Need a digital projector

At our church we use a - borrowed - projector working some 12ft from the screen, it fills the 72" screen width.

The projector is 2400 ANSI lumens. No zoom, manual focus.

We're wanting to buy our own but am confused by various terms.

We could do with a slightly brighter image, so 3,000 lumens seems to be a reasonable requirement.
We'd like some zoom capability to allow for a little movement of the projector.

Looking at specs, I note, for example, one quotes viewing size 30"-300" and projection distance 1.8-2.17m.

I'm uncertain what these numbers imply.

Clearly the screen can be as far away as you like from the projector, the key points are whether the image size is large enough, whether it can focus, whether it's bright enough.

Does the projection distance mean it can only focus within those boundaries? If so what does the viewing size mean, especially given a ratio of 10:1.

Enlightenment would be appreciated.

Thanks.

You need to select a suitable light output (lumens) for the screen size that you want to use. The zoom ratio (if applicable) affects only how close or how far away the projector can be from the screen. The projector specs should tell you that. You will need a higher light output if the room is lighted than you would for a darkened room. There's a useful guide here (just the first that Google found).

Edited by micksharpe (Tue 15-Mar-16 19:38:23)

2400 lumens is perfectly adequate, we know that, but felt going up a level, ~3000 seems to be the next light level and would give us some margin to play with if needed.

The gain in brightness is not linear. Going from 2400 to 3000 lumens is probably not worth it. A new bulb would probably make a bigger difference. I'd say go for 3500 at least or stick with 2400. Not that I'm any kind of expert (just sticking my nose in).

Edit: However, getting a projector with better contrast might make a huge difference. The only problem is that manufacturers aren't terribly honest about their contrast ratios. "Try before you buy" might be the way to go. Note that I say "better", not "higher". One does not imply the other.

Edited by micksharpe (Tue 15-Mar-16 19:50:47)

Mick has picked up on the brightness issue although most seem to be 2400/2700/3000/3300 so there is not much of an increase. And also how is te intensity specified? Is it colour mode? or White?

The projection distance potentially means that at 2.17m you will be at the focussing limits. Can you cope with a short throw - moving the projector location forwards? Or will it cause an obstruction?

How is viewing size altered? Is it is the optics or a digital zoom?

And what about resolution? Do you need to get up to full HD?

Have a look at Misco: http://www.misco.co.uk/Search/Keyword/projector?CatI... you can then tweak a search and compare specs all in one place.


Have a look at this obne for example: http://www.misco.co.uk/product/2555323/Acer-H7550BDZ... 76-762 cm soa wide range and then 1 - 7.6m distance.

Edited by MHC (Thu 17-Mar-16 11:29:50)

There's one possible way of obtaining a decent improvement that we both seem to have forgotten about, and that is buying a high-quality screen.

I've found this one which would seem to fit the bill.

Changing the screen is definitely a non-trivial option, it's pulled down from a beam above the dais. And, as we really do need to get our own projector the above should give us a slightly brighter image and, for the purposes we use it for, fit the bill.

Have you seen this: http://www.acer.com/ac/en/US/content/acer-projection...