Reprinted from the October 2009 issue of Church Production Magazine

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Video Focus: Selecting the “Perfect” Projector

Learn about new features, technologies, opportunities and efficiencies.

by Alan Brawn

It is becoming an increasingly difficult task to select the "perfect" projector for your house-of-worship application. In the old days the process was pretty simple. We had good, better, and best products from which to choose and the selection was usually quite clear. After all, there were only a few manufacturers with a limited number of models and more often than not the choice boiled down to issues such as light output and the proper lens availability. Not to suggest that these issues have gone away by any means, but the criteria for selection has gotten much more complex and product availability as well as features and benefits have grown by orders of magnitude.

When we speak about the criteria for the selection of a projector, we have a great number of things to consider including:

Now factor in that there are 29 projector manufacturers selling their wares in the U.S. as we speak with nearly 700 models available to the market. Before diving into comments on the selection criteria, you will note that price is number twelve on the “hit parade.” In short, there is a huge difference between price and cost. We have all seen products with an inexpensive (see I did not say cheap!) price that ended up costing us more in the long run in total cost of ownership (or TCO for acronym lovers out there.)

We are going to lump items one, two, and three together because they are inexorably linked. In the audio- video industry there is an axiom that states "it is not a question of if, but when, a problem occurs and how a company handles that problem determines your satisfaction.” A projector from a respected manufacturer may appear to have all the performance plus the bells and whistles that you want, but if the warranty is too short, or there is little or no customer service support, or finally, if you have a problem where you have to take your projector down, send it in and then wait weeks for a repair, the comforting appearance of the name brand on the case quickly turns to dissatisfaction. Not to be pessimistic, but the reason to examine the "what happens if…" scenarioup front is to help insure satisfaction after the purchase.

The next issue is light output of the display. Taken as a standalone item, published light output is not sufficient. It is the combination of light output of the projector along with the ambient light in the room plus the screen you will be using that determines your actual needs. But we are not done evaluating brightness yet. Many manufacturers state their brightness in ANSI lumens. The truth is that these specifications are sometimes overstated by as much as 20%. For example, if a projector is specified at 4,000 lumens it may or may not produce that amount of light output. If it is overrated by 20% then the actual performance is 3,200 lumens. The reasons for the discrepancies are many, but the major issues involve variations in manufacturing tolerances, and the fact that there is no industry-standardized and binding way to measure light output and publish actual performance on projectors or displays of any type.

The second issue with light output is lamp life. Understand that a typical projection lamp used in digital projection today has a decay curve. In the first few hundred hours of use the lamp will decay or loose its light output by as much as 20%, and then it will continue to decay at a rate determined by the application and the lamp manufacturer. The common denominator is that traditional lamps will decay, leaving the end-user with less light output than they intended. The decay factor must be considered when selecting a projector. For example, if your application requires a 3,000-lumen light output, you may have to buy a 4,000-lumen projector to insure the brightness that you need for the majority of the life of the lamp.

One advancement to be aware of is the introduction of LED lamp modules in projectors. These lamp modules can last up to 100,000 hours and produce excellent color and contrast along with extremely long life. The downside at this time is that these projectors, from companies like Projectiondesign and Digital Projection Inc. and others, "only" produce 1,000 lumens of light output. By the end of the year we expect to see 2,000-lumen models. According to the LED lamp module manufacturers, the practical limit today is 3,000 lumens, so stay tuned. Another way to take advantage of this new illumination technology is to use one of the new high-gain screens from DNP or ProDisplays and that 1,000- and soon 2,000-lumen projector just may work for you.

Before leaving the issue of brightness we must mention contrast. Contrast is the element of a picture that gives us depth of field and detail in dark areas. New projectors have radically improved contrast through the designs of their chips and the optical components that make up over 50% of the projector design. We must understand that ambient light is the enemy of good contrast. The good news is that with higher brightness projectors the ambient light can be overcome and by incorporating proper systems design, which keeps as much light directly off the screen as possible, acceptable contrast can more easily be achieved.

Turning our attention to resolution, this is actually not a huge issue. Consider the source materials you are showing and act accordingly. If you are in the high-def world already, you will want 1080 resolution or even 1920 x 1200 but if not, then XGA is the minimum you should consider. With scaling engines improving their performance on a regular basis, the ability to go from one resolution to another has become seamless in many cases. Just remember that all projectors of a given resolution are not equal, and all scaling engines are not equal in performance either. As in other things, you tend to get what you pay for, so take a "road test" before you buy.

