theatre screen size

A home theatre system offers the ultimate movie experience. There is nothing like lying back in your most comfortable recliners and enjoying a movie marathon on the projector screen. However, buying a top-of-the-line surround sound system and a good projector screen isn’t enough to take your home theatre experience to the next level. You also need to pay attention to the viewing distance between a projector screen and you if you want to ensure that all viewers have a stunning movie experience. Still, very few people pay attention to these details. This post explains the process of creating the best visual experience for your home theatre setup. 

 

Throw distance = Projection Distance ÷ Screen Width 

 

How can you get the ideal distance between projector and screen? 

A projector’s distance from a screen and the size of the image it produces are proportional to each other based on the optics of the lens. As you increase, the distance between the projector and a screen the image will also increase. Most projectors have a zoom range from 1.0 to 2.0. If your projector has a zoom lens, the lens can be adjusted to change the size of the screen image without changing the distance of the projector. Since each projector lens is different, an online projection calculator tool will help you calculate the size of an image on a screen relative to how far the projector is placed from the screen.

 

Common throw distance with different projectors models

Long Throw: Providing very large images, this type of throw is usually from projectors that are installed in the centre of the ceiling in a large room.

Short throw: These projectors provide large images while reducing shadows and eye glare, this type of throw is usually seen from projectors either installed on the wall or the ceiling closer to the wall anywhere that is close to where the image will be projected. Short-throw projection generally refers to a distance between 3 to 8 feet away from a projector to screen.

 Ultra-short throw: Virtually eliminates shadows and eye glare, this type of throw is seen from projectors installed on the wall, the ceiling nearer to a wall, or a table projecting downwards. Ultra-short throw projection refers to a distance between 0 to 4 feet away from a projector to screen.

 

The ideal distance for lumens projectors

Although you may have enough wall space for the screen you want, and enough room from your seating to the screen to attain the 30-degree viewing angle, you must make sure your projector can handle this distance. An easy way to be sure about this is to contact the manufacturer of the projector you intend to use for your home theatre setup. Be sure to tell them the size of your screen, the distance the projector will be mounted from the screen, and the amount of ambient light in the room. These factors are imperative in attaining the best possible image for your projection screen. To better address this question, it is important to understand two terms, ANSI Lumens and Throw Distance. 

 

Ansi Lumens refers to the amount of light your projector is designed to put out. Depending on the size of your screen and the amount of ambient light, you may need a projector with higher or lower ANSI lumens. The other term that is important to understand is throwing distance. Throw distance refers to the distance the projector needs to be mounted from the screen to give the best image possible.

 

Distance between projector screen and room

The absolute best distance between the projector screen and room seating is hard to calculate. Instead, a general rule is that seats should be located a distance that is no less than double the width of the projected image, and no more than five times the width of the image. (the furthest seat from the screen.)