I was thinking about getting a projector and using a screen of about 35" x 20". Not very big considering, but I am in a very small closed in area for my work/gaming station and this would be a bigger display than my current 23" monitor.

Would it be possible to have the projector mounted to my upper left instead of right behind me ( I would like to avoid casting a shadow of my head)? Would there be any distortion of the picture on the screen having the projector off at an angle such as this? Also, the projector would be about in the range of 3-5 feet away from the screen.

Thanks for any help/suggestions.

You would need a short throw, something in the 0.5 range, offsetting to the side would be an issue, but with a shorth throw your head won't be in the way.

Why don't you mount it on the ceiling, as it should be ? Pretty sure it will be clear of your ehad at that height

Mounting on the ceiling is not an option.

Shelf? Make something that is a shelf above and behind you?

Mounting to the side will be an issue, depending how far it's likely to not have enough keystone correction if any at all for side offsets

Set it up as if it was ceiling mounted but actually on a support over you head (maybe on the back of the chair)? (caution it could get hot)

On the chair = bad idea. Any movement will shake the PJ.

Just put a bookcase of something behind you.

Seems like a lot of effort to get a small low res screen when an LCD, LED or Plasma TV will give you higher res than the PJ at a lower cost.

42" TV is 36.61" W X 20.59" H and fairly cheap at 1080. I bought 40" LED's for my triple wide last year for $280 a piece.

A short throw 1080P projector is a rather novel thing. Most short throws were 1280 x 800 until this year. BenQ has one in the $3000 range, their 1280 models are in the $600 - $800 range.

Good Luck

I suggest led over plasma

Really, Why is that? Just curious as to your reasoning....

I run both, triple 40" LED and Triple 60" plasma.....

Good ideas. I'm in the process of designing a pedistal to sit behind my chair. Yes I thought about a bigger monitor but I really do not need a bigger monitor to work from. With the pj screen I can set it up and take it down as needed to sim.

What are the dimensions to your area? Have you considered a first surface mirror to bounce off and increase your throw distance?

I have an 8x10 (foot) room for my proj. set up and use a mirror to increase the throw works very well. But then again I have a ceiling mount too and you mention thats out of the question. Just throwing some ideas out there.

Led runs cooler and need less power than the plasma view quality on the latest LED is almost (If not equal in some cases) the same as a plasma, led costs less.

If you are using triple plasma you can enjoy it in the winter but you will need ac in summer.

You're kidding yourself on picture quality and black levels. Not sure when you last owned a plasma but my 1999 model was damn hot, my 2008 is warm, the six others I have bought in the past two years are barely warmer than the five LEDs in the house. As for cost, plasma has been cheaper in each size class for years, the 60" ones were $764 each, haven't see many LEDs in the 60" range at that price.....

cannot take for granted that vendors aren't thieves here but here you can buy a 52" top notch LED for 200€ cheaper that the equivalent plasma (same production period older plasma are often cheaper even if they are good), black levels are good (but in this case you are right plasma is still better) picture quality (taking for granted that one knows how to set them) on good leds is at least in par with latest plasma Iv'e seen . Power consumption is better on LEDs (should make the cheaper in the long run).
For sure seeing a lot of untweaked TV (both plasma and LED/LCD)in the store does not help in judging picture quality. I think i will miss the old CRT technology for the rest of my life.

I was looking into the short throw projectors and it seems like it would have to be placed 2ft or so away from the screen to acheive the 40" picture area im trying to get. at this distance the pj would be right infront of me.

Another option I was thinking about was a pocket projector...Vivitec q2. If this were to be mounted behind my chair like on a pedistal above head level would this work or do I still have to worry about shadows?

Hello burn-in...!

Haven't had burn in issues in the last 5 years I've been running plasma's as monitors

Even on CRT unless you leave a fixed image for hours or days burn inwould not set in, plasma are less prone to develop burnin than crt. @ wedge i tried an acer c20 pocket projector but results didn't satisfy me (but is cool if you want to watch movies while you are camping)