I have a client that wants a new projector. He currently has a 6 year old Vivitek 1080P projector with a Silverstar screen. He has some ambient light issues.
Its a traditional dedicated theater with all Triad speakers. It is at the end of a basement that opens to the rest of the room. Money isn't the issue. I am wrestling with putting up a New long throw with a ALR screen or a Ultra Short throw. It had curtains at one point to help with some light issues but the wife took them down. I can't find a UST sample from my distributor to try. I want to make sure this will be a substantial difference from what he currently has.
Has anyone switched over to a short throw(LG or Samsung)? If so, how did it compare? I am afraid to throw a Sony 295 4K unit in because of the Lumen output. Let me know what you guys think. All opinions are welcome!

We install both and I personally have a few projectors in my home, one is the the Epson LS300 short throw. Currently, that is new and replaced a TV and being shown on the wall temporarily. Each has its pros and cons. In general I like the long throw projectors more except for classrooms and ambient light.

Long throw has better screen uniformity and doesn't have the bowing that a short throw has. It is also easier with most ambient light rejecting screens. A short throw in an ambient light scenario definitely needs an ALR screen designed for a UST. The Silverstar will not work. what Long throw HT projectors don't have in general is lumens. This LS300 I have is BRIGHT and even watchable with a south facing bay window on the side. Not the best picture but still watchable. At night or at dusk time it is stunningly bright and a lot of people have commented on how great it is.

The 4K Sony you are considering might not be the best projector for the job if dealing with a good amount of light. The JVC-NX5 puts out a few hundred more lumens and IMHO has better picture quality with its tone mapping. But if you are dealing with ambient light you could put in an Epson 3800 in dynamic mode (knock down the green a bit) and it would be preferred. The JVC and Sony will definitely look better in the dark but the added brightness of the Epson will win when watching with ambient light. if you need more brightness than something like the Epson 3800 than usually it is easier to go with a high output commercial projector.

If ambient light is the majority of their viewing than UST with ALR might be the best option because many of these UST projectors are very bright. This LS300 is putting out a real 4000 lumens in its dynamic mode and that brightness will make a beautiful picture with a good screen. That's more than double the JVC and triple the Sony and that is noticeable and nice. The LS500 (4K) is about the same brightness but requires a bit longer throw. That is why I went with the 300 in my home as it fit where I needed. It takes a 4K signal and down converts to 1080 but still does HDR which is nice. In the end that is a discussion with the client and how often they watch in the dark vs with ambient light. Then decide what will work best. I will be curious to see what you decide.

Damn! I love a coherent and detailed
answer that is backed up with real world experience.
Thank you Bob.

Couldn't agree more! Thank you Bob.

My go to, in most cases, and I think it would work great for this job is the JVC LX-NZ3 B or W. It's 3000 Lumen, laser light source, and full 4K. The only thing you don't get is motorized lens control, but it's a set it and forget it projector anyway. Beautiful picture in my opinion, but they are DLP, so you might get that rare customer that sees rainbows, but I haven't had that issue yet.

Also, they are hard to find right now, so they're not getting whore'd out on the internet.

that JVC is not 4k its pixel shift 1080p according to the JVC website. The Epsons are also pixel shift and not 4k chips. FYI.

LX-NZ3B
Picture
Device0.47" DMD (1920 x 1080)
Resolution3840 x 2160
Lens shift function+/-60% vertical & +/-23% horizontal, motorized
Light source lampBLU-Escent (Laser Phosphor)
Lamp lifeApprox. 20,000 hours in normal mode
Brightness3,000 lm
Contrast RatioInfinity:1 (Dynamic contrast ratio)

That's true, but the way JVC and the other DLP 4K projectors (optoma,BenQ) are doing it is different. Unlike JVC's previous, and Epson's current "E-Shift" (which, legally they have to label it "4K E-Shift") the DLP flashes the screen 4 times, while "E-shift" only flashes twice. All 8 million pixels are fully addressable, you get an absolute 4K resolution. JVC is fully allowed to use the 4K logo from the Consumer Electronics Association, and you can sell it as a 4K projector.

I got this information from the rep last night. Honestly, I'd never really read that deeply into the specs. It's not in JVC's brochure for this projector, because they legally can advertise it as a 4K.

I like and sell the JVC for brand recognition, and price protection.

Each technology has its pros and cons. The faux 4K methods whichever you choose has cons versus a true 4K. To keep it simple whenever you are displaying multiple pictures to show one frame of video there is going to be a problem. That problem often shows up in motion artifacts especially when showing video with a lot of movement or fast panning of the camera. We specialize in projectors and do more than 200 installs a year, about 80% commercial and 20% home theater/ media rooms. The JVC NZ-3 would be a good choice as well as the Epson if you need more light output than the native 4K projectors. It will be a little louder in high lamp mode and you will need to use dynamic mode and cut the green and blue with the JVC. The JVC and Epson's next lower modes are about 2200 lumens and only about 600 more than the JVC NX-5.

Apologies for the slightly off topic question but I cannot find information on LS300 anywhere else: it's not recognised by Harmony and I don't believe the remote is IR at all… @Bob, did you find a way to integrate the projector on/off in any way? (I already installed an app that switches the HDMI entry to my Apple TV so that's covered at least…).

Thanks for your help,
JC

The LS300 does have an IR sensor on the lower left side of the projector. It is about 1.5" right of the left leg. You have to learn the commands from the remote. If the remote is already paired via bluetooth go into the settings and unpair it. Then the remote will use IR instead of bluetooth and you can learn it. Once you learn the commands you can pair it again if you like.

If you have a bluetooth remote you can learn it in the menu system. I have a sofa Baton U1 remote I was testing working with it fine. Unfortunately, there are no discrete codes but inputs are easy as you can just hit the input button and then go up for HDMI1 and down for HDMI2. It doesn't cycle around.

I didn't have any luck with IP control but didn't mess with it too long. I also didn't try a flirc no real need to. I don't know if it would have discrete codes though.

Why not a Dpi or Barco. 4K and options at 13000+ Lumens?

Thanks so much for your helpful and thorough answer! Can't wait to try it. I am using an Harmony Hub so technically it is BT but I don't think it can "learn" BT remotes, can it? I will indeed unpair to use IR, that was my mistake.

Thanks again,
JC

Because A. this thread is over 1 year old and B. even though the OP stated that money wasn't an issue, I still feel that a $50k projector would have been out of the budget.

The Harmony can't "learn" BT remotes. But,if it has BT capability it may be able to "pair" with the projector.

Lol. Great point!
To the original poster. What did you end up using.
I’ve got 7 $130k Barco with 700 hours on them. If someone is looking for a sweet deal. :)