Given the unique requirements of museum projectors, (reliability and excellent image quality, often in less than ideal lighting conditions), I find online projector reviews leave me with questions. I would rather hear from all of you what projectors you use, and what you think of them.
I’ll go first. At the MFA we use: Panasonic PT-DZ570U (white) This model is our work horse. Easy to install, built-in on/off schedule, good image quality, but being a 1-chip DLP there’s a slight rainbow effect. We have three and have had to send two out for repairs (luckily under warranty). Blanking (image crop) and good manual lens control make it pretty easy to line up the projector with custom built projection screens. 4000 lumens means a big image (9’ wide) looks very good in a darkened room. We recently had to install one in a gallery with lots of ambient light from a skylight, and the image is of course washed out even with high contrast Screen Goo, so don’t expect any miracles. JVC DLA-X30 (black) This is a large, heavy projector, but has excellent image quality. It’s designed for home theaters, so at only 1300 lumens it needs a very dark space. In a light-locked, black room though, you will be amazed at the contrast ratio. These have also been very reliable, even for 12/7 use, and lamps are affordable. Unfortunately there is no built-in on/off schedule. Used four of these for our Ori Gersht exhibition and we were all very happy. Mitsubishi WD380U-EST (white) This has been our ultra short-throw projector for a few years. The colors have faded and the screen-door effect is noticeable. Also given the intensely short throw distance, and affordable price, it’s to be expected that the optics aren’t perfect. I found that the image isn’t PERFECTLY square, so you definitely want to paint to fit the projection, not the other way around. Really long bulb life though, (4000+ hours) and they’re cheap. There are many more options available now, and while this one has served us well, I wouldn’t recommend it. Looking to buy: High brightness projector for large scale video artwork projection in galleries with other spot-lit objects. Wondering about Epson’s 3LCD and Canon’s LCoS projectors. Hope this is useful to some of you. Again, I’d love to hear whatever you have to say about the projectors at your museum or gallery. Thanks, George (Please don’t contact me with unsolicited offers or services) –– GEORGE SCHAROUN Technical Producer, Gallery Media Museum of Fine Arts, Boston gschar...@mfa.org | 617-369-3512 http://www.mfa.org _______________________________________________ You are currently subscribed to mcn-l, the listserv of the Museum Computer Network (http://www.mcn.edu) To post to this list, send messages to: mcn-l@mcn.edu To unsubscribe or change mcn-l delivery options visit: http://mcn.edu/mailman/listinfo/mcn-l The MCN-L archives can be found at: http://www.mail-archive.com/mcn-l@mcn.edu/
