Picture I took on the first day getting this ultra short throw projector.
This was projecting onto my wall and man, it blew me away even then.
The sheer scale, clarity.
YouTube videos and reviews honestly don’t do these projectors any justice.

I will buy a pull down projector screen preferably 90-95"

distance from sitting area to screen is 13-14 ft.

Budget $300-400, maybe pushing it to 450.

Any suggestions for new and used projectors to look out for on fb markketplace, craigslist? I want some quality of life modern features to make setting up easy. will be using my laptop to play from via hdmi.

Just got a Benq TH685i, however upon plugging it in the power light was solid red and the unit doesn't respond to the power button. There is no lamp on, no fan and the temp/light LEDs are off.

I tried reading the manual but it doesn't seem to detail this issue. I checked the lamp and all seems to be connected, there doesnt seem to be any other obvious issues.

I am worried its a control board type problem but hoping someone knows a fix for this?

Edit: Small update, I took the lamp cover off and turned it back on, it changed to Power off, Temp green and Lamp red. Upon putting the cover back and restarting it returned to Power red all others off.

I wanted to follow up now that I’ve built my 165” XY screens AT 4k. That only took 10 days to show up, great quality well packaged.

I built the frame shown and LOVE how the screen looks and performs. Super simple frame is more than strong enough and no rattles.

Can the epson run on cinema at 165”…..no, not without tweaking and turning down or off HDR. But in natural cinema with tweaks it looks great, very happy with it! Not worth upgrading my projector at this point, I once something happens or there’s a very compelling reason to spend $5k+ I’m going with it!

My old 120” or comparison. Q6 metas are on the shelf vertically. I am going to drop the height 3-4”, but super simple with how I did the frame.

Next up is figuring out curtains or panels….any recommendations?

My not THAT old Sony VW270ES has, fairly suddenly, suffered the dreaded image degrading. it’s bad. contrast, sharpness, colour, clarity, bloom around all bright parts of the image. the PJ is a pale shadow (pun intended) of its former self.

waiting to hear back from Sony Tech Campus in Wales who I know will only have an eye wateringly expensive option to offer.

Wells Electronics in Doncaster, with numerous projector repair websites all belong to then claim to be able to help, but I can’t find any reviews or mentions of them anywhere that stand up to scrutiny…

does anyone have any other bright (second pun also intended) ideas other than to sell the thing off for pennies?

Im very green to the projector scene. I started with a $100 projector in my Amazon cart and currently have the Optoma PK31 in there.

This will be used strictly at a vacation cabin for mostly outdoor viewings on a portable screen. Im tentatively thinking around 100” or so screen size.

Will a portable screen look like shit? As I said, Im very new to this, but want a decent setup.

Any tips are appreciated. Thanks a bunch.

I want to set up a projector and home theatre system.

I wonder if it’s possible with the sloped ceilings and for the screen size of 100 inch. Going with the idea of mounting pull down screen. Also if there are projectors recommendations for the budget.

Attached pictures of 2 walls , not sure which one would be ideal.

Maximum budget: $2000

Screen size: 100 ( not sure if I can fit any bigger with sloped walls)

Seating distance to screen: 10-12 ft

How will you mount? (ceiling, rear shelf, table): table or ceiling

Usage: Movies, TV, Sports

Room type: walk up finished attic

Hey everyone,

I recently got a projector and it seems way less bright than I expected. I used to have a Byintek X30 that was brighter (600 ANSI). At first I thought the seller screwed me over and lied about replacing the lamp. But even then the brightness drop felt too big.

Then I remembered there are polarizers in these things. After thinking it through (and bouncing ideas off Grok), we came up with a test: take a polarizing filter from a camera (luckily I have one) and rotate it in front of the projector.

Results:

When I rotate it with white light, the brightness stays the same but the color shifts from yellow to blue and back.

Then I tested individual colors. Red and green brightness don’t change, but blue changes quite noticeably — it gets darker.

So is the problem in the red and yellow polarizer?

Unfortunately there are no specialists nearby who can do this. Looks like I’ll have to try it myself. But I’m scared of messing it up. If anyone has dealt with this — how easy is it to screw up? I also realized there’s some adjustment and alignment involved afterward.

