Projector for my lobby

[MidnightSensi2]

Okay, another office question.

I want to darken the tint on my lobby, make it moodier, and instead of LCDs do a projection on white walls.

Ambient light levels would be like a nice restaurant, light enough to see text, read magazines, but most lighting would be spot rather than flood, so the wall could be pretty dark.

The content would be custom edited, black and white, and the contrast and video edited so that it works with ambient light.

Any suggestions? I want to keep cost under control, plus it would run Monday - Friday from 9:30am to 5pm....so life is of some consideration. Because of the application (ambient light, black and white with crunchy contrast, film grain) picture quality isn't of top priority!

Source would likely be an 1080p Western Digital looped. I have some good space to sneak mount it. There would be no sound (ambient music from a separate source would be used).

Any suggestions?

 

[BMXTRIX]

Any ambient light will destroy contrast levels, so you can pretty much ignore any rated contrast ratios of projectors. Your goal should be for about 80 advertised lumens per square foot of screen space as a minimum. Brighter is better.

Your bigger items, IMO, are the throw distance to the walls and where projectors would go to preserve the look and feel you are trying to achieve. There are ultra-short throw projectors which can be mounted a foot or two off the wall and project downward to creat the image, and do a decent job - the wall or screen needs to be extremely flat for this to work properly.

It is worth mentioning that Sharp, with their forthcoming 90" LCD displays under $10K a pop are definitely worth considering for a high impact alternative to front projection.

 

[BoredSysAdmin]

It is worth mentioning that Sharp, with their forthcoming 90" LCD displays under $10K a pop are definitely worth considering for a high impact alternative to front projection.

Sharp's 90-inch smart TV available now for $10,999.99 | The Verge

 

[BMXTRIX]

It has shown up on my distributor list and has a MAP of $9,999.99

It will likely be available for less elsewhere.

You know, if you want one for less, just PM me - I'll get it to you for less!

 

[Sam Ash]

Suggestion...

There are special projection screens available that have been specially designed to work in environments that have ambient light similar to what you have explained. These screens have a light cancellation mechanism that make them effective for such purposes.

A good and cost effective combination would be as follows:-

1. Panasonic PT-AR100U Projector
2. ReActII screen by Draper

I would recommend that you go and see a demo of the above. Another screen that is worth seeing, in fact, make an effort to see it - Black Diamond by Screen Innovations which can be used in conjunction with the above mentioned projector (which I think will more than suffice in your case) or a superior projector like the Epson Pro Cinema 6010.

This would certainly be more cost effective than buying big LCD or Plasma panels. From what people say, the black diamond is often mistaken for a big plasma / LCD display when in operation.

Go and see the above mentioned technologies in action before you come to a final decision.

Hope that helps.

 

[MidnightSensi2]

Haha. I'm actually trying to keep it on a budget, this is a sub-lobby, so, more money is going to the main one. But, lots of people sit here so I think it would be cool to do something.

The idea is to use footage cut specifically for the application, it will be mostly black and white and the contrast of the footage will be purposely pushed because of the ambient light in the lobby.

The image will be projected directly onto white paint, with the edges of the footage/loop having a white vignette so that you can't tell where the screen starts or stops using both a gradient filter around the lens and soft LED spots that blend the wall and image - with a scrim to keep the spots from hitting the main image.

The footage will cut around the application. I'm not going to attempt to have sharp, colorful picture. Instead I want to have imagery that comes and goes, black (dark grays lol) and whites, historical things... I have some ideas for how to make the low-fi look cool (Think of how Guess brand does it with the black and whites and film grain).

The Panasonic PT-AR100U seems to be a option, because of high lumen output and it can do 136" (16:9) at 13 1/2' ....which on projector central it comes out to be okay for use in ambient light. If it's not bright enough I could do 120 and still get the same affect, I'd play with the zoom to see the best combination of size and output. Also it's about 1,300, then I'd replace the bulbs it looks like about once per year based on the hours the lobby is open (2088 hours per year), which isn't so bad.

Panasonic PT-AR100U Projection Calculator - Throw Distance and Screen Size

Also, the lobby I will tint and go pretty dark. There will be some ambient light, but I plan on making it mostly artificial and directional (spots with barn doors - that's why the projector would look okay, because I think the spots with barn doors will pull a whole look together)

Kinda still in the sketching phases for placement, but I know the look I want.