Sanity Check - Projector for a small auditorium

Did you give AVS here a call to see if they had a recommendation?

2000 lumens is too low i think. 30' throw will reduce lumens even more, bulb wear etc .

but it is at the upper end of "home theater" projectors that have the lens shift you want. Your needs are more in line with the bottom of the venue projectors. But your budget doesn;t fit that as you found. still there are some very bright 1080p if you can work around their limitations. i think a dim image would be disappointing. brightness is probably your #1 priority. so its a good time to tell you, the brightness listed on the box is almost always overstated (double sometimes)

this is a good way to search

you defininitely want more lumens for a big screen

viewsonic pro8400 180" at 28 ft

benq sh910 184" at 28 ft

no lens shift the projector wil lbe about 30" above top of screen - about 16' off floor. more expensive models have lan control etc

anyway, there are very few 4000 lumen projectors under 2k.. and that eliminates all the 10k theater ones with changeable lenses and lens shift.

180" screens
200" screens are about 1000 will solve the 30' throw problem (barely) but you have to decide if thats too big/bright enough

i have no idea the quality of these projectors, just did a quick search on something that might fit your criteria. contact visual apex , avs etc and see if they have a solution and can work with you on prce. Do model specific research, ask the sponsors here, then ask more specific questions in the forum when you narrow down your choices. don't rush. good luck.

edit: whoa hang on.. i think this might be the one for you.. lens shift etc

BENQ SP890 $2400 BUT 164" at 29ft Maybe a 180" screen would even work better for you?

heres tons of reading on it

so how bare/flat/what color is the wall you would project? Reason i ask is once went to the trouble of setting up a large screen at a winery with a very difficult floorplan...and after it was over, realized the beige wall allowed for a much larger, higher image that still looked fine after a few adjustments. So for convenience and budget.. it is possible to not use a screen at all? otherwise, i'd see if you can stretch your budget. also, be aware that cables, mounts/shelves, installation could easily add a few 100 more to the cost. A spare bulb at 350 might be a good idea also with 50 people depending on it. Sometimes you can get deals/rebates for free bulbs.

anyway, hope this helps.

another update:
In cinema mode, seems the sp890 is closer to 2700 lumens.. but this light drop is typical of al lprojectors for accurate movie color.
Also, and this might be important.. The sp890 has a 2x color wheel. DLP projectors have a few advantages" purer whites, less "screen door" effect and perfect convergence but they have one major flaw: Rainbow effect. It's caused by colors being created in layers of red/green/blue many time per second. The problem is if you move your eyes rapidly, these layers of color separate. White stars on a black sky then look like a series of r/b/g dots. maybe only 10% of people are affected but it isn't just a visual distraction. For me personally, I get nauseous easily, and have headaches due to eyestrain that last a day or more. But that only happens to very few people.. still it might be something to consider since you intend a wide audience, and the benq is especially bright/slow color wheel.


here's an LCd projector that will work. it's much brighter than the ae7000

panasonic pt-ar100U is a very bright, LCD (no rainbows) super long throw (this kills the brightness) that will actually do 150" at 29ft. And it's cheap.. was 1000 last year, about 1300 now

here's a thread from someone in a smilar situation as you, with good info on the panasonic and some mentiontion of the sp890 also
Edited by DragonSixGolf - 3/20/13 at 3:42am