Alternative option to Panasonic

[Dicky]

Dear Blue-Roomers,

 

I'm installing a projector that's going to be used 8 hours a day in an exhibition area. I already have several Panasonic machines in the same building, some of which are powered on/off using the handy panasonic multi projector monitoring software via CAT5 on it's own network which is rock solid.

The projector I chose for this installation was going to be another Panasonic, so I could easily add it to the same cabled network, however the machine I was after, I'm having problems in getting one in a timely fashion.

 

The spec for the projector needs to be minimum WXGA resolution, 3500 lumens min, price sub £600 ex. VAT. distance of installation can vary, so lens type not critical

 

Therefore, my questions are:

 

Does anyone have recommendations for other manufacturers projectors and control software, that they have experience of using in an installation setting that they are happy with. It only needs to turn on/off at a set time every day?

I'm not brand-concious as for this installation it's not critical, so I've got options such as Benq, Vivitec, Optima, InFocus, NEC, Hitachi, all of which I've not got much experience of, but am happy to give it a try.

 

Alternatively do any of the manufacturers above have an in-built on/off timer that you can set, which would remove the need to add it to the CAT5 control network?

 

Just looking for options that users have got experience of using themselves.

Content will be played via dedicated solid state machines at each projector - I already have these players.

 

thanks - Dicky

[Shez]

Hitachi projectors have a network control option which works well. You can also log in to them from a browser to control most functions, including a comprehensive schedule. They can pick up the correct time from an SNTP server if there's one available.

[Dicky]

After some searching through various manuals for possible options, the Hitachi CP-WX3541W seems to fit the bill, and it also has built in on-board schedule settings for power on-off, so it may not need to be connected to the network after all which is a bonus.

Can't quite believe how the price of machines like this have come down so much! for just over £500 + vat I'm getting a 3.7k lumen projector!

 

The Vivitech, Optima and In-focus options all didn't have a free to use Cat5 control solution, although would work using a Crestron control system which I don't have and isn't free like the pansonic option!

There are good features on some of these machines like in-built media players that auto start with power on and auto loop (which is dead useful for what I'm looking at using them for), and auto lamp-on when powered up, but none of them had an in-built timer for powering down, or powering down after being on for 8 hours.

 

Dicky