Q. I am throwing an NFL party and want to show the games on a 100-inch projection screen. I called A/V rental places and everyone quoted in excess of $1,000 to come in and set up a screen and some sound equipment for an afternoon. I am starting to think I should just buy the stuff myself and find other uses for it. Can you set up decent front projection system for $1,000 or thereabouts?
--D.C., Presto, Pa.
A. These days you can set up an extremely impressive front projection system for "$1,000 or thereabouts," as you put it. The gear won't be top of the line, but I am betting it will knock your socks off, especially given the cost.
First, you need a projector. For under $1,000 my money is definitely on the Optoma HD20 1080p DLP projector. The MSRP is $999.99 and if you shop you can find it for a little bit less than that. Even at full price it is an amazing performer and a great value. It can support up to 300-inch screen sizes and will look very bright at 100 inches. The HD20 puts up a sharp, colorful image with excellent depth and contrast, and the picture settings are close to optimum straight out of the box. Connect the HD20 to an HDMI output from your HDTV tuner or cable/satellite box and you will be shocked at how good it looks.
The screen is a very important part of the projection system. There is much more to picking a screen than I can fit into a 550-word column. Check out the forums at www.projectorcentral.com and avsforum.com, as well as the buying guide at http://www.projectorscreenstore.com/projector-screen-buying-guide.html . Don't feel pressured to dump a lot of money into a screen, though. Even on a clean white wall I think you will be pretty impressed with what the HD20 can do. You can spend thousands on a screen but I think a $200 screen from Elite should suffice for your party, at least to get your started.
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You will need to connect the cable or satellite box to a sound system since the projector doesn't have any speaker built-in, and even if it did it would be hard for partygoers to hear. Connect the audio outputs of your cable/satellite box to your existing sound system or buy some powered speakers like the Swan M200 speakers I have written about in the past.
If you are a home theater buff the possibilities are probably already apparent. Spend $1000 on the projector, make your own screen using tutorials on the web or buy an inexpensive one to get yourself started. Put together a surround sound system using a modest Onkyo receiver paired with Insignia NS-B2111 or Arx bookshelf speakers and you can have a true home theater with a huge projection screen and good sound for $2,000 or less. Not long ago you would pay several times that just for the projector.
I'd certainly rather own the gear myself for the same amount of money it would cost to rent it for an afternoon! Bear in mind you are also paying for the rental company's labor and expertise. Be sure to a dry run before your party to make sure everything works.
