Projector mounting help

[lewis26]

Hello everyone.

I am looking at purchasing my first projector for my college apartment, and need some help on a mounting scheme.

The room is a 20x16 room, with 15ft vaulted ceilings. The screen will be on one of the 16ft walls. On the opposite wall, there is an alcove, about 18ft from the screen wall. On the same back wall, there is a set of double glass doors, with blinds. Other ambient light is from a skylight.

I am looking at a 120" screen, and most likely a panasonic pt-ax200u, unless I can get away with something else.

Here are my 3 mounting scenarios.

1. On the back alcove. For this I am looking at a panasonic pt-ax200u, because it is very bright, and has a nice long throw distance. It also will be out of the way. It would be 8-9ft high.

2. On one of these behind the couch, at about 11ft throw distance.
http://www.ikea.com/us/en/catalog/products/20116274
I would screw it to the floor, and put the projector on top of it, bolted down. The floor does bounce a bit when people jump around, but otherwise, is pretty solid. I would also use the panny for this, as I would need the lens shift.

3. I was thinking about some kind of span I would build across the room. Whether it be 2x4's, or some metal pipes from home depot. I would mount both ends to the walls on the sides, and mount the projector in the middle. I really like this idea, as it would allow me to control the height, along with keep it out of the way. For this, I might be able to get away with a vivitek 1080fd projector.
Something like this:
2 of these mounted on the walls: http://www.homedepot.com/Plumbing-Pipes-...ogId=10053
2 of these cut to length: http://www.homedepot.com/Building-Materi...ogId=10053
And a coupler.

both 2 and 3 would not require as powerful of a projector, but would be more difficult.


Can you guys give me any recommendations?

[accident]

if its a plain ceiling, it might be better to get a more traditional ceiling mount and repair the ceiling when you move out if its ok with the landlord.. usually its minimal holes that are easily repaired a quick coat of paint from the home depot dented/returned paint cart is quick and cheap..

[halfelite]

Why not mount it to the ceiling? if you are willing to run a cross bar across the span why not run something like this. http://www.amazon.com/VideoSecu-Universa...B000IDC0K2 they swivel for vaulted ceilings and can have any length for the down rod.

[MV10]

I recommend either the Panny or one of the brighter Epsons for such a large screen and distance.

I use an Epson with a 17.5 foot throw for a 150" 16:9 and I'm really pushing the limits. What I like about the Epson (and all 3-LCD PJs) is their huge range of lens shifting with minimal distortion. I have mine on a shelf about 9' 6" off the floor, which puts it even with the top edge of the screen. I have it flipped over, which is about my only complaint with the Epson -- the curvy case makes it difficult to level properly.

I've used ceiling mounts and inverted-J wall-mounts, but the shelf makes cleaning the filter and changing the bulb a snap. I bought one of those smoked black glass AV equipment mounts from Lowes for about $20.

[lewis26]

Ceiling mounting is not viable. The extension would have to be near 7-8ft long, and I do not have a ladder to access the vault.

I'm starting to really like the alcove, but I'm just worried about the throw distance.

I really like the idea of the span, but I don't know if that's been tried bofore.

[MV10]

If you haven't seen it, spend some quality time with Projector Central's calculators. They tend to be a little pessimistic about picture quality (you can get pretty far into the red zone and still have a good picture around sundown and a great nighttime picture) but it'll help you decide what PJ works at what sizes and distances.

Also root around for the calculations about optimal screen positioning given the viewing position. If you can't find it, I'll dig it up. But basically you want the bottom of your screen somewhere around eye-level relative to your seating position.

Actually that same calc will give you optimal screen size. Smaller is ok, but too big is very tiring. But you should be ok at 120". With a seating distance of about 17 feet, 150" is around the max for comfortable viewing -- it fills your entire range of vision. We actually had a setup that projected even larger (nearly 200") but it was immediately apparent that it was fatiguing to watch for any period of time. You just can't help "looking around" at the parts of the screen that are beyond your range of vision.

Lots of discussion about this kind of thing on AVS Forum...

[lewis26]

I'm actually going to be going with a 108" screen, because that allows me to build my screen using standard 54" blackout cloth. Viewing distance will be 11ft-ish.

The other issue that arises with projector placement is interference. If I place it above or directly behind the main viewing couch, I will have 6ft of clearance at the couch before someone interferes with the picture. If I put it in the alcove, I'll have 5'4". This is assuming top of screen at 8ft, and bottom of screen 3.5ft from the floor. This will allow be to place my center speaker and a custom built equiptment rack there.

I did already use the projectorcentral calculator. I should be alright with that projector, even with ambient light, because it is VERY bright. Additionally, we watch tv during the day with the blinds closed anyways, and it puts a glare on our current tv. The skylight will remain unmasked, but does not put direct sunlight anywhere near the screen or projector, and isnt terribly bright.


AVS tends to step on people who do not want to spend a lot of money, and they tend to recommend spending more money. My thread identical to this has already been pushed down without replies. I know I am not going to get a breathtaking picture during the day. But as long as I can watch football other things during the day, It's no problem.

[MV10]

Yeah, AVS is a great resource for information, but they tend to cater to people who are perfectionists to a fault. If I had gone by the advice I got at AVS, I wouldn't have a PJ setup today because my rooms are "impossible" for PJ viewing. But three years of satisfied PJ use in two rooms suggest the "expert's" pursuit of perfection is not necessarily the last word in options.

