Projector For Demos

[Duncan A]

In jan 2020, just before the Covid lockdowns, our club, West Northants Woodturners, bought a short-throw Optoma Gt1080e projector to show demos on a screen. As we didn't meet for the best of two years, the projector hasn't had much use but has now died; probably a faulty board, not the lamp.
It seems that problems of this nature are fairly common, but it's unlikely we can get a guarantee repair given the time that has elapsed.
We are now trying to decide whether to spend £150+ on repairing the projector or get a more reliable one.

So, any recommendations from happy users out there?
Any advice, recommendations, suggestions will be very welcome.

Duncan

[Bill21]

Did your club register the projector? I ask as it says here Optoma offer a 5 year warranty.

https://www.optoma.co.uk/product-details/5-year-limited-projector-warranty

[Duncan A]

Thanks Bill,
I wasn't involved in the sourcing of the equipment but the website does not include this model in the list of those for which 3 or 5 year extended warranties are available.

We will probably end up biting the bullet and sending it for repair, but it would still be useful to know what projectors other people are using.

Duncan

[Bill21]

My club has an Optoma but it’s a fairly old unit I believe. We also have an even older one but I’m not sure what make it is. As far as I’m aware they have both been reasonably reliable. Neither of them are short throw projectors.

[julcle]

We meet in a Community Education Centre and they have replaced all of their projectors with Large Screen Monitors which are without doubt many times better that Projectors. The only down side from our point of view is that they don't have video input (only HDMI)  so we have had to buy Composite Video to HDMI converters to use the monitors. Our (club) equipment is getting quite old now and doesn't support HDMI but the picture quality on the monitors is much better than the not too old projectors.  --  Julian

[Duncan A]

We looked into using monitors or TV's but we have nowhere to store such large and easily damaged items. Also, modern projectors are far better than the older, traditional, models and the setup works well for us.
The short throw projectors make it far easier to get a picture of the size and height needed.
At least, that would be the case if it worked!
Duncan

[Bill21]

What sort of setup do you have? My club has changed from a single camera to a two camera setup but the delay switching between the two - over 10 seconds, has made it impractical. I’m not sure if it’s the projector or the switching gizmo at fault?

[julcle]

It depends on your switch Bill, if you are using HDMI cameras which most are these days you could invest in a ATEM Mini Pro which will do all the switching together with picture in picture and fades that you would need. We have an older analogue video mixer with 4 inputs into one output with a monitor output for the operator. This does the same as the ATEM but with a very much older technology and no HDMI.  Julian

[Paul Hannaby]

Projectors are smaller and easier to transport & store than a big screen TV but the projector image is subject to light interference, distortion etc. and they can look pretty flat in a brightly lit room. If you have storage space, I would go for a big TV.

[Bill21]

It depends on your switch Bill, if you are using HDMI cameras which most are these days you could invest in a which will do all the switching together with picture in picture and fades that you would need. We have an older analogue video mixer with 4 inputs into one output with a monitor output for the operator. This does the same as the ATEM but with a very much older technology and no HDMI.  Julian

Thanks for that. I think my club just has a simple switch. It’s mounted on a gantry next to the camera.

Edit: I did recommend the ATEM after reading a review but I suspect it was deemed too expensive. 

[The Bowler Hatted Turner]

Duncan I have sent you a pm.

[Duncan A]

Thanks John, I've now replied
Duncan