Considering purchasing my first projector

[ericlp]

The Surface Material:
GatorFoam Board (a foam core artist material used for poster mounting)
--------------------------
The Paint:
Behr "Silver Screen" (770E-2) mix using Ultra Pure White (UPW) flat latex

Generic Formula of Behr SS:
1 gallon flat white latex base
20/48ths of Lamp Black
20/48ths of Raw Umber (a dark, murky yellow/orange-based pigment)
2/48ths of Red

NOTE: Wait for it to cure enough (about 2 weeks) before judging it. If you do it while it's still wet, you may see hot-spotting. It's like brewing a good lager beer, let it mellow a while, then decide.


I used Behr Silver Screen, worked well for me, but only get a quart. Get a gallon if your going into screen production.

 

[leglez]

Got the HT-RC160 and Energy Take 5s in today. Don't have much spare speaker wire around, but did hook up the center, and it sounds great for the price. Also went ahead and tested out the speaker stands that I made from the lamps. They seem like they will work pretty well. I only had 1 spare screw that would fit in the keyhole, but the lamp post seems pretty sturdy for the weight of the take 5. I thought I would only be able to use 2 posts, which is 39", but I was able to go up to 3 which is around 52". It is still pretty sturdy with 3, but not too sure if I am going to go that high or not since they are somewhat wobbly.

I might just try to add a little more weight to the bottom and then go with 3. What is the recommended height of fronts and surround? Is it ear level? Or above or below ear level?

Also anyone have any suggestions for black out curtains? I hung up a black sheet over 1 window and it made an amazing difference during the day. I am not too found of the black sheets on 3 windows and over a door though haha so I would rather find some curtains or something.

 

[leglez]

I went ahead and just hooked up the left, right, center, and sub. I then ran audyssey. I am blown away by the quality of these speakers for the price. I can not wait to get the rest of the cables to hook everything up. I am taking my 62" DLP to the guys house that bought it from me tomorrow, so I will finally have some room in to start rearranging furniture and what not.

 

[ericlp]

Also anyone have any suggestions for black out curtains? I hung up a black sheet over 1 window and it made an amazing difference during the day. I am not too found of the black sheets on 3 windows and over a door though haha so I would rather find some curtains or something.

Try your big lots or wall mart they sell black out curtains. Big lots has a better selection and it's cheap as well. I think it was 15 bucks a panel.

 

[RedCOMET]

Also anyone have any suggestions for black out curtains? I hung up a black sheet over 1 window and it made an amazing difference during the day. I am not too found of the black sheets on 3 windows and over a door though haha so I would rather find some curtains or something.

My GF made me black out curtains by using a black out cloth heat glued to the inside of a solid cloth curtain. Worked like a charm... Not sure if it will be any cheaper than ericlp suggestions. IRC, home depot or lowes might have some pre made black out cloth curtains, but they might be pricier than what you are willing to pay.

 

[leglez]

Ok thanks! Any suggestions on speaker height?

 

[leglez]

Got all the cables in today, everything hooked up. Ran Audyssey, and played with some settings using the Home Theatre optimizer on Wall-E. Tomorrow I am gonna stop by home depot and see if I can get a cable raceway for a decent price, if not I will be ordering from cable oraganizers.

Went to walmart today and picked up some black curtains for $9 a piece and put them on all the doors and windows and it makes the room just about as dark during the day as it is at night.

Also ran out of speaker cable on my last speaker. Needed about 5 more foot. I just have it running under a rug to the receiver for now, I am ordering some more cables off monoprice tonight (dvi-hdmi, long 3.5mm to run computer audio to receiver, and a longer ethernet) so I will probably just order a 50' spool.

Thanks for all the help from everyone! As soon as I get the room cleaned up and the couches brought back in I will get some pictures up.

 

[leglez]

Got the couches back in today, and put up the cable raceways going from the projector to the floor. Man those are a pain to get closed with a 2 thick HDMI, and a thick Power cable.

 

[leglez]

Here are some pictures, not the greatest, the were taken with my phone. They were also taken during the day so there is some ambient light still leaking into the room from the other room. I plan on getting some more blackout curtains for that room to help out a bit. But it is definitly usable like it is right now.

 

[YOyoYOhowsDAjello]

Take the plastic cover off the projector's air intake / exhaust!!!!

 

[leglez]

I took it off right after those pictures where taken. Haha thank you though!

 

[YOyoYOhowsDAjello]

Ok good

 

[DT4K]

I have a Sanyo PLV-Z5 (720P).
I've got a 120" screen with a seating distance of about 15 feet. I think it's the perfect size.

After much research on AVS forums, I decided to paint the wall, rather than put up a screen. I can't remember the exact paint shade, but it's a flat neutral (equal R,G,B values) light gray. Gray gives you less brightness, but better contrast. I painted a 4 inch wide flat black border to frame the screen. I did a lot of sanding to get the surface nice and flat before painting it and I think it came out great. I painted the rest of the walls in the room a satin finish beige. That was a compromise since the wife didn't want flat black walls.

I paid an electrician friend of mine $50 to install an outlet in the ceiling and run all the cables to the wall with the AV cabinet. I'll try to get some pics of my room up pretty soon.

 

[leglez]

I picked up a Logitech Harmony 880 remote today and am loving it. It makes it everything a lot easier to use and takes up a lot less space. I had to purchase the Nyko blu-wave to make it work with my PS3.

 

[ericlp]

Good Job....

So now that you have had to optoma HD20, what do you think of the picture? Any thing you would have done differently?

Glad you got it together.

 

[leglez]

I have been loving it, signed up for directv and love being able to have cable again. But now considering a smaller LCD or something for when I want to just turn it on to watch the news or something. I have been switching stuff around the past couple weeks to get it perfect. I moved the subwoofer to the back of the room next to the main couch and it makes it sound a lot better. Today I ran the cables from my computer to the receiver to hook it up. Hooked up the zone 2 even, I had a small speaker in my bathroom that played pandora constantly, I rewired this and ran it to the zone 2 and have zone 2 constantly playing pandora now. I also just purchased new headphones for my xbox and whatnot, replacing my Turtlebeach Earforce X4 with an AstroGaming A40 with mixamp. They are supposed to be here Wednesday.

I also got rid of the junk Harmony 880. I bought one, had tons of problems with it. Buttons didn't work and whatnot, I sent it in got a new one, same problems, but on different buttons. I Sent that in got a refund, and then with the money from selling my Turtlebeaches I bought a brand new Logitech Harmony One. It is supposed to be here tomorrow, so I hope that will be better. If not I will get a refund and purchase a different brand.

If I were to do it over I think I would have painted the wall rather than going with the gatorfoam. I also would have liked to get longer cables and run them under the crawl space below the living room so that there wouldn't be 7 pretty thick cables running under a rug through the middle of the room.

In another month or two I will be replacing my subwoofer, not sure with what yet though.

 

[leglez]

Got the harmony one in today. This thing is amazing. It took all the settings from my 880 also. And all the buttons work haha.