Some newbie questions about projectors

[thegiantmarshmallow]

Hi all.

 

Have been wanting to get a projector for the longest time, and now am very tempted to purchase a 720p projecter. However, how do I know if the projector that I'm considering, the TW700, is suitable for my room (or perhaps the opposite, how do I know if my room is suitable for a projector)?

 

And, with the projector at the back of the room, how does one place game consoles, DVD players and the like in front of the room?

 

Also, I was thinking of getting a double-deck bed (without a lower deck, which will have a sofa in place), and attaching the projector under the upper deck. Any comments on this setup?

 

 

What's a good store to purchase the TW700 from and how much is it locally?

 

Thanks in advance  ;D

[Doggie Howser]

You can try downloading the manual to look at suggested mounting positions for the projector, and the range of sizes of the projected image.

 

If sleeping comfort is not a huge consideration, recommend a day bed which can double up as a sofa, or a sofa bed. Mount the projector on a shelf at the back of the room, above the bed. The lens shift of the Epson should be flexible enough not to require an upside down mount. You can just place it right side up on the shelf and use the lens shift to adjust the image accordingly.

 

Cabling is simple. You can always put the AV rack to the rear (next to yr bed), to shorten the cable lengths to the projector. That said, you'll still need to lay longer wires (just that this time it is to the front speakers). There are installers that can help you lay the cables to the projector and hide them (using a sheath over the wires)

 

Not sure of best pricing.

 

ps you are STILL looking for a projector??

 

I think there was a pretty good deal with Sanyo Z4 a while back. It may not be as new as the TW700 but it was a bargain compared to most 720p projectors.

 

 

[thegiantmarshmallow]

You can try downloading the manual to look at suggested mounting positions for the projector, and the range of sizes of the projected image.

 

If sleeping comfort is not a huge consideration, recommend a day bed which can double up as a sofa, or a sofa bed. Mount the projector on a shelf at the back of the room, above the bed. The lens shift of the Epson should be flexible enough not to require an upside down mount. You can just place it right side up on the shelf and use the lens shift to adjust the image accordingly.

 

Cabling is simple. You can always put the AV rack to the rear (next to yr bed), to shorten the cable lengths to the projector. That said, you'll still need to lay longer wires (just that this time it is to the front speakers). There are installers that can help you lay the cables to the projector and hide them (using a sheath over the wires)

 

Not sure of best pricing.

 

ps you are STILL looking for a projector??

 

I think there was a pretty good deal with Sanyo Z4 a while back. It may not be as new as the TW700 but it was a bargain compared to most 720p projectors.

 

 

 

I've been using my bed as a sofa, but sitting down on my bed with my body is L position doesn't feel comfortable to me, hence I was thinking of getting a loft bed [see http://www.mcwoodworksinc.com/images/full_size_loft_bed_ray.jpg] and then hang the projector under the  bed, and put a sofa underneath. But my bed is queen-sized, so I think that the projector image might be blocked in such a setup. Not sure if lens shift can help in this situation.

 

AV rack to the rear? But the proprietary cables of my game consoles aren't long enough to reach to the rear of the room.

 

Yes, I have been looking for some time. It's either too expensive or without warranty. Not sure if it's the Z4, but I do recall a MO for a particular Sanyo model that was like $900 per unit. Sadly, I missed it and have been kicking myself repeatedly since. The TW700 caught my interest because I can import it from overseas at a reasonable price and it has international warranty.

[Doggie Howser]

Day beds are pretty comfy I thought.. more homey too.

 

Use an AV receiver to hook all yr consoles to. You will need an HDMI AV receiver anyway to decode all the hidef audio sources from yr PS3. Then just lay one cable to the projector from yr receiver

 

[thegiantmarshmallow]

Day beds are pretty comfy I thought.. more homey too.

 

Use an AV receiver to hook all yr consoles to. You will need an HDMI AV receiver anyway to decode all the hidef audio sources from yr PS3. Then just lay one cable to the projector from yr receiver

 

 

Dunno leh, find sitting in an L shape gets uncomfortable after a while when playing games or watching movies.

 

So any idea on whether vertical lens shift will be sufficient if I were to go about with my potential setup? Or maybe I just need to hang the PJ lower?

[bigbadwolf]

In front of the room, where your av console is, you can buy a HDMI switch to connect your PS3/DVD player/HD set-top box to.

 

Then you can buy a long cable connect from the switch to the back of the room/hall where your projector is. Hide the cable in your false ceiling(if any) or trunking.

 

[thegiantmarshmallow]

Oh okay, thanks.

 

A few more questions:

 

The TW700 has a throw ratio of 1.46- 3.08, so which means if I place it about 3.5m away from the screen,  I'll get a 3.5/3.08 = 1.15m wide image?

 

And the zoom ratio of 2.15:1.0 means I can enlarge the image by 115%?

 

Which means if my projector is 3.5m away from the screen, there should be no problem getting a 2m-wide image right?

 

Thanks.

 

 

[htfreak]

You can always try a setup similar to mine.  For 3.5m throw distance, you can easily get up to 120" screen size which the TW700 should be able to handle.  Another alternative you can consider is the AX100 although the pricing may not be as good as the Epson.  You can demo the TW700 at KEC over at Adelphi and also get a good offer at the same time.

 

[thegiantmarshmallow]

You can always try a setup similar to mine.  For 3.5m throw distance, you can easily get up to 120" screen size which the TW700 should be able to handle.  Another alternative you can consider is the AX100 although the pricing may not be as good as the Epson.  You can demo the TW700 at KEC over at Adelphi and also get a good offer at the same time.

