Is a Home-Theater Projector Right for You?

Consider these factors to determine if a home-theater projector is right for you. It might be if you answer yes to these questions:

Movies: Do you watch a lot of movies?

A/V: Do you have a basic home-theater setup with surround sound and high-quality video sources such as a DVD player and a satellite dish?

Lighting: Can you control the lighting, including from windows, in your home-theater room?

Seating: Is the distance from your seating to the screen far enough for comfortable viewing?

Placement: Can a projector be placed far enough away to fill your planned screen size? (It varies by model. The projector I tried needed to be roughly the same distance away from the screen as the screen's diagonal measure.)

More Information

Here are some resources for more information on home-theater projectors:

Website: Projector Central www.projectorcentral.com.

Internet forums: Current owners are always happy to answer polite inquiries from neophytes in the Display Devices boards at the Home Theater Forum www.hometheaterforum.com and the AV Science Forum www.avsforum.com.

Electronics store: Visit a retailer with attentive, knowledgeable employees and a room where you can actually see a projector in use.

Test Equipment

Here's what I used for my 30-day evaluation:

Projector: Epson PowerLite Home 10, $1,299 www.epson.com/HomeEntertainment.

Screen: 80-inch diagonal (4:3 ratio) Deluxe Insta-Theater, $600; 84-inch wall-mounted Da-Snap, $730 www.da-lite.com.

Cables: 25-foot high-resolution S-video and component cables, $45 plus shipping www.cablestogo.com.