Video projector for photos/vids

[musicology]

So I have purchased a Video projector for my mother in law's funeral as nobody in the family has one. (One of the family is putting together a photo montage with some music).
Providing a projector for weddings wasn't something I wanted to get particularly involved in but as this circumstance cropped up I thought I may as well buy one and sell it as an add-on service.
I know nothing about these but think I have bought a reasonable one and it's on it's way to me. It is an LED 4000lm, Max Res: 1920 x 1200, Native Res: 1024x768, Built in WiFi, Built in Android. I think the WiFi/Android capability could be beneficial for the customer. What do you guys think?
I already have a fairly big screen at 5'.

My questions are: Do you provide a laptop with it for the customer to use? Do you operate it or just set it up and let them do their own thing with it? How much would be a sensible price? (An evening wedding disco is £250 for me) £50 maybe?

Any help/tips about this area appreciated as I've never used a video projector in my life!

[Pe7e]

I can't give you any direct advice based on experience, I've briefly considered providing video projection as a 'dry hire' service but since I'm a bit of a technophobe these days, I decided against it, I just don't want the potential hassle. However, I think the £50 fee you are considering sounds far too cheap to me, others may tell you different.

[yourdj]

i use an Optima EH something or other. Cost £2000 and was banded as the dogs nuts on a monogram group, so thought that it would be a good investment. Its lovely, but the onboard video and image processing is crap. You would think that they would install Android and a decent processor wouldn't you!! I bought one of these and it plays most formats. You can get a separate power adapter that goes off the USB, dead easy.

I am not a fan of projectors for speeches as you need the throw distance and the clarity is not great so I prefer the screen.

18089

With regards to clients using it, i would for presentations, because if the speech goes wrong its not your responsibility and they will also know how to use their laptop. For interactive slideshows I use iMovie and make a video on loop, works a treat: http://yourdj.co.uk/tv-screen-led-photo-slideshow/

I charge £75 just for the TV, £125 with as pre recorded slideshow. It runs demo the USB drive so its no sweat to set up.
£90 for the projector on its own, which i recon is a bit cheap, but its speculative on your fee I guess?


Projector mainly gets used for this:

18090

And the TV:

18091


Good luck with it, I have found mine great fun. I did a halloween projection this week on the wall during a wedding fair, it looked awesome!!

[TONYTIGER]

I do dry hire for a projector short throw rear projection and you get a 6 ft screen pick up and return to me £ 80.00 no vat the customer provides there own laptop very popular,cost originally £ 1600.00

[yourdj]

I do dry hire for a projector short throw rear projection and you get a 6 ft screen pick up and return to me £ 80.00 no vat the customer provides there own laptop very popular,cost originally £ 1600.00

I was going to mention short throw, but as he had already bought one did not want to say anything. I looked into the short throws, a great option for speeches for sure, especially with function rooms that are maxed out. They are pretty costly as Tony said, especially the new slimline against the wall ones. 3,500 lumens should suffice for short distances. :)

[musicology]

Received it today and had a play. Really easy to set up. Just plugged in the USB2 cable and it immediately showed my laptop screen so no fiddling about!
I get a 5' picture from just under 2 metres and it looks nice and bright. The definition is slightly grainy but I think it's good enough to use. Brand new and only cost £200 so am well pleased. Just done my halloween gigs for the year but will use it next year to project an old black and white dracula movie onto the booth, me and back wall. Should look really cool. I've been booked for some more after-show parties at my local theatre and will set up some themed stuff to project as well. This is going to be a lot of fun! I've already offered it as an extra for a ruby anniversary job I've just bid for through Bark. 4 hires and it's paid for!

[musicology]

Correction. Not USB2 at all. It's HDMI I plugged in to make it work!

[Corabar Steve]

Our projector in action on Saturday night. At around a foot from the screen (I've never actually measured it). The screen is around 1.75 - 2m wide (again, I've never measured it). Can't find the exact details, HD image up to a certain size, but still a crisp image to 80 inches & a perfectly good picture going bigger than that (have filled our living room wall)


18094

http://www.ricoh.co.uk/products/projectors/ultra-short-throw-projectors/pjwx4141ni.aspx?view=features

http://www.ricoh.co.uk/Images/PJWX4141_PJWX4141N_PJWX4141NI_Ricoh_en_150dpi_t_66-68089.pdf (http://www.ricoh.co.uk/products/projectors/ultra-short-throw-projectors/pjwx4141n.aspx?view=overview)

[musicology]

I can certainly see the benefits of a short throw projector. Will see how I get on with this one and, if it proves popular enough, will look at getting a better one. Will likely try to find an led one if I trade up.
Have now added it to my website home page as an "Optional extra" and will see how it goes!

[musicology]

I emailed all my customers last night who have booked me to let them know I have added this as a service. One has has already got back and added it. This could be a good move!

