Zoom, Zoom, Zoom

Sydney Morning Herald

Thursday February 19, 2004

Rod Easdown

An expert's guide to the whole kit 'n' caboodle.

FOR the truly committed, there's only one home-cinema format. Forget televisions that max out at 102cm; forget plasmas, too - the biggest are just 152cm. For a truly big screen you need projection, just like they have at the movies. A good projector can give you a 10-metre image, no problems.

In fact, the major difficulty installers have is that clients tend to insist on screens that are too big for comfort; it all gets a bit like sitting in the front row at the movies. Their rule of thumb: measure the distance from your seat to the screen. Halve it. That should be the width of the screen.

And lots of people get the screen itself wrong, too, especially when money's an issue.

Project something as bright as this onto the purest, whitest wall and the image looks grubby. You don't realise what you're missing until you get a proper screen designed to reflect up to 97 per cent of the light evenly, with no hot or cold spots.

Think at least $1000 and up to $2500 for a motorised unit dropping from the ceiling.

PROJECTORS

You can get a good projector for $2500 and excellent ones for $5000 to $8000. At the start of the market, check the ScreenPlay offerings from InFocus (www.au.infocushome.com

1800 456393), which have become immensely popular lately, and look at Panasonic's PTAE300, which is great value at $3999 (www.panasonic.com.au 132600).

JVC's D-ILA models are delicious, costing from $13,999 to $16,999 (www.jvc-australia.com 1300 728225) and Marantz has a ripper for $19,900 called the VP12S3 (www.qualifi.com.au 1800 242426).

The room is critical. If you can darken it, get a projector with less brightness and more contrast and definition. In a lighter room you'll need one throwing a very bright image; in a sun-drenched room a projector has no chance.

Check the cooling fan's noise. If it runs at more than 30dB you'll hear it during quiet passages of the movie. Check for light

leakage, too - light should come out of the lens only. If it leaks from joints or vents it can be distracting.

Projectors need regular cleaning (especially if there's a smoker in the house) and the bulb won't last much beyond 2000 to 3000 hours.

A new one costs up to $1000. For screens, look no further than a little Aussie company called lp morgan, (www.lpmorgan.com.au 03 94806233).

REMOTES

Finally, a great idea for any home-theatre system is a universal remote, one that can take the place of the four or five currently on the coffee table. Good ones start from a few hundred dollars and the ultimate is Marantz's RC9200 at $2690. It can be programmed not just to fire up the home cinema, but to dim the lights, open the curtains and even start up the popcorn machine.