Projector Purchasing Question

[Agent_Steal]

Well currently the church that my brother is attending is wanting to purchase a projector. I was wondering if any of you guys could provide me with some info that I could share with him.

I decided to ask here since I am pretty sure that some of you probably either have one or have used one in the past. Also I am confident that you guys will provide me with very good and reliable info.

[1] We have never used one before.
[2] What should one look for when purchasing one ?
[3] What manufacturer[s] would you recommend ?
[4] Also if you have ever used one before was there any problems that you
encountered while using it ?
[5] What are the ups and downs of a projector ?
[6] Any website[s] that you guys would recommend for me to take a look at ?
[7] My brother told me that money is not an issue.

Any advice would be greatly appreciated.

Thanks....

[jdenny]

Rule of thumb: get the brightest, highest resolution, lightest projector you can afford.

Since this is for church use, I think:
- brightness is necessary (so the room doesn't have to be dark)
- high resolution is optional (depending on what is presented and the source video resolution)
- lightness is not necessary (because it will not be moved too often)

For more detail: http://www.google.com/search?q=projector+buying+guide

Peace always,
<jdenny>

[nihil]

Hi

1. What is it that will be projected mostly? If they are digital camera images and Powerpoint presentations, the requirement is not so demanding as that for data projection, such as in applications training. For applications training you need a very good quality lens and high resolution as the detail is quite small and the contrast (dark text on light background) very tiring on the eyes.

2. Over what distance is it proposed to project? The further away and the bigger the image, the more powerfull lamp you will require. You may get away with 1500 lumens in a small room but you will need at least 2200 in a church hall.

3. Will it be static or portable, i.e. will it be used in the same place all the time?

4. What will you be connecting to it? Preferably NOT a laptop, I have encountered terrible compatibility problems with those If it is a laptop, turn off powersaving and run it from the mains......if power saving cuts in, it frequently forces you to re-boot to get them talking to eachother again.

5. Check the price and life expectancy of the lamps.........they can vary from £70 to £400 over here!

The major problem is incompatibility between projector and PC, I would ensure that you have a demo, or confirmation that they will work together.

Don't be a cheapskate when it comes to the projection screen.......I would expect to pay around £120 for one.

If it is not static (wall or ceiling mounted) you will need a proper projection table to avoid trapezoidal distortion. Over here...£70

Cheers

[Agent_Steal]

jdenny Thanks the first link is great. Very good read for someone who doesn't about know anything about projectors.

Here is the answers to your questions nihil :

[1] Well my brother has told me that they want to use it to project the following :

[a] Mostly movies and Powerpoint presentations.

[2] The room sizes I am pretty sure will very :

[a] The smallest room that they will be using it [ at church ] will be about roughly the size of an average living room. Maybe a little bigger. The biggest would have to be what you have suggested a church hall.

[3]I'm pretty sure that they will want one that is portable.

[a] Nope it will not be used in the same place.

[4]Humm I was telling my brother to use a Laptop since they want it to be portable. They do have a computer but I am not sure if they will use that since well it would be a hassle to move it around all the time.

[a] Since they do not have a Laptop at the moment [ They are planning to purchase one as well ] what would be the specs that you would recommend ?

[i] RAM ?
[ii] Hard Drive ?
[iii] Processor Speed ?
[iv] What OS ? Linux or Windows or MAC ?
[v] Anything else that you can add to the specs would be greatly appreciated ....

[5] Allright sounds like good advice to me.

[6] Projection Screen what should they look for when getting one of those ?

[7] Projection Table any good ones that you would recommend.

One last thing my brother told me that money is not an issue and that they are looking for something that is very reliable.

You must spread your AntiPoints around before giving it to nihil again. Sorry man you really do deserve them.

[CXGJarrod]

We have (at work) a ViewSonic PJ551 and it works extremely well for our training classes (and movies)(max 30 people) but for the main church hall you might want to look into something bigger. At my old work we had a projector from Infocus that was extremely detailed and the screen size was able to get huge! I would recommend Infocus for the projector and I have had no problem hooking them up to laptops if the laptop has the screen function key that changes the screen output.

