Anyone else have a dedicated theater room?

[soonerbulldog]

Very intrigued by this thread! Back to the projector JJ. Did you see yours on display anywhere prior to purchase? I've got the old style 1080 currently on a 10' screen. I could be convinced to upgrade. I'm guessing your new one doesn't require bulb replacement or any maintenance of any kind ?

 

[doctorjj]

Very intrigued by this thread! Back to the projector JJ. Did you see yours in display anywhere prior to purchase? I've got the old style 1080 currently on a 10' screen. I could be convinced to upgrade. I'm guessing your new one doesn't require bulb replacement or any maintenance of any kind ?

Hadn’t seen it anywhere. Just reviews online and AVS Forums. It has no bulb or maintenance.

 

[tRidiot]

Problem is, once you get into higher-end home theater stuff, you really have to rely on online reviews. Unless you've got someone like @doctorjj who you can visit and evaluate their setup, and then you only get to check out the ONE projector or screen or whatever they have.

None of the "big box" stores really have properly set up viewing areas, even Best Buy's "Magnolia Room" BS. Evaluating TV screens in the store is 95% useless, they are NEVER properly set up or calibrated for a true viewing environment, because they're in a huge, brightly-lit store. And the ones they put into those little viewing rooms they still don't truly calibrate properly. They turn up the brightness and saturation to make their demo videos "pop" and impress people in the short term when they're demoing stuff in the store, but the truth is, if you had them set anywhere close to that in your home, you'd quickly grow fatigued and annoyed with the picture and would probably even develop headaches, etc. That is, unless you have your setup in a giant sunroom, lol. And the problems with projectors are compounded even more than that, you absolutely CANNOT find a place to properly evaluate a home theater projector anywhere.

I don't have much room in my current house, and with my recent job change, it doesn't look like a new place is on my agenda anytime soon. <sigh>

So I have a ton of research to do if I want to do this, as it's going to be a sub-optimal setup from the start. My maximum viewing distance is about 12 feet from the wall, with another wall 3 feet behind me. I don't know if it's really even worth moving to a projector setup with those dimensions, but I keep thinking I'd like to try it out... my 65" just isn't exciting for me anymore. lol.

Yeah, first world problems, I know.

I'm just spitballing, who knows if I'll actually do anything with it or not...

 

[doctorjj]

Problem is, once you get into higher-end home theater stuff, you really have to rely on online reviews. Unless you've got someone like @doctorjj who you can visit and evaluate their setup, and then you only get to check out the ONE projector or screen or whatever they have.

None of the "big box" stores really have properly set up viewing areas, even Best Buy's "Magnolia Room" BS. Evaluating TV screens in the store is 95% useless, they are NEVER properly set up or calibrated for a true viewing environment, because they're in a huge, brightly-lit store. And the ones they put into those little viewing rooms they still don't truly calibrate properly. They turn up the brightness and saturation to make their demo videos "pop" and impress people in the short term when they're demoing stuff in the store, but the truth is, if you had them set anywhere close to that in your home, you'd quickly grow fatigued and annoyed with the picture and would probably even develop headaches, etc. That is, unless you have your setup in a giant sunroom, lol. And the problems with projectors are compounded even more than that, you absolutely CANNOT find a place to properly evaluate a home theater projector anywhere.

I don't have much room in my current house, and with my recent job change, it doesn't look like a new place is on my agenda anytime soon. <sigh>

So I have a ton of research to do if I want to do this, as it's going to be a sub-optimal setup from the start. My maximum viewing distance is about 12 feet from the wall, with another wall 3 feet behind me. I don't know if it's really even worth moving to a projector setup with those dimensions, but I keep thinking I'd like to try it out... my 65" just isn't exciting for me anymore. lol.

Yeah, first world problems, I know.

I'm just spitballing, who knows if I'll actually do anything with it or not...

Good info.

It was an incredible step up from my previous projector. The old one was a 1080p Sony bulb projector that was, I think, 1100 or 1200 lumens when it was new. It was likely below 1000 lumens now. So the new 4K being 3000 lumens, with the higher resolution and better color rendition, it literally blew us away. I believe in relativity. That is, whatever is in front of you is only relative to what you were used to seeing. I don’t care what specs of a $25,000 Sony projector may be better than my current projector. What I was used to and now what I am currently looking at are what matters and usually any upgrade like this will be an amazing difference.

TR,
A big 100” OLED display that costs a $60,000 would look amazing but so would that $3500 83” Samsung relative to what you have been looking at.

 

[-Pjackso]

Looks awesome JJ!!!

Years ago we had a home theater in our old house.
It was a Barco 808 CRT projector. (CRT projectors are huge and heavy)
It was like an old car - I was always tinkering with it, fine-tuning it, researching the next HT upgrade, etc.
It was a lot of fun - and was an awesome experience.


I bet yours is super awesome being 4K and super bright.
Congrats!!!!

 

[sandscards]

I have had a dedicated room for about 7 years now. It has a 10 foot diagonal screen with Epson projector. it is 1080p but one of the earlier ones. It has about 5000 hours on the bulb so I know it is getting dimmer than when it was new. I have a spare bulb that I need to use but would really like to spring for a new projector when the bulb blows. Also have Hsu sub with front tower speakers and center channel. Have inwall rear and side speakers. Love my room for sports and movies. Also have a wetbar and refrigerator in there. Seats about 9 with two front row recliners and three second row recliners on a riser. We had 17 in there for the Super Bowl with added seats. No windows so total light control which really helps. Getting the itch for a new Atmos sound setup with ceiling speakers and a new 4K projector but will probably ride it out until the bulb gives up then make a decision.

 

[Tanis143]

Part of me would love a dedicated HT room. The other part of me, the one that goes and works on people's cable and has to point out when their eq is at fault, says no lol. Right now I'm content with a 60" 4k UHDT tv and a 5.1 system (yamaha receiver and speakers) I got 3 years ago. Found a steal on CL for 100" of monster cable speaker wire (can't remember which one, but it was a good thick gauge, not some tiny 14 gauge wire, CL or XP CL maybe?) and used exactly 100" mounting the speakers in the ceiling and running jumpers to the plug board I put in the wall.

 

[tRidiot]

Just sat down with the wife and had a rational discussion about some minor remodeling and more major rearranging to convert one room to a more true "home theater" room. It went well... the major sticking point was the discussion about the cost of the equipment, but truly, I've got almost everything I need for now, a nice receiver, subwoofer and front speakers. All I need is a screen and my surround speakers.

I think I'm on my way. She was all ready to tell me we couldn't spend the money right now (since I took a >50% pay cut recently), but when I told her I had already squirreled away about 80% of the cost of the projector, she nearly choked. Like I said, I'm not really known for being a spendthrift. lol.

Maybe I'll sell a rifle or three and get after the project, or maybe I'll wait another month or two. Who knows.


Although, it would sure be nice to debut my new home theater with an Oklahoma Thunder celebration on the opening night of the season to welcome in a new era of Thunder basketball with long term contracts for our two biggest superstars, Russell Westbrook and Paul George!

 

[beastep]

Thats some pretty fancy stuff. Im just now looking at upgrading my Sony surround sound that I bought at Radio Shack almost 20 years ago for $150. I had a real nice Harmon Kardon, Infinity, Mtx set up before I got married and of course then divorced.

 

[OKCShooter]

I have a dedicated Theater. 12” walls, floor and ceiling with deadeners. 7.1 THX system, Lutron theater lighting and seating for 9 with full bar.

We use it a lot for games and UFC and an occasional “Date Night” movie but mostly it’s a PS4 party for my Son and all the neighborhood boys.