Wall mounting and projector advice

Zefan said:
Pretty certain you could get a screen that pulls up from the floor, may solve your ceiling issue.
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You don't need to hang a PJ screen from the ceiling.I have an apex ceiling and just used some angle brackets in a nice white finish.

Pulls nicely over my plasma

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The screen was just over £100 120" and the PJ is an Optoma HD25E 1080p 3D and ticks all the boxes for me.
 
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ER - I'm guessing that setup is a lot cheaper than a motorised one? Can you post more information about it please, screen PJ etc? :)
 
Phate said:
ER - I'm guessing that setup is a lot cheaper than a motorised one? Can you post more information about it please, screen PJ etc? :)
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Edited my post...

I see no point in a motorised screen...I have built two home cinemas now (see sig) and I have never had the urge to install one.

Once you go 120" you can never watch movies on the TV again. :D
 
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easyrider said:
Edited my post...

I see no point in a motorised screen...I have built two home cinemas now (see sig) and I have never had the urge to install one.

Once you go 120" you can never watch movies on the TV again. :D
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So in terms of actual screen quality did you look at others before settling on your one?

I'm still umming about a motorized screen, they are just hellacool.
 
Phate said:
So in terms of actual screen quality did you look at others before settling on your one?

I'm still umming about a motorized screen, they are just hellacool.
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You can pay hundreds for a screen...I read some reviews and went for it. Still get a smile on my face watching movies and the world cup was awesome.

People obsess about things to much...Get your screen and PJ and start watching movies!!!!! :p

The novelty of a motorised screen will wear off and you need to provide power which means more wires...

As you can see from my setup...I have no wires at all...Wires suck.

It takes 5 seconds to pull the screen down to watch a movie....In fact wating for a screen to drop slowly on a motor would get on my nerves...Just like you said you couldn't wait for the bulb to come on to watch TV :p
 
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Don't bother with an electric screen, the only time i use the TV in the cinema room is to play the SNES / N64 etc, why would i want to watch anything on the TV when i have 100inch + screen.

Don't hang the screen from the ceiling, fix to the wall instead; i went for an optoma ceiling projector mount too, worked out well.

You need to measure all distances twice / three times before mounting anything, distance the projector is from the ceiling will dictate your screen height, and remember when mounting the projector, make sure you centre the projector on the lens and not the body, you want to be in the position you need 0 lens shift, so getting your dimensions perfect is very very important.

FYI i went for an Optoma screen, build quality is good, and the picture looks great.

Oh and as for signal issues over HDMI, i've got a 2x 10m runs above the ceiling, i used a 2x Belkin leads with networking built in, cost about £19 each, they run alongside several Cat6 cables and two 2.5mm mains cables, no image issues at all.
 
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easyrider said:
You can pay hundreds for a screen...I read some reviews and went for it. Still get a smile on my face watching movies and the world cup was awesome.

People obsess about things to much...Get your screen and PJ and start watching movies!!!!! :p

The novelty of a motorised screen will wear off and you need to provide power which means more wires...

As you can see from my setup...I have no wires at all...Wires suck.

It takes 5 seconds to pull the screen down to watch a movie....In fact wating for a screen to drop slowly on a motor would get on my nerves...Just like you said you couldn't wait for the bulb to come on to watch TV :p
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You make a valid point, and I can be impatient!

I'd love to see a setup first hand to get a feel for it all. I'm assuming you're miles and miles from me though :p (My location is wrong, I've moved back to Rainham, Essex)
 
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Firestar_3x said:
Don't bother with an electric screen, the only time i use the TV in the cinema room is to play the SNES / N64 etc, why would i want to watch anything on the TV when i have 100inch + screen.

Don't hang the screen from the ceiling, fix to the wall instead; i went for an optoma ceiling projector mount too, worked out well.

You need to measure all distances twice / three times before mounting anything, distance the projector is from the ceiling will dictate your screen height, and remember when mounting the projector, make sure you centre the projector on the lens and not the body, you want to be in the position you need 0 lens shift, so getting your dimensions perfect is very very important.

FYI i went for an Optoma screen, build quality is good, and the picture looks great.

Oh and as for signal issues over HDMI, i've got a 2x 10m runs above the ceiling, i used a 2x Belkin leads with networking built in, cost about £19 each, they run alongside several Cat6 cables and two 2.5mm mains cables, no image issues at all.
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Thanks mate :) - I won't be going 100+ I'm only 9ft away, that's just too big. (My inner man says its not big enough, but the sensible me says it is :p)

Everyone keeps saying Optoma...how much did you spend out in the end Firestar?

That's good about the signal issues, know I can go 10m at least. :) it won't be more than that, it'll be from above my head, down the wall, under the floor and across the room up and into the tv cabinet.

