5 Responses

1. Projectors
   We’ve bought lots of Projectors from a fantastic supplier in glasgow. He does an incredibly light and compact but very bright Hitachi. E-mail me and I will pass his details to you.

   Colin McAllister

2. projector criteria continued
   Finally, if you are needing portable, consider portable in terms of taking it on a plane (in which case go for a 2.5Kg projector, or thereabouts, or TRANSportable, in which case up to the 7-9Kg (more chance of good speakers etc) might be advisable.

   We bought a 2.6Kg SVGA projector 12 months ago and paid around £2.3K – I believe they are cheaper now – the heavier models are cheaper still.

   I hope this all helps!

   Regards

   Martin Schmalenbach

3. projector criteria continued
   On the subject of connections, if you are going to use a video, consider a projector with stereo line-in connections (1 red socket, 1 white socket) and a video line-in connection (either yellow or black socket).

   Many projectors will enable you to plug a lead between the computer and the projector and allow you to control the mouse functions from the projector’s remote control – very handy. Some remote controls also come with a laser pointer.

   Check to see if the projector has ‘tombstone’ or ‘keystone’ correction – this allows you to adjust the shape of the projected image to take in to account the placement of the projector to the screen – in the old days the top of the image would be much wider than the bottom, distorting things.

   Check also that you have sufficient zoom & focus control, and if you are considering having the projector mounted from the ceiling, or back-projecting on to the screen, that the image can be set to reverse and/or upside down modes to accommodate such installations.

4. projector criteria
   Ease of setup can be taken for granted in the sense that they are all about as easy (or difficult) to setup! We have recently been through the same cycle you are in now.

   Our experience suggests you consider the following:

   What images will you be projecting? mostly video or mostly powerpoint style presentations. If video is the main purpose, then don’t go mad spending a lot of money on high resolution projectors – you will not see the benefit. If you intend to use it mostly for powerpoint presentations, then consider how busy and detailed these presentations will be – if they are mostly bullet points and reasonable sized text, then an full/true SVGA (800×600 pixels) resolution is acceptable (NOT compressed SVGA – the text tends to look like it has been in an earthquake!) For finely detailed work consider a true XGA resolution (1024×768)

   Consider also the lighting conditions and how big the screen area will be (i.e. how big the room, how big the audience) – get at least 800 ANSI lumens brightness (and buy a replacement bulb at the same time – they are expensive but last a long time & there’s nothing worse than having a bulb go on you with no hope of speedy replacement). The technologies available complicate matters – so-called DLP technology is brighter pound-for-pound than the original LCD projectors – I can tell you why if you want but it’s not important here! For a big room and definite daylight usage consider DLP technology at 800 ANSI lumens min or LCD at 900-1000 ANSI lumens min.

   If you wish to have sound output, consider either a ‘beefy’ projector with good speakers, or a separate amplifier & speakers.

   more follows….

5. Projectors
   Mandi,
   TrainingZONE has a small selection of projectors available in its Shopping Mall area
   http://mall.trainingzone.co.uk/cgi-bin/trainingzone.mall/3a9299b7009122a6273fc22aff870719/Catalog/1193