[Shakermaker Promotions]

That's exactly why I bought my projectors. They can add a lot to a set up and for a small additional fee too.
Good luck with it.
I've got mine in the van just in case I feel like using them tonight. Better get my backside moving now as it's a long drive.....AGAIN.

[musicology]

Quick update. Now got 4 bookings that have added the projector so payed for itself already! Have done 1 with it and can see the advantage of a short throw already so will be looking closely at suitable LED ones. Any recommendations?

[TONYTIGER]

Quick update. Now got 4 bookings that have added the projector so payed for itself already! Have done 1 with it and can see the advantage of a short throw already so will be looking closely at suitable LED ones. Any recommendations?

Hi,i use this one http://www.benq.com/product/projector/MX850UST i know it is not led but it has been faultless use it for rear and front projections takes up very little room and goes out on dry hire with no problems.

[musicology]

I think I would rather stick with LED thanks.

[yourdj]

I think I would rather stick with LED thanks.

I was under the impression that LED are just not as good, but I may be wrong. Everyone I know doing the monograms and visuals uses a normal bulb type projector. Optoma, seems the most popular. I looked into getting a cheap chinese LED (and normal bulb one) one but everyone said, don't even bother. I would look at getting as bright a projector as poss. A good brightness is about 5000 lumens I believe. There are some cheaper options out there, i can ask on a group I am on if you want?

[musicology]

The more advice I can get the better. If I'm wrong about LED then fine, I'll go for a normal lamp. I'm keen on LED only because now I've experienced the colour improvement with disco effects projectors I, perhaps wrongly, assumed the same improvement would apply to video projectors. Cheers.

[TONYTIGER]

I think I would rather stick with LED thanks.

Led is not very good with projectors i did a lot of research and the one i listed is spot on.

[ppentertainments]

Thought I would add my thoughts here – I have been using projectors for events for years and have amassed many different types. Why so many ? Because I have yet to find one projector that will do everything. Yes I have my ‘go to’ one which covers 90% of my events but it really depends what you are using it for.

The big thing people never think about is what they are projecting onto, which brings bigger differences than the actual projector you are using.

You need 5000 lumens+
Biggest load of rubbish ever ! Likely due to our American comrades using these in very big function rooms recommending them (ever wonder why they are for sale in America but like rocking horse poo to buy over here?). If you are projecting onto stone/wooden walls or dancefloor then yes, a high lumens is needed, however this type of projector will be very dissapointing if using against a screen, especially rear projection or a small/medium size venue.

Rear Projection
This is great if you want to hide your projector out of the way and does look a lot neater, BUT to do it properly is not as easy as it sounds.
Back to the lumens – if you have a projector which is too bright you will get a white light shining through, even using the best of screens. I have found about 2500-3000 lumend the best. If it is not bright enough the picture is dull, too bright you can’t look at the screen for the white light shining though. For the record I have never found rear projection as sharp as front projection.

Short Throw Projectors.
These are great for taking less room. Almost essential for rear projection unless you want your screen in the middle of the room.
However, the picture from these is very rarely a true square – most short throw projectors incorporate a fish eye lens so getting a perfect square is nigh on impossible.
I do own one of the Ricoh projectors that you can virtually place up against a wall or screen. These are great BUT the worry is that is a very expensive projector that can easily be kicked, especially if kids are running around or people dancing.

Projecting onto a screen
The screen you buy can make moreof a difference than the projectr you use. Personally I don’t use expensive screens when buying the tripod type as after a while you do get the odd crease/mark/discolour so have found it better using slightly cheaper ones and replace more often. A really cheap screen though can be bad news – you will find the colours not as vivid and the picture not sharp at all, together with creases after only a few uses.

Projecting onto Dancefloor/Walls
This is where I would advise a high lumens projector – the brighter the better especially against wood. You find a lot of people doing monograms just use white, obviously the brightest of colours. If you are asked for a colour and use a lower lumens projector you won’t see any of certain colours – especially blues.
A short throw projector is rarely a good idea unless you know the distance between the wall/dancefloor and projector as you have little scope for movement – a couple of inches changes the picture size dramatically. Those clever enough will be able to change the image on a pc, but for a ‘plug and play’ I would not recommend short throw.

LED v Lamp type
I have never owned an LED but have seen them in action. Personally I found the image very harsh, and as mentioned before with rear projection, the leakage through a screen is quite bad.
It is like any LED lighting fixture to be honest, the light is always a little more harsh than using a lamp and never quite as good (different subject to debate I feel lol)
The bonus is though, lamps for projectors can be very pricey and break easier than LED. In the past whenever a lamp has gone in a projector (only had 2 in 10 years) I have changed the projector.


The biggest thing though is don’t believe wha you read. I had an old epson 1500 lumens projector which could give the 5000lumens optoma ones a good run for their money. Also what suits one persons environment won’t suit the next.
The main thing people fall flat on though, is looking at the projectors before looking at what they will be projecting onto !

[yourdj]

Thought I would add my thoughts here

Good advise. :)

[musicology]

Yep, very helpful. Thanks.