Setting Up A Projector In A Room

[aargee]

Ray,

All the advice you have got so far is great, I ran cables seven years ago when we were building. Enough for Component and one video. This wasn't enough, by the time the PJ came along HDMI was starting to be the way of things, and getting into the ceiling afterwards was difficult to say the least. A draw rope/cable is a definite must for future proofing, make sure it is away from 'V's or sharp acute angles in the frame because it makes pulling a cable almost impossible when they wedge in a corner. If I was doing it again from scratch, I would consider getting some 50-90mm PVC storm water pipe to make a conduit between the AV and PJ, plenty of room to pull cables easily. My cables acually ran through a lintel/wall that almost came down to the plaster ceiling. My power is in the form of three core flex, switched at the amplifier end, so it's easy to unplug during storms, etc. Not that we have many of those of late!! Cables pretty much come out of holes in the walls. The HDMI was in one solid cable as I didn't wan't to try plugging into the wall then another cable to the AV stack. The hole in the ceiling is disguised by the PJ bracket coveing most of it up and the hole at the AV end is covered by a blank wall plate with neat holes to pass the cable out. Both ends have termi-mesh (offcuts of fine stainless steel mesh collected from building sites) collars to stop the cockys, bugs, mice trying to use it as a pathway into the house.

Good luck,

- Rob.

[rzkman]

Hi Rob,

Yes I certainly appreciate the great advice I have received through this thread and the other one which is more specific about the placement of the projector. After crunching through the numbers and evaluating the compromise between maximizing throw and maximizing brightness, I have settled on 5.21m for a 110" scope screen with 1.2 gain.

I do like the idea of having a conduit between the AV and PJ, but its the right angle bend at the wall which I don't know how to deal with. Even if I go for a smallish 50mm conduit, I have three battens at the right angle turn which I have to go through. As I mentioned before, I don't think cutting 50mm out of load bearing 90mm batten is a good idea! There is some gap between the sissalation and brickwork which I can try to get the right angle in...will need to have a closer look tomorrow.

Cheers,

Ray

Ray,

All the advice you have got so far is great, I ran cables seven years ago when we were building. Enough for Component and one video. This wasn't enough, by the time the PJ came along HDMI was starting to be the way of things, and getting into the ceiling afterwards was difficult to say the least. A draw rope/cable is a definite must for future proofing, make sure it is away from 'V's or sharp acute angles in the frame because it makes pulling a cable almost impossible when they wedge in a corner. If I was doing it again from scratch, I would consider getting some 50-90mm PVC storm water pipe to make a conduit between the AV and PJ, plenty of room to pull cables easily. My cables acually ran through a lintel/wall that almost came down to the plaster ceiling. My power is in the form of three core flex, switched at the amplifier end, so it's easy to unplug during storms, etc. Not that we have many of those of late!! Cables pretty much come out of holes in the walls. The HDMI was in one solid cable as I didn't wan't to try plugging into the wall then another cable to the AV stack. The hole in the ceiling is disguised by the PJ bracket coveing most of it up and the hole at the AV end is covered by a blank wall plate with neat holes to pass the cable out. Both ends have termi-mesh (offcuts of fine stainless steel mesh collected from building sites) collars to stop the cockys, bugs, mice trying to use it as a pathway into the house.

Good luck,

- Rob.

[rzkman]

Hi Rod,

Thanks for your comments. Yes you are right. my trusses are spaced very close together with only 20cm gaps at the most between them. I will put in a few extra pieces of timber in there though, as it will give me more options if I do end up securing a sled up there.

Thanks for the tip on the powerpoints. I have a good electrician who I can use.

Cheers,

Ray.

rzkman, your ceiling beams are so close together I doubt that you will have any problems mounting a projector -- no need for an MDF plate. Just make sure you know where the beams are before the plaster goes up -- measure them from the front wall and note the distances down. Use long screws into the beams through the plaster.

Apart from possible (but improbable) legal complications, you can save yourself a bit of money by installing your own power points. By investing in a non-contact voltage detector from DSE ($20), you can be asolutely sure there are no live wires before you start stripping insulation, twisting wires together and fixing them in the screw terminals. As an amater you will be far more careful that most sparkies, who have been known to wire up switches etc without turning off the power! .

Rod

[Tasty]

Tasty, do you have a turbo boost on that ae700 or something? Or a 3 gain screen maybe?

My ae700 really struggled on a 108" 1.0 gain screen after 1000hrs - it was down to <5ftL which is 'not bright'. On a 150" screen, you'd need a light cannon and there a very few home projectors I think that could attempt this properly.

I agree big is nice, but not at the expense of a bright well resolved image.

