AskTheDoc

Check this link http://www.localgov.co.uk/index.cfm?method=news.detail&id=88939 Glad I'm not a distributor wih a new BSF education team!

Heard on the grapevine that maybe BSF projects will be scrapped too and a refocus on regeneration of inner city schools! If I hear anything concrete I will let you know.

For me it's a natural evolution, a short throw will arrive at some point. Who knows when though.. The first units are now in the UK and shipping Monday from a company called Midwich for the first dealer orders...

It looks like Casio's largest distributor Midwich have the whole of the first allocation, due in tomorrow/Monday. 100+units with more following the week after. At last.

Well I would say that the Unicol one would generally be more expensive so I was saying it depends what you want to spend.

Be careful with DLP products into education. There are historical colour matching issues on low end DLP units. Make sure you have a DLP projector that uses the Brilliant colour Chip as you will stand a better chance of having the right colours. Toshiba had a big colour problem a few years back. One of the Smart short throw projectors seen at Bett for instance does not use it which that means that Oranges seem Brown and Yellows seem Mustard in colour. Historically the only way to get the right colours from DLP was to reduce the brightness considerably which kind of defeats the object of buying that projector with a specific brightness in the first place. The Brilliant Colour Chip is supposed to help this. Some projectors might seem cheap but that may well be because they don't have the brilliant colour chip. OK here are some choices for you from NEC. By the way the top 5 brands consistently over the past 5 years in the UK if you didn't know are Sanyo, Epson, Optoma, NEC and Hitachi. NEC and Optoma use DLP. NEC have 5 entry level DLP projectors NP110 2000ANSI 4000hour lamp NP115 2500ANSI 5000hour lamp NP210G 2200ANSI 5000hour lamp NP215G 2500ANSI 5000hour lamp NP215GEDU 2500ANSI 5000 hour lamp (3 year unlimited lamp warranty) I hope this helps you.

May be worth considering BTech or Chief as alternatives to Unicol. The BTech part number is BT899 and fits directly on to the Unicol pole. I have heard that Chief may be launched one at ISE Amsterdam next week. ATD

I don't do installations so no!

You are quite right, universal brackets are a lot cheaper to manufacturer which is why you can normally pick them up for competitive pricing. I would recommend using a reputable brand and a good installation company though.

I read a bit about those Casio laser projectors in the other projector thread. What is the best model, and where is the cheapest place to obtain them? My other main concern would be the throw distance and mounting being wrong and the cost of getting someone to change the ceiling fixture, as well as the price of new mounting brackets. One of the old smartboards also needs replacing as it has buckled. This is my view. The product was originally destined to be in limited supply until March which a couple of hundred entering the country late January and February. However the first January shipment has slipped and also been reduced in size. I think the best place to go if you are an end user is to a dedicated education or mainstream Professional Audio Visual reseller or Corporate reseller. Check which ones have already got back orders on with the two major Casio distributors (PM me for their names), as they will probably end up with the majority of the stock. I also wouldn't believe any one who tells you they will get the stock first because they have more back orders on. I recon it will be left up to the distributors to decide who gets them and I am sure that priority will be given to resellers with fixed back orders and resellers who want to invest in a demonstration unit. In any case would Casio really want to give any stock to any online retailer who is simply offering aggressive discounting and adding no value. It surely devalues their new technology product. Resellers will need to make some money as they will be encouraged to pro-actively promote and spend money marketing this new technology and demonstrating it to their customer base. No one can do that for free. It is easy for any business to offer a low price when you have no stock mind you. Regarding the throw. It is a unique projector with a 2x zoom exact is 1.4 to 2.8:1 What this means is that for a 77" Smartboard you could position your projector anywhere between 2.1 metres and 4.2 metres away from the screen. I hope this is helpful;) Regards The Doc

Hi The XU41 and the SU50 are much bigger chassis' than the XW200 so you would need a new mounting bracket. They will not fit.

Hi Laserblazer Just to put the record straight for you. All DLP projectors including the new Casio LED/laser products do not actually have filters like LCD projectors. One of the selling points of the Casio product a part from the fact that it is the world's first Mercury Free projector for Education is that it is also completely maintenance free. (i.e. No lamp or filter maintenance or replacement) In Fact all projectors that are based on DLP technology do not actually require filters. They are all sealed units. The Casio also has a 2-1 zoom lens which is pretty unique and answers your question in this thread. The benefit of this is that you can take down virtual any projector (except Super short throw of course and know that the Casio will fit with the original ceiling pole. You will still have to replace the bracket and get an engineer to install though but it will be a lot less hassle and a lot less mess and disruption. Casio say the unit will last for 20,000 hours without any deterioration of image quality. However they will warranty it for 6,000 and 3 years for normal business or 10,000 and 5 years for Education. Obviously technology will catch up or change or other parts like power supplies or components may fail like any projector. If you require a short throw projector or budget is a concern then obvious you may well be better looking at a Sanyo, Hitachi or Epson. For Super short throw then Hitachi or Epson will be the best choices. Enjoy and good luck. The Doc