Projectors for art video installation

[MidnightSensi2]

I'm looking for two projectors in the $600-700 range for use in an art gallery video installation.

From doing some research on Projector Central I found:
http://www.bhphotovideo.com/c/product/654484-REG/Optoma_Technology_HD66_HD66_Home_Theater_Projector.html

This unit looks about what I need, but I wondered if there is anything else I should consider?

It's going to be projected on white walls, of course not ideal, but it's a non-permanent exhibit.

It looks like this Optoma HD66 will do 1080i (B&H says different than Projector central?), it says it's 720 native, how is it able to do 1080 than?

The work was filmed in 1080p at 24fps. It's a white background with deep blacks, so, hopefully the room will be dark enough to get contrast. Usually they keep them pretty dark, but, there is always some leaking light at the doorway.

Any advice?

 

[BMXTRIX]

This is a 720p projector and translates 1080i to 720p, it may not even handle 1080p.

The budget is extremely bare bones, and your quality is going to match. That is, a bottom of the line business projector or home theater projector under traditional conditions is what you have budgeted for, and should set your expectations for.

You did not say what size things would be - so I would believe about 100" maximum diagonal.

You also really must know the lighting of the room to be able to determine brightness requirements.

Under normal theater conditions - 14-17 lumens per square foot is necessary, and easy to achieve.

Under normal boardroom lighting (flourescent) you typically have at least 80 rated projector lumens per square foot.

I would think 40-50 rated lumens would be a minimum requirement in an unknown, but expected 'darker than normal' situation.

Black levels barely matter when there is artificial light of any kind introduced into the room. A single candle in a room drops contrast from 1,000:1 down to 50:1.

With about 50 square fett of screen, the Optoma MAY do it, and won't be bad.

I might consider something a bit brighter from this list...
http://www.projectorcentral.com/projectors.cfm?g=1&hide=0&st=1&mfg=&p=300&p=1000&w=&r=&br=&ll=&t=&db=&dt=&c=&ar=Wide+(16:9-10)&dvi=&td=&i=d&is=&sort=brt&sz=15

But, it's really hard to say without being in the space to see it first.

 

[lsiberian]

Honestly it would probably look great to most folks. If you could swing an LCD it will make setup way easier. Think about how to make this job easier and simpler and you will probably end up with the perfect solution. Honestly my old multimedia projector outperformed most TVs so you can't really go wrong IMO. Just try to get a projector with lens shift and a liberal zoom.

 

[BMXTRIX]

Oh yeah, and that's just a part of it. Perhaps the room has controlled light, perhaps not. Perhaps you get freedom of placement flexibility, along with the cabling, perhaps not. Perhaps you can't even mount the projector! Perhaps you can. Perhaps people will be right up against the projection wall, in which case, how do you project with people in the way?

I just did an exhibit with two ultra short throw projectors. They worked well enough, their setup was tough due to the ultra short throw design, but since people can walk up and touch the projection wall, they basically can't get in the way of the projected image without being 6" from the wall.

The biggest issue was ambient light in the room and a poorly placed nearby display which had way to much spillover light coming into the screen (wall) area.

Maybe a 10' throw works... maybe a 20' throw is required...

But, these are all questions to be addressed now.

 

[lsiberian]

I just did an exhibit with two ultra short throw projectors.

What projectors did you end up using I need to find a ultra short throw projector for our house of worship? Our current projector failed and was too weak anyway.

 

[BMXTRIX]

We used a Hitachi CP-AW250N...
http://www.projectorcentral.com/Hitachi-CP-AW250N.htm

IMO: It is not bright enough for a large punchy image in a typical room.

I really think we need to see a 4,000+ lumen ultra short throw/short throw projector for exactly your type of situation and for those looking to do rear projection large screen setups with extremely limited space.

There is a thread on a church who used a ultra short throw setup in a church about a year ago and were happy with the results over at the Projector Central forums.

http://www.bigscreenforums.com/forum_topic.cfm?which=14270

I think that for front projection, the ultra-short throw models just don't cut it because they aren't bright enough.

Acto has one which is a possibility - about a 5' throw for 120" diagonal (4:3 aspect)... I know nothing about them as a company though.

 

[lsiberian]

We used a Hitachi CP-AW250N...
http://www.projectorcentral.com/Hitachi-CP-AW250N.htm

IMO: It is not bright enough for a large punchy image in a typical room.

I really think we need to see a 4,000+ lumen ultra short throw/short throw projector for exactly your type of situation and for those looking to do rear projection large screen setups with extremely limited space.

There is a thread on a church who used a ultra short throw setup in a church about a year ago and were happy with the results over at the Projector Central forums.

http://www.bigscreenforums.com/forum_topic.cfm?which=14270

I think that for front projection, the ultra-short throw models just don't cut it because they aren't bright enough.

Acto has one which is a possibility - about a 5' throw for 120" diagonal (4:3 aspect)... I know nothing about them as a company though.

I can't remember the screen size and throw distance right now, but the Epson Powerlite 1725 was the only projector in production that I could find and moving the mount is going to be a major undertaking. I wish I was more familiar with the setup in the ceiling, but it requires scafolding to get too. It is seriously a very nice setup for a church though. The guy made the screen himself and it works beautifully above the baptismal.