Off subject but need advice.

Cincyfilmgeek wrote on 9/26/2007, 5:55 AM
Could someone suggest a projector that can show my SD film to 1,100 people? I really have been looking but am just out of my league when it comes to lumens and size, etc.. The screen is going to be around 18 feet and the projector will roughly be 30-50 feet back. Any suggestions? I am in Ohio, any good places to rent one?

Comments

baysidebas wrote on 9/26/2007, 6:00 AM
Some years ago, the GE Telaria was the only game in town for such an application. Don't know whether that's still the case, but I would strongly suspect that it isn't. Remember, Google is your friend.
farss wrote on 9/26/2007, 8:00 AM
For that sized screen I think you're going to need a LOT of lumens and they sure don't come cheap. Barco, Christie, there's a few others whose names don't spring to mind immediately.
For a comparison I think a 400 seat cinema needs 6K lumen, for 1,100 you'd probably be getting up around the 10K lumen level. Those sized projectors are very heavy and damn expensive to rent, last quote I got for a 400 seat cinema was AUD 4K per day.
If you can find a venue with a projector already in it you'd save a lot of money. Much of the cost of renting is the cost of getting it delivered and taken back and the technicians time setting it up and being there.
Also make certain the cinema has a suitable porthole with enough clearance and a suitable platform and power supply.
I've gotten away with a 2,000 lumen projector in the smaller cinemas (400 seat) however thanks to not having the right lens we were not filling the screen but even so the image was pretty damn dim and irky. It's not so bad if the footage is typically bright video but anything that's 'filmic' really needs a lot more light.

Bob.
Laurence wrote on 9/26/2007, 8:44 AM
Have you checked your local rental houses. It makes sense to rent that sort of thing.
Cincyfilmgeek wrote on 9/26/2007, 9:31 AM
Thanks guys for the advice. This film is a Civil War Biography and it was filmed in the "filmic" style so yeah it is going to need light. The Historical Society is hosting this and they were wanting to play this in their local school's auditiorum and it has no projector. Now, talking to you guys it seems that they are going to have to seek other options as there is no way I am renting that expensive of a projector. Again, thanks for all the advice.

David
Catwell wrote on 9/26/2007, 10:13 AM
I work in a facility with a 300 seat auditorium and a 15' x 30' screen. We usually show 4 x 3 SD so the screen is masked in to 20 feet wide. The number of seats is not as important as the screen area. What square footage are you trying to fill? We use a 10,000 lumen projector and operate on only two of the four lamps giving us 5000 lumens. When we have the lights on for presentations or when we use a wide screen mode we run with all four lamps. The wide screen increases the area to be filled. The presentation adds ambient light on the screen.

With an 18 foot diagonal you will fill about 155 square feet as compared to 300 square feet with my 25 foot diagonal. If you can keep the auditorium dark you should get by with a 2500 to 3000 lumen projector although more would be better. Check your rental places in Cleveland. I can rent a 5K LCD projector for about $1000.00. We rent 2K projectors for $180.00.

Charlie

By the way, I think the screen size is very small for that size theatre.