Media display

[kenton@anchorai.ca]

Hey Guys

 

I'm currently finishing up a small theatre room for home that will be in a lottery for the children hospital.

I'm trying to figure out a way to get my projector to turn on at 5 pm, and play 4 hours of content and turn off at 9pm. These are the hours when people can come through and see the home and buy tickets. I have done theatres before, no big deal, but I have never had to get one to play content automatically so that I have not there twice a night for three months!

 

thanks for any suggestions

[DanS]

Digital On/Off timer should work - like what you might use for a house light.

 

make sure the projector has:

1. AUTO-Power On when Plugged In

2. Saves settings from last use (keystone, input etc...)

3. No cool-down cycle (so power can be pulled immediately from projector and will cause no damage to the lamp)

4. (Optional) some projectors may have a setting for power on/power off - have a look at that.

 

Hope this helps

[Dave m]

For replay, the cyclone 2 media player (£25 on amazon) will operate 24/7 or autoplay

[DanS]

Doesn't look too bad that... might have a look at getting a couple to go with he displays for things like sponsor logos on charity event.

 

For replay, the cyclone 2 media player (£25 on amazon) will operate 24/7 or autoplay

[the kid]

Depending on your projector you can control via network, and either remote in, or set up timing settings etc.

 

Playback you could use qlab, which I think you can also use to send rs232 with.

[mac.calder]

Some projectors (I know Panasonics upper end ones especially) have a scheduler on them - which will power on and off the projector.

[sandall]

Some projectors (I know Panasonics upper end ones especially) have a scheduler on them - which will power on and off the projector.

Some older lower-end Panasonics are quite happy with being powered-off by pulling the mains (presumably using a battery or capacitor to keep the fan running for a few minutes).

[Dave m]

Given that the projector will not move, does the fan really have to run?

If the projector is fixed, and won't be on for a couple of hours, it will cool down naturally

I always thought that the projector fan was to allow transport quickly after use

[timsabre]

No, the fan runs on because there's a lot of residual heat in the lamp. If you cut power to the lamp and fan at the same time, the temperature of the lamp and surroundings rises quite dramatically for a period before it starts to cool, this can damage lamp/optics/housing.

[Javis]

A fair few of the epsons also have a built in scheduler too so they may be worth a look?

[DrummerJonny]

Doesn't look too bad that... might have a look at getting a couple to go with he displays for things like sponsor logos on charity event.

 

For replay, the cyclone 2 media player (£25 on amazon) will operate 24/7 or autoplay

 

We have a few of these running a museum-style exhibition that's been going for a couple of years of daily use.

I've had no troubleshooting calls for them, other than one where the power cable had been pulled out.

 

Also use a few less regularly for portable signage, also rock-solid for that.

 

10/10 would reccommend.

[sunray]

No, the fan runs on because there's a lot of residual heat in the lamp. If you cut power to the lamp and fan at the same time, the temperature of the lamp and surroundings rises quite dramatically for a period before it starts to cool, this can damage lamp/optics/housing.

I worked for an AV company '96-'02, most of our work was corporate presentation rooms, videoconferencing, training facilities etc and came across lots of 'others' installations, many of them removed power from the proj at system shut down, lamp failures were silly and discolouration of the LCD was noticable. We made lots of money replacing such projectors and changing the shut down procedure.

[ninjadingle]

QLab and RS232 control. Found a few google groups that explain how to do it.

[Shez]

As a slight alternative, most projectors can be set to automatically switch on when receiving a signal and switch off after a predetermined interval of not seeing a signal. All you have to do then is switch your source on and off via whatever means and the projector will follow. No worries about lamp cooling, extra cables for control etc.

[Eeen]

I used a Eki projector with built in SD card for running a selection of slides for 3 months in my theatre foyer, and in the settings was a scheduler... and they also had WiFi and cat5 connection for data and settings adjustment. really simple and they just woke up ran the slides and then shut down and in to standby daily and with different hours over weekends.

 

don't know if thats of any help.