# Looking for projector and screen options that fit my sound system and budget?



## chmcke01 (Nov 26, 2013)

We are entering the final stages of planning for the house we are having built. After some coaxing my wife has agreed to let me have a dedicated home theater room in the new house but it has to be as cheap as possible starting out and then we can make upgrades later. 

First, the house planner has estimated $5,000 for an additional room to use for the home theater, and it would be 12'x15'. I know not as big as most people suggest, but thats the most my wife has said I can spend on the room itself. 

I already have a Yamaha 5.1 receiver with 5 speakers and a subwoofer. Nothing fancy but it will do fine until we can afford to upgrade. The receiver has 2 optical inputs that I will use for my PS3 and my computer for audio so I don't have to use the internal projector speakers. If I end up needing more than that I will get an HDMI switcher with optical audio out.

For the screen I plan to just paint a wall. As the house hasn't been built yet I can just tell them what paint to use on that one wall, however the way we are financing the house they will do special paint different from the rest of the house and run the speaker and projector cables for us, but the cost of the cables and paint cannot just be thrown into the mortgage, we have to pay for those upfront. For that reason, we need to keep it as cheap as possible. What paint would you recommend? The room will only have one Window, far from the wall we will be projecting onto and it will be covered with blackout curtains. The walls will be a tan color similar to the one labeled 543 Beige (I had linked an image but I can't post links yet so if you want you can just Google it and you should see a color sample).

I do not know if the ceilings will be the same color or white. 

As for the projector, a friend of mine has a BenQ W710ST projected onto just a plain white semi-gloss wall and he is very happy with it and when I have been over it always has a nice picture. Since its successor (the BenQ W770ST) is even cheaper than it is now ($550) I plan to go with that unless someone can suggest something just as good for cheaper or better for the same price. Thanks in advance for any suggestions!


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## DocFJ (Apr 17, 2013)

For the screen, I don't have experience with painting a wall, though I did consider it as an option. I know how obsessive I can be about things being perfectly square, level, and uniform, and I was worried I couldn't get that with paint and masking tape. So I put together a screen with blackout cloth over a hardwood frame. It took less than an hour and was well under $100.

For the projector, if you like DLP (which the BenQ is), I would recommend the Viewsonic PJD7820 which has full 1080p HD, great contrast for the price, and is only about $100 more. I had the Viewsonic for about two weeks and loved it except that I am very sensitive to the rainbow effect that some people see with DLP projectors. I have switched to an LCD projector, but I miss the contrast and sharpness of the Viewsonic.


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## DocFJ (Apr 17, 2013)

Oh, and good luck and welcome to the shack!


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## chmcke01 (Nov 26, 2013)

DocFJ said:


> For the screen, I don't have experience with painting a wall, though I did consider it as an option. I know how obsessive I can be about things being perfectly square, level, and uniform, and I was worried I couldn't get that with paint and masking tape. So I put together a screen with blackout cloth over a hardwood frame. It took less than an hour and was well under $100.
> 
> For the projector, if you like DLP (which the BenQ is), I would recommend the which has full 1080p HD, great contrast for the price, and is only about $100 more. I had the Viewsonic for about two weeks and loved it except that I am very sensitive to the rainbow effect that some people see with DLP projectors. I have switched to an LCD projector, but I miss the contrast and sharpness of the Viewsonic.


I know a lot of people would cringe, lol, but the current plan is to paint the entire wall not just the area where I want the screen. Then, maybe, after I have the screen area exactly where I want it I will put some of that velvet tape stuff around it. 

That seems like a great projector, but my wife gave me a limit of $500. I can push it to $600 probably but doubtful I could push it as far as $700. 

Throw is kind of important because the room is only supposed to be 12'x15' and its not super likely but the house planner said that if construction costs are higher than anticipated the room may need to be shrunk down to a 12' x 12' to keep it in our budget. I would like to get the screen up to 144" but I could settle for 120" if I had to. 

Can anyone recommend a projector at $600 or less that is better than the W770ST and could project the size I am wanting within the space limitations of the room size?


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