Film-Tech Forum ARCHIVE: DLP AND HOME THEATRE

This is topic DLP AND HOME THEATRE in forum Digital Cinema Forum at Film-Tech Forum ARCHIVE.

To visit this topic, use this URL:
https://ft-forum.com/ft/cgi-bin/ubb/ultimatebb.cgi?ubb=get_topic;f=16;t=000167

Posted by Jack Culpepper (Member # 724) on 03-14-2001, 12:30 PM:

I HAVE A SMALL SEPERATE SCREENING "THEATRE" BUILT ON TO MY HOUSE. IT IS A 35MM SETUP WITH PLATTER. THE BUILDING MEASURES 16FT X 35FT. ON THE INSIDE, THE SCREENING ROOM MEASURES ABOUT 15FT X 20 FT. THE PROJECTION ROOM IS SEPARATE ABOUT 15FT X 15FT. THE SCREEN MEASURES ABOUT 5.5FT X 12 FT. AND THE PICTURE THROW IS ABOUT 25FT. IF I HAD A DLP PROJECTOR SHOWING AN IMAGE FROM A CURRENT DVD, WHAT WOULD BE THE IMAGE QUALITY ON THE SCREEN. THE REASON OF ASKING IS I LIKE MOVIES. THERE ARE A LOT OF RELEASES ON DVD IN WIDE SCREEN FORMAT. I CAN'T AFFORD TO OBTAIN A LOT OF 35MM PRINTS (EVEN IF ANY WERE AVAILABLE) OF A LOT OF RELEASES THAT ARE NOW ON DVD. I UNDERSTAND THAT SOME DLP PROJECTORS ARE BEING MADE FOR THE HOME MARKET. SO THE BOTTOM LINE QUESTION IS: WOULD A CURRENT DLP PROJECTOR FOR HOME THEATRE USE USING A DVD SOURCE AT A THROW OF 25FT. GIVE ME A SCREEN IMAGE COMPARABLE TO A 35MM SCREEN IMAGE SHOWN IN A REGULAR SIZED THEATRE. INFO WOULD BE APPRECIATED.

Posted by John Pytlak (Member # 331) on 03-14-2001, 02:37 PM:

FWIW, here is a link to Kodak's line of DLP-based Digital Projectors for AV use:
http://www.kodak.com/US/en/digital/av/digitalProjectors/index.shtml

A 1000 lumen projector will only give you about 10 footlamberts on a 12-foot wide screen, so you may want to consider a more expensive projector that uses 3 DMDs and an arc light source.

------------------
John P. Pytlak, Senior Technical Specialist
Worldwide Technical Services, Entertainment Imaging
Eastman Kodak Company
Research Labs, Building 69, Room 7419
Rochester, New York, 14650-1922 USA
Tel: 716-477-5325 Cell: 716-781-4036 Fax: 716-722-7243
E-Mail: john.pytlak@kodak.com
Web site: http://www.kodak.com/go/motion

Posted by Tom Sauter (Member # 616) on 03-15-2001, 08:28 AM:

Getting the proper screen brightness will be tricky. Even though many of today's lower end video projectors provide for 16:9 enhancement, a good portion of the projector's light output goes nowhere.

A basic 800 lumen projector these days fetches about $3000, and a nice 1800-2000 lumen jobber (which is likely what you'll need) can quickly run up to $6000. You should pay close attention to the manufacturer's purported contrast ratio.

Also look for native projector resolution, you'll want something at least 1024x768. A lot of projectors advertise that they can accept XGA and SXGA signals, but they are actually using a scan conversion which can be quite lossy. You'll also want a line doubler or video scaler ($1500-$3000 that de-interlaces NTSC 525 line video into a much higher progressive scan rate.

Since you watch 35mm at home, you probably won't be very happy. I've seen well done systems for $10,000 that rival 16mm. Any increase in price beyond here is generally an increase only in lumens. Your local systems integration company should be willing to bring a few models to your home for a side-by-side demonstration.

This link provides an online comparision between many makes and models:
http://www.projectorpeople.com/projectors/projector_comparisons.asp

And here's a nifty online throw distance calculator:
http://projectorcentral.com/projection_calc.cfm

Posted by Jack Culpepper (Member # 724) on 03-15-2001, 12:39 PM:

BIG THANKS FOR THE INFORMATION. MUCH APPRECIATED.

Posted by John Pytlak (Member # 331) on 03-15-2001, 01:48 PM:

Jack --- Another thing to consider, especially if you don't need to view the images at too great an angle and are sitting at least 2 screen heights (about 11 feet) from your 5.5 foot high screen, would be a moderate gain screen. This would give you a brighter image with less power. But because of its directionality, the viewing angle must be restricted or the screen properly curved to get decent uniformity of illumination.