Home Movie Theater

How munch is a projector for home movie theater?

The sweet spot is the 720p widescreen projectors.

The Optoma HD70 and Mitsubishi HC series:
http://projectorcentral.com/Mitsubishi-H...
http://projectorcentral.com/Optoma-HD70-...
http://projectorcentral.com/Mitsubishi-H...

A 100" screen will be about $70 on up.

Answer 1:

Depends on what you are looking for.A good 480p DLP(about $500-600) will do fine for smaller set ups (60-80inch) but for larger set ups(100-130),I would say a decent 720p with HD compatible,averaging $1,500 on Ebay. I complain and nit pick about my 480p IN72 infocus but actually it works just perfect for my set up,especialy with 1080i HD dvd.
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Answer 2:

Usually high $100s to well over $1000 new, though you might do better buying used units on eBay. I entered "home theater projector" into Yahoo search to get the results below.

I generally think the price of home theater projectors, big screen TVs, and digital TVs in general, are overpriced. When I made the above to a local Radio Shack manager, he stated that he expected the prices to drop drastically after all digital TV broadcasts (and new TV replacements) are mandated in February 2008 (about a year-and-a-half) from now.

Answer 3:

There are rear projection LCD's and DLP's which use mirror panels and color wheels to filter and project a very large screen image [ranging from 65" to 72" diagonally measured]. The major concern is replacement cost of lamps which usually cost between $200 - $300 and last any number of hours depending on how the TV is shut off. Failing to properly shut down either LCD or DLP units which involves leaving on the main fan running for some 20 minutes -- will result in early failure of projection lamps. And there's the added concern regarding the use of "organic" material which make up the LCD panels/mirrors and usually causes the blue panel to fade over a period of time. So you may have to look forward to purchasing a new LCD projection TV. But getting back to DLP projection TV, there is the issue of viewers seeing the dreaded "rainbow effect" which are color flashes appear in highly contrasty dark scenes. Their sighting can cause headaches and is quite annoying to the viewers. And a possible cure is to choose a color wheel which operates faster than 3X; say 4X which seems to be the threshold speed that virtually eliminates the rainbow effect.

And finally, we should also consider the "ultimate, best" TV technology: "Front Projection." The image can either be projected onto a screen or onto a specially painted wall coated with GOO [www.goosystems.com] which in the latter case, is very inexpensive and easy to accomplish as a do-it-your-selfer.

You may well want to check out another technology: DLP front projection which produces a movie-like experience of HD television, DVDs, videos and games. And according to Consumer Reports, "front projection has a superior image -- better than CRT's, LCDs or plasma."

Check out the reviews for a "92" DLP generated [front projection] TV image at amazon.com by submitting the search query: "Infocus SP4805." There are any number of customer submitted pictures of projected HDTV image(s) along with other high-quality regular DVD-movie images projected on bare white wall surfaces. And the price for a refurbished ScreenPlay 4805 is about $550 with lamps costing around $330 which will last around 4,000 hours. Also check out various reviews at Consumer Reports [November 2005 & December 2006] in which front projection is rated "superior" to plasma, lcd.

Good luck!

The first home movie theater?

Does anybody know around when the very first private movie theater was built into somebody's home?

Answer 1:

This was a surprisingly hard question. The best I could find was that numerous silent-era Hollywood stars had theaters in their mansions. Which one was the first is open to question. However, Harold Lloyd's home, Greenacres (no relation to the TV show) , which was built in the mid-1920s, may be the oldest of such homes still standing.