i made was not taking the throw distance seriously. and even living room was massive, the display i got was rather small.

I moved house and upgraded not long ago, and i got a benQ W1070 and it has a very short throw, so now the display is rather big.

but i can tell you that, theres minimal difference in performance comparing the two. (although there have been a few years between them). but i think it is more than acceptable to get a w1070 (or the new w1080) for anything below 100". the only feature that the HD800 has and not on the W1070 is the amount of adjustment like in-menu shift, physical len shift etc.
 
Last edited:
Thanks again for the replies. I'll try and give more info.

Ive done a quick bit of measuring and it looks like the PJ will be around 4m away from the wall the screen would be on (roughly), and looking at the size of wall i would be able to accomodate a screen around the 100" size i think.

Im genuinely a newbie to all this so i dont know much about throw distances and the like when they are being mentioned.

Looking at the mention of avoiding a budget screen, i totally take that on board. There seems to be different surfaces out there - is there a particular type to be recommended?

I'm looking at maybe £800ish for both PJ and Screen if possible. Basically i was going to buy a fairly large TV for the room but now i'm thinking that i would get a smaller TV and divert the money towards the PJ.

I havent even started looking at actual PJs yet, i'm at work now so i think that will be tonights job. TBH half the fun is in the planning anyway!
 
I have just done something along the lines that you are talking about. 106" eyeline pro electric screen (£330) dropping in front of a 42" Panasonic Plasma with an Optoma HD20-LV mounted on the ceiling. PJ was purchased 18 months ago from Richersounds, ex demo with 300 hours on bulb for £500 but plenty better options for the same kind of money now. Ceiling bracket was £20 from amazon and hdmi splitter so I could feed tv and projector was £25. 10m hdmi cable £15. Total £890

So basically what you plan to do should be do-able for £800 but you also need to factor in what you are going to do about sound unless you already have an av reciever and speakers.

Also forgot to add the projector is mounted roughly 4m from the screen and fills the 106" screen nicely
 
Last edited:
Sounds good Shug. Splitter for the HDMI sounds like a decent idea. Sound isnt an issue, i have equipment under control between a Yamaha amp and speakers.

As i say, if i can drop the price of the PJ to round the £500 mark i'll happily spend the rest on the screen. Essentially i want the best for my money while being aware that i a) dont want to buy stuff that i'll instantly want to replace if i get really into it but b) not spend so much that if im only using it ocassionally i wont feel like ive wasted too much money or finding that buying something cheaper would do everything i need! A tough balance to hit i suppose.

Given my love for all things in this area, i do suspect that if I actually bought it i would find id be using it more and more as I do spend a lot of time watching Sports etc.
 
Lethagized said:
I think for the sake of simplicity, i would go with a 1080p LCD PJ with lens shift. There is no set minimum distance for Projectors because they all have different throw ranges, so what you need to do really is narrow 3-5 affordable projectors from each manufacturers (epson/sony/panasonic/sanyo/benQ/mitsubishi) and pick the best one after much review reading. It's all fun.

Screen wise, avoid the cheap amazon/ebay electric screens. They curl at the edges and ripple on the viewing area. At the very least expensive i would go for is an optoma 16.9. These still curl at the edges, but they don't suffer with the ripples like the cheap amazon/ebay screens do. If you want a perfect screen, then tab tensioned roller screen is the way forward, but these are even more expensive.
Click to expand...

I agree with this. To the OP, you should consider the Epson TW3200. I looked into this long and hard for months and, as a result of the AV Forums mostly, decided to go with this model.

It pretty much ticks every box. Lens shift is a major factor and so few projectors have that feature. The TW3200 has that and is a full 1080p projector to boot with excellent picture quality and a long bulb life with ECO mode enabled (best setting).

Only downside is that it's a physically large unit, does not have 3D (which I didn't care about), and can suffer from dust blobs like all LCD projectors. These are minor though when you consider everything else. There is also no chance of the rainbow effect as it isn't a DLP projector. It might, however, be slightly outside of your price range as I think it's still around the £1000 mark.
 
My biggest tip - aside from having dark material coming out along the walls/ceiling/floor from the screen - is not to decide on a screen size before setting up the projector. This would have saved me a great deal of time and money! Get the pj, set everything up, and mess about with projected image sizes on a painted screen on the wall. Dulux Light and Space white paint is great for this - just paint the biggest 16:9 screen you can play around for a few weeks :)
 
Can open - worms everywhere!

Been having a look at various projectors, reviews, you tube videos and other forums and im probably worse off than even in so far as there is so many choices and options out there!

Definitely looks like its a goer though, quite excited to see what i end up with. Basically once i get the rooms decorated, floors recovered and a few bits and pieces of furniture bought i will see what sort of budget i have left and i'll blow it on a projector, screen and tv for the room!
 
Good boy. You'll find once you get a projector and get it all setup, you'll have one for the rest of your life (as long as you have the space hehe) Home cinema is a great hobby to get into, and there is nothing quite like sitting down, cuppa tea in hand and bring the cinemas to your house. I only use mine for films even though my htpc is capable of playing the latest games, it makes it a special even of sorts to watch a film. Truly fantastic experience and you'll wonder why you didn't do it sooner.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top Bottom