Every year, around Christmas, I try to make some addition or upgrade to my home theater, I have always been geeked out in this area. I used to collect laser discs back in the day, and I found this LaserDisc store in Chatsworth in SoCal. They had a back room with a $20k barco projector, and a line doubler, and THX surround sound system, back when THX was not pasted on everything. I used to rent it out and take kids from the church and have a blast. My kids were babies then. Well, I have always wanted to do something like that, but projectors have been too expensive for the quality I desire/demand.
Well this year I upgraded to the BD-P2500 Blu-ray player, to have the new features and netflix and pandora through my bd player, and its very cool. But I also planned on upgrading my 720p 50" panasonic plasma to a 58" 1080p version. The bummer is that anything bigger than 58 is WAY pricey, well over 6k for good quality. It also seemed like only 8" size increase may not be worth the $3500 or so.
[Sorry for the long story, but hey, its me.]
At the same time, I saw a new blu-ray movie coming out in 3d, journey to the center of the earth. I had family coming in town and it sounded like fun, so I bought it. When it came in I put on my plasma screen, and the 3d was cool, but it was obvious that 3d was NOT meant for the small screen. The effect is only a parlour trick if it doesn't FILL your field of view. I was dissapointed. So I decided to check out projector prices and reviews. To my surprise, projectors are finally at the quality level and price that I would be willing to do. I could get an excellent 1080p projector and a screen and mount for the projector for about $3600. So I did it. While I was ordering, I contacted the company that made the 3d glasses that came with the movie. They only give you 4. I have 6 kids, and my parents have 11 or 12 kids now.
[BTW, the news did a thing on them for adoption day:
http://cbs13.com/video/?id=43054@kovr.dayport.com ]
Plus my brothers family with 4 kids was coming to town. Thats like 30 kids and 6 adults. The company sent me 50 pairs of glasses for $20 plus shipping. Cool.
So my dad and I installed everything, and I was blown away by the quality, and I know what to look for, calibrate all my TVs to ISF standards, and am very picky. Blu-ray in a good projector is amazing. This is WAY better than going to the theater. Plus my sound system is amazing, and much better than theater experience. I went from 50" diagonal to 125" diagonal. It definitely fills your field of view, its incredible.
Anyway, the 3D movie was a blast, all the kids sat on the floor with their glasses on, and were screaming and dodging stuff, I had so much fun watching them. The movie was TOTALLY different in 3D, and MUCH funner. Dinosaurs and prehistoric fish jumping out to bite you, what a blast. Now that the screen was huge, it was NO parlour trick, it was real, I was ducking and blocking the fish from hitting my face.
I don't have pictures of the 3D night, but I took some not very good pictures to show. It is too dark to take good pics, and I just did it with my iphone.
Here is the window the screen comes down over.
Here you can see the screen above, that black thing is my center speaker. The screen is 9 ft wide. I mean, if you are going to do it, you might as well DO IT, right?
Here is a picture while we we were starting to watch Prince Caspian last night. I put maddie up there to give an idea of scale.
This pic is kinda cool, you can't tell, but it is pristine.
This picture was taken behind me, and you can see my fat head in the picture.
Anyway, what a blast. After caspian, which is a great movie, we put the little ones to bed, and I stayed up with my teenagers and we watched WANTED. Dude, no need to go to a theater anymore. Even my wife is completely amazed and says it is much better than going to the theater. And I am talking about the good stadium seating theater. This rivals going to see Star Wars in digital projection.
If you have the means, I highly recommend. It is the same price as a good 50"-60" hd tv.
Panasonic Projector PT-AE3000U - $2499
Projector Ceiling Mount - $150
Draper 7'x9' Luma 2 screen with Auto Return - $750
$3399. I installed myself, but I will still end up paying $200 or so to hide the wiring in the walls.
Well this year I upgraded to the BD-P2500 Blu-ray player, to have the new features and netflix and pandora through my bd player, and its very cool. But I also planned on upgrading my 720p 50" panasonic plasma to a 58" 1080p version. The bummer is that anything bigger than 58 is WAY pricey, well over 6k for good quality. It also seemed like only 8" size increase may not be worth the $3500 or so.
[Sorry for the long story, but hey, its me.]
At the same time, I saw a new blu-ray movie coming out in 3d, journey to the center of the earth. I had family coming in town and it sounded like fun, so I bought it. When it came in I put on my plasma screen, and the 3d was cool, but it was obvious that 3d was NOT meant for the small screen. The effect is only a parlour trick if it doesn't FILL your field of view. I was dissapointed. So I decided to check out projector prices and reviews. To my surprise, projectors are finally at the quality level and price that I would be willing to do. I could get an excellent 1080p projector and a screen and mount for the projector for about $3600. So I did it. While I was ordering, I contacted the company that made the 3d glasses that came with the movie. They only give you 4. I have 6 kids, and my parents have 11 or 12 kids now.
[BTW, the news did a thing on them for adoption day:
http://cbs13.com/video/?id=43054@kovr.dayport.com ]
Plus my brothers family with 4 kids was coming to town. Thats like 30 kids and 6 adults. The company sent me 50 pairs of glasses for $20 plus shipping. Cool.
So my dad and I installed everything, and I was blown away by the quality, and I know what to look for, calibrate all my TVs to ISF standards, and am very picky. Blu-ray in a good projector is amazing. This is WAY better than going to the theater. Plus my sound system is amazing, and much better than theater experience. I went from 50" diagonal to 125" diagonal. It definitely fills your field of view, its incredible.
Anyway, the 3D movie was a blast, all the kids sat on the floor with their glasses on, and were screaming and dodging stuff, I had so much fun watching them. The movie was TOTALLY different in 3D, and MUCH funner. Dinosaurs and prehistoric fish jumping out to bite you, what a blast. Now that the screen was huge, it was NO parlour trick, it was real, I was ducking and blocking the fish from hitting my face.
I don't have pictures of the 3D night, but I took some not very good pictures to show. It is too dark to take good pics, and I just did it with my iphone.
Here is the window the screen comes down over.
Here you can see the screen above, that black thing is my center speaker. The screen is 9 ft wide. I mean, if you are going to do it, you might as well DO IT, right?
Here is a picture while we we were starting to watch Prince Caspian last night. I put maddie up there to give an idea of scale.
This pic is kinda cool, you can't tell, but it is pristine.
This picture was taken behind me, and you can see my fat head in the picture.
Anyway, what a blast. After caspian, which is a great movie, we put the little ones to bed, and I stayed up with my teenagers and we watched WANTED. Dude, no need to go to a theater anymore. Even my wife is completely amazed and says it is much better than going to the theater. And I am talking about the good stadium seating theater. This rivals going to see Star Wars in digital projection.
If you have the means, I highly recommend. It is the same price as a good 50"-60" hd tv.
Panasonic Projector PT-AE3000U - $2499
Projector Ceiling Mount - $150
Draper 7'x9' Luma 2 screen with Auto Return - $750
$3399. I installed myself, but I will still end up paying $200 or so to hide the wiring in the walls.
Comment