projector screens

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Johnk

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#29749 17-Jan-2009 17:23

hello everyone

i am in the process of helping the father in law re-do the lounge.

got a new 40" 1080p lcd mounted on the wall, have the projector mount for the back of the room, we are looking at ceiling mounted screens to pull down in front of tv to get the big movie feeling.

any recommendations on type/brand? dont really want to spend to much as looking at spending money else where in the new set up over time.

also, the projector has a native resolution of 720p and can handle inputs of 1080i, because it is not full 1080p im presuming you would not notice the diff in the quality of picture over 10m of hdmi cable between cheap ones and expensive ones?

Regs

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Snowflake

#190261 17-Jan-2009 22:27

have you considered painting the wall white? :)

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Johnk

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#190268 17-Jan-2009 22:57

that would be the nice and easy solution, but we would then have the problem of the tv being wall mounted on the wall we want to watch the movies on, haha. so unfortunately that wont help out to much.

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Snowflake

#190277 17-Jan-2009 23:14

Johnk:

that would be the nice and easy solution, but we would then have the problem of the tv being wall mounted on the wall we want to watch the movies on, haha. so unfortunately that wont help out to much.

ah yes, re-reading your OP i see the reference to the TV. doh!

you could always try trademe for a screen - there are always second hand ones for sale their. people regularly ditching their projectors for big flat screens lately.

as for the HDMI cable - i would say the answer depends. cheap hdmi cables are not always alike. some are good, some are bad and will affect all your resolutions. perhaps you would be best to search the forums here, or post a topic specifically asking for advice on cheap, longer, hdmi cables. I know a bunch of people here will have suggestions for you on that front but may not read this 'projector screen' topic...

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stuzzo

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#190543 19-Jan-2009 14:36

I tend to be in the "buy the cheapest hdmi cable you can" camp. If it works it will work as good as the most expensive, as for video, it's basically a data cable. There is an argument that the cable may make a difference to audio in high resolution systems due to jitter but most people won't be concerned with that. Cables Direct perhaps for the cheapest. I use the Jaycar one currently priced at $118 and it works fine.

If you're going to run it through a wall perhaps take a little more care in selection and certainly test it before you do.

Trade Me is a good source of screens at the lower end, motorized are much more fun and convenient if you can stretch to that.

GReX

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#190627 19-Jan-2009 21:13

Johnk:
got a new 40" 1080p lcd mounted on the wall, have the projector mount for the back of the room, we are looking at ceiling mounted screens to pull down in front of tv to get the big movie feeling.

any recommendations on type/brand? dont really want to spend to much as looking at spending money else where in the new set up over time.

also, the projector has a native resolution of 720p and can handle inputs of 1080i, because it is not full 1080p im presuming you would not notice the diff in the quality of picture over 10m of hdmi cable between cheap ones and expensive ones?

hi john. i do have a spare 10m hdmi cable sitting at home that i can sell to you cheap. costed me $145 new from trademe, you can have this for $50 if you want. this will definitely do the job for the 720p.

as for the screen, just be careful buying from trademe. avoid glass-beaded screen as this screen is actually ruining the image. glass-beaded is made for older type projector with very low contrast ratio. always opt for matt white, with at least gain 1. the good one is normally grey color, but they're frickin expensive $2000-upwards.

if you want the cable, fire me an email : grex(at)orcon.net.nz. you can either pick up or i can send it free to you.

Jaxson

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#190708 20-Jan-2009 09:13

I have the panasonic AX100 and have used this with a dick smith 10m hdmi cable no problems. Cable was second hand off trademe for $40. Try a cheap one first, ideally where you can return it if it doesn't work.

I've always come back to the fact that most people don't have electric motors etc running in their living rooms, so there's not too much heavy interferance going on anyway. That said there's all sorts from portable phones, mobils, garage door openers etc, but I'm not really convinced their frequency ranges overlap with the digital hdmi signals much anyway.

Anyway, 10m can be done with a 'cheaper cable' because price doesn't always match quality. A good quality cable that doesn't cost much is better than a low quality cable that costs a lot because of branding etc.

smarsden

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#191141 21-Jan-2009 21:19

I've got an Ambertec motorised screen, complete with IR remote. It has a white finish to it, and gives a stunning picture - especially when the room's nice and dark at night. I had to resort to the smallest 4:3 one, due to the space available, as it comes down over a ranch-slider door, so during the day we've got a window, and at night with the blinds down the screen can come down to watch movies. It in effect turns the window into a wall.

Although it's native 4:3, it has adjustment screws so you can change how far down it drops, so I raised the 'down' position so that it's the right drop to give a 16:9 frame. It works brilliantly, and I still get a 78" diagonal picture, which is plenty big enough for our lounge. DVD's have never looked so good! :-)

If you're in Auckland, I got mine from Provision. Admittedly it wasn't that cheap - around $850 (not sure if that's beyond your budget?) - but having it motorised is great (especially with a Logitech Harmony remote turning everything on and bringing the screen down with one button!!). It is also worth remembering that it's something you're going to be looking at for a while, and you don't want to end up looking at a picture, disappointed, thinking maybe it could have been a bit better for a bit more cash.

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richms

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#191172 21-Jan-2009 23:07

HDMI cable wont be able to help or cause jitter since the audio data is all transmitted in one burst every frame, so there is a massive buffer in the recieving end to smooth out anything that happens with the clock. But this is going to a projector so even that weak excuse holds no water...

The idea that any current DA converter with upconversion etc could be affected by small variations in the edges of the signal is one of the myths used by the audiophool crowd to try to justify their excessive digital coax cables, and even there it is of no foundation at all.

But over 10m I have seen many cheap HDMI cables start to glitch with small transients on the incoming power, and hdmi to a projector is more likly to introduce a ground loop because the projector will assumibly be powered from a seperate source.

Richard rich.ms

1gkar

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#191720 24-Jan-2009 02:50

A number of years ago, I did a lot of research into this subject when I was looking to procure an Infocus X1 480p projector; yeap, 480p. At the time, a good, cheap recommendation was to use blackout cloth -the material used as a backing cloth to curtains to blackout the room. I bought about 2.5m x 2m from Harvey Furnishings in New Lynn for some $30. From memory, I fixed it with the matt side facing outside (I think) on a wooden frame for the total sum of some $50 (already had the rimu timber for frame).

Could be cheap enough for a test. Don't know what it would be like with the newer generation hi-def projectors but it still works well after over four years use. Tried to find my original thread on Audioenz forum, but no luck, so can't remember the cloth's manufacturer's number. Beats over $1000 for similar sized professional cloth. If it works, you could fabricate a more permanent roll-up solution.

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