One thing though, my amp only has one HDMI output, which obviously goes to the TV. So I'll need a switcher to go from the HDMI out on the amp to split it to either the TV or the PJ
 
Considering I've purchased the wall bracket and av wall panel setup can a passing mod please change the thread title to "Project Bach Pad" ? save me creating extra threads. Can just turn this one into a project thread.
 
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Phate said:
Lucid et all, video deg was mentioned for signals over a certain distance (9-10m) does anyone know the answer behind this? I'm talking about over a HDMI connection.

Many thanks!
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The main thing is the bandwidth limit of the cable. There has to be sufficient bandwidth to handle the "size" of signal being passed. The greater the resolution and frame rate of the signal, then the more bandwidth it requires. Length of cable has the effect of reducing the effective bandwidth that the cable can pass.

Cable bandwidth is affected by the quality of materials and the construction.

With short cables (<2m), there's a sufficiently large margin between the bandwidth afforded by the basic construction layout and the signal that the cable can be made with lower quality materials-, and poorer inter-connector insulation, and lower gauge conductors and yet it still works. With poorly made cables, there might be a rapid degradation in bandwidth, but there's still enough of a safety margin left for the signal to emerge relatively unscathed. That's why you can buy HDMI cables from online vendors for just a few pounds and they work "well enough". But if you were to daisy-chain a couple of them together then you'd find the signal fails to get through.

Once there's sufficient bandwidth, then attention turns to the condition of the signal. The great misinterpretation with HDMI is the signal is digital.

"Digital" is a concept. But is bears very little on what happens in the mechanics and physics of the real world when it comes to transporting signals through bits of wire. Transistors are thought of as digital devices because they switch between two states, and that is analogous to the idea of 0 and 1. However, we are members of a computer forum. So most of us understand that faster CPUs and RAM is mostly down to how fast the devices can switch between nought and one. There's a time taken for the switching to occur.

Cables exhibit some lag effect on the speed of switching. Passing current through wire induces the effects of capacitance and inductance. Electrical components resist change, so the combined effects of capacitance and inductance affects the shape of what starts out as a square wave and it skews the leading and trailing edges.

To add to the issues, cables exhibit resistance along their length. The result is that signal amplitude diminishes with distance. The signal gets weaker. The signals from the different connections interfere with each other because high frequency signals cause lengths of wire to act as aerial transmitters.

Some of the effects of interference are offset by the way HDMI employs a balanced cable topology and sends a phase inverted version of each TMDS channel to counteract some noise. The signal is also packaged in a way that makes it reasonably robust. But since HDMI cable doesn't use error correction. then any issues introduced by the cable through interference with itself can't be fixed at bit/word level.

In the end though for most of us it comes down to a simple "does it work or not". Don't buy the cheapest crappiest long HDMI cable if you're going to be running it under floors, or in walls. It'll bite you in the ass. By the same token, it's hard to justify spending over the odds on HDMI cable if the company involved can't demonstrate a difference compared to something that's adequate.
 
Just to highlight though, poor or not very good HDMI cables will never result in a reduction in image quality. It's a case of you either get a perfect image, or one that's garbled in some way with things line speckles and other very noticeable artefacts or image break-up.
 
Regarding long HDMI cables, i'm running a 15 meter cheap as chips cable, and it won't do 1080p@60Hz from the Av receiver. I got flickering stars and speckles and the HD20 kept loosing signal during films. It'll do 1080i@25 though but that isn't good enough for us techheads, so i purchased a neet HDMi extender for £20. It's done the job perfectly and i now get uninterrupted clean picture at 1080p@60Hz. It's got a lifetime warranty, and i didn't even need to plug in a main adaptor to get the boost.

I've also heard good things about the Darbee HDMI enhancers.These are supposed to add a subtle improvement for any HDMI equipment, but the biggest improvements would be on projectors.

I also concur about getting the largest screen you can. My room dimension is close to yours. 11' 4" from back wall to screen surface with the PJ directly over the sofa. I sit 10feet away from the 92" diagonal screen and it's perfect, but i only just about managed to squeeze the HD20 in due to its fixed offset and my low 8foot ceilings.

Also, you don't HAVE to mount the PJ to the ceiling. I used a cheap £5 shelf from ikea and some threaded bar screwed into the bottom of the HD20 for fine adjustments. It took some patience and careful calculations to get it perfectly square and straight with the screen with zero keystone, but it's well worth it for the best picture. The shelf idea is probably best for your high ceilings, otherwise you'll have to mount it on a pole from the ceiling which doesn't look as good imo. [note, this only applies if you're buying a PJ with no lens shift and a fixed offset] such as the Optoma HD20, HD30 etc.

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Yes. That's a curtain over the door:confused: I have another door next to the screen, but it distracts me during movies with it's reflections, so it's covered with a black curtain during watching.

