Outdoor projector for Blimp?

Nice idea. Are you wanting to project while flying? If so then securing the unit would be the hard part. I think most Barcos that would do what you want are more then 30K though.

In that price range, I think you are better off using golbals from inside the blip and use the skin as the screen.

That seems like way, way, way, way too much screen area for any of the projectors we discuss here, even the professional ones.

Oh, and I hate to sound like a dick but if this thread veers off into politics I'm pulling Mark Rubin into this. Let's keep it technical!

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That muonics link looks cool. Laser light show technology might very well be the kind of thing you need for that screen size.

Are you trying to project onto the side of one of my ex g/fs? Far too large a screen area....

What is the area size exactly? We project on some pretty large surface area in our show. I would venture to say blimp size even.

If you have to ask...

If you multiply that budget by ten, you might be able to do it. but it will likely be disappointing.

LED screens are used in most cases. At the height that the blimp will be at, viewing distance will be quite a bit, so low res LED is more than sufficient. Power reqs, FAA legality, etc. you just cannot hang a 200 pound projector off the side of an aircraft and float it over people.

You may be able to find somebody to rent you a bunch of these and be able to construct a sign that gets the message across.
http://www.barco.com/corporate/en/pr...asp?gennr=1702
http://www.barco.com/corporate/en/pr...asp?gennr=1288

Hmm, list of hardware adds up to about 10K USD. So, should be doable within your budget. If you fly at low speeds instead of hovering during projection, you might need to add a swiveling platform for the projector, but that could be done on the cheap (manual operation) as well. My first thought reading the initial message last night was indeed to suggest looking into lighting equipment, instead of full video projectors, but thought better wait and see what others have to say;-).

1 PC Laptop - ASUS A8JS - Core 2 Duo 1.83 Ghz 1GB Ram Nvideo Geforce Go 7300 256MB - VGA and DVI out.
1 Pansonic PTD5600U 5000 ANSI Lumens 1024x768 DLP Projector.
1 Watec 221S Security/Astrononmy Camera with manual iris zoom lens.
1 Bogen magic arm and super clamp.
1 Pinnacle PCTV USB capture card.
1 60mW Green Laser (super illegal in a lot of places and very dangerous)
and loads and loads of AAA batteries.

if we assume a 90' wide image and a 4 x 3 ar, then you have an image of 6075 square feet. and a piddly 5K lumen proj on that (going out on a limb and assuming a screen with a gain of 1) would give us a whopping .82 ft lamberts. (assuming the proj ACTUALLY does 5K lumens)

And please think about this... the FAA would have lots to say about you hanging a big old lump of metal to the outside of this thing. (not to mention the balance of the flying machine)

doing something like the Barco mPix is about the only option. find a rental company, find one that likes Ron Paul and offer some advertising.

Even a 40K lumen proj would give us only 6.6 ft lamberts.

So for the record, that is half the brightness of a movie projector which is in a black cave of a room. So in any situation with ANY light, you will have nothing.

If you want to do something like this and do it right... then look into the LED stuff. try even contacting barco directly, then see if they want some free advertising.

Honestly though, the rigging of this stuff and the various permissions to get it to fly (pun not intended) will run out your 40K far before you buy/rent any gear.

Not trying to be a pessimist, just hoping to give you a realistic picture.

Dizzman this assumes full video is the goal, this was indeed judged unattainable at the given budget, so one needs to move from raster to calligraphic projection. A 7" CRT projector from E&S lights(ed) up a projection dome. So scanning (calligraphic) laser projectors mixed with slide and colour projections is the way to go. Definitely not home, but definitly theater stuff;-).

Sat at an 500+ seat dinner earlier this year and mixed with plenty of audio the lasers scanning the theme and logo and some other stuff I can't picture right now made quite an impression, they lead to a female acrobat twirling high up in a rope, so quite entertaining.

This blimp project sounds like quite a fea(s)t, so please keep us posted with plenty of pics?

i was not talking about full video. i was talking readable. And a planetarium dome differs in MANY ways from a blimp outdoors.

Having the lasers ground mounted projected on the sides could work great. a little tricky to follow, but it will do the job.

My favourite outdoor laser show was the one on the pyramids... that was friggin cool!

It sure does, differ, but the concept remains the same, legibility on a large surface from a relatively small projection device, by using calligraphic scanning instead of raster scanning. Even with big lasers, it will need to be dark out, to make it legible.

In the old days they used to have an array of bulbs, or neon signs on the side of advertising blimps.

Rent those barco things from somebody or get Barco to agree to a deal for their name being up there.

Or try one of the other vendors if Barco isn't forthcoming. Mitsubishi for instance would benefit more from the wide exposure, as it is also a consumer brand. Those 4mm high contrast LED panels provide very nice video.

i suggest barco as they have a product line that is made for exaclty this kind of thing. non video (so way less panels and weight) messaging.

Damn, I was going to make a comment about hot air........

What about three JVCs? That would get you about a 45' wide screens at only 21' away and you could use the lens shift to keep them close together, but spread the images out - picture maybe a 20' long outrigger placed about 20' out that had three PJs aimed at the side. About 10' x 45'. Only good for night time use though, as would any of these solutions. A couple of Mac Minis to output 1080x1920 images that you could cycle or integrate. Or even two JVCs using lens shift.

The JVC has by far the smallest throw of any high def PJ I've seen lately which would be pretty important for a sizable image.

Well, this is cool, now that you have some bucks I think you need to look into real blimp signage solutions.

Three projectors... stuck 20 feet in the air OUT FROM THE SIDE of a cylindrical airship...

Am i the only one who sees how dumb an idea that is? once you have the counter balance on the other side you have the worlds ugliest trimaran.

REALITY CHECK http://www.techweb.com/wire/ebiz/189500869

the ground mounted lasers are the only solution that you will have any luck with. anything you do needs FAA approval. And that takes a long time.

I heard a story about the blimp on NPR today... the govt will be more than happy to shut it down since they have no idea where it fits into campaign finance laws.