your advice needed please

[duntokin]

Hi all.

 

Your advice / suggestions are desperately needed regarding the following.

I should say straight away that I have no knowledge of video projection other than that I have gleaned from browsing these pages

 

The Community Centre wher I work voluntarily ( I look after stage lighting etc) has gained 20K of funding to purchase video projection equipment for the Film Club they have just started.

 

The Hall seats 200 max.and is about 25metres long, 13 metres wide and has a traditional proscenium stage.

 

The guy who runs the film club has been quoted for the following kit.

 

Having browsed about looking at the individual items I ( given my lack of knowledge) have serious doubts about it (and the prices being quoted ) but I stand to be corrected by people with more knowledge and experience !

 

Projector - Sanyo PLC XP 56 £4500 (discontinued model )

lens LNS 31A £1900

 

dvd player Sony DVT NS300 £ 300

 

plus unicol stand and leads

 

( there is a screen 16' x 12' for which I have no price )

 

 

Audio System

[snipped by Bryson] (see thread in sound forum)

 

plus there is money in the budget allocated for blackout curtains etc.

 

Am I right to be concerned ? or am I being paranoid !

 

looking forward to any replies

[lukemh]

For a film club I think that you should be looking for a much faster processor and maybe HDCP as much of the newer material will be HD. I would also check your source material if you a just showing a DVD. Be aware as soon as you blow this image up you will see all of the artefacts on the source.

 

obviously happy to point you in the right direction if needed in terms of dealers etc.

 

I will let the noise boys comment on the audio..............

[Pete McCrea]

It all looks pretty standard really from an AV point of view. As you say the XP56 is discontinued. I believe it was a 5000 lumen machine, with the new version being 5500 lumens (XP57). As Luke mentions it might be worth looking for something with better processing power, but expect the budget to increase too. However chances are the majority of people won't notice the issues, but one or two might.

 

The other thing might be to look into DLP, as it is held to give a more cinematic experience in terms of viewing. There is the Christie Digital DS+65 which is SXGA resolution at 6500 lumens with an RRP of £11,495 ex VAT without a lense.....There is a bit of a gap between the high end home cinema projectors and the lower end of the professional units. What marks the professional units out amongst other things is the ability to position the projector where needed and get the correct lens, and a range of good inputs, coupled with a higher level of processing.

 

I would also suggest that you keep your ear to the ground as I think there might be some changes afoot in the future that might shake up the DLP market, and possibly benefit your installation.

 

As for the DVD player- I have no exerience of the unit, and it does appear to be a fairly standard domestic unit, but with an RGB output, which would work well with the RGB input of the projector.

 

I won't comment on the audio as I have no experience of the Fohn kit, and it would be wrong of me to give an opinion based on the specs. One point that might be worth raising is surround sound. Currently there appears to be no way of decoding or playing a surround sound feed out. Giving the ability to do this might add a good few more pounds to the cost, but also give a much better experience.

[Cuelist]

See if you can't get you hands on a Barco RLM H5. It's a model that is being phased out but there a new ones available and the price can be right ;-)

 

This is a DLP projector of the same basic brightness but with 1280 x 720 (16:9) resolution.

 

For a film club, this is much more suitable.

 

Also, as it is a DLP rather than LCD, the performance will remain good for a long time. No deterioration as with LCD.