108 should be very easy. Heck in our bedroom I project about an 84" screen on a blank wall and it's completely watchable. The wall is bright yellow (or goldenrod, or whateverthehell my wife painted it). I thought it would never work, but the output is so bright the wall color just goes away. That's another older 720p Epson.

You might be surprised at how little interference there is. The bottom of my screen is about 38" off the floor, and the top, as I mentioned, is up around 10 feet. I'm six feet tall and I don't throw a shadow on the screen unless I'm within about just two feet of the screen. With speaker and occasional-daytime-TV placement (we have a 48" LED TV on the floor under the screen), nobody walks there anyway. Back when we moved in, before we even had furniture delivered, we threw a bigger picture on that same wall -- about 12.5 feet x 10 feet, whatever that works out to diagonally, and the PJ was just fine on a hightop table behind the couch. It was literally inches above our heads but seated viewers didn't interfere with it.

Anyway, sounds like you've done your planning. You'll love it. We use ours as a TV at sundown, and while the bulbs get a little pricey, I wouldn't go back.

[lewis26]

Well, after looking at the floor plans for my place online, I discovered that the room is actually 26x16.

This would put the projector 24ft back, rather than 18ft, a substantial difference, putting me past the limit for a 108" screen. The max throw for a 120" is 24ft.

I also have a new idea, that would probably be easier than the span.


The panny projector has 25% horizontal lens shift. That means for it to project a centered image, The lens must be 4ft off the wall.

I am thinking of building a wall mount for it, with a beam extending out into the room 4.5ft, high above everyone's heads. Around 10ft tall. I would build it out of PVC or steel piping, or 2x4's painted white to match the room. You would almost never see it, and It would be more than strong enough, being screwed directly into a stud.

What do you think about that?

[MV10]

You've miscalculated. It would have to be 6 feet off the wall to throw a centered 108" image on a 16 foot wall. A 108" screen is about 7.75 feet, close enough to 8 feet for now. At you're 4 feet off the wall, you're at the far edge of the screen. A 25% throw means the image will shift by only a quarter of the screen width -- two feet of the image will be off the edge of the screen nearest the projector, and it will fall short by about two feet at the far edge of the screen. You'd need a 50% shift to cover the whole screen with the projector aligned with the screen edge.

Draw it out. Hashes are 1-foot, the underscores are the screen:

Code:

++++________++++    4' wall, 8' screen, 4' wall
++++++||||||||++    projected image w/ 25% shift
+++++++++++^++++    projector at 4' from wall

But functionally speaking (if you really want something sticking out 6+ feet into the room), it should work. You do get a bit more distortion with side-to-side shifting than with vertical shift. I originally considered a side-mount because I wasn't sure my Epson could actually manage a full 50% vertical shift, but fortunately it does. But I experimented with horizontal shift and at the extremes the keystoning got really bad. The wiring might be easier with side-mount.

But personally I'd reconsider the ceiling mount. You can buy a piece of metal conduit at any hardware store and just paint it. My house has many brushed-nickel ceiling fan mounts, but the ceiling in the main living room is over 22' high. The electricians were scrambling to figure out how to hang a fan in there. I went to Home Depot and bought a 10 foot section of pipe, and since it's high above everyone's heads, so far nobody has figured it out.

As for no ladders... well, every man should own a couple of ladders. At worst, I imagine you could borrow one. And you'll certainly need one to build that shelf or arm or whatever you're thinking about doing.

Heck, could you use the 16-foot dimension of the room? Just put a pool table off to one side.

[lewis26]

Ahh crap. It was too early, and I hadn't finished my coffee yet.

Well here is my apartment layout:


The screen wall is the far left of the great room. There is a large sectional couch that bisects the room, and our table and chairs is near the door. Moving the screen is not viable, as ALL my AV gear is set up, and I have all 7 of my speakers mounted in their correct places.

We have plenty of ladders at my home in chicago, but this is going in my school apartment in the middle of indiana. Additionally, I drive a sedan, so I can't even transport one.

I just dont see the ceiling mount being an option. I would want access to the projector, and without a constant ladder, I would not be able to get to it. Additionally, it would require some more cord management.


I'm really regretting being on the 3rd floor with these damn vaulted ceilings.

[MV10]

Yeah, that's a tough setup to work with. My whole house is very open and I had some real challenges, too.

I've read about people mounting PJ's inside a coffee table...

[lewis26]

I really don't want it that low. Plus, our coffee table gets bumped around all the time, so it would never stay in focus. I wish i was at school so I could do some measuring and picture taking of the room.

I still think I am going to try the beam mounted to the wall with lens shift, or the pipe spanning the room. Both will cost very little in materials, and if they don't work, then oh well.

I really like the idea of the pipe across the room, and if painted correctly, it will not be very noticeable. I just don't know how viable it is to support 15lbs across 16ft of galvanized 1in pipe. Since both ends would be captured, I imagine it would be pretty rigid, being steel pipe.

[lewis26]

LIGHTBULB!

One of these: http://www.ikea.com/us/en/catalog/products/10103088

On it's side behind the couch.
Then I would mount on of these to the top:
http://www.homedepot.com/h_d1/N-5yc1vZ1x...ogId=10053

With a 6ft length of steel pipe running upwards, and I would build a mount at the top for the projector. I would bolt down the projector as well.

The 1.5in pipe would allow me to run the HDMI and power cables up THROUGH the pipe.

This would put me at 11-12 ft of throw distance, and you would barely see the pole.

EDIT: I might even cut some holes in the top and middle shelves and mount the flange on the bottom shelf, and just use a standard 10in length. This would remove the look of the flange of the top of the shelving unit, and give me just over a 10ft projection height.