Keynesian Approach To Church Media.

[Jim Chabot]

Actually this is a question about projectors, but I figured that a catchy title might attract some attention down here in the catacombs of naznet.

Our church is a small one and cannot financially support media upgrades, while at the same time, these upgrades should help us in our efforts to attract new people.

In my contemplation that led me to come to this church, I realized that I would need to adopt a keynesian approach to my efforts at worship. In short, I would need to buy a bunch of stuff to help bring things up to snuff and hopefully prime the pump towards greater enthusiasm for our work and outreach to the community.

Our current projector was gifted to us by the Selinsgrove Church. And we are appreciative for otherwise we would have nothing. However it does have some issues with brightness as it is an older projector and we are unable to ceiling mount it due to lack of a remote control. So it's time to buy and install a projector and an electric drop down screen.

Here is my question. Which is best LED, LCD, or DLP or possibly another combination of letters? Advantages? Drawbacks? I'm a little bewildered with the choices.

Lumens? Our sanctuary is small with seating for roughly 100 although we do have about 24' in ceiling height at the peak.

I've been playing around with font styles, different shadows and outlines. Still having difficulty with readability unless I use blank colored backgrounds, yuck! I had to write a couple of scripts at camp and they displayed beautifully there even in bright daylight. Afterwards at church, they didn't display nearly as well. Thus the thought that it is a projector that we need to solve this.

Any help would be appreciated.

[Billy Cox]

Our church is a small one and cannot financially support media upgrades, while at the same time, these upgrades should help us in our efforts to attract new people.

Have you priced projectors recently? There are some reasonably good ones in the $500 price range.

Here is my question. Which is best LED, LCD, or DLP or possibly another combination of letters? Advantages? Drawbacks? I'm a little bewildered with the choices.

Both LCD and DLP are fine, although I recently had a DLP projector go bad - lots of 'dead pixels' on the display. I haven't seen an LED projector, but I'm guessing that they are brighter and probably more expensive since it is a newer projector technology.

Lumens? Our sanctuary is small with seating for roughly 100 although we do have about 24' in ceiling height at the peak.

With lumens, usually more is better. The enemy of your projected images is ambient light from other sources like light fixtures and windows. More lumens typically means a brighter image, but it's not the only variable. You could have a 2500 lumen projector, but if your 'screen' is a white wall or bedsheet, it won't be as bright as what you would get from a projection screen. Also front projection will deliver a brighter image than rear projection

I've been playing around with font styles, different shadows and outlines. Still having difficulty with readability unless I use blank colored backgrounds, yuck! I had to write a couple of scripts at camp and they displayed beautifully there even in bright daylight. Afterwards at church, they didn't display nearly as well. Thus the thought that it is a projector that we need to solve this.

One of the more common mistakes in terms of readability is using a font that is too small. Generally speaking, you should size your font so that 4-6 lines of text will fit on the screen. Avoid italics and stick to the basic fonts like Arial (Helvetica) or Times. Applying a drop shadow on the font will help it stand out on backgrounds that include lighter colors.

Ultimately whoever prepares slides should test them on the projector prior to a service. It can look great on a computer screen but be washed out and difficult to read on the big screen.

Another thought to consider... Some churches use flat screen TVs on each side of the platform instead of a projector. I don't think it's cheaper, but the brightness doesn't degrade over time as much as a projector, and you don't have to worry about replacing an expensive bulb.

I hope that helps.

[Jim Chabot]

Have you priced projectors recently? There are some reasonably good ones in the $500 price range.

Yes, that's what prompted my confusion. The prices seemed to be way cheaper that I was thinking. I had bought a sharp projector for my house about 12 years ago and it was $5500, I replaced it about 7 years ago with a better one for $1500, so I knew that prices had come down but I didn't expect to see them below $500. It got me to wondering if there was some sort of a sub class of projectors that were only good enough for a small conference room with the lights out or something like that.

This is the one that I'm thinking will work.

http://www.staples.com/Viewsonic-PJD...product_343503

Both LCD and DLP are fine, although I recently had a DLP projector go bad - lots of 'dead pixels' on the display. I haven't seen an LED projector, but I'm guessing that they are brighter and probably more expensive since it is a newer projector technology.

Yeah, I was wondering about DLP, as they seem to be disappearing from the flat screen market. The LED ones are more money.

With lumens, usually more is better. The enemy of your projected images is ambient light from other sources like light fixtures and windows. More lumens typically means a brighter image, but it's not the only variable. You could have a 2500 lumen projector, but if your 'screen' is a white wall or bedsheet, it won't be as bright as what you would get from a projection screen. Also front projection will deliver a brighter image than rear projection

This one says it is 2700 ANSI lumens. Some of the cheap ones advertise better lumens but they don't specify (ANSI). So I'm a little leery of their claims and wondering if the difference is something like the comparison between peak and rms.

We have a small portable screen (80") and the projector is on a table which effectively makes the platform unusable.

