Changing the formal dining into a mini HT

[vonerick]

I've been living in my house for 7 years and I have a formal dining room that is just wasted space......UNTIL I talked the wife into letting me turn it into a dedicated home theater, the only problem is, the room is small (16'2" x 7'6")

But, just to get a feel of thing, I moved a sofa and recliner in to see what the space was like, and i think it could work. With the sofa against the back wall and 2 recliners in front of it against the side walls with a walk way in the middle for access to the sofa it was tight, but useable.

But I have questions about viewing distances. I would put the sofa on a raised platform 5' deep and 6" high, and the recliners would be just in front of that so the 1st row viewing would be approx 10' while the second row would be 16. what would be a good projector for under $1K that would give me the best performance?

I was trying to guess at what size screen I would use, because my room is only 90" wide with 8' ceiling. If i made a 74" x 42" screen that would give me 8" on both side to hang some custom drapes to help with the sound and look of the HT.

Also I would have to mount the projector on the back wall above the sofa since space is limited and only the kids would be sitting back there, so their heads should not affect it.

I have HDTV in the next room, so I will probably be watching HD, but mostly it will be used for DVD's.

All suggestion and comments are more than welcome....

I found a pic of the room...

[BlazeMaster]

so are you thinking about sitting around 16 feet away from it or around 7 feet around it? I don't think you'll wanna go any bigger than 77 in. screen and put it on one of the walls that are 7'6'' wide. That way you can get a decent distance from the wall and more flexiblity with surrounds placement. I've seen the Infocus 4805 and think it's a really good projector for the price, might be slightly higher than your budget. You might have to pay for a decent screen, but you can just project the image on a white wall for the time being. Just some thoughts....

[vonerick]

I will be sitting 16' and 10' away from the screen.

From all of the things I've read, by the time i finish painting, making screens, building risers, putting in furniture and setting up stereo and speakers I will then buy my projector.

I know I run DVI and component cables to the PJ, so i should be covered for which ever PJ I was to get.

also I going to remove the chandelier, and install 4 recess lights, does anyone have any suggestions on what would be the place to put them....over the sitting area, in front of the screen or what?

one other thing, I want to install rope lighting around the ceiling and around the floor, what is the best place to buy such things?

[Burke Strickland]

1) Actually, do the screen AFTER you buy your projector. Set it up and check out what image size is most watchable in the actual space and then build or buy your screen. I did that while my "projection wall" was still painted white and then after ordering my screen, I painted the front wall matte black to kill reflections. Others recommend using black velvet or felt to accomplish that. What you don't want is a light color wall up front (or in the room at all, but the "decor police", aka "significant other", may object to too dark a color scheme. However, since this isn't the main living room, but rather a dedicated HT, that should not be as big an issue.)

2) You should consider a 12 inch riser instead of a 6 inch riser. Unless you and your guests are NBA super stars, 7 feet is still enough headroom height standing up, and the second row (on the riser) will be high enough to see the screen when seated without having to ask the people in front to remove their heads. :>)

3) Do NOT put the lights over the screen. Washing out the screen with light absolutely destroys the viewing experience and you will want to be able to turn on lights while you are viewing to read the DVD cover, fumble with remotes, wipe up a spilled drink, :>) etcetera. So put the down-facing lights directly over the seating. It doesn't hurt to have some general lighting on a separate switch that brightly illuminates the whole room, but you would typically only use that while cleaning the room, looking for a contact lens, or rearranging components, etcetera, not while you are viewing DVDs or TV.

4) Home Depot or Lowe's usually have rope lighting Make sure you can turn off the rope lighting around the ceiling from where you are sitting -- it will probably be distracting at that level when you want to watch a movie. However, having the rope lights on at floor level to guide people (warning where the riser starts, for example) is a good idea.

Bonus Question: Have you thought about speaker placement in that small space? (That could be a thread topic on its own, but we can discuss it here, of course.) Acheiving a seamless surround sound field is going to be a challenge with the seating scrunched in like that, but is isn't impossible. However, the "standard" arrangements will not work in that space. Having the speakers mounted on the back wall toward the sides, each will probably be too close to at least one person in the back row, and if you put them on the side walls in line with the front row there will not be a surround effect for the people in the back row. You might want to experiment with placing the rear spekaers behind the couch (which would need to be pulled at least a foot from the wall -- a good idea anyway) and have the speaker on the floor facing up toward the ceiling.

Good luck!

Burke

[chuckaroo]

Projector Location

Hi Von,
Better check the throw distance on your new projector befor you mount it on the rear wall. You're talking 16 feet . I'm thinking your projector will have to be about 10 feet from the screen therefore you will have to use a ceiling mount. I almost made the same mistake . Almost bought a rear wall mount and could not use it and they arn't cheap. ops:
Thought I would just throw my 2 cents in. 8)

[vonerick]

Thanks, I'll look into making the riser 12" instead of 6". and as far as speaker placement, I was thinking about mounting them on the ceiling , or installing ceiling speakers. And since the room is sooooo small, I really didnt want to eat up the budget on speakers i wouldnt get to crank up.