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Question about throw distance. (1 Viewer)

greggor

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I own the Epson 5030 projector and projector central says the throw distance for this projector is 14'7" for a 110" screen. I'll be installing wood under the ceiling drywall where the projector will go. I just want to make sure I'm using an adequate size wood panel in the ceiling and most importantly it's in the proper range/distance for my projector. Guess I'm looking for a sanity check before I start putting anything in my ceiling. What would be the closest to the screen and the farthest and how worried should I be if I'm not a little off center or a little closer or farther away than the 14'7"?
 

Bobofbone

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Projector Central web site app, is good, or the information may be in your manual, but I never know how exact that is. If you have the projector, you could do what I did. I used a more direct approach. I put my projector on a step ladder (don't drop it!) and put on something with the aspect ratio I wanted (it was "Raiders of the Lost Ark". My cat watched it with me. We both enjoyed it on the cement wall) and put tape on the wall at the corners of the image. After some experimentation, I found the throw distance I wanted. I had a slight problem. I didn't have the distance I needed for the way I wanted the room. Not a problem. I made a hole in the wall, got some optical glass and mounted the projector in the next room. My wife didn't like the idea when I first broached it, so I waited until she wasn't around and made the hole where I wanted. I'd actually planned ahead, and during the building made sure no wiring or plumbing was running through that portion of the wall, and reinforced the sofit to hold the projector. After she got home and admired the hole I made, she walked off mumbling something, and everything worked out fine. If you find yourself in a similar situation and your significant other isn't quite as tolerant, you might want to consider mounting the projector at 90 degrees to the screen, and reflecting the image off a mirror to gain additional distance. It also might be a consideration if you don't have another room handy to mount a projector in and make holes in the wall. If it works, use a front silvered mirror to avoid internal reflections and distortion. If you are just trying the idea out, I'd use any mirror that's handy. I haven't seen this in a home theater, but I've seen it in some business conference rooms. They were less interested in image quality.

Once you make a decision, build, paint or obtain your screen after setting things up. That way, you will size the screen to the image. Also, if you make or assemble a screen, make sure the finished screen can be moved from where you make it to where you'll use it. You may have to make it on the theater. Mine was a near thing. Concerning distance, if your projector has a zoom lens, if you are in mid range, the distance may not be as critical.

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Jason Charlton

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I own the Epson 5030 projector and projector central says the throw distance for this projector is 14'7" for a 110" screen. I'll be installing wood under the ceiling drywall where the projector will go. I just want to make sure I'm using an adequate size wood panel in the ceiling and most importantly it's in the proper range/distance for my projector. Guess I'm looking for a sanity check before I start putting anything in my ceiling. What would be the closest to the screen and the farthest and how worried should I be if I'm not a little off center or a little closer or farther away than the 14'7"?

Relax, you're overthinking things.

I checked the calculator, and their recommended throw distance of 14'7" for 110" is done using the midpoint of the projector's zoom range.

At that throw distance, just adjusting the zoom, you can go as small as 70" or as high as 151" (the box on the left side of the calculator has a radio button to switch between "Diagonal Range" and "Throw Range". Set it to Diagonal range and you can drag that slider up and down to see the size range you can get using only the zoom.

Alternatively, if you lock in the 110" diagonal size, you will see that you can achieve that screen size at a throw distance as low as 10' 8" or as high as 22' 10". Being around the middle is good, but as you can see, there is PLENTY of wiggle room. Placement isn't as limited as it used to be.

In addition, that projector has both horizontal and vertical lens shift, so if you're off center by an inch or two (or 6...) you can easily correct it using lens shift. There is no image degradation at all using lens shift.

The only thing you want to avoid using is keystone correction - but that shouldn't come into play since you have vertical lens shift.

You won't have any problems setting up the projector.
 

greggor

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Jan 6, 1999
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Awesome replies and much appreciated. I figured i was probably over thinking things (as I often tend to do!). I'm running the HDMI and power to the ceiling today and I hope to have my wood base installed as well. With a little luck I'll be ready for dry wall next week and enjoying football before I know it. I'm using the peerless mount and I have an Elite 16:9 screen.
 

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