This brings us to the ongoing battle between the two 800-pound gorillas in the room known as chip manufacturers. It breaks down to the DLP camp versus the 3LCD folks. I have no intention of opening Pandora's Box but I do know and can prove that both types of chips make excellent pictures. The 3LCD folks tout the benefits of color reproduction out of their three-chip designs. The DLP crowd expounds on their chip life without burn-in or panel degradation, and their sealed optics requiring less maintenance. Do they both have a point? Yes. Does one type of technology overwhelm the other? No. Ultimately the choice comes down to issues outside of the chip itself and involves the features and benefits of the projector as an embodiment of various technologies.

The issue of connectivity and network capability is really application-based, but you do want to prepare for the future. You will want composite, component, digital inputs, and RS323 for remote control access. Regarding network capabilities, on the surface this may seen unnecessary but this can actually become important. The ability to interconnect and control display devices from a local area network, or LAN, or in some cases a WAN, or wide area network, can be invaluable. Internet access and the ability to collaborate and share information is a huge feature and may benefit those thinking ahead.

It is no secret that lens selection is of great importance. As we know, some projectors are available with interchangeable lenses that can be custom-matched to an application and others, normally less expensive, include a fixed zoom lens with variable-throw distances and f stops. The point to realize with any zoom lens is the affect that the placement of the projector has on the light output of the projector. Zoom lenses will vary in light output based on where they are in the zoom range. They have higher aperture ratios at wide angle, producing higher brightness, whereas at telephoto they have narrow apertures, allowing less light to pass through. The bottom line reverts back to brightness specifications versus actual performance. In most cases, light output is specified at the optimal zoom position whereas in your application the zoom may be in its least optimized position, resulting in less light than expected or perhaps needed.

Living in the new "green" world we all need to be sensitive to power consumption in our everyday lives, not to mention the use of high power consumption items like video projectors in our churches. In this case, the manufacturer power specifications are accurate, but we may need help in interpreting them. We need to look at power consumption and how it may be improved. One suggestion is to run your projector on the eco-mode. The response I get to this is that light output is compromised. My answer is to consider a higher lumen light output projector that when used in eco-mode will net you energy savings. Many times the cost savings in power and lamp replacement will exceed the cost of the higher light output projector over a five-year period. In all cases, do a comparison of higher light output projectors and perform proper due diligence of comparing power consumption of one product over another. Having just penned a white paper on the topic of power consumption, I was surprised to find out there is a good deal of difference and energy savings between brands.

The last topics—price, maintenance, and installation— can be lumped under the heading of total cost of ownership. Once again it is not the low initial price of the projector but the accumulated costs that determine what projector you should buy and how to go about purchasing it for your project. First of all you need to decide if you are going to buy your projector online or through a local authorized dealer/integrator. You must weigh the benefits of a lower price for the projector alone bought online versus working with an authorized dealer/integrator and all the service and support they offer. They can provide consulting services to help with your projector choice. In addition, they can provide demonstrations of various products, decreasing the chance of making the wrong choice. They can perform professional installation for you and provide service after the sale. With an online purchase you are on your own and when (not if) problems arise and if the projector is still under warranty, you will need to take it down from the mount and send it back to the manufacturer for repair. Time line for repairs, you ask? Several weeks, at best, is the norm.

If the risk of "do it yourself" does not intimidate you then move forward. Employ what I call the 5P Approach in your research. This is a comparison up front looking at Products, Prices, Programs, Processes, and People. Compare the features and, more importantly, the benefits of the products you are considering. Investigate prices from various sources. What kinds of programs are available in terms of return privileges, warranties, and customer-oriented programs like spare-in-the-air availability? “Processes” refers to how easy it is to work with a company and how convenient is it to gain their attention and leverage their services. The “People” component simply refers to those serving you: How well you get along and if you feel you can count on them when problems arise. This all falls under the umbrella of total cost of ownership. Be aware that the time component must be added into the equation.

As we said in the beginning, selecting the "perfect" projector is no longer as easy as it once was. We have a lot more to choose from and a great many people who, on the surface at least, want your business. The good news is that with a little bit of knowledge, proper due diligence and some good partners to work with the final decision is now going to net you better results than ever before.