Distribute Expertise: Projection Roundtable

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More on compact business and conference-room projectors

Christie Digital Systems Roadster S+20K and CP2000-ZX projectors were used during the closing ceremonies of the 2008 Summer Olympics in Beijing.

For this year's survey of the projection industry, I turned to experts from 12 companies that routinely communicate important announcements to the industry through Digital Content Producer's Briefing Room as a knowledge pool.

I also consulted with several industry experts and devised a series of questions intended to present a reflection of the current state of the large-venue projection industry that would be of relevance to as wide a community as possible. Large venue was defined, for the purpose of this article, as projectors producing 5000 lumens and up. Naturally, many people could come up with variances on this definition, but it was developed to form the basis of a working consensus.

Survey participants included 3M Projection Systems, represented by division scientist Ernie Rodriguez; Barco, represented by Peter Taylor, director of sales and national sales manager for houses of worship; Canon, represented by Ricardo Chen, senior manager of technical marketing and planning; Christie Digital Systems, represented by George Tsintzouras, director of product management, business products; Hitachi, represented by product manager John Glad; InFocus, represented by David Woolf, VP of corporate marketing, and Dave Duncan, product manager for home and installation; Mitsubishi Digital Electronics America, represented by James Chan, senior director of product marketing, and Wayne Kozuki, product manager; NEC, represented by Keith Yanke, director of product marketing for projectors and large-format displays, and Rich McPherson, product manager for projectors; Panasonic, represented by Dan Meehan, national systems integrator sales manager, Projector Systems Company; projectiondesign, represented by Gary Plavin, president of projectiondesign Americas; SIM2 Multimedia, represented by Massimo Valcher, business manager for cinema applications; and Sony, represented by Sander Phipps, senior product manager, and Andre Floyd, marketing manager.

Hitachi CP-X809

To put the industry's condition in context, Sanju Khatri, principal analyst of projection and large-screen displays at the electronics industry market research firm iSuppli, provided some statistics from the company's worldwide Projection Market Tracker for Q3 2008. That report indicates that, in 2008, the overall projection market represented $2,566,200,000 in sales, which is predicted to decline to $2,377,239,000 by 2012, probably due to the increased popularity of other large-format display technologies.

Mitsubishi XD211U

Please keep in mind that the iSuppli report includes several categories — such as digital cinema, compact business, and conference rooms — that are not covered in this article. ISuppli predicts sales for large-venue projectors will rise from $9,619,000 in 2007 to $34,265,000 by 2012.

Although participants were chosen by our editors, the selection of the responses is the responsibility of this author. Not everyone answered all questions, and not all of the responses could fit in the allotted space. A few typos were cleaned up, grammatical quirks reconciled, and in cases of repetition, the most lucid answers were chosen. Responses that were composed by several authors within a single company were, of necessity, combined, and all answers have been listed in alphabetical order of the company name.

InFocus 1100

DCP: What considerations should be paramount when choosing a large-venue projector?

Barco: There are many choices in the marketplace, and some lend themselves more toward video and some lend themselves more to data applications. Major factors to consider include screen size and ambient light. Brightness expectations have increased dramatically over the past two to three years as technologies like plasma, LCD, and LED have become mainstream. Brightness is increasing by about 5ft.-6ft. lamberts per year, and if these brightness expectations are not achieved, then the image is perceived as poor quality.

Another major challenge to consider is the projector's feature set. For example, are you going to blend projectors? If so, can you adjust primary and secondary colors to color-match the projectors? Are the projectors going to be controlled from a control system or over IP if a control system is not planned for? Can the projectors be serviced/repaired in critical applications, or do they have to be taken down to be serviced? In a large church/auditorium with fixed seats, for example, this may be an issue especially if the projector weighs more than 120lbs., not uncommon in the very-high-brightness projectors.

Canon: When it comes to large-venue projectors, a prime consideration is installation convenience. Large venues can sometimes present difficulties for placing such a projector. For this reason, lens options are important, as they will allow flexibility in placement for projector installation. Other features, such as an auto-winding air-filter system and easy access to the projection lamp, can make maintenance of a large-venue projector easier and more convenient.

Hitachi: The adaptability of the lenses should be considered for large-venue projectors so you can adjust the image size depending on the size of your audience. You also want a projector that has a lot of connectivity options because you're likely to have a lot of sources feeding into the projector. Another important consideration for large venues is ease of installation. Can the projector be mounted easily? Does it offer features such as lens shift, etc.

Barco SLM R12+

Mitsubishi: What really is most important is the post-sale support and service that the systems integrator can provide with the projector. This is paramount because it's not every day that you need to replace a large-venue projector, so you should partner up with the best systems integrator who can recommend the best projector that protects your investment for a long period of time until you're ready for the next upgrade.

Panasonic: The top consideration for an end-user is total cost of ownership. End users should be taking into account what the cost of lamps and maintenance will require. They should also be concerned about the overall performance of the image quality and flexibility of control on the features of the projector solution.

projectiondesign F30

Where would you recommend your top models should be mounted — directly in a meeting room or auditorium, or in a projection booth?

Barco: Rear screen is always an advantage due to noise and heat being outside the room, and rear screen also improves the aesthetics because a projector is not hanging in the room. A projection booth can also assist with these advantages. Noise can be a big distraction, especially with high-brightness units that generate a lot of heat and need a lot of cooling. Projectors with liquid-cooled engines can be quieter than those without.

