Video Asylum

Posted by High-end Dreamer (A) on July 31, 2004 at 19:46:15

Hello -

I'm looking at an application where pre-recorded HDTV material would be shown to groups in small/med sized auditoriums. Looking for very high image quality. Crowd size would be maybe 150 or so, perhaps up to 250 and there would be an effort made to bunch them "centrally" as far as seating is concerned so as to make it a little easier on the viewing angle issue (though viewing angle off the screen would still have to be decently wide with that size of a group).

1. With a large screen (not nearly as large as the typical movie theater screen, but much larger than any home theater screens), would 720p be good enough to generate a real "wow" factor with most viewers, as long as the brightness and contrast/blacklevel is very good? Or do you really need to be at 1080i (or 1080p?) to get the WOWWW ? My guess from what I read is that 720p on an extremely good projector/screen combo is enough to really impress people even in a large room, but I'm not sure because I've not seen any HDTV demos myself.

2. For *professional* use, given the application above, how much would a suitably bright, suitably high-quality (light valve?) projector be? My impression is these are very expensive. What can one get for $20,000? Or $25,000? And how much are replacement bulbs for these higher-end units?

3. Are the high-lumen, HDTV projectors very noisy [loud fan]? Or are there certain projection technologies that lead to somewhat quieter units? [light valve?]

4. I have read commentary that mentions "light valve" projectors as being the cadillac of projector types, as they can be very bright and yield high quality images, though the implication has been they are very expensive. Can anyone point me to a good source of info on these types of projectors, and their usual price tag?

If anyone can help out and/or point me to some good Web sites for quality info (including prices), I would be extremely appreciative.

THANKS!

- Mike