[RoadClosed]

A local sound shop may have several you can look at. I own a low end Dell for board meetings. It works great and has a very bright display when projecting about a 5 foot tall picture. Look for one that changes aspect ratios to adjust to various inputs, especially widescreen for movies.

I have a local chain of audio stores that have them on display in mock theatre setups. It's called Soundtrack, they also have them set up at a chain of stores owned by Sears called :The Great Indoors. It really helps to look at a few and guage the lumen output, resolution etc. Dell will let you return it if not satisified. At least my rep will.

I have also used Infocus and never ran across one I didn't like.

[Agent_Steal]

Thanks jdenny , nihil , CXGJarrod and RoadClosed for the great advise.

Well I dont wanna start another thread and decided to throw this question in as well.

Since they will likely want to use a latptop to hook the projector up to it.

I was just wondering when it comes down to laptops what manufacturer[s] do you guys suggest ? Also if one is planning to use a laptop with the projector does that mean that the laptop will need to have a large hard drive ? I am just asking these questions just to get your opinions on what the specs for a good reliable laptop should be.

Thanks for the help.

[jdenny]

Rule of thumb: get the one with most complete internal devices, highest resolution, lightest laptop you can afford.

Since this is for the usage as you explained in your other post, I think:
- internal devices are necessary (so you don't have to plug external CD ROM or floppy etc)
- high resolution is optional (depending on what is presented)
- lightness is necessary (because it will be moved around all the time)

For more detail: http://www.google.com/search?q=laptop+buying+guide

Deja vu, eh?

Peace always,
<jdenny>

[Agent_Steal]

Allright and thanks once again : jdenny , nihil , CXGJarrod and RoadClosed for your help and great suggestions. Now it's time for me to take the info in and do some research and I hope that all goes well.

Thanks ....

[nihil]

Hi Agent_Steal,

Sorry for the delay in replying.

I cannot recommend any particular brand of tower or screen as I am in England and you are in North America. These items are relatively low cost, so I would expect them to be manufactured locally, as they would hardly carry the shipping costs and import duties?

I can say that the screen needs to be big enough for the largest room and number of viewers you will have. You didn't tell me the size of the hall or number of people. It might be more convenient to get a second screen for the smaller room....they are not that expensive for the standard sized ones.

The best ones have a surface studded with microscopic glass beads or prisms. This distributes the light evenly, the principle being the same as that of the Fresnel screen in an overhead projector or in the viewfinder of an SLR camera.

Next best are the ones with an aluminised surface.

As for the stand/tower/table: It should be tall enough to have the centre of the projector level with the centre of the screen and be sturdy. The ones I like best have lockable castors/wheels, as this makes setting up and adjusting much easier.

As for a laptop, I do not feel qualified to recommend any particular brand. I can only comment that in the past I have had considerable compatibility issues with Dells, and that the HP powersaver is a real pain as it forces a re-boot My advice is that you get the projector and select a laptop to go with it...........usually you would do things the other way round, but we are not looking for computing power for this requirement? Try the laptop with the projector before you buy the laptop.

I would have thought that virtually any processor would do the job.............I have had no problems with a PI/166MHz

I think that 512Mb of RAM and a 60Gb hard drive would be adequate. What I would really look for is the best quality video card. Obviously the screen size is unimportant, but may have a bearing on the video card that is in there.

PROJECTORS:

These are generally reliable manufacturers:
EPSON
HITACHI
IN FOCUS
MITSUBISHI
NEC
OPTOMA
PHILIPS
PROXIMA
SANYO
SHARP
SONY

[Yes, we had no projector purchasing policy...they all did their own thing and expected IT to support the result ]

I guess that the criteria should be:

1. Brightness: Over 2000lumens depending on the size of your largest room.
2. Contrast Ratio: Over 400:1
3. Resolution: SXGA is better than XGA which is better than SVGA........make sure the laptop supports it!!!
4. Lamp life and cost
5. Warranty period

Hope that this helps