Guys,

Im about to order my projector and I am wondering what options there are for having the projector hidden from plain site, but when turned on comes out of the ceiling along with the motorized screen? This way everything is hidden away.

I have seen various projector lifts in the $1,700+ range. Are they all that expensive just for the hardware?

And what might I expect to have somebody install such a thing if I ordered one? What about installing a motorized screen in the ceiling (concealed) ?

What kind of projector are you talking? Lifts for something like a CRT or a big heavy d-cinema type unit are going to be a bit different than other options.

As for expense of install, depends on a million things, such as what all kind of enclosure it's going into and who's going to make that and how pretty you want it to be, etc etc.

Its a Panasonic AE2000U
Ceiling is 10 foot high.

As for how pretty, dont the enclosures already come pre-made? I dont really care too much what it looks like since I wont be looking at it when I am watching a movie, and when Im not watching something, it will be hidden in the ceiling.

They're all surprisingly expensive and you do have the bottom exposed, so there's some variation in size and attractiveness there. most are also surprisingly big and heavy and hard to install with just stupid hardware that seemed like it was invented decades ago.

On the other hand, if you happen to find one that is cheaper and installs as easily as an inwall speaker, *please* let us know!

there are ones that are silent, ones that are noisy, ones that you can put the chunk of your roof you cut out onto to keep things looking neat. ones that a box drops out, ones that doors drop out and the projector only drops down.

There are ones that go in the ceiling and only a mirror drops down (with the other mirror in the ceiling so that the proj never shows)

There are lots of options, none of them are as inexpensive as you might think. companies like Chief and Display devices are some of the leaders and for the life of me i cannot think of any others right now.

If you have a contractors bent, you can install them pretty easily, but liability is always an issue.

Motorized screen, you need to be able to cut a hole that is about a foot longer than the screen, and about 6-8 inches wider. more if you want masks. Then you need power, relay, controller (wall switch or a wireless setup) in many cases if you are going this route, it is silly not to add some sort of automation so that you only hit one button and the proj turns on, drops down, then in a minute the screen drops down, then a source is selected.

All of this can be, but is not usually a DIY. it is usally a setup by an integrator so that it all works together.

Guys,

Im about to order my projector and I am wondering what options there are for having the projector hidden from plain site, but when turned on comes out of the ceiling along with the motorized screen? This way everything is hidden away.

I have seen various projector lifts in the $1,700+ range. Are they all that expensive just for the hardware?

And what might I expect to have somebody install such a thing if I ordered one? What about installing a motorized screen in the ceiling (concealed) ?

I am using Auton for this. See http://www.auton.com/

Your price is in the right neighborhood. You have to make sure your roof joists are properly located. A general contractor can help. Depending on what you do, you may have to involve the building department.

I did not install a motorized screen. But my understanding is that this requires the joists to be parallel with the screen, unless you plan to have the screen below the ceiling.

I have this unit, although never installed. Bought it at a good price for a project that I decided not to do.

http://www.draperinc.com/Lifts_Mounts_Brackets/Scissor_Lift.htm

We just installed the Chief SL-150 lift for my projector in the ceiling. Retails for about $1400. Installs flush, needs 11" of clearance in the ceiling. I also built a nifty delay circuit to delay the lift 4 minutes after the PJ goes off to account for the fact that the Infocus 7210 turns off its 12V trigger when the bulb goes off, not 3 minutes later when the fan finishes. You do not want your PJ baking on shutdown in the lift box. I can email the details or photos of the install to anyone interested...

sarkarr

Draper Orbiter. Coolest freakin lift available. I just installed one for a client and tied to the automation system to work in tandem with the motorized screen. When the designer saw it in operation the first time, she said it was nearly enough to get her naked!

pics of designer or post doesnt deliver.

(do you have pics of the install?)
Draper Orbiter. Coolest freakin lift available. I just installed one for a client and tied to the automation system to work in tandem with the motorized screen. When the designer saw it in operation the first time, she said it was nearly enough to get her naked!

I should probably not question any equipment that tempts a woman to undress. However...

It looks like the Orbiter *rotates* the projector into position. That is, it is stored upside down from its final orientation. Is that going to be a problem for some of these projectors? I mean, I know that for some reason some projectors need to be recalibrated if they are ceiling mounted, but I don't know the mechanism involved so I don't know if the *movement* of the projector has something to do with it.

http://gallery.avsforum.com/data/509/mount_OrbiterAnimated.gif

IThat is, it is stored upside down from its final orientation. Is that going to be a problem for some of these projectors? I mean, I know that for some reason some projectors need to be recalibrated if they are ceiling mounted, but I don't know the mechanism involved so I don't know if the *movement* of the projector has something to do with it.
Michael,

I remember when I got my JVC G15 calibrated by William Phelps; he asked me whether
it would be used right-side up or upside down. [ The G15 fans its beam "upwards" so that
the bottom of the image is at the same height as the center of the lens if the projector
is level. If you want to have the G15 mounted up high so that the beam fans downward;
you have to have the projector inverted.]

I told Mr Phelps that I was going to use the projector inverted. He said he needed to
know because the inverted position required an extra step. I inquired as to why the
orientation of the projector mattered in the calibration. Mr. Phelps explained that there
are two memory "slots" for holding the calibration information; one is used when the
projector is in normal orientation, and the other when the inverted image option is
selected. He had already calibrated the projector in normal orientation; and now he
had to copy those settings over to the other memory.

The fact that the projector will be stored in right side up orientation when it is not in
use, won't be a factor. It's the orientation of the projector while in use that determines
which of the two sets of calibration data is used.