To have an idea what sort of picture quality an HD30 can do, then check this video out. He also mentions the Darbee HDMI enhancer.




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That looks bloody amazing!

Interesting to read you have pretty much the same viewing distance as me and say 92" is perfect...I can't help but think it would be too big.

I guess I need to look at them in actual size, can I go do this at Sevenoaks?
 
Guys, anyone know where I can go view some projectors in action and check out screen sizes?

Also on a side note. I've decided to go for an AV wall panel to keep things neat, the modules etc should be arriving by the end of the week, ready to be fitted over the weekend...TV wall bracket is going up today. :)
 
Lucid, et all.

So yesterday I got a windfall. I come home to a letter from the Inland revenue saying I'm getting a £700 rebate. So the purchase of a projector just got sped up quite considerably! :p

I've been thinking about it a lot, I'm certain I want it. I can't see me not liking it (when being realistic about it :p)

Also last night, using what little is in my house at the moment (all my belongings are at my ex gf's at the moment) I marked out the rough size of a 90" projector screen.

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My...word...it's hard to fathom! :D - To give anyone else the idea of size, that chimney breast it's against is 57" wide.... :D

Now I'm currently deciding on how to mount the Projector, I will think about the screen afterwards as there are more options/variations for that.

I'm really liking the look of the Optoma HD30, nobody has anything bad to say about it, and I can find one online for £629 refurbed directly from Optoma.

I'm thinking of going for a ceiling mount. I want to keep the wall it'll be closest to as clean as possible as I have some artwork planned for it. Plus with it ceiling mounted I should be able to get the image at a good height.

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My ceilings are 8ft something (it's in this thread, I can't remember exactly) so its pretty close to the diagram, making it ideal.

However, it will mean (I assume it will anyway) ditching my lampshade and swapping out for ceiling spots...which I don't mind, it just means more work...ah well, Rome wasn't built in a day :)

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Going from this, I'm back at screens. as you can see from the above image if I was to wall mount the screen I would have to have long brackets coming out from the alcoves and the screen I think would be an eyesore, and generally bug my OCD. So I'm back at looking for a ceiling mounted one.

Are screens available that bolt to the ceiling rather than having to sit in it? I wouldn't mind fitting one into the ceiling, but again it's more work. If one is available that will just bolt to the ceiling, I would be happy with that.

What say everyone?

EDIT: Oh and as you can see the wall bracket is now up, cheers for the help on that! :)
 
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Most screens fix to the wall or ceiling. They have brackets that allow for both. I'm a bit confused on your ceiling height though. You said they were at least 12', but now they're 8' something. That's quite a difference :p

If you mount to the ceiling, you'll have to tie something to the handle on the screen so you can pull it down. Even with 8' ceilings... Unless you want to get some ladders out each time you use it :D

Regarding the lampshade. I had that problem too. Nothing was going to stand in my way of a PJ screen (or hang in my situation), so i butchered the lamp shade and cut it shorter. The projection beam just about skims the bottom of the lampshade now by a nats ballbag.

If you're really picky about stuff looking an eyesore, you could build a pelmet around the PJ screen case. Box it all in on the ceiling, and just have a slot for the screen to fall through.
 
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Lethagized said:
Most screens fix to the wall or ceiling. They have brackets that allow for both. I'm a bit confused on your ceiling height though. You said they were at least 12', but now they're 8' something. That's quite a difference :p

If you mount to the ceiling, you'll have to tie something to the handle on the screen so you can pull it down. Even with 8' ceilings... Unless you want to get some ladders out each time you use it :D

Regarding the lampshade. I had that problem too. Nothing was going to stand in my way of a PJ screen (or hang in my situation), so i butchered the lamp shade and cut it shorter. The projection beam just about skims the bottom of the lampshade now by a nats ballbag.

If you're really picky about stuff looking an eyesore, you could build a pelmet around the PJ screen case. Box it all in on the ceiling, and just have a slot for the screen to fall through.
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I got the ceiling height, very...very wrong, basically :p They look a lot bigger than they are. They are 8ft 10" so almost 9ft - still pretty high for a ceiling :)

Yeah I'll attach something to reach and grab it, or use a stick on a hook if I don't want anything dangling there :p - I'm a short arse anyway, height is not my friend :p

Haha I did think afterward I could just shortern it and if not go the ceiling spot light route. I shortened it for the one by the front door and that's fiiine.

I don't mind it being bolted to the ceiling, more it sticking out either side of the chimney breast if I wall mounted it :)

EDIT: Just got your email with the screen link, thanks for that. Have seen I can get one new for £140 from Amazon? Not bad at all!

Can you do me a favour? Can you fully extend it and tell me how far it drops down from when you pull it down and also how much black space there is above the screen to the hidey bit/bar please? :)
 
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