Screen size for a dedicated HT

[samcruise]

Hi guys, i am looking to setup my dedicated HT and i am trying to research and audition different speakers and projectors. One of the questions that i have is what is a good aspect ratio that i should proceed with.

My room size is 26*19 and the height is 10.5ft. The screen would be placed on 19feet side and i wanted to go with floor standing speakers initially. So my initial thought was to go with 150inch diagonal screen of 16:9 aspect ratio but now i have been thinking to go with in-wall speakers behind the screen. So i will be looking at a couple of changes, first thing is to go with acoustically transparent screen and the second is whether to go with 16:9 or 2.35:1 aspect ratio. My major interest is watching movies.

So my questions are:

1) Should i go with 16:9 or 2.35:1
2) If 2.35:1, can i go with 165 or 180inch diagonal.
3) If 180inch, which is the projector that i can go ahead with? panasonicAE8000 or epson8200 or any other models.

Flat screen is what i am looking at, please advise accordingly.
Thank you

 

[sdurani]

What's your preferred viewing angle: 36 degrees, 45 degrees, 60 degrees? The answer will determine screen size. Without knowing how big an image you're comfortable with, you might end up with too big a screen (fatigue will set in when watching movies) or too small a screen (not immersive enough).

 

[Lad1]

How about Sony HW65?.What do experts say?

 

[samcruise]

What's your preferred viewing angle: 36 degrees, 45 degrees, 60 degrees? The answer will determine screen size. Without knowing how big an image you're comfortable with, you might end up with too big a screen (fatigue will set in when watching movies) or too small a screen (not immersive enough).

I am not sure about the viewing angles but it should be comfortable without causing any discomfort even after few hours of continuous watching. It should be a balance between immersive experience and decent screen size. Thank you.

 

[Naturelover]

Hyderabad should have some good HT demo facilities. I would think it would be best to visit them and see for yourself what would you like. This would only give you others opinions which may or may not work for you. The good AV outlets would always help you get to where you want to.

 

[eummagic1]

Hi guys, i am looking to setup my dedicated HT and i am trying to research and audition different speakers and projectors. One of the questions that i have is what is a good aspect ratio that i should proceed with.

My room size is 26*19 and the height is 10.5ft. The screen would be placed on 19feet side and i wanted to go with floor standing speakers initially. So my initial thought was to go with 150inch diagonal screen of 16:9 aspect ratio but now i have been thinking to go with in-wall speakers behind the screen. So i will be looking at a couple of changes, first thing is to go with acoustically transparent screen and the second is whether to go with 16:9 or 2.35:1 aspect ratio. My major interest is watching movies.

So my questions are:

1) Should i go with 16:9 or 2.35:1
2) If 2.35:1, can i go with 165 or 180inch diagonal.
3) If 180inch, which is the projector that i can go ahead with? panasonicAE8000 or epson8200 or any other models.

Flat screen is what i am looking at, please advise accordingly.
Thank you

Normally, 1.5x times the width of the screen should be seating distance. Which gives better immersive experience without eye fatigue. But, this is calculated under the assumption that you will be watching Full HD movies.

Check the below link which gives you more insight.

https://carltonbale.com/home-theater/home-theater-calculator/comment-page-5/

 

[eummagic1]

And for your reply to screen aspect ratio, since you are planning for Panasonic AE8000 which has lens memory function. You can very well go for 2.35:1 screen and customise the lens zoom to 16:9 and 2.35:1 aspect ratio movies. Ensure to have black borders around the screen, which gives better contrast and also cover up the extra light spillage of the black bars during 2.35:1 aspect ratio viewing.

 

[sdurani]

I am not sure about the viewing angles but it should be comfortable without causing any discomfort even after few hours of continuous watching. It should be a balance between immersive experience and decent screen size. Thank you.

No one can answer what is comfortable for you or what causes discomfort to you. That info has to come from you. That's why my question was directed at you.

Once you tell us how much of your field of view you like the image to take up, the rest is simple math (screen width that will give you the viewing angle you want from your seating position).

 

[samcruise]

Hyderabad should have some good HT demo facilities. I would think it would be best to visit them and see for yourself what would you like. This would only give you others opinions which may or may not work for you. The good AV outlets would always help you get to where you want to.

