Option for video playback

[gsc1ugs@gmail.com]

Im looking for something better than projector to play video back of stage but not as expensive as video wall looking for something 2.5m x 2m height. Is there anything out there?

[Hugh Robjohns]

Lasers projecting onto a dry ice curtain? Extra points if the lasers are mounted on the heads of sharks.

Front or back projection systems are the most common and cost effective solutions...

[ajay_m]

Ultra short throw projector and a fairly high gain screen might work. 5000 lumens ought to suffice if you can keep light spill away from the screen. Still gonna set you back north of £3000 but much cheaper and lighter than a video wall and the ultra short throw projector means you just put the projector virtually touching the screen at the rear of the stage.
A laser based projector will have a nominal 20000 hour or so life, a uhp lamp based projector will require a new lamp every 2-3000 hours of use. Also has a couple of minutes warmup time whereas the laser units will come on pretty much instantaneously which may be a consideration if you want video only for part of the show.

[gsc1ugs@gmail.com]

Can you single out some products please?

[Hugh Robjohns]

I've not been current in that kind of technology for a long time, so I'd start by looking at what the bigger hiring companies use because the chances are that will be robust, reliable, and cost-effective. For example:

https://terrytew.co.uk/product-category ... rojectors/

[gsc1ugs@gmail.com]

Are we talking much more light? is there screens that can improve on popup projector screen, i must have one of the biggest available but sides are never tight, flat

[ajay_m]

An ultra short throw projector is capable of projecting an image of at least 2m x 2m from a distance of only a few inches from the screen. This is much simpler than either front or rear projection because you can just put the projector on a suitable stand (which can just be a small table) right in front of the screen. Typically you would use a lightweight screen, the sort of thing popular in the US for outdoor movies. These can be broken down into quite a compact setup for transportation.

There are two main technologies. Traditionally an ultra high pressure mercury vapour lamp was used but quite a lot of projectors now use laser light sources. These last the lifetime of the unit and have no warmup or cool down requirements. Image quality for these units can be very high. For a 2.5m × 2m image you probably don't need 4K resolution, although it's becoming increasingly standard.

The absolute minimum brightness would probably be 3000 lumen but I would look at 5000-6000 lumen. Note that the relationship between perceived brightness and lumen values is non linear and you need four times the lumen value to perceive doubled brightness.

Cost rapidly gets to the tooth sucking stage past this lumen value. Most audio visual companies are very helpful so having a chat to some of them and possibly hiring something to test it out would be a good idea. Because the laser units have such a long lifetime (20000 hrs or more) purchasing something second hand on eBay isn't necessarily a bad idea. For a uhp unit the lamp costs vary but can be £300 so you'd factor that in for a second hand projector. These all show lamp hours so you can easily find out how.much lifetime you might expect.

You need to ensure stage light spill is kept off your screen and you may want a way of putting a larger black area behind the screen to maximise the visual effect eg with a cloth drape or something.

[Wonks]

Hiring before buying would be a good first step. Pick something that seems to fit the bill, hire it, and see if it does the job. What may work well on its own may not work as well in the context of a gig with other lighting etc.

You may find that what you may need might be beyond reasonable economic expenditure. Or you may need to rearrange your normal lighting to accommodate the screen.

[gsc1ugs@gmail.com]

Great advice all thank you

[Ken P]

If you're on a small budget, and need something portable, I've had surprisingly good results with a 2nd hand school short throw projector (£55) and a portable screen (£35) at our local EMOM. It's not 4K (!) but it can look ace.

This is really good advice:

You need to ensure stage light spill is kept off your screen and you may want a way of putting a larger black area behind the screen to maximise the visual effect eg with a cloth drape or something.

Next time I'm going to put a big black sheet or something behind the screen.

[Ken P]

Just remembered you asked for alternatives to a projector, but I do think short-throw is a step up if you're in a small venue.

That's not me in the pic by the way. That is Jasper doing his first ever live gig which was ace.

[Ken P]

Another cool option, that is more than 'just a projector' or, rather just one projector, is two short throw projectors projecting on to semi-transparent screens: one of the screens behind the performers, one in front (stage lights penetrating the semi-transparent screen in front).

[gsc1ugs@gmail.com]

Great info but certain events i can dictate light interference, i do have a ultra short throw but light is the problem, i may need gloshine video wall, but unless gigs make it sensible that's the only option apparently

[BJG145]

Great thread, would like to try this out sometime.

[ajay_m]

Brute force might do the trick with light spill, although it looks like 6000 lumens is around the upper bound before the price gets a bit sphincter-clenching.

However if you keep the image size down to a couple of metres that is gonna be a pretty bright image, especially off a decent metallised screen. You could try hiring something out and seeing how it works. Problem with a LED wall is that it is a fairly unwieldy thing to be lugging around and setting up, and it's pretty fragile too. I'm not sure either that if you have direct glare onto the wall you would actually be looking at better results.