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what to do with this room?

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what to do with this room?

Old 07-06-05, 02:17 PM
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what to do with this room?

my wife and i are looking over the plans for our new townhome. Right next to the garage is a "bonus" room which is 11' x 20'. much to my amazement, the missus has agreed to give me Man Zone and convert it into a media room (or whatever I want within reason). I was thinking about getting a projector. what size image should i expect to watch in this room (with 20' being the length)? is it overkill? TIA

EDIT: SEE MY POST BELOW. WE KNOW HAVE DRAWINGS!!!

Last edited by Walter Mitty; 08-03-05 at 10:10 PM.
Old 07-06-05, 02:22 PM
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Originally Posted by Walter Mitty
my wife and i are looking over the plans for our new townhome. Right next to the garage is a "bonus" room which is 11' x 20'. much to my amazement, the missus has agreed to give me Man Zone and convert it into a media room (or whatever I want within reason). I was thinking about getting a projector. what size image should i expect to watch in this room (with 20' being the length)? is it overkill? TIA
I guess that really depends on the projector and its throw. For most projectors, my guess is that you would only use about half that length for projection. Otherwise, you would end up with an image overly large to handle, with decreased image quality (sharpness and brightness).

Use the other half of the room for a pool table or something.
Old 07-06-05, 02:57 PM
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Well with only 11 feet in width a projector may be tough to fit in, you need to calculate the screen size you want based on the front wall size and then see what the throw distance of the projector is (ie. where the projector would be mounted).

You can check my sig link, my room is 19 x 15 and my screen is 100".

My advice would be to take it slow, do lots of research and PLAN IT OUT. Run cable before drywall goes up if possible and wire for everything you can think of. Cable is cheap compared to ripping up walls. Check out some home theater magazines for pictures and ideas.

Good luck!
Old 07-07-05, 08:32 AM
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What is the layout of the room? (windows, doors, ceiling height, etc.) With a 20x11 space I'd consider making the theater portion of the room only half, then the rest into a bar or something.

Old 07-07-05, 09:35 AM
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Originally Posted by Walter Mitty
... I was thinking about getting a projector. what size image should i expect to watch in this room (with 20' being the length)? is it overkill? TIA
You could probably project an image as small as 60" on up to over 100" in that room. How good it would look would depend on the projector and the seating arrangement.

If you only are concerned about having a couple of really prime viewing seats, then the layout that AGuyNamedMike did would work well. Depending on the projector, you might need to go with an image that's on the "small" side to get a good image for eyes that are only 10' from the screen though. Then if you don't want a bar, you could think about making the other half of the room a workout area, or putting in a foosball table/dart board/etc, or whatever.

If you want lots of seating, you could put the screen at the end of the room instead of on the side and do rows of seats. IIRC, real theater seats are only about 24" wide, so you could do rows of four seats going three deep.
Old 08-03-05, 09:25 PM
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thanks guys. i hadn't thought about having the screen on that side of the room. well the builder is breaking ground on monday so i have a few months to get this going. currently i have a 5.1 system so the only thing i'll really need is the projector and screen and all the cabling issues. anyone wanna help me tackle this project?

here's a drawing of the space which is called the Bonus Room. any help and tips would be greatly appreciated. TIA!

http://www.concato.net/conchkey/floor_1.jpg
Old 08-03-05, 11:40 PM
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Between the closet, the sliding glass door, and the garage door, it looks like your only choice would be to have the screen on the far right wall.
Old 08-04-05, 07:12 AM
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Yikes, light control is going to be a PITA with that sliding glass door.
Old 08-04-05, 12:36 PM
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What's the budget? What equipment do you have now?

There are easy solutions for light control. Drapes, etc. It's usually more an issue of convincing others (females) to allow the proper type for light control. And realizing that it isn't a $40 job.

You could have lots of fun with a room like that. Turn the right 2/3 into the seating/PJ area, the closet could hold the equipment, and the left 1/3 into a disc storage area or entryway or something. PC on a desk, posters on the wall, other movie decorations, fitness machine, etc.

I think with a narrow room most put the speakers under the screen in front, which means they'd have to be smallish.

I'd recommend single-chip 720p DLP unless you have a much lower or higher budget than $5k. With the HD resolution, you can sit much closer or have a larger screen. You could have up to a 106" diag screen I'd say, a common size. With that you'd want to sit at least 11' back for the main seating spot. That gives plenty of room for 2 rows, or lots of floor space for kids, and lots of room behind for other needs or another far back row. With a 106", you might even have space for the front speakers to be on the side of the screen if they are towers and are tall.

Turning it sideways shown earlier would work great if you don't want 2 rows of seating.

Last edited by Spiky; 08-04-05 at 12:45 PM.
Old 08-04-05, 03:33 PM
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Originally Posted by Spiky
What's the budget? What equipment do you have now?

There are easy solutions for light control. Drapes, etc. It's usually more an issue of convincing others (females) to allow the proper type for light control. And realizing that it isn't a $40 job.

