Trading tips for dark displays and prop production.
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By amandap80
#89720
Ok folks, I am thinking of stepping into projector territory. I need simple and fairly cheap. I want to purchase a Hallowindow DVD and start experimenting. Thoughts?
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By Doh
#89723
Anything really cheap will probably be disappointing. That being said I think that there are many $200ish LED projectors on Amazon that will suit your needs. I have the cheapest of the cheap projectors that I use for my hallowindow. It does the job but man I wish I had a brighter one. Here is a video of my window from a couple of years ago.

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By GUS
#91484
Amanda, I may be late to the plate, HOWEVER as the owner of multiple projectors which I use all for Halloween or professional commercial displays nowadays, the #1 rule for me is EBAY, ..the #2 rule is make sure you get a "standardised" easily replaceable bulb which a brand uses for a large qty of it's range, for that purpose my optoma bought years ago now, runs like a dream & the bulb is one of the cheapest on the market.

#3 cheap projector price will trip you (more often than not) with a pricey bulb therefore do your homework & cost it in, don't buy without research & acceptance of replacement price / availability.

#Avoid Sony £$$$$$£ --kerching, had a lawsuit out against em, high cost, not really that great.

#4 Texas instruments DLP chipset, ..legendary, used by many, therefore lower price as everyone piles on.

#5 LED BULB. ..hooray! they are becoming more & more common, run far less hot than a regular bulb last possibly for the duration of a unit, BUT might be non replaceable ...check that out.

#7 an LED bulb projector solves ballast problems & allsorts, as they don't run hot, are very low voltage, cheap to produce, pretty darn reliable & cool , ..you don't need to run a fan (typically) in high altitude / high heat dissipation mode, (less noise..GOOD)

#8 regular halogen bulb types do run hot, which means burn out prematurely very often, therefore a necessity to run in high altitude (faster fan speed & more noise) to save money in terms of replacement bulbs / bulbs & housings that cost alot!

#9 a projector is for life not just Halloween ...you will get a lot of joy selectively screening your dvd's from a decent projector, ..even onto a white wall, ...make it part of your lifestyle.

#10 plenty of cheap projector screens on ebay, pick your time, lots of folk upgrade.

Remember years ago I bought mine for hallowindow's? ..well I was not allowed to sell it on afterwards, ...suffice to say my optoma still runs on the original bulb (fingers crossed) ..has been lugged aroundf to others houses, for outdoor cinema (which ryan also knows alot about) & gets used mo than the television 99% of the time just for films.

Don't hook it up to the tv ..it will just burn out used night after night for dross, ..& will be taken for granted keep it for date night & be constantly wowed at your BIG screenings of film.

on a budget & for hallowindows look for a 2.5mm jack to the rear, for computer speakers, the JBL??? Animal speakers (stormtrooper white helmet v2 as I recall) absolutely canes it for portable use & sticking through windows.

Sound on Hallowindows makes it, "Silent aint scary" (or thrilling)
Good luck
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By amandap80
#93814
Thanks for the huge reply GUS, that's a lot of info! I actually never bought one last year, because I was really overwhelmed. I may try to dip my hand in this again, but now my needs have evolved some. It would be cool to project movies on my deck to watch, so I will keep investigating!
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By amandap80
#93815
keifferone wrote:Make sure you also look at the Lumens. Try to stay in 1000 to 1200 lumens for a good image.
I will, thanks!
By GUS
#94213
..Even the new "cheapy" LED ones will work ok for basic "get you by" films outside as long as you realise they all have their limitations, outside films are cool when it's hot, make sure you can run some 1/2 decent 2.1 computer speakers (the .1 is for a dedicated sub bass to bring the explosions together with small diddy speakers & give it some heft).

CHeap led projectors (ideal if they have specified for reverse image settings for hallowindows animations etc) are filthy cheap & will be available for around $70 ..then you can work up from there & still have something to either travel with (parties etc) or dedicated halloween fx kit, ..i'm about to buy another, works out cheap to max out your house visuals :thumbsup:

..c'mon you know you want singing pumpkins, you merely have to resist the urge to carve them.

Good luck