4:3 or 16:9 advice needed

[coblue]

Hi all, need some advice on recommended resolution based on room size. I have a cathedral ceiling so it limits my options on screens. Swinging space is not an issue but my two choices for screen size and resolution are

Option 1

12:9 140x80. I have a about 4" to space height wise so would actually make my enclosure 7' high and have a 4" of space below screen to work with

Option 2

4:3 120x90. This gives me about 6" more inches of height to into the screen which I would like but not sure its worth sacrificing 16:9 for. I could actually raise the screen to 8' height and have 6" of dead space at the bottom with this resolution.

I would like to use it to watch sport sports and odd movie but main purpose is for simulator.

Planning on BenQ TK700STi projector

Appreciate and recommendations especially if anyone is using 4.3 and wishes they had 16:9

Thanks in advance

[dw1284]

I have a 4x3 9’ high sim and everybody says they find it very immersive and bigger than they expected it. I’ve not found myself longing for 16x9. I’ve made several choices that I’ve regretted, but 4x3 isn’t one of them.

I’m sure that if you went 16x9 it would feel like you would never want to go back to 4x3. I don’t doubt that. But if you start with 4x3 I don’t think you’ll care about 16x9.

Just my opinion.

[MongoOnlyPawn]

If you are going to hit into the middle of the screen I don't think it will matter much initially. A lot of our visual perception depends on all the other things going on around us. If you are within 10'-12' of the screen and hitting into the middle of the screen you're not going to really notice the 20"; 4:3 "blank" areas on the side. But if you are hitting offset towards one side or the other I think you'll notice the fact that the screen isn't "filled" if it's not 16:9. I also agree with dw1284, if you start with 4:3 I don't think you'll be thinking you should have done otherwise.

[Stetson]

I would fill as much of the wall as possible. If that is 4:3 then great, fill it and starting playing.

[Ronsc1985]

It's been awhile since I put my system together but it seems to me I could have filled the screen with either 16x9 or 4x3 by changing the distance from projector to screen. Some projectors have a zoom function which can accomplish the same thing. When you do this some of the frame in essence gets deleted but it's only the periphery which really doesn't matter.all that much. Unless you have a low number of pixels in the frame the picture looks just fine even if spread out a bit. I'm a bit less sensitive to this kind of thing since my brain knows I'm hitting into a sim and no matter how pretty the picture looks I'm not on a real course out in the fresh air..

[Brettster]

Yes, this is what I used: the Zoom function on the projector to fill the screen and I had no problem filling it. Actually, if it goes a bit over on the sides it doesn't make much difference either, just make sure you go over equal amounts on both sides.