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Q I bought a Benq W1070 projector and plan to install it in my 22-foot long by 18-foot wide by 8.5-foot high basement. The room was pre-wired by the previous owner and there’s a ceiling mount with an electric outlet close to it. The mount is about 16 feet away from the front wall. Is that too far for this projector? I was originally planning to buy a 120 inch screen, but it appears that I would need at least a 150 to 170 inch screen for that distance.—Srikanth Athipatla

A When Sound & Vision tested BenQ’s W1070 projector, a main benefit cited in the review was its “fantastic” brightness: 44 footlamberts on a 102-inch, 1.0-gain screen. That’s pretty great for an under-$1,000 projector—plenty of more expensive models would strain to deliver that kind of light output. During our test the projector was positioned 10 feet from the screen. Your installation calls for a 16-foot throw distance, however.

According to BenQ’s manual for the W1070, you’ll need to use a 170-inch screen when mounting the projector at a 16-foot throw distance. The upside: your room is large enough to accommodate a screen that large, and the W1070’s ample light output means the image will likely be acceptably bright even when blown up to 170 inches.

Here’s a possible downside: With a 1080p image that large, you’re likely to see pixel structure in the image unless you sit near the rear of your 22-foot long room. Say you followed through with your original plan and used a 120-inch screen: The viewing sweet spot (the distance at which you’d be able to to appreciate full resolution level in the 1080p image) would be approximately 16-18 feet. But with a 170-inch screen, it would be more in the 20-22 foot range. So unless you want to move the projector mount, your seating options are going to be limited to the rear of the room.