Can your lounge/living room really become a proper Home Cinema with a Projector and Screen?
Well you need to ask yourself a few questions and they should start with the easy one.
Do I Have Room?, and it has a easy answer, yes. I know people with bedrooms as there Home Cinema as they are still living at home and it looks fantastic and DOES NOT dominate the room.
Of course there has to be some kind of refinement as rooms offer restrictions but you will be amazed at what can be achieved when it comes to projector's and projector screens. Now bare with me as it's not hard to do unless you make it hard.. It's all in the planning
Fig 1. The Optoma HD25 Beautifully Made and Very Pleasing to the Eye
Step 1. How high is your ceiling?
This may seem like a strange place to start, but your ceiling height determines how big your screen can be, which controls your screen height and width, which controls how far back your projector must go, in the seating room. All projectors have a thing called throw distance that is how far the screen needs to be away from the projector lense. So lets say you have measured your room from your seating position and from where you want the screen to be. A projector's throw ratio is defined as the distance, measured from lens to screen, divided by the width of the image that will be projected. See easy so if its a 7 foot image you want then it's a distance from lense to screen of between 13-16 feet and so on. Have a look at the diagram below to see what I mean. Although the chart below is in meters.
Fig 2. This Shows the Distance it is That Easy.
The best thing to do is to decide what size picture you want and then go from there as all projectors these days have the details right there on most websites. Most projectors have a built in little gimmick that lets you invert the image when the projector is upside down so you don't have to have it on its feet on the coffee table, the reason I say this is because the bottom of the lense has to be inline with the bottom of the screen for the picture to be centred. As all projectors fire the picture up. But with the little gimmick of turning the image upside down you can then mount the projector on the ceiling upside down and more importantly out of the way. Have a look at the picture's below to see the options and problems that can be solved.
Fig 3. The Wrong way
Fig 4. On a Coffee Table Easy to Pack Away but not Very Convenient
Fig 5. The Best way and out of the way. Neat and Tidy Hidden Cables
Step 2. What aspect ratio screen do you want?
This all depends on the same question mentioned above. All projectors these days have a aspect ratio of 16x9 or widescreen ( the black bars top and bottom of your movie) If you want a 6 foot picture then get yourself a 6-7 foot screen. I know it sounds big, but we are going for a Home Theatre Experience at home and it really is possible. The price of a Plasma screen that big would be in the high thousands, to get a picture that big from a projector it will cost you as little as £800 and the picture is amazing.
Step 3. Projector placement.
Most people have them put on the rear wall on a bracket or mounted on a dedicated shelf and to me that's the best way to do it. But some people don't want one 'Always' on show and one that they can pack away and pop in the cupboard out of sight and that's fine, but if you take things a little more seriously or don't want to keep lifting the thing in and out of the cupboard then ceiling mounting it is your best bet by far, it doesn't look ugly as they are small and unobtrusive and cables can be channelled into the wall or you can use D-Line cable tidy ducting. Plus you can go the permanent look and go upstairs and take up the floorboards and hide the cables in the ceiling joists (to far for some). Have a look on the AV Forums website to see how nice they can look.. Easy and so, so worth it.
Step 3. Bracket size and Design?
This all depends on how high your ceiling is and how much you want to spend, but budget yourself for anything from £130 upwards. Or you can make your own support and that's the fun of Home Cinema if you can save money and make things disappear by making your own supports then that's even better, but if not then See the pictures below
Fig 6. There are all Types, Shapes and Sizes to Suit all rooms
Step 4. Cables and Cable lengths and How to Hide them?
Probably the only problem if you want to call it that is cables and where to hide them (Remember that scenario in my first post about to many cables) But there are so many products out there to hide cables these days and if not and your feeling very confident and your wife is understanding or your re-decorating the lounge then why not chase them into the wall. Maybe a little dusty but hey your going to be re-decorating anyway so to me its the best solution, plus you will have the benefit of plastering over the tubes that the cables are in and just thread them through as and when you need to upgrade, just make sure your trunking/tubing is wide enough to take the cables you want to use.
Try this website (D-Line) for all or most of your trunking needs they are great and I use them myself, you can even sand it and paint it.. Brilliant
Remember prices start from £800 and can go up to and over £10,000 so like I said a budget for everyone. I urge you to convert, I have my screen in my loft ready to go as I had one before but i'm saving up for a Full HD projector, so just because you don't see it in my pictures it doesn't mean I haven't had one and don't plan on getting another.. It WILL transform your movie experience.
Just remember a large Display either Plasma or LED/LCD (which don't tend to go over 60") cost anything between £1400 and £2500 and that's for a size of around 60-65" but for a little as £800 you can get over 105". So the answer is very simple.. Get One and be blown away.. Don't delay Get a Demo today... It's NOT like the old projectors you used to see at school anymore things have moved on so, so much you'll be Amazed.
Step 5. What about the screen wont it be in the way?
No it wont not unless you the customer wants it to. There are a few types of screens out there.
1. A screen that will always be there if you plan on converting a room for a dedicated Home Cinema made from a special light absorbing fabric made for the job.
2. A roll up screen either manual that rolls up into a housing that gets mounted to the ceiling and can be also electric which gets wired to the projector itself and when you power on the projector Bingo the screen lowers and when your done, up it goes out of the way.
3. An acoustic tab-tension screen that is made from a special fabric that lets the sound through it and is held in place with tension wires. (the most expensive)
The Choice is Yours and prices are from £200 up to anything you care to spend here are a couple of sites
Projector Point Telephone Number 0800 073 0833
Just Projectors Telephone Number 0800 027 7785
Below are so old pictures from around 2007 when I had my old projector set-up it just shows you how little room you need and how out of the way it would be when its not being used
Fig 7. The Philips XVC20E S-Video projector mounted on a homemade shelf
Fig 8. The Screen Goes Down to Cover the Entire TV Screen and is 7 Feet Wide
Once in the dark you cant see the TV screen at all so it didn't distract from the movie itself but ideally I would have moved the speakers out about another foot to the left and right. But as long as the centre wasn't obstructed then it was ok by me back then, now as I said I would move the main speakers, but I had just been to London and picked up my new projector and couldn't wait to set it up. The screen as I mentioned rolls back up into the little tube like housing. I was blown away to say the least. You will be to.
HERE ARE SOME BRANDS OF PROJECTORS THAT MIGHT HELP YOU
That is just a few to go by, places to look are Ebay and other auction sites as you can get some great bargains and if you know what your looking for as in make and model then you can't go wrong.
Or better still look and find your local dealer they need you as much as you need them. In my area there is Richersounds (0333 900 0054) and it is a good place if you don't know your local dealer mine however is my very friendly staffed Technosound.(01908 604949)
Let Me Know What You Think. Do You Own One?... If Not Are You Going To Get One
Leave Me A Comment Below
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