JVC - DLA-X70R

JVC is native 4K and will have slighlty better black levels. My experience with Epson is only an older Pro Cinema 6030UB and I also had an older JVC DLA-X70R, I felt Epson had very good black levels. But JVC has Frame Adapt HDR 2 which is highly regarded.

LOL! A JVC is another League and a DLP Model is more sturdy AND repairable.

People pay professionals good money to help them with answers to your questions. Equipment choice alone is barely half the equation. Good design and good integration are critical to achieving high performance. This isn’t something you should just freestyle, as there are many tradeoffs to manage based on your subjective preferences. Design informs equipment choice. It’s an iterative process as you converge on design and equipment choice simultaneously. Long throw projectors generally offer better image quality than UST at the same price point. UST are nice if you’re worried about people casting shadows or if this is a general entertainment space hosting karaoke night and dance parties. If it’s just for watching motion pictures while seated then get a long throw projector. For $5k I’d try to score a deal on a B-stock Sony VPL-XW5000ES or a lightly used JVC D-ILA projector, preferably with laser light source but if you’d rather spend less then a bulb is fine. You can find some screaming deals if you don’t mind bulbs and fake 4K pixel-shifting. If your viewing distance is >10ft then it shouldn’t matter. https://www.avsforum.com/forums/front-projector.252/ Fixed screens are cheaper than motorized screens. Acoustically transparent screens are nice because you can place the LCR speakers behind the screen, which not only looks better but sounds better. But this is also where you need to be careful as there is interaction between viewing angles/ screen size and speaker positions and seating distance. All have to be in harmony. Woven screens usually look and sound better than perforated screens, but this depends on the exact screen material, budget, viewing distance and preference. Like I said, there’s lots of tradeoffs to manage. I’d recommend minimum 7.1.4 speaker configuration, even if you have to built it in stages as funds allow. My preference in that size room is 9.1.6 but that’s going to break your budget in terms of AV processor capability, speaker count and amplification requirements. You’ll want a minimum of two subwoofers. What exactly do you mean by “sound conditioning is already taken care of?”

Black level champ, it's lcos jvc.