One of our recent installation jobs included a projector replacement for a local church in Peterhead. Their ageing 1000 ANSI Lunem projector had served them well over the previous 10 or so years, but it was starting to show signs of its age.
Requirements
The church engaged 3:16 AVI to assess the current setup and provide recommendations for an upgraded projection system. As part of the review we identified opportunities to improve the image quality and the usability of the system.
The team at the church had a wish list for their new setup:
- A brighter better image to enable the congregation to make better use of the technology, often the lights would have be turned off to allow the projector to be seen clearly.
- Ability to connect to their existing laptop and blu-ray player.
- Ability to connect other devices like mobile phones on demand with minimal fuss.
- Ability to route sound from any of the devices to the existing sound desk.
- Use of a quiet, non intrusive projector.
It was important for the church team to be able to switch simply between multiple inputs, and to be able to connect extra items, like mobile phones and other laptops with a single connection to the system.
The solution
3:16 AVI provided several solutions to the church for discussion, including a traditional lamp based projection system, and a new laser based projection system. The new laser technology offers these advantages:
- Instant on and off, no more waiting for the lamp to warm up and cool down when using the projector.
- Consistent brightness of the light source across the life of the unit, traditional lamp based sources tend to start to dull very quickly after installation.
- 20,000 hours operational time from the light source, used for 38 hours a week (which is a lot in many churches), that gives a lifetime of 10 years, maintenance free.
- Lower Power Consumption.
In the case of this installation we installed a Sony VPL-PHZ10 projector, which has a remarkable ability to generate true to life colours. With it’s full HD 1080p native resolution, this gave a significant upgrade in the projected image compared with the previous projector.
Sound was routed through the projector and ties back to the sound system using a direct inject box to minimise noise. This allows phones and laptops to be connected with a single HDMI cable for both video and audio.
All HDMI Connections were installed between the devices and the projector using coax cable with SDI (Serial Data Interface) conversion at either end. This ensures that the quality of the image does not suffer and provides stable communication over longer distances.
