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Projector for mobile live dance band


dedzyyy

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Hi, can anyone suggest a sub £300 projector that will give a large projection, have an adequate throw to play small or large venues and bright enough to cut through when other lighting is in use.

I aim to control our own lighting, so it will obviously be aimed away from the screen.

 

Thanks for any help!

Lee

 

This is one I've been looking at, but is the 800 x 600 resolution going to be enough?

I'd probably go for the 3000 lumen option.

 

https://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/aw/d/B01482LRKC/ref=mp_s_a_1_121?ie=UTF8&qid=1469692613&sr=8-121&pi=AC_SX236_SY340_QL65&keywords=short+throw+projector

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An idea of how you define 'Big' would be useful, Some people thats 3m wide, some its 50m...

 

Other things that will affect it are how much ambient light is in use, its great youve got control of yours but as Tom points out your still going to struggle.

 

Have you got a proper projection surface? If not then what are you planning to use?

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When thinking about screen sizes, it helps to work out the "lumens per square foot" that you will have.

 

Here's an example, with dimensions chosen for simple arithmetic:

 

The 3200 lumen projector that you have linked to is SVGA resolution, which means a 4:3 aspect ratio. (Most video formats these days are 16:9 widescreen, which is another potential drawback).

 

On a 6ft wide screen, the total area is 6ft x 4.5ft = 27 sq ft. Divide your 3200 lumens by that and you get 119 lumens per square foot.

 

Now if we go onto an 8ft screen, the area is 8ft x 6ft = 48 sq ft. This gives you 67 lumens per square foot.

 

Go up again, onto a 10ft screen, the area is 10ft x 7.5ft = 75 sq ft. This brings you down to 43 lumens per square foot.

 

 

Most people don't intuitively grasp quite how drastically the brightness will drop off as you increase screen size. If you're trying to fill a screen 3-4m wide you will need to have very subdued lighting if you are expecting to have any sort of impact at all.

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Is there realistically any chance of me finding a suitable projector for less than a grand?

 

It's hard to know for sure without knowing the conditions you'll be using it in.

 

The best bet might be to rent a machine to try out - something in the 4-5000 lumen range won't cost the earth. That'll give you a concrete idea of what sort of brightness you can expect.

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That's not a bad idea! Because without having real projector knowledge or experience it's hard to comprehend what lumens and aspect ratios really mean.

 

The sort of places we'll most likely be playing will be small clubs up to 500-1000 cap venues

 

Found one of these on eBay with 700 hrs on the lamp... http://www.optomausa.com/projectordetails.aspx?PTypeDB=Business&PC=X401

 

 

15,000:1 contrast ratio

4000 lumens

 

Will the throw be short enough to have the projector on stage and away from a crowd?

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it's hard to comprehend what lumens and aspect ratios really mean.

 

Lumens is a measure of brightness - but it's hard to relate the numbers to the end results in real life.

 

Almost all manufacturers use "ANSI Lumens" which is a standardised method of measurement. Beware of any mention of "peak lumens" or the like - it means that they are fudging the figures.

 

Aspect ratio is a way of describing the shape of the projected image. SVGA and XGA are 4:3 aspect ratio, so a 4m wide screen is 3m high. Most HD video formats are 16:9, so a 4m wide screen is 2.25m wide.

 

Your footage will also have an aspect ratio - and in Powerpoint and the like you can choose which ratio to use. There's little point in buying a 4:3 projector if all your material is 16:9.

 

Will the throw be short enough to have the projector on stage and away from a crowd?

 

Here's a link to a projection calculator. (Requires Flash)

 

You can put in your screen size and it'll tell you what sort of throw length you need.

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Just a quick one - when you said get some fabric that would fold out to different sizes, you weren't talking about using fabric for a screen were you? Proper screens reflect the light so they appear brighter. Fabric tends to absorb rather than reflect, so you lose quite a bit of light.

 

I'm not sure of the setup you are planning, but the project I'm currently working on has "projector" in the ideas column. I have a nice bright projector and I have a big fast fold screen - but I'm trying to avoid it if I can, mainly because of trying to find a place to put the projector. It will mean we have to offset the drums to one side, and while normally I'd like this, for purely symmetry reasons, we want them in the middle. While the drums can come forward on a theatre stage to give me enough spread from behind the drummers head, in many venues we're not going to get the depth. Sticking the two guitars centre left and right allows the projector to go between them - but I don't want to lose the drummers spot. Fast fold screens are also a real pain because they're invariable too small or too big. Mine is probably a bit big for the smaller venues anyway.

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I've not fully looked into it yet, but I saw you can buy screen fabric, so I assume that would be the same sort of stuff as a normal screen?

 

Yeah, I can see how that would be weird having the whole band moved out of the middle of the stage.

 

With my project, we'd have a bunch of synths and gizmos on stands, so we could probably get away with moving the projector off to one side or the other and keystone the image back straight.

I understand the visuals would then lose some clarity on the stretched side.

I suppose in theory, you could move the projector closer and shrink the near side, rather than stretch the far side.

 

 

I'm just struggling to find anything bright enough and in my price range.

 

Looking at lumens... what is the realistic difference going to be between say a 3000 and a 3200 or a 3600?

Finding 3600 ones for slightly over budget that I COULD stretch to

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You may need to bite the bullet and hire a screen, projector and operator for a performance and get some advance plans drawn up for ways to get enough image on a good screen.

 

Finding a place to put the projector, and finding a suitable (portable) screen could be challenges.

 

Do you already have ideas for content for your video?

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Looking at lumens... what is the realistic difference going to be between say a 3000 and a 3200 or a 3600?

 

A small increase in lumens doesn't make much difference to viewer perception.

 

Things like contrast ratio and colour rendition come into it as well.

 

I've done head-to-head comparisons of projectors where everyone has preferred the machine with a lower lumen rating, simply because it's looked more vibrant.

 

Going back to the "lumens per square foot" comparison from earlier, an increase of 600 lumens onto an 8ft wide screen will give you 12.5 additional lumens per square foot. (Going from 67 to 79). It's marginal at best.

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