Here is a pic of the platform area, as you can see it isn't brightly lit. Although even with all the lights off the screen image is washed out, I have tried the projector settings but this is as good as it gets. Which is why I'm thinking that it's time for s chanege. I measured between the lights and a 100" screen will fit between them. This is what I'm thinking for a screen. It lists a gain of 1.0 which seems comparable to most of what I've looked at.

http://www.monoprice.com/products/pr...seq=1&format=2

One of the more common mistakes in terms of readability is using a font that is too small. Generally speaking, you should size your font so that 4-6 lines of text will fit on the screen. Avoid italics and stick to the basic fonts like Arial (Helvetica) or Times. Applying a drop shadow on the font will help it stand out on backgrounds that include lighter colors.

I've been using 48 point Georgia Bold with a 4 point outline and a shadow. At my previous church I used to actually get compliments on how "readable" and enjoyable the presentations had become.

I've switched over to Arial Black with the same outline and shadow. It is a little easier to read, but still washed out. I'm hoping that the projector and screen upgrade will fix things.

Ultimately whoever prepares slides should test them on the projector prior to a service. It can look great on a computer screen but be washed out and difficult to read on the big screen.

Yep, and that would be me! I've tried everything. I can get it real readable if I use white letters on a plain black background, and I can't settle for that.

Well I guess I could settle if there was no other option.

Another thought to consider... Some churches use flat screen TVs on each side of the platform instead of a projector. I don't think it's cheaper, but the brightness doesn't degrade over time as much as a projector, and you don't have to worry about replacing an expensive bulb.

I've thought of that. There is room for a pair of 48" to 60" screens on the walls flanking the platform. It would be a nice solution because the view of the cross would be unimpeded, but it does double the cost, and the screens are always there taking up space.

I am thinking of mounting a 36" panel on the back wall below the balcony rail as a stage display later on. I am trying to move slowly and make gradual changes.

I hope that helps.

Big help and thanks!

[Gary Creely]

Actually this is a question about projectors, but I figured that a catchy title might attract some attention down here in the catacombs of naznet.

Our church is a small one and cannot financially support media upgrades, while at the same time, these upgrades should help us in our efforts to attract new people.

In my contemplation that led me to come to this church, I realized that I would need to adopt a keynesian approach to my efforts at worship. In short, I would need to buy a bunch of stuff to help bring things up to snuff and hopefully prime the pump towards greater enthusiasm for our work and outreach to the community.

Our current projector was gifted to us by the Selinsgrove Church. And we are appreciative for otherwise we would have nothing. However it does have some issues with brightness as it is an older projector and we are unable to ceiling mount it due to lack of a remote control. So it's time to buy and install a projector and an electric drop down screen.

Here is my question. Which is best LED, LCD, or DLP or possibly another combination of letters? Advantages? Drawbacks? I'm a little bewildered with the choices.

Lumens? Our sanctuary is small with seating for roughly 100 although we do have about 24' in ceiling height at the peak.

I've been playing around with font styles, different shadows and outlines. Still having difficulty with readability unless I use blank colored backgrounds, yuck! I had to write a couple of scripts at camp and they displayed beautifully there even in bright daylight. Afterwards at church, they didn't display nearly as well. Thus the thought that it is a projector that we need to solve this.

Any help would be appreciated.

sorry I did not reply to this sooner. Firstly it was my church who gave your church that projector, and secondly I sell dozens of these things a year- I should have been on this like a hobo on a ham sandwich.

That was indeed not a very bright projector even in its day. There are a couple things you can do to try to get a little more juice out of that projector. You could go into the menus and start cranking up the brightness, maybe a little contrast, and so on and so forth. You should be able to weasel little more brightness out of it. We gave that projector to you guys quite a while back, and if that is still the same bulb from that time it is probably nearing the end of its useful life.

I will depart from Billy's suggestion of getting a $500 projector, I think that is typically a bad move. The adage you get what you pay for certainly rings true when it comes to projectors. Frankly a $500 projector is not designed to do a screen in a church, it is more designed to shoot on a small screen in a board room. As a bare minimum for a church I would suggest getting into at least the $1500 range.

As far as LED, LCD, DLP. LED has not quite arrived as a viable option for most manufacturers, they simply are not yet bright enough. My prediction is in three or four years there will be a number of viable LED options. Casio makes one that is okay, but it does not get the best reviews. DLP tends to have better contrast, and LCD tends to have better color, but technological advances have really mitigated those benefits. So I would agree DLP or LCD are very fine options.

Luminance, and lumen rating are the wild West. The cheaper the projector the better chance the lumen rating will be exaggerated. I would suggest going over to projector Central where they do third-party lumen ratings. You will be interested to find that at times certain manufacturers will actually only test at close to 50% of their advertised lumens. As a general rule my company uses Mitsubishi projectors, they carry one of the best warranties, have consistent reliable lumen ratings, and great customer service.

I hope that is helpful

[Gary Creely]

although I am no big fan of cheaper projectors I did look up a review on a model very similar to the one you are considering. Much to my surprise it is living up to the lumens rating, and seems to be a lot of bang for the buck.

Truth is a new lamp for your old projectorwould cost as much as this projector. because this is so low cost it is also pretty low risk, against my normal advice I would consider giving this one a shot.

here is the review of a very similar model

http://www.projectorcentral.com/view...tor_review.htm

If possible I would try to get this one.