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I'm looking for a theatre display again.....

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ChadTower:

5)  The fact that nobody can walk between the projector and the screen while it's in use.

This is a big one I have seen a lot of people disregard until they put a theater in a small room and then nobody could leave once the movie begins.

Gray_Area:
I thought of these two conditions later last night:

- my viewing distance is eight or nine feet

- under $1000

saint:

--- Quote from: Gray_Area on June 30, 2012, 07:35:32 pm ---I thought of these two conditions later last night:

- my viewing distance is eight or nine feet

- under $1000

--- End quote ---

They make short-throw projectors but it may cost a bit more. Jim scoffs, and there's not one size fits all, but the 100" screen in my basement is the entertainment center of our house now. Video games, family slide shows, and HD movies are stunning on the screen. Combined with the 5.1 audio system I installed as well, it really is the theater experience at home. My wife even bought us one of those movie theater-style popcorn poppers, and now my kids don't want microwave popcorn anymore. About once a week or so we all gather around, pop a couple of big bowls of real popcorn, and fire up either a new blu-ray HD movie, or indoctrinate our kids in one of our favorites from the 80's/90's. 50" televisions look small to me these days, which is boggling seeing as how I used to have a 32" tv...

Suggestion: Find someone with a 100" projector screen and watch a movie or at least a brief demo there. Then find a similar rig with a 50" inch TV. I'd about put money down that you'll prefer the projector.

In fact, a year ago we upgraded from a 480i projector to a HD 1080p projector. I'm about to re-mount the 480i projector in the the guest room in the basement, so I can hook up the wii for the kids (and occasionally me) because the HD projector is constantly occupied with X-box 360 or movies. The wii's on a TV right now, but the kids have been bugging me to put it on a projector again.

saint:

--- Quote from: Gray_Area on June 30, 2012, 07:35:32 pm ---I thought of these two conditions later last night:

- my viewing distance is eight or nine feet

- under $1000

--- End quote ---

Ah, price considerations: When I bought into it, getting a good HD projector put me back $1100 (but I got a spare bulb with it, which will save me $350 or whatever ridiculous amount a bulb costs down the road). We then built our own screen (read that as, my buddy built it for me as a gift) which works great and cost about $100 in materials. Our picture is amazing on the screen, but would probably jump up a notch in "wow" factor with a professional screen. Our thought was we would buy a professional screen when we could afford it, but we've never actually felt the need because the home built screen quality is so good.

SO - I think you could get into it for about $1200 for a good (but admittedly entry-level) HD 1080p projector, but under $1000 may be difficult. Also, down the road you'll have the replacement bulb to pay for which isn't an issue with a tv I don't think. Still our experience has been that the size and quality of the picture was well worth the extra cost.

saint:

--- Quote from: pinballjim on June 30, 2012, 10:39:38 pm ---Problem with projectors is that you've got to dedicate a flat wall and a lot of unobstructed floor space to use them.  If you live in basement-land, maybe you've got that much dead space.  Maybe you're too crazy to realize it shouldn't be full of pinball machines.   They take forever to warm up and the whole time you're worrying about your bulb.  I've never met a projector owner that doesn't tell me exactly how many hours they have left on their bulb and how much a replacement costs.

--- End quote ---

Takes about 10 seconds for my projector to warm up. Not sure how dedicating a flat wall for a screen is any different than dedicating the space on the wall for the TV. Bigger, sure, but bigger's the point. Floor space I don't get at all. We do whatever we want with the floor, including having kids lay down to watch the movies if they want. Same as the TV.

No disagreement really on the bulb :)

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