Front Projection Installation Questions...

[drsiebling]

Hey everyone!

I'm installing a new 1080p FP system next week and was hoping I could get a few tips from the experts here. My room is a bit of a challenge so I might have to make a few compromises to achieve optimum picture quality. Any advice would be appreciated!

My room has a slightly slanted ceiling that if viewed from the side is shaped like this:



The section on the left before the gradual slope is 8 feet high while the horizontal portion of the ceiling is at 13'. I'm going to have to drop my projector down somewhere in the neighborhood of 5' to have it even with the top of the screen. The projector will be approximately 13 feet from the screen. So, if I use the rule of mounting the screen 30 inches from the floor, then the projector is still going to be about a foot above the top of the screen. Obviously, I could raise the screen to solve this problem. Would a 100" screen be just way too high at 42" from the floor? I'd like to use as little keystone as possible. I can't drop the projector any further than 5 feet down or it will interfere with a door.

Any advice is appreciated! Thanks!

[Brandon B]

If your budget will allow, something like one of these will solve your issue. Movie in progress? Projector lowered into correct position. Otherwise, tucked up against the ceiling.

Several companies make decent lifts like these, and prices vary from $500 - $3000

BB

[drsiebling]

Ouch... pretty pricey! I'm not opposed to having the projector on a longer dropped down mount, I'm just concerned about getting optimum pic quality with what I have to work with.

Those are pretty cool, though...

[dyazdani]

I'm kind of in the same situation... I'd have to drop my PJ almost head high (4 ft from ceiling) for where I have my screen now. I want to keep it in the 30 inch drop range, so I'm going to use a combination of lifting the screen, lens shift, and a small bit of keystone. I think the pic quality will be fine as long as I don't use too much of anything.

What is the maximum distance from the ceiling that you'd really like to live with for mounting your PJ?

[drsiebling]

I'm kind of in the same situation... I'd have to drop my PJ almost head high (4 ft from ceiling) for where I have my screen now. I want to keep it in the 30 inch drop range, so I'm going to use a combination of lifting the screen, lens shift, and a small bit of keystone. I think the pic quality will be fine as long as I don't use too much of anything.

What is the maximum distance from the ceiling that you'd really like to live with for mounting your PJ?

5 Feet is about the maximum - - otherwise, I have a door directly behind where the projector will be mounted that would smack into the PJ every time it was opened. That wouldn't be good...

[Brandon B]

Well, I am also not a strong subscriber to the "screen must be centered as close to eye height as possible" camp. My 119" screen has its lower edge at 46" high, which puts the center at almost 6 feet, and in 5 years no one has ever complained about having to "look up" at it, even when asked. My seating is a loungorious couch though, not recliners or "theater seating".

So you might think about experimenting. Get a mount that would allow you some flexibility in height (trimmable down pipe or something) and try watching a couple of things with them higher on the wall and see what you think.

BB

[Brandon B]

Oh, and do try to NOT use digital keystone correction at all. It introduces additional scaling and aliasing errors into your image that are really worth avoiding even at the cost of a slightly non rectangular picture (IMO).

BB

[drsiebling]

Well, I am also not a strong subscriber to the "screen must be centered as close to eye height as possible" camp. My 119" screen has its lower edge at 46" high, which puts the center at almost 6 feet, and in 5 years no one has ever complained about having to "look up" at it, even when asked. My seating is a loungorious couch though, not recliners or "theater seating".

So you might think about experimenting. Get a mount that would allow you some flexibility in height (trimmable down pipe or something) and try watching a couple of things with them higher on the wall and see what you think.

BB

Sounds great! The screen being used is a 94" custom made Carada Criterion. So, I'm thinking of raising it up a bit and trying your suggestions. Keystone is bad!

My room sounds similar to yours in that I also shy away from recliners and theater seating and instead use a nice sofa and several chairs. So, it's a bit non-traditional from a theater standpoint.

[Chris D]

I agree with the things being said.

1) maximum distance from your ceiling for the screen would depend on screen size, but isn't as important as you think.

2) Use physical projection displacement, not keystoning. For my example, on Panasonic projectors, there is a manual lever you can use to throw the picture up, down, left, or right. I have my PJ lens centered in the room, (note: this does NOT mean the PJ itself centered, just the lens) PJ only about 6" dropped from the ceiling, and from the front ceiling, it throws the image as far down my front wall as it can. This means my screen is maybe about 2' from the front ceiling. It works fine.

My recommendation to avoid many of these issues, just get the biggest screen you can to fill up virtually all of your front wall! This is pretty much what I did--works great.

[Bent]

if you want to see what keystone correction does, throw a test pattern up that includes some higher resolution moire patterns - it'll look like crap.

[drsiebling]

Thanks for all the great advice, guys!

Chris - that manual adjustment lever on the panasonic projectors... do most projectors offer something like this?

[Brandon B]

It is called lens shift, and is manual on some, motorized on others, common on more expensive units and less common (but still included sometimes) on the under $3K units.

BB

[Chris D]

Yes, like Brandon said, you'll find that on a lot of projectors. Not all, some only have digital shift and keystoning, which as others said, can degrade the picture. So that's what I like about my Panny--no picture degradation with the physical shift.

[drsiebling]

Thanks, everyone, for all the great info! I installed my new Carada Criterion screen on Sunday and now have my Mitsubishi HD1000U projector up and running without any keystone being used! Front projection is fantastic!

By the way, Carada is just an excellent company with a first-rate product. I highly recommend them...



boy... that flash really washes out the image, eh?

[Hdale85]

How do you like the HD1000U? Reason I ask is because I just ordered one. Are the black levels good? I read a review that said the 2500:1 CR that it our performs projectors with higher spec'd CR's.