what projector for my theater?

[htenthusiast]

I am building my home theater and will be purchasing a front projector. My dilemma is which one? The one thing that is not negotiable is the technology. I am a firm sony/jvc guy from a tech standpoint. No offense to you dlp and lcd lovers, but they are not good enough in my eyes. If my max budget is $8000.00 for the projector, what is the order, from best to worst, would you list the projectors to buy? Thanks for your help.

[rbinck]

What size screen are you going to use? What are your room dimensions?

[htenthusiast]

screen will be 90" and room is 14 x 25.

[rbinck]

All of the selections are within your price window.

JVC:
best would be the DLA-RS20 which according to Projector Central would yield about a 22 fl screen at 90" wide mounted at approximately 14 feet back.

worse would be the DLA-HD1 which according to Projector Central would yield about a 17 fl screen at 90" wide mounted at approximately 14 feet back.

Sony:
best would be VPL-HW10 which according to Projector Central would yield about a 11 fl screen at 90" wide mounted at approximately 13 feet back.

My preference would be the JVC. I only would suggest 1080p projectors and the problem with those is they tend to be a bit dimmer than the 720p projectors. Good thing you didn't want a 120" screen as that would be much harder to light up.

As you narrow down the projectors you may consider, take a look at the performance calculator at projectorcentral.com. Here is the link to the calculator: http://www.projectorcentral.com/proj...ulator-pro.cfm

Also if you use Projectorcentral's Find Projectors By Feature it may zero in for you a bit better than any other method.

Good luck.

[htenthusiast]

I am curious to know how you rank the older sony vpl vw100 against the newer, more expensive jvc models. I have seen many movies played on the sony and wonder how justified the higher prices of the jvc are. Would it really be worth spending the extra money for my situation?

[rbinck]

When I was installing (before I retired) the most common issue I found was getting a projector that didn't have enough light output for the screen size. That Sony shows to be too dim for a 90" screen with only 10 fl mounted at about 13 feet. I'd use the projector central's calculator as a guide. In fact all of the Sonys seem to be dim for the price.