Heheh, good question norpus, I've pulled us almost completely OT now :-), but it looks like Ray is getting good advice. I don't know what the light output of my AE700 is and I have no way of measuring it effectively unfortunately. My Panny has over 2000 hours on it, 1st bulb, and when the room is dark the level of brightness is more than fine, it's great. As always with something like this it's all in the eye of the beholder, but my eye is far from non-critical and I'm very pleased with the result. I have had a number of friends who already own their own projectors come and see my setup and lament their choice in screen size/viewing distance, they love the image as much as I do and brightness has not been an issue. But you have a really good point, when I get some light 'leaking' into the room it does make for more challenging viewing :-), it does have to be dark to get good results.

However my main point was to address the viewing angle part of this discussion, it appears to me that many recommend distances/angles that are much further away/smaller than you might prefer in a cinema, I'm not sure why that is... this is home cinema after all. Movies are in widescreen format so that the image wraps around the viewer and you get to use your peripheral vision... you don't want to look through a small window, you want suspension of disbelief and immersion.

Naturally if brightness is a problem you solve it by projecting a smaller image and sitting closer :-). Using your setup a 108" screen from 5 meters (17 feet) is a viewing angle of 26 degrees, much less than the 36 THX suggest, the THX recommended viewing distance for your screen size is 3.6m... so how far back do you view your 108"?

[norpus]

Heheh, good question norpus, I've pulled us almost completely OT now :-), but it looks like Ray is getting good advice. I don't know what the light output of my AE700 is and I have no way of measuring it effectively unfortunately. My Panny has over 2000 hours on it, 1st bulb, and when the room is dark the level of brightness is more than fine, it's great. As always with something like this it's all in the eye of the beholder, but my eye is far from non-critical and I'm very pleased with the result. I have had a number of friends who already own their own projectors come and see my setup and lament their choice in screen size/viewing distance, they love the image as much as I do and brightness has not been an issue. But you have a really good point, when I get some light 'leaking' into the room it does make for more challenging viewing :-), it does have to be dark to get good results.

However my main point was to address the viewing angle part of this discussion, it appears to me that many recommend distances/angles that are much further away/smaller than you might prefer in a cinema, I'm not sure why that is... this is home cinema after all. Movies are in widescreen format so that the image wraps around the viewer and you get to use your peripheral vision... you don't want to look through a small window, you want suspension of disbelief and immersion.

Naturally if brightness is a problem you solve it by projecting a smaller image and sitting closer :-). Using your setup a 108" screen from 5 meters (17 feet) is a viewing angle of 26 degrees, much less than the 36 THX suggest, the THX recommended viewing distance for your screen size is 3.6m... so how far back do you view your 108"?

About 3.6mtrs which is ~36degrees - I sit close (as we watch a 32" KVHR crt from these seats also)

[ozGremlin]

Hi rkman et al,

Apologies for not noticing this thread for a while - been distracted with... Han on, why do I come here every day?

Anyhow, those posi-struts look remarkably similar to the ones in my house! As stated previously, what you are trying to end up with is a an area of timber work along the centreline that is about 2m in length and centred at about 4m back from the screen. This will allow you to move the PJ around to suit the model/screen/etc that you have. The lump of MDF idea probably isn't going to work for you, but as the inter-strut spacing is uniform, you could have some lengths of timber cut for you and you only need to drop them in. A coupl of longer braces across the top will allow you to screw it all together from the top.

As for the wiring, the conduit idea is great, but anything smaller than 50mm will not be big enough to get the cables through with reterminating them (And you said you weren't very handy - even if you were, who seriously reterminated HDMI?) If I were doing another one today, I'd go with HDM, Component, Svideo, and VGA. There's no problem doing 50mm holes through the tip plates - that's how ducted vacuum and even sewage breather pipes are all done.

As for your power, I'd have the sparky put it in the roof, with no in room access - or wire the switch to a wall plate somewhere else in the room (Light switch?) If you go this way, you could consider plugging in a standard computer style power cord so that you can pull the small end through when you mount the PJ. Just remember, you need to leave all these cords somewhere where you can get them back out again from below. An option is to bundle them all together a few inches from the end with electrical tape, then tie a drawer wire through that and leave the drawer wire all the way down the centre line. Just make sure you have the slack set up in such a way that it doesn't snare. Especially check what goes on after the insulation has been installed.

If all else fails, there is always the option of simply cutting a hole and having the plasterer back to tidy it up!

You're gonna love this when it's going!

ozGremlin

[drubie]

If all else fails, there is always the option of simply cutting a hole and having the plasterer back to tidy it up!

You're gonna love this when it's going!

ozGremlin

IMHO if you can't plaster, you shouldn't be running cables yourself.