I have seen some demos and most of them have a 133inch or a 120inch screen and only a couple of them had more than 150inch screens. More than 150inch screen looked good but they were using expensive projectors like jvc.

Now that's my other question, If i am going with screen size of 150-180inch, which projector would do the job well (likes of epson8200, panasonic ae8000 ?), as i want to make sure the projector has that capability to project on a screen of such size without making the image dull.

 

[samcruise]

No one can answer what is comfortable for you or what causes discomfort to you. That info has to come from you. That's why my question was directed at you.

Once you tell us how much of your field of view you like the image to take up, the rest is simple math (screen width that will give you the viewing angle you want from your seating position).

36 degrees should be good for me i believe.

 

[manoj.p]

Sam,

Best way to know what you are comfortable with is by trying it out yourself. When you are auditioning, try changing your seating distance. You will get an idea of how immersive the screen size is by trying out these. If you stretch the image size more than 150" diagonal, you need to go for really high lumen projector. I don't think any of the Sony, Epson or JVC's have lumens to cover such a big screen.

On another note, in my opinion, 36 degrees isn't that immersive even in the front row. By the time you go to second row, the screen is too small. But its a preference and you need to go with what you are comfortable. Try it out and see for yourself.

 

[sdurani]

36 degrees should be good for me i believe.

Thanx. In your other thread, we discussed that the 3/5 and 4/5 divisions of room length would have the smoothest frequency response (fewest/smallest peaks & dips) for your two rows of seating AND would give you a comfortable 5 feet of space between rows. Let's stick to those locations when doing the math.

BTW, while a 36-degree viewing angle is what THX recommends, I agree with Manoj that you might start craving a larger, more immersive image after a while. So let's give you a couple of choices.

A 156-inch screen width (not diagonal) will give you a 36-degree viewing angle from the back row. The same size screen will give you a 47-degree viewing angle from the front row. With high def images these days, people are starting to prefer viewing angles around 45 degrees, because you don't see the pixels like you used to in the standard def days.

Rather than choose one or the other, you can have both, just by switching rows. Sit in the back row when watching TV programs, move to the front row for big action movies. Best of both worlds. If you decide to put the screen on a false wall a couple feet away from your real front wall, so that you can hide the speakers behind the screen, then just shrink the screen width to 140 inches to maintain the same viewing angles. Pretty simple.

 

[samcruise]

Sam,

Best way to know what you are comfortable with is by trying it out yourself. When you are auditioning, try changing your seating distance. You will get an idea of how immersive the screen size is by trying out these. If you stretch the image size more than 150" diagonal, you need to go for really high lumen projector. I don't think any of the Sony, Epson or JVC's have lumens to cover such a big screen.

On another note, in my opinion, 36 degrees isn't that immersive even in the front row. By the time you go to second row, the screen is too small. But its a preference and you need to go with what you are comfortable. Try it out and see for yourself.

I have been doing the changing the seating distance but i was trying to check if there was any difference in sound levels but now i will check the immersive experience as well, thank you

 

[samcruise]

Thanx. In your other thread, we discussed that the 3/5 and 4/5 divisions of room length would have the smoothest frequency response (fewest/smallest peaks & dips) for your two rows of seating AND would give you a comfortable 5 feet of space between rows. Let's stick to those locations when doing the math.

BTW, while a 36-degree viewing angle is what THX recommends, I agree with Manoj that you might start craving a larger, more immersive image after a while. So let's give you a couple of choices.

A 156-inch screen width (not diagonal) will give you a 36-degree viewing angle from the back row. The same size screen will give you a 47-degree viewing angle from the front row. With high def images these days, people are starting to prefer viewing angles around 45 degrees, because you don't see the pixels like you used to in the standard def days.

Rather than choose one or the other, you can have both, just by switching rows. Sit in the back row when watching TV programs, move to the front row for big action movies. Best of both worlds. If you decide to put the screen on a false wall a couple feet away from your real front wall, so that you can hide the speakers behind the screen, then just shrink the screen width to 140 inches to maintain the same viewing angles. Pretty simple.

Yeah will try to check the viewing angles from different seating positions as mentioned and i am also thinking to get a demo of the projector in my room so that i can practically know what size suits the best, thank you