Canon: It really depends on the size of the screen and space needed. In some venues, such as auditoriums, a projector may be mounted all the way in the back of the room. In smaller classrooms, however, a projector may be mounted hanging down from the ceiling. An auditorium-type setting may necessitate installation of a projection booth in the rear of the room.

Christie: As technology improves, projectors are becoming quieter. Manufacturers like Christie are producing projectors with filter-free designs and auto-sensing fan and temperature sensors that automatically adjust for the quietest operation possible. The projector can then be mounted closer to the audience without distracting them from the performance/presentation. That said, units are typically ceiling mounted with a zoom lens. Christie offers a wide selection of lenses (ultra-short lenses to ultra-long lenses) that offer flexibility to meet the requirements of the venue and desired location by the user. Christie solutions meet design needs, rather than needing to design the installation around the projector.

InFocus: The versatility of InFocus' install lineup has allowed them to be very flexible. They are run in low-power mode and can be hung above many conference tables for a large, bright image. Others find their way into rear-projection applications, filling in a virtual background for a play, or a large display for a corporate event. InFocus uses them to provide wall-size screens for use in videoconferencing as we connect meeting rooms around the world.

Sony SRX-T110

Mitsubishi: Most people put a projector in a booth because it's too noisy to be installed within the audience's space. But with Mitsubishi projectors, we are very cognizant of the need to have a low level of operating noise, and our projectors have consistently low noise levels. So, installing our projectors from the ceiling directly above the audience is not an issue. In addition, this offers our customers the flexibility of making the standard lens work, thus eliminating the need to purchase optional lenses. However, if the customer already has a projection booth or a place where an existing projector is to be mounted, we do offer optional lenses to fit their particular installation.

Sony: Our largest projectors, which include the SXRD series (SRX-T110, 10K lumen), should be mounted in a projection booth.

How do you determine which output resolution to look for?

Barco: That's dependent on sources available now and into the future. How many picture-in-picture windows are to be displayed concurrently, and what resolution is required to do this while not degrading quality of the image? With the advent of HD in the home, this quality is expected in the meeting room or church auditorium. Barco is shipping the 10-megapixel LX-5 projector, whose native resolution is 4096×2400. This allows for four WUXGA sources to be simultaneously shown, unscaled in native resolution.

Canon: If you're showing PowerPoints or graphics, then something like an XGA resolution is fine. If you're looking to display content that has more detail, then SXGA+ would be a good way to go. Today, a lot of new installations tend to be widescreen, so to accommodate a full 16:10-aspect-ratio picture, you would want to use a WUXGA-resolution (1620×1200) projector.

Christie: If video is shown, then standard-definition vs. high-definition signal sources will require different minimum projector resolutions — for example, XGA (1024×768) vs. 1080p (1920×1080). If data is being displayed, then the data source needs to be considered and matched for best image performance. Lastly, the distance that the audience is situated from the screen needs to be considered, because too low of a pixel count will mean the viewer will see a highly pixelated image. For example, an HD (1920×1080) display has over 2.6 times the pixel density as compared to an XGA (1024×768).

InFocus: When choosing the output resolution, we have to take a look at our source content that will be used today and over the months to come. If the projector's primary mission is to display video, then you must take a look at what types, HD or SDTV? If it is going to be a multipurpose application where video and computer data will be shown, a high resolution such a SXGA+ or higher can be used to display all the sources natively without any scaling.

Panasonic: We would advise an end user to consider the need of their projection requirements to determine the output resolution. For example, edge-blending capabilities, which are found in Panasonic's PT-DZ12000U, can help churches or other large venues with their output resolution by blending images on multiple screens without any additional equipment.

What kind of connection is required to accommodate different source inputs, and which do you find most useful?

Barco: A huge recommendation would be to always put a scaler/switcher on the front of the projector or display, especially if there are any unknown sources that may be connected — such as a guest's laptop, for example. Brighter projectors often mean larger screens, and if the scaling of the source to the native resolution of the projector is not good, then the image-quality issues become very apparent. Good scalers/seamless switchers can be purchased for under $5,000, and they can very well handle most resolutions and aspect ratios to the native resolution of the display device.

Canon: Today, projectors tend to have a control system and really only one cable running into the projector in order to minimize cost. Usually, you run one cable to the projector, and then in the back, you have a controller box made by a manufacturer of AV equipment; every device will connect directly to this controller. This controller will actually scale or select the input, so you really don't have to worry about the projector when it comes to cabling.

Christie: Although analog RGBHV and 15-pin VGA connectors are still very commonly used, many are starting to favor the image quality from digital connections like DVI.

InFocus: The most versatile connection is the 5-BNC input. When implemented correctly, it can display almost any analog source. Since it is used on all major signal switching and routing hardware, it allows direct connections between the products — no adapters or breakout cables needed. There is also the security of it being a locking connector.

Projectiondesign: This is dependent on how you interconnect your source material to the display. Our preference would be DVI or high-resolution BNC for ease of connectivity and maximum bandwidth.

SIM2: Most new sources can be easily managed with HDMI due to the fact that we have a proprietary fiber-optic-based remote-input box. In some cases, HD-SDI sources are to be preferred due to the inherent nature of the source or the existing cabling network of the installation.

Sony: For computer signals, analog RGB is the most economical to use, but DVI/HDMI inputs provide a simple digital interface for systems that come equipped with those connections. For HD, HD-SDI is the easiest to use, but DVI/HDMI connections are becoming prevalent on certain playback devices as well.

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