Near theatre experience in home

avi

avi

Skilled
I am asking this behalf of a friend. He already has a Tv of 60" and is not happy. Now he wants to turn a room into a theatre for Tv and movie viewing pleasure. Should he be getting a projector?

He couldn't find any engineers locally (he is in tier-3 city). And he is pretty new to all this (and so I am :p). But something tells me that he shouldn't jump into this, but since he has asked me, I am trying my bit to gather as much info possible.

Budget: 3-4lacs

From what I know about projectors, the bulb/lamp needs to be replaced frequently and it comes with X amount of viewing hours. So I guess, it's not suitable for everyday viewing?

Note that he is not hung up on projectors only, he just wants something which can give him awesome viewing experience. Since current Tv is 60", 4x i.e. 240-250" screen size he wants. But if thats too much for his budget, how about 150-200"? So I thought projector 'may' be correct fit. But not sure that's possible in his budget. And also he can extend little bit (may be 5lacs) but how future proof it will be? How long the setup would last?

Afaik some people have their walls itself modified for projectors or get a screen. He is open to. Oth ideas and wouldn't mind altering his room. Since this room will be dedicated to only for this, 100% darkness is not really difficult.

If I am right, either he should get a big ass Tv or a projector setup. So guys, what do you suggest?

PS - seen Barney's wall projector/Tv in TBBT? That's what he wants ;-)
 
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In a dark room nothing beats the immersive movie watching experience of a well calibrated 1080p movie projector like the panasonic AE7000,8000.
There is no need for an engineer to set it up.he needs to experiment a bit in placement. ceiling mount should also be easy.
a projector is good if he limits his watching to 3-4 hours a day bulb would easily last 5 years.
If he needs absolute best sound quality only then he should think about a professional installer who is willing to travel to his town/city.
 
rrunner said:
In a dark ... travel to his town/city.
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1. Dark room - yes!
2. Willing to experiment - yes!
3. 3-4 hours for 5 years - amazing!
4. Since his budget is high, so I guess, he can have that arranged that also.

Panasonic AE8000 is about 1900USD which is within his budget. And Screen Size compatibility: 40 - 300. That's nice!!
 
I got 4000+ hours on my original bulb in my 7 years of usage. I tend to switch on/off only once per day to increase bulb life.
 
Converting a room to theatre. Check dimensions of the room before deciding on the size of screen. Also the position of speakers. Find out why he is not happy with the current setup, what he is been missing.
 
?dOuBtFiRe? said:
Converting a room to theatre. Check dimensions of the room before deciding on the size of screen. Also the position of speakers. Find out why he is not happy with the current setup, what he is been missing.
Click to expand...
screen size, he wants bigger. And he is not really that into audio.
 
head on to Hifivision.com for better advice. People who have already done it will be able to advice you. Besides the viewing pleasure you will also need to establish a good soudstage which will require lining walls with sound absorbing material, carpeting etc. Seating arrangement should be loungers.
 
You get LED projectors which can easily put out 20,000 - 30,000 hours nowadays. Look into one of those if you want them for everyday usage.
 
@avi check hifivision forum there are plenty of people (like your friend) who have built a dedicated theater room from scratch and systematically... Remember few threads wherein users have started right from room construction till the complete personalized theater (like barney`s) ...
 
@Being-Smart has a projector setup. I will surely have one such room in my new house but construction won't start till 2 years from now so haven't researched a lot. I have played and even watched a lot of games, movies and football matches on mediocre and cheap college projectors and even they seemed 10 times better than my 51" plasma and all that is due to the immersive experience. If your friend doesn't really care about or can't discern the different quality levels, then he can get the same satisfaction for a lot cheaper.
 
IMHO more than the screen the audio setup is more important for a true immersive experience. I would suggest to get a decent 7.1 Channal setup and do at least a beginning level soundproofing (thick curtains and all) of room.

Plus he can also get a recliner with inbuilt popcorn holder for enjoyable experience, maybe multiple to enjoy with friends.
 
max_demon is right. I recently played with my PS3 on my friends projector and while it looked and felt amazing on a 70" screen, the sound was far better. Its one thing to see something huge, but it was something entirely different to hear surround sound actual feel like surround sound. For eg. in FIFA you could heard the crowds chanting and singing in front and behind you, while playing GTA5 you could tell which direction the police siren was coming from while playing the game.
 
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