The PJ Set-up!

Well, finally settled with the Benq W500 projector. Now setting it up right will be the key to a blissful and satisfying home theater experience. I will post the pictures to show you guys how the room transformed. Nothing revolutionary but i am happy with the results.


This is the old set-up, note that my main viewing panel is my 37" toshiba regza lcd, its a native 720p panel that accepts 1080p signals.


This is the old back part of the room, that is my youngest son lounging away on a custom made hardwood daybed with uniform upholstery even with the La-Z-Boy recliner.


Here are three pictures of the new front part of the room. First one with the lcd panel wall-mounted. The second picture shows when the projector screen is fully deployed, hiding the lcd panel behind it, ready for projector action. Its a 92" (diagonal) 16:9 wide screen projector screen, its glass beaded and has a gain of 2.0; meaning it will make a projected image brighter! The last pictures shows what the set-up looks like when the screen is fully retracted. I have no choice but to have the wires exposed as this is a motorized screen, hopefully I can find a cable manager to hide it and paint the cable manager with the same paint as the wall.


The next two pictures are the new back part of the room. Nothing has change except for the projector mounting that has been added. As you can see on the second picture the mounting I have chosen is actually a wall mount but when mounted looks like a ceiling mount! The main difference is I don't have to mount the thing on the ceiling which is more cumbersome and flimsy. I like the result, since this mount was custom made.


The last set of pictures are some screen shots of the projector in action. And all I can say is . . . . WOW! Its really different, watching anything smaller just won't be the same again. First picture is an angle shot of the whole system in play, second shot is the same screen shot taken in front, its Norah Jones! Last three pictures are screen shots of I.Robot, Star Wars - Clone Wars and Transformers the movie.

That's all for now, and I can say my HT journey is more or less done. Any upgrades or changes will now be minor, its now time to enjoy the room!

BTW! Last day of the year! Happy New Year to all! Have a great 2009!

The PJ Route!

Wow, its been a while since I wrote something on my blog. But it has been a very busy few months with both work and play. As my last article said, I am now enjoying my media room to the fullest, but the buying bug hit me again. Joining the forum Pinoy DVD has got something to do with it. Seeing all those members upgrading their gears was just too much for me to ignore. So the next upgrade path for me was to go the PJ route.

What is a PJ? In Pinoy DVD speak, its a projector, whether its a 3LCD or DLP kind, as long as it projects into a screen then its a PJ. For the HT enthusiasts, a PJ is the ultimate set-up, imagine watching movies on a 90" to 133" big screen, that is humongous! LCD TVs and Plasma's just can't compare, if you can buy a 80" panel, the price is just ridiculously expensive, you might as well just invest on a PJ. And the PJ I am talking about is not the everyday projector we use in the office, those are data projectors that projects low resolution images, in 4:3 (square) aspect ratio and does not have HD inputs like DVI or HDMI. The PJ HT enthusiasts wants are those that at least are 720p capable, has HDMI inputs, and projects a 16:9 (widescreen) aspect ratio. So what did I got myself?

The BENQ W500 720p 3LCD PJ! That's what. There are of course others, the Panasonics, Epsons, Sanyos and Optomas. But I chose the Benq because of its price, warranty and the inclusion of the HQV (Hollywood Quality Video) Reon VX video processor chip, that would make any standard definition (DVD) and even high definition (HD) movies come into life with better colors, contrast and 3D like image!



I will write another article when everything is set-up. Right now, I had to have the PJ mounting customized, just acquired a 90" motorized glass beaded PJ screen, am so lucky I got it for a song! and of course got those standard brackets to hang the PJ screen and to wall mount our nearly a year old 37" Toshiba LCD TV, for those karaoke and cable viewing moments.

Till the next update!