 

 

Yeah, I saw your setup before, and I too have a ledge. But I have a TV rack in front which stores all my AV stuff, and I'd prefer to leave them in front.

 

How much would an AV receiver cost anyway? I would probably get really cheap ones, but that'd mean poorer quality right? Not so much of an audiophile/videophile so wouldn't really notice the difference in the first place.

 

Anyway I called up KEC earlier today and the price they gave for the TW700 was $2899... Not very attractive I might say. pricejapan.com is selling it at $1860, and even with GST it's still around $2000.

[Doggie Howser]

That 899 you pay is for peace of mind, for warranty claims etc.

 

Just so you know, an international warranty isn't necessarily the same as a local warranty.

 

Depends on whether the local guys wanna play punk with you.

 

For instance, you can get Porsches for abt 10-20k cheaper than from Stuttgart and the PIs will tell you, you can register yr Porsche with Stuttgart for S$3k to get local warranty. I was told that while Stuttgart will "honor" the warranty, how they deal with the warranty is very different from local cars. First, even if the part needed to repair yr item is in stock, they will not utilise existing stock of spares since strictly speaking the spares were meant for their own customers. Instead, they will make you pay first for the item, indent the parts for you (ie wait a few weeks or months), then repair it for you. THEN, they will check with Porsche to see if that part is considered a manufacturing defect. If it is, then they will claim the cost back from Porsche and reimburse you. If not, hasta la vista to yr money.

 

Of course, Epson SG could be much nicer people.

 

I think the Marantz SR 4001 is a fairly affordable HDMI AV receiver. It should hopefully get the same firmware upgrade as the SR7001/8001 to handle MPCM from the PS3.

 

 

[thegiantmarshmallow]

Sigh.

 

Maybe I'm overreaching and should just settle for an LCD TV instead.

 

That 899 you pay is for peace of mind, for warranty claims etc.

 

Just so you know, an international warranty isn't necessarily the same as a local warranty.

 

Depends on whether the local guys wanna play punk with you.

 

For instance, you can get Porsches for abt 10-20k cheaper than from Stuttgart and the PIs will tell you, you can register yr Porsche with Stuttgart for S$3k to get local warranty. I was told that while Stuttgart will "honor" the warranty, how they deal with the warranty is very different from local cars. First, even if the part needed to repair yr item is in stock, they will not utilise existing stock of spares since strictly speaking the spares were meant for their own customers. Instead, they will make you pay first for the item, indent the parts for you (ie wait a few weeks or months), then repair it for you. THEN, they will check with Porsche to see if that part is considered a manufacturing defect. If it is, then they will claim the cost back from Porsche and reimburse you. If not, hasta la vista to yr money.

 

Of course, Epson SG could be much nicer people.

 

I think the Marantz SR 4001 is a fairly affordable HDMI AV receiver. It should hopefully get the same firmware upgrade as the SR7001/8001 to handle MPCM from the PS3.

 

 

[thegiantmarshmallow]

Alright, I finally got my projector!  ;D

 

Now I need a receiver so that I can put my stuff in front and my projector behind of my room.

 

How much is a basic AV receiver? What's the difference between a low end one and more expensive model? I just need something inexpensive for my Xbox 360 (Component/VGA), Wii (Component), DVD player, my MacBook Pro (DVI/VGA) and in future a PS3.

 

I think I might need a screen as well. My image is about 198cm wide, what's the cheapest screen I can find? I'm kinda shocked at how expensive screens are.

 

 

[Quest88]

If purely for display, why not just hunt for one of those component switch boxes instead of an AVR.

might be cheaper. somemore you got 4 devices currently + more in future.

 

think u aren't going to get HDMI upscaling from the low end AVRs yet.

almost everything else on ur setup (except PS3) can do with just component for the moment.

[thegiantmarshmallow]

If purely for display, why not just hunt for one of those component switch boxes instead of an AVR.

might be cheaper. somemore you got 4 devices currently + more in future.

 

think u aren't going to get HDMI upscaling from the low end AVRs yet.

almost everything else on ur setup (except PS3) can do with just component for the moment.

 

Hm, that's a good idea. Didn't think of it before.

 

Now what I have is a 5.1 HTiB, HTZ333. The speaker receiver also acts as the DVD player, although it doesn't have upscaling. It's region free though, which the Xbox 360 isn't.

 

I'm still more inclined in getting a cheap AV receiver if the cost isn't too prohibitive, as not all my devices use component, like my Mac, and I want to run a single HDMI cable from the front to the back to keep it neat.

[thegiantmarshmallow]

I suppose if I go the component switcher way I'll have to get one of these:

 

http://www.monoprice.com/products/product.asp?c_id=101&cp_id=10112&cs_id=1011201&p_id=3027&style=&seq=1&format=1#largeimage

 

And a long component cable like this:

http://www.monoprice.com/products/product.asp?c_id=102&cp_id=10235&cs_id=1023501&p_id=322&seq=1&format=2&style=

 

Right?

 

How will picture quality be affected? Is there such a thing as a component switcher than accepts component input and outputs via HDMI?

[Quest88]

I'm still more inclined in getting a cheap AV receiver if the cost isn't too prohibitive, as not all my devices use component, like my Mac, and I want to run a single HDMI cable from the front to the back to keep it neat.

Connection for Mac can be done with a VGA to component cable.

I previously did something like this without issue via switch also.

 

Briefly looked at the links. Looks ok.

PQ will always be affected with a switch. How much depends on the quality of the switch.

 

To what I know, if you want to convert to HDMI, there has to be a processor involved.. not simply a switch. As such, no cheap AVR is going to do the job.