Can anyone recomend Really Bright Projectors...

[Face-Man]

Our architechs have designed a room with Glass every where 2 entire walls of it and skylights just for good messure. This is wonderful apart from needing to use an interactive whiteboard in it. Our current Sony PL15 have done well but are coming upto 4 years old and I can find them a good home elsewere. So anybody know of a really really bright projector going cheap [canary yellow not required] . preferably with a good lamp life.

[ChrisH]

I cant recommend a projector but it is inevitable that the brighter you go the less life you will get out of the lamp :?

[Andrew_C]

I cant recommend a projector but it is inevitable that the brighter you go the less life you will get out of the lamp :?

Not quite that simple, but there are trade offs. Size / Cost / Brightness / Lamp life / ease of use.

Christie are well respected in presentation circles, as are some of the Sanyo models (some are rebadged AS Christie)

[E1uSiV3]

You also might want to look at this article from BECTA which states you should not use a projector over 1500 ANSI lumen and should look at alternative solutions.

Also, look at using DLP projectors with high contrast ratios as you will be able to see the picture much better.

[Ric_]

We have a lot of BenQ prjectors which are 2200 Ansi Lumens plus they are DLP and miniscule! They cost approx. £600 each!

If it truley is as bright as it sounds, some blinds might help too

[NetworkGeezer]

£600!!!

The words "lorry" and "back of" come to mind

[john]

I say Epson or Hitachi's. I use a £6K Hitachi for presenting in a drama studio on to black walls, very very bright, somthing like 6000 lumens, but needs a full Risk Assessment before each show / event etc....

I hate DLP projectors, have a school that has some of the HP DLPs in and the images are really dark, the XP blue is very very dark, photoshop is useless on it as its too dark to use.

I would say stay LCD, brighter images. Just got an Epson EMP-X3 (i think its the X3, its in the car so cannot see it from here) and its 2000 lumens on Bright mode, but goes to 1500 in standard / economy mode, and TBH the difference is not that much, but should give another ~1000 hrs life! Making 3000 hrs, which I find is about standard in ones that are around the £600 area. I got this one for use in a really really bright classroom with a wall of glass, now it will live in 1500 by default, but if its too pale, they can turn it up to 2000, the staff have all been informed of how to work with them and the HP's they have now are in 2000 all the time, so they are used to working with bright projectors, so they should manage fine. Its all about making posters basically, we have an A3 sheet with each projector / Board saying Do's and Don'ts and basically our H&S advisors say that so long as we display that by each installation on the wall by the board then we are covered, if they don't read it then its tough. Staff were all told at a staff meeting that these posters were going up, had to be read, and the key points were quickly sumerised during the meeting with all the silly little things like projector filters, IWB pens etc not mentioned, but the critical don't stare too long at it, protect children, back to the board etc all covered during the meeting.

[Ric_]

@NetworkGeezer: I thought it was cheap too but I then realised that we were talking about BenQ kit and I did buy 15 at once

[Geoff]

Get some decent blinds is my advice. Good blinds are cheaper than high lumen projectors by a long shot.

[pshuttle]

You also might want to look at this article from BECTA which states you should not use a projector over 1500 ANSI lumen and should look at alternative solutions.

Also, look at using DLP projectors with high contrast ratios as you will be able to see the picture much better.

From what I can remember it is nigh on impossible to find a 1500 Lumen projector in this day and age...... The nearest we could get to it was 2000.

Correct me if I am wrong?

Pete

[E1uSiV3]

I hate DLP projectors, have a school that has some of the HP DLPs in and the images are really dark, the XP blue is very very dark, photoshop is useless on it as its too dark to use.

I had a HP VP6121 DLP and it was the best bit of kit i ever used (apart from the noise but thats a different story). I did come across the "super blue" phenomenon but this can be rectified by properly colour balancing your laptop output. I did this with my mac mini and it looked incredible. Match that with a 2000:1 contrast ratio and you can blow most LCDs out of the water...

[Andrew_C]

Have a look at Projector Central, they have a calculator that does beam angles, brightness and recommendations as to suitability.

For really bright look at the Hughes Light Valve. Yes, that is 12,000 lumens!

[indie]

How about a 50" Plasma and a wireless Smart Airliner?

We we're going to put a HD projector and Smart Board in a new Mac suite until I realised the Plasma option was so much cheaper!

[Ric_]

Just had a quote for a couple more of those BenQ projectors (PB2250) and the price appears to have dropped to £530... this is from Oliis on 0845 456 8556 (speak to Bobby).

[Face-Man]

chears for this it really useful stuff. We have had blinds in the room already but they frequently got vandlised (so it's not just the mice) so it now has electric security shutters to keep the computers in and bad guys out .And the sky light is a real problem basically imagine a green house and you are not far wrong. I've been told they have to be brighter for students who may have a visual impairment but becta seem sensibly be concerned for the people who stair directly ino the lense. And as with all these things it comes down to money ...