You could have lots of fun with a room like that. Turn the right 2/3 into the seating/PJ area, the closet could hold the equipment, and the left 1/3 into a disc storage area or entryway or something. PC on a desk, posters on the wall, other movie decorations, fitness machine, etc.

I think with a narrow room most put the speakers under the screen in front, which means they'd have to be smallish.

I'd recommend single-chip 720p DLP unless you have a much lower or higher budget than $5k. With the HD resolution, you can sit much closer or have a larger screen. You could have up to a 106" diag screen I'd say, a common size. With that you'd want to sit at least 11' back for the main seating spot. That gives plenty of room for 2 rows, or lots of floor space for kids, and lots of room behind for other needs or another far back row. With a 106", you might even have space for the front speakers to be on the side of the screen if they are towers and are tall.

Turning it sideways shown earlier would work great if you don't want 2 rows of seating.

thanks for the input spiky. i really don't have too much cash. i'm thinking about $1500 and using an old couch to start. i need to talk to the builder to see what i can add such as ceiling lights, etc. i don't have a clue about this really.
Old 08-04-05, 04:46 PM
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A couple more thoughts, then...

With that budget I would have bought the Infocus 4805 + screen at Costco. $1100 or 1200 for both, IIRC. The rest goes to incidentals, like wires and mounting. It's a 76" diag screen, btw. Good starter. You can also make your own screen, which is what I did. Another good starter screen. The Infocus X1 was very popular, too. A couple of the guys here have it. It would be cheaper, but I don't know that it is available new anymore. Used could work for this or another model, perhaps.

While watching, you want zero lights that actually shine on the screen, or your eyes. Many use rope lights or other low power lights. Or recessed lighting that won't hit the screen. Any stray light will wash out your picture, it is much worse than other TV technologies, so lighting is one of the biggest issues to worry about. Some screens are better at protecting against the washout, and some PJs are brighter, but they get expensive.

The Infocus 4805 is not HD resolution, and pretty much none in that price range are. People go back and forth about whether that matters, but there is one point where it does matter. There is an artifact inherent to digital PJs called screen door (SDE) that is very annoying. It basically means you can see lines between the grid of pixels onscreen, like a window screen is in the way. With lower res PJs, it is easier to see and you probably need to sit 2 times the screen width away from the screen. For an 80" wide screen (92" diag), you would want to be 160" (13.33') away. It is different for different people, but this is a good assumption. As comparison, for HD res projectors, 1.5x is usually all that is necessary. If you did want to get into HD res for sure, you'd have to go with LCD in that price range. That's not necessarily worse than DLP, but it has different issues. You can read up on comparisons of the 2 technologies many places.

Check out the Under $3500 forum at AVS, and Building and Screen forums. Read and learn, this isn't the same as throwing a 32" TV on a table. Damn, did I find that out! Another decent place for some advice that's already sitting there waiting to be read is projectorcentral.com.

For wiring, you can plan ahead even if you don't know what machine yet. Most inexpensive PJs have a similar throw (distance to screen), so if you can figure out what size screen and its location, you can figure out approximately where the PJ will be hung to run power and video cables nearby. They are generally hung from the ceiling, but you could also put them on a table or a shelf near the ceiling. Table means you'll get in the way of the pic more often, so it's not as popular. Anyway, you'll most likely want to run a conduit to the PJ area so that you can pull cable later since they keep changing. And it should be large to allow for DVI/HDMI/VGA plugs to fit through.

This is a long way off, after all the building is done: Hang the PJ first, then the screen. The screen is easier to fine tune since you can turn on the PJ on the wall and match the screen to the actual picture. I did it the other way around and it was much harder than necessary.

There's more. Ridiculous number of issues, really. But once it's up, you'll never go back. I just sit there grinning watching mine. Can't wait for football.
Old 08-05-05, 09:13 PM
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1) My first and biggest recommendation is to listen to Spiky!
2) I think you can do a lot of neat stuff, and don't let the size throw you off. Unless you custom build the space for a theater you almost always have to "work around something".
3) When I built my room I wanted to do it on a pretty tight budget as well. My budget was $2,000 for everything but furniture. I'm ordering a new HT receiver so that will throw me over, but just a little.
4) Plan carefully and remember little inexpensive details (posters, paint, face plates, etc) can really make a difference.
5) Even though it is a "man room" I recommend making the room as neat and "clean install" looking as possible. Then your wife will like it and not only "let" you do more, will encourage it. This happened with me, early on my wife was like "yea, I guess you can do that, how much will it cost?" Now she wants Berkline chairs, DVD recorder, etc, etc.
6) I highly recommend a DIY screen. If a little nervous about it, buy the material from the guy on ebay that gives detailed instructions. You can build the exact size you want and will look nice. This is about the least expensive way to get a high quality screen.
7) Build your own PJ ceiling mount.
8) Take a look at these threads,