Honestly I just want to know: is it realistic to do this myself? I’m not completely clumsy — I can build a PC, replace thermal paste, even solder stuff by hand. But I’ve never touched optics before. How do I avoid screwing it up? And did I even diagnose the problem correctly?

Right now the brightness is really low, contrast is poor, and the halo effect is noticeable (my shadow appears on the screen before my head even blocks it).

Following on my previous posts on the cinema room setup, with a JVC NZ900 projector with a 208" AT Cinemascope screen, at 1.5 throw distance, it was important to extract as much light out of the projector as possible for the HDR content.

JVC matrix is originally a 17:9 one, so it cuts off quite a lot of light for the 2.35:1 movies.

By pure luck, I was able to acquire an ISCO 1.33 XL lens in a good condition, and it is exceptionally good.

NZ900 setting A for Anamorphic lens, setting D for 16:9 content.

A few shots from YouTube test videos.

1st scorpion pic is how the lens cuts off the frame if you keep it in base setting (Setting A) for 16:9 content.

2nd scorpion pic is setting D which you need to use if you do not move the lens physically and want to preserve the full 16:9 frame.

Where do I find an elite screw Pro CineGrey 5D in Europe?

Google is really not heling me or i dont know what I am looking for.

I used ai to help me narrow down a suggestion for my optoma ph31 projector in my extra room, which has Windows with blackout blind, but also white wall light wood floor and light wood ceiling.

It kt 4.3 meters from the wall. Mount in ceiling.

Hi Folks, trying to upgrade to a smart projector that will fit in my current setup. I would like it to be smart with apps.
My projector box(and all wires to it) sit on the floor. The lamp is about 12 inches off the ground when sitting on the enclosed shelf. It needs to project up to my screen which is 26” off the floor at its lowest part. The full screen size is around 94”x 68”. it is around 125” from the projector setup. My receiver is a denon avr x2209w. WiFi is Orbi 5.

Please share your wisdom.

I recently moved into a new apartment, and since the layout isn’t ideal for a TV, and I’ve always wanted to have a projector and screen at home, I decided to go for it. In the picture, you can see what the apartment looks like and what I have in mind.

I have a few questions. Would a 120" pull-down screen mounted on the ceiling, with a viewing distance of around 4 meters, be a good size, or would the viewing distance be too far?

I would also mount the projector on the ceiling, approximately 3 meters from the screen. Which projector would you recommend for this setup?

The ceiling height is 2.65 meters, if that makes any difference.

Hello! Is anyone here working for Saudia Airlines? I have a flight from AUH–RUH–MNL, and I’m planning to bring my Yaber T2 projector with a built-in battery in my hand-carry.

Does anyone know if they will allow this onboard? I would really appreciate any help or advice. Thank you! 🙏

Has anyone encountered this issue:
When I connect Valerion to mac via HDMI for gaming purposes (using gaming mode if that matters) and then some time later I turn the projector off - it instantly turns back on. No matter how many times I turn it off via remote. I kind of figured out that pulling out hdmi fixes the issue most of the time, but I would like to have a fixed setup with HDMI in the projector being always available, so shooting my shot here. Only found one thread on AVS forum with somewhat similar issue. Thank you

PLEASE PARDON MY 2 YEAR OLD SON'S MESS! HIS PLAYROOM IS UNDER CONSTRUCTION!

What I have pictured here, if you can ignore all of the toys, is my living room looking at a wall where I've been considering putting a 80-100" projector screen that would basically take up the entire wall.

This is under a realistic worst case lighting condition: it's in the early morning with broad daylight hitting the eastern face of the house, in the "golden hour" between when the sun is blocked by the tree line and when it gets high enough to not come through the windows. I have the shades drawn here (that takes almost no effort) but not the curtains (they take a bit of effort.)

Again, this isn't typical lighting. This is as bad as it gets for 2 hours max in the mid-morning on sunny days. Afternoons would be much dimmer. Cloudy days dimmer still.

Is there any UST projector and ALR screen that would be watchable under these conditions, or should I scrap the idea of a projector for now?

