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I'm in the midst of finishing my basement and i've decided to go with a ceiling mounted projector instead of a big flatscreen. I'm wondering if anyone has any experience with projectors that are good for both movies and gaming. I've been doing a bit of research and it seems like contrast ratio and brightness are the two main factors. The room is about 17 feet long.

Anyone use a projector as a home theater ?

peace

First.

Interested in outcome of thread too because ...

Balzac wrote:I'm in the midst of finishing my basement and i've decided to go with a ceiling mounted projector instead of a big flatscreen.

... I am planning on doing the same soon.

i have a projector, but i dont game on it.

if it's in your basement, i would worry more about contrast ratio than brightness. i have an LED projector which are not known for brightness, and i have to shut the shades to be able to see during the day (not that big of a deal) but at night it's fine.

LED vs DLP is usually brightness vs lamp life.

contrast ratio and native resolution are probably the more important criteria. high contrast ratio makes a huge difference.

like i said, i dont use mine for gaming, so you'll probably want to make sure you read reviews when you're narrowing things down.

always when choosing a projector look at the throw distance vs screen size ratio (or whatever it's called). different projectors are made to shoot from different distances, so make sure you look in the specs (usually means downloading a manual) so that you can make sure that you'll get the right screen size with the projector in a reasonable place on the ceiling/wall/wherever you mount it. you dont want to accidentally get a projector that cant shoot a full screen because you cant mount it far enough away, and you also dont want to have to run cable to the center of your ceiling. ya know?

also i shoot directly onto a wall painted light grey, and i've never felt the need for a screen of any kind. if you have a big blank wall, you might want to try it before you spend money on a screen.

I think i'm gonna go with the Epson PowerLite Home Cinema 5030UB. It has some good reviews and will get me a 120" projection from about 16 feet away, which is perfect.
Hovers around 2300$, which falls in my range.

Brightness: 2,400 Lumens
Contrast(Full On/Off): 600,000:1
Auto Iris: Yes
Native Resolution: 1920x1080
Aspect Ratio: 16:9 (HD)

Video Modes: 720p, 1080i, 1080p/60
576p, 480p, 480i
3D Modes: Full HD 3D

sick contrast ratio.