People forget now that the technology of front projectors have advanced so much. They are now able to handle a bit of filtered light, they can be tuned to any size from a few feet to over 10 feet in screen size, and most importantly the cost is so cheap now.
You can get a 1080 front projector such as the Sanyo plv2700 for only $1599
and screens are cheap starting at $200. With your budget you can even afford some of the best rated projectors like the new Epson or Panasonic with great lumens and black levels!
http://www.bhphotovideo.com/bnh/cont...=REG&A=details
To me once you have experienced a front projector you will never go back; you can get the same clarity and quality but now you are totally blown away with the huge screen size. To me once your budget is around $2k you can get a great 1080 front projector and if your budget was more like $1k to 1500 there are a huge array of 720 HD front projectors.