http://www.dvdtalk.com/forum/showthread.php?t=409982
http://www.dvdtalk.com/forum/showthr...ghlight=screen
http://www.dvdtalk.com/forum/showthr...ghlight=screen
http://www.dvdtalk.com/forum/showthr...ghlight=screen
Old 08-05-05, 09:18 PM
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Oh, also try to think "outside the box" for non-HT stuff that will work in your room. For example, need some accent lighting? Try rope lighting rather then fancy expensive quartz or something. Need drapes (looks like you do), look 1st at just heavy drapes from places like Bed Bath and Beyond (that is where I got mine). If needed, you can always add black out drapes to regular drapes and this is likely still cheaper then "Home Theater Drapes".
Old 08-06-05, 01:54 PM
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thanks guys. i really do appreciate all the tips and advice so far. i think i'm even getting the missus excited about this. without seeing a demo, I'm leaning towards the costco 4805 w/ screen deal i've read they have. I guess now i need to think about all the little details like wiring and how to mount the thing. i just want to be prepared and have the builder do as much as possible to avoid any unnecessary backwards steps on my part as possible
Old 08-06-05, 02:21 PM
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Originally Posted by Walter Mitty
thanks guys. i really do appreciate all the tips and advice so far. i think i'm even getting the missus excited about this. without seeing a demo, I'm leaning towards the costco 4805 w/ screen deal i've read they have. I guess now i need to think about all the little details like wiring and how to mount the thing. i just want to be prepared and have the builder do as much as possible to avoid any unnecessary backwards steps on my part as possible
That's right, you are building. Well I would try to get in there before the drywall goes up and run your wires. It would be so easy to do before drywall goes up. Heck even if you ran two complete sets of wire not knowing exactly what you were going to do, it would be worth while IMHO.

I didn't want to have to drill blindly thru the top plates so I ended up running everything thru the ceiling. Yes with face plates (that I modified) it turned out neat, but would have been even better to go thru the walls which would be easy is the drywall was not up yet.

Also consider having the electrician put in a ceiling plug or two in the areas you might put your PJ or even high on the rear wall. Again doing this under construction should not be expensive and can save you some time later on.
Old 08-06-05, 04:30 PM
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are the infocus and other similar projectors noisy?
Old 08-06-05, 04:50 PM
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My X-1 has a little more noise then I would like. It is not bothersome when watching a movie due to volume you usually listen to movies at. But I do "notice" it when watching ESPN or the news or something where I don't have the volume up. It doesn't bother me enough to want to immediately get rid of, but it is something I will take into consideration when I upgrade in 18 months to 2 years.

You can go to ProjectorCentral.com and as you start your list of PJ's can compare noise level, light levels, throw distance (size screen at given distances), idea seating distances, etc, etc.

edit, This is from the thread looking for PJ's under $1,500. These are the "usual" suspects for this price range tho there are a few others,

My Infocus X-1 at 37 db
Infocus 4805 at 30 db
Optoma H31 at 32 db
Sanyo PLV-Z3 at 23 db (possibly in eco mode - but even if a couple of db higher then still pretty good.

Last edited by Sdallnct; 08-06-05 at 05:02 PM.
Old 08-06-05, 10:47 PM
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For comparison sake:

My Tosh is rated somewhere between the H31 and Z3, IIRC. It is about a foot in front of me (I'm watching it while I type) and 3 feet above.

My Tivo can be louder where I sit from inside it's cabinet nearby. The A/C is definitely louder when it kicks on. My wife's breathing machine is louder and it is in the room above.
Old 08-07-05, 08:13 PM
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Originally Posted by AGuyNamedMike
What is the layout of the room? (windows, doors, ceiling height, etc.) With a 20x11 space I'd consider making the theater portion of the room only half, then the rest into a bar or something.


if you plan on doing something this way, your screen size would have to be small or too bright, if you use it for creating a theater room you could do 100-110" inch screen. which is awesome
Old 08-08-05, 02:02 PM
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Originally Posted by AGuyNamedMike

10' is not that big a space. I'm 10' from my 65" HDTV in one room... and in my HT Room I'm 14' from 120". By the time you put in a couch table and screen - you will be 8' from the screen. Anything over 65" will make you dizzy if there is a lot of camera movement.

I built a HT room in what was a garage bay - so the dimentions are similar to your bonus room. You want to have your viewing area and projector throwing down the 20' section of your room. You place your projector 16' from where the screen is located. I did 2 rows of seats (3 seats in each row).

Trust me - you have to go the length of your room for your HT room. Keep in mind that if you want 7.1 you want to leave some room in the back of your seating area for speakers - and with any surround sound you need to be able to mount speakers on the walls around your seating area (can't do this if you have the 10' area).

IMHO - I would take that $ and invest in a 50-65" CRT RP HDTV - Then you wouldn't have to worry about light control issues, projector placement, etc.

If you want to talk in more detail - I'd be more than willing to help.

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