Sony VPL-FH30 for Assembly Hall?

[jmr]

Has anyone had any experience with Sony VPL-FH30 projectors? I've been tasked with finding a decent projector for our Assembly Hall after the old one was pressed into emergency classroom use. For the money, there really doesn't seem to be anything better (about £2500 online, plus a long throw lens). We're looking to have it professionally installed. Will cable lengths (VGA,HDMI,DVI) start to be a problem at about 30m/1920x1200?

[bossman]

@jmr:

 

Why does it have to have a long throw lense?

 

Can you not get the projector mounted closer to the screen?

 

If so then you might want to think about this:Casio XJ-H1600 3500 ANSI Lumens XGA Projector - www.misco.co.uk

 

We are looking at changing our setup at the moment in our Hall as we have a long throw lens on a Hitachi which 6 years ago cost us £2500 but looking to go with either a short throw projector or as above to save on bulbs and cleaning filters etc etc. (less maintenance)

[jmr]

Long throw looks like the only option, our hall is a really weird shape! For the first 12 metres, the roof slopes steeply from left to right (two stories worth). After that, there's a large overhang, which is parallel with the front wall. Then, it opens out into the dining room! We were thinking of having the projector arm mounted on the overhang, firing onto the front wall. For fun, the entire right hand wall is made up of south facing windows!

[steveg]

I don't think 4000 lumens will be bright enough for a large display over that distance. It's amazing just how much brighness you loose by covering the extra distance. We installed a projector over a 12m throw using a lens, it is 6000 lumens, and only just bright enough to see clearly. The hall is quite light, but not excessively so.

 

Steve

[3s-gtech]

I tend to find the cable lengths will be an issue. Our hall uses a long VGA and HDMI setup (15m), VGA is not perfect - some shifting of colours. HDMI is fine though, but 15m is around the max length without active repeaters for best results. This is at 720p.

[jmr]

So it's looking like mount the projector a lot closer, on the sloping ceiling, in which case something like the Casio is definitely a good idea to cut down on the need for scaffolding. Or, get a beefier projector and boosters for most of the inputs? This could be interesting

 

Thanks guys!

[LeeBirdptinstalls]

The company i work for have tended to use sanyo XM100L's as a long throw option. They come with various lenses depending on the throw distance. Roughly about £1300 without the lens. Another solution could be a ceiling mounted unit on a pitched mount. My boss will be happy to give free advice if you like, [email protected].