Projector Installation guide
The projector you chose will depend first and foremost on the venue you intend to use the projector
Common uses for a projector installation.
Venues range hugely; these are a few different variations
- Home cinema room
- Office meeting room
- Boardroom
- Education class room
- Place of worship
- Business reception
- Retail outlets
- Restaurants
- Pubs and Bar
- Sport and recreation
- Village Halls
- Conference room
- Wedding venues
Chose your projector to suit the space
Your choices of projector be based on the following criteria.
- Resolution requirements
- Brightness
- Throw range of lens, zoom range.
- Connectivity
- Cost
Projector Content display & display resolution.
Your first decision should be based on the content you intend to display If you are at home and wish use your projector for mainly movies then you would probably want a full HD 1080P with 3D LCD
with a high contrast ratio , projector , if it’s a small office meeting room then a low cost DPL, with SVGA 600x 800 or if you require higher resolution XGA 1024×768 most laptops these day will have the capability to output a resolution of XGA or WXGA 1280 x800 to get the best results you should try to match the laptops output with the projector native resolution. Home Cinema projectors have a resolution of either 720P or 1080P (the P stands for progressive scan)
Brightness , Lumen’s , ANSI.
Brightness is an important factor if there is high ambient light , there have been some cases where clients wanted projectors but in certain situations a projector is just a none starter. Brightness in
a home cinema room is less important as the room would be darkened. In a board room with some levels of ambient light I would advise a projector of 3000 lumens , you must also take into account the size of screen and projector throw distance the large the screen and greater distance the projector is from the screen the less light is falling onto the screen. So in a large school hall you would be aim for 5000 to 6000 lumens just remember if there is a lot of ambient light then the backs will not be black
although it helps If you have very bright projector as in fools the eye into thinking those dark areas look black than they are this effect will not work on dark scene.
Lens throw , zoom range
We often find when we are carry out a projector installation that the biggest problem is where to site the projector if the projector install is going to be fitted into a school hall or church with a very high ceiling it may not be achievable, or if its a home cinema projector the wife may not want a great big projector in the middle of the living room ceiling you may not like that chandelier and want to dump it for the latest 3D HD projector but you are not going to get away with the desired position so its got to go on the back wall , so when choosing a projector you will need to look at the lens throw range some projectors have a large zoom range some have a very small range, ultra short throw projectors have an extremely short throw with no zoom at all, these are often use with whiteboard installation in training rooms and schools
Zoom range
A zoom lens has the ability to project the image larger or smaller by shifting the internal optical elements of the lens. This will allow a projector to produce the correct size from a range of throw distances. Some projectors have a very small zoom range. For example, a 1.20:1 lens, sometimes noted as 1.2x, means the maximum image size is just 20% larger than the minimum size. On the other hand, some projectors have zoom lenses of 2.0:1, or 2.0x, meaning that the maximum image size is double that of the minimum image size. The wider the zoom range Such a lens provides a lot more flexibility you have to produce the image size you need to fit your screen size from your desired projector location.
Though long zoom ranges offer great flexibility, the projector’s potential light output usually drops if you use end of a long zoom lens. Some projectors have shown lumens loss of 25% to 40% if you are using the lens’s maximum zoom position, and light output drops off linearly–meaning that it will lose half as much light at the lens’s midpoint, and so on. If you want to maximize light output, it is best to avoid the longest throw distance the ever possible.
The best way is to use a lens throw calculator this will give you the minimum and maximum image size
dependent on the distance from the lens centre to the screen, and the projectors min and max throw ratio, you will also have to input the screen aspect 16.9 , 4.3 etc.
In your search for the correct projector to suit the installation, chose your screen size and screen ratio and the based on this chose a projector that will match the image size within the lens zoom range and projector installation position.
Projector connectivity
What equipment do you plan to connect to the projector ,If its a Home cinema projector then its going to be HDMI, if its an office meeting room , then maybe VGA, DVI, and HDMI, there are now wireless presenters available, that create a wireless access points that allow up to four laptops to connect simultaneously. Projectors have a wide range of connections:
- VGA
- HDMI
- Component
- Composite video
- S Video
- USB
- Audio RCA
- DVI
Hope this guide helps with your choice if you are struggling to spec the correct projector to suit
your requirements give Master AV Services a call we are always happy to help we provide a comprehensive projector and Audio visual installation service throughout the UK
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