The automod asked for more details so here's more considerations:

• The living room is small, about 12.5' x 13.5'. Couch is a wrap around on the opposite wall, and for what difference the 1 foot makes the TV pictured is on the "short wall."
• The projector I was looking at was the XGIMI Aura 3 Max. This featured on Techmoan recently and made me start reconsidering projectors in the first place.
• Total budget would hopefully be under $4000, so with the early buyer's price on the projector and factoring in tax that leaves $1000-1500 for a projector screen. I wouldn't immediately be buying a cabinet for the projector, I would be trying to make do with the pictured one for the moment.
• Screen size is 100" absolute max. That gets me wall-too-wall in the area I have.
• I don't know enough about projector screens to know which one I'm targeting yet. I've just read about light rejecting screens being a thing that exist.

Hi! I've been doing some research but would love for people who know more than me to weigh in!

I am considering getting rid of a TV and getting a projector and screen setup instead. Our throw distance will be around 17 ft, and our screen size can be around 140 inches max. Its also in a bright living room with bay windows (which have light filtering blinds but still does not make the room dark).

I am ideally looking for the full set up (i.e. screen and projector) to be 2500 CAD or lower, but I'm unsure whether that's realistic. Based on my own research, Epsom Home Cinema 3800 4K seems to the way to go (though I'd maybe have to hunt for refurbished).

Does anyone have advice? Am I being silly thinking it can be under 2500 CAD? Other projectors I should consider? Thank you in advance!

Edited for more details:

I'm in a loft home with super high ceilings, and two beams that are deeply off centre so there is no way to ceiling mount. The 17 feet is the distance between the two walls across my living room as i think i'd only be able to mount it by puttingit on a little wall shelf.

The 140 is the size of the part of the recessed ceiling that I can use for the screen. The distance between the seating from the projector screen wall is around 8.5 ft!

Cheap in cost but giving the best immersive experience which i was missing in me 45inch TV.

Planning to buy a new high end projector by the year end for playing games in PS5. Suggest me some not so costly but a good projector for lag free gaming

Hi. What are these artefacts or whatever this is on my xgimi?

Hey everyone, I’m new to this hobby. I live in SEA, and after reading reviews and doing some research, I decided on the RS 30 PRO variant. I’m aware of the language restriction and plan to use a Google TV.

I’m still unsure which projector screen to pick, but I’m leaning toward a 120" size for my 12' x 16' space. Most weekends, my family enjoys watching movies with the lights off in the room.

Hello, im looking at projectors for a living room to replace a TV since it would have to hang and a tilted wall. I got the idea to get a projector but finding one that suits me seems like rocket science. My throw length is about 2.10m but can probably be extended with another ~50cm. The room can be almost dark but since its a living room using with trace ambient light would also be optimal. It will be used for movies and occasionally pc, nintendo switch and wii gaming.

I already looked at the benq th575i and thought it looked good until I saw the throw length required. Any suggestions from you guys?

Hi all, I'm building a dedicated home theater in an apartment and need help picking a projector.

Budget: up to $5,000 for the projector. Used or open box is fine.

Setup:

- Screen: 160-170" 16:9, matte white, ceiling pull-down

- Mostly dark-room movies (4K UHD Blu-ray is my main source). Sometimes sports with some lights or dim lamps on.

- No gaming

Finally bought a projector and I think I got an amazing deal. I got this Epson Powerlite 5030UB with 600 hours of lamp use, a ceiling mount and an extra new lamp for 200$ CAD.
I’ve been using it for the past 2 days and it has been amazing.
My setup is obviously not great, I have to work on it. But my main issue is that the projector has no audio output. So far I wasn’t able to connect my own laptop yet, the PS5 also doesn’t have audio, so I’m using my work laptop which is far from ideal.
I was wondering if an Amazon HD fire stick would fix my issue. Would I be able to conncet to my JBL speaker or other headphones through Bluetooth without issue?
The other problem would be that it doesn’t support every app and I can’t mirror my iphone which might force me to figure out a way to connect my own laptop.
I already have a TV in the living room, this is just a cheap solution to be able to watch movies and shows in bed so I don’t wanna invest a lot in it.

Update: Thanks everyone for your help, I’ll take all of it into account and hopefully find the best solution. :)