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If you are anything like me you had no idea what you were getting yourself involved with when embarking on building a DIY golf home simulator! This is not to say I am full of regrets. It’s simply to say that the number of different elements of a golf home simulator (sim) build that one needs to become at least familiar with let alone informed enough to spend significant sums of money can become overwhelming to say the least!
That said, for me at least, no other element of the sim build was as confusing and required the amount of self-education and research as selecting the appropriate video projector. In fact, I avoided for many, many months taking the plunge into the projector aspect of my sim build due to the overwhelming aspect of embarking on narrowing the choices from hundreds (if not thousands) of options to the 2 options that I finally choose as my “finalists”.
Although not the purpose of this review I would be remiss in not mentioning the following websites as the start of my sim build. Several years ago I started my search on GolfWRX.com. From there I learned about GolfSimulatorForum.com. That led me to ProjectorCentral.com. Again it would be beyond the focus of this review to explain what each of them helped me with but just know that all 3 are EXCELLENT resources for the things that they specialize in. I highly recommend all 3 sites.
What makes the projector aspect of a sim build such a challenge is that you are dealing with a highly technical technology coupled with the fact that each individual sim build (or home theatre build for that matter) are so unique. Very small changes in room size, ceiling height, lighting factors, screen size, image throw distance, and the list goes on and on, all can make one projector better than the next or conversely make one projector that you thought was going to be perfect and make it a less than optimal choice.
All that said, I will tell you that I am a bit of a perfectionist. My wife has another name(s) for it but I just like to think of it as an acute attention to detail. I am also a bit of a “go big or go home” type! I just know that if I don’t do it right I am going to have regrets and when you are spending the sum of money it takes to build one of these sims you DO NOT want to have regrets!
So, that brings me to how did I narrow down my list to just 2 finalist? Well, honestly, I read and read and read some more just to begin to understand the technology enough to figure out the things that were specific and unique to my sim build. If you are reading this and are in the initial stages of learning about projectors I highly recommend that you read and follow the Home Theater Projector Buying Guide provided by ProjectorCentral.com seen here:
https://www.projectorcentral.com/hom...yers_guide.htm
This overview will take you step-by-step through the process of learning the basics of what you need to know to begin to make an informed decision about your projector choice.
If you come across a term that you don’t recognize or you don’t understand reference the ProjectorCentral “Dictionary of Industry Terms” here:
https://www.projectorcentral.com/glossary.cfm
Once you have a grip on the basics you can start to narrow down the choices for your specific build by entering specific measurements into the ProjectorCentral.com “Projector Throw Distance Calculator” seen here:
https://www.projectorcentral.com/pro...ulator-pro.cfm
Finally, you will come up with a list of projectors that should start to be your contenders. From there you can continue to hone in to your finalists using factors such as price, availability, features and other specifics to your individual sim build.
That is exactly what I did and that brought me down to 2 projectors that I just could not decide on after all my research. Those two projectors where the BenQ TH671ST and the InFocus IN138HDST. Below I have linked both projectors to their corresponding pages on the BenQ and INFocus websites. Rather than cut & paste all the technical data about the two projectors I will simply point out some of the important aspects of the 2 projectors for my sim build and let you look up any of the specifics that are pertinent to your build on their websites.
BenQ TH671ST - CLICK HERE to see the BenQ TH671ST specs
Current Retail Price: $699.00
Current Retail Price: $829.00
After some research it became very clear that a short throw projector was the only option in my sim room. This is where throw ratio became a very important ratio to understand. By definition throw ratio is:
“For any given projector, the width of the image (W) relative to the throw distance (D) is know as the throw ratio D/W. So for example, one of the most common projector throw ratios is 2.0. This means that for each foot of image width, the projector needs to be 2 feet away or D/W = 2/1 = 2.0.”
This became the most limiting factor for me in my build to the large image size I was projecting to from the distance I was able to project from. This is where “Go big or go home” mentality had some drawbacks because I wanted a very large image from a relatively close distance. Not to mention I wanted all of that from a fairly low mounting height (more on that later).
Both of the finalist projectors on paper were going to technically allow me to project the image I wanted. What I did not realize was just how tricky it was going to be to get the image to project exactly where I wanted it to project in the exact size I wanted it all while keeping good or great image quality.
This is not a review on projector mounts BUT I will tell you that if you are dealing with a tight space DO NOT buy a cheap projector mount. You are going to need to have every conceivable adjustment to get the image to project exact where you want it. I decided on the Vantage Point CGUPM12-S Universal Front Projector Mount. You can find it on Amazon here:
Vantage Point CGUPM12-S Universal Front Projector Mount
Are there better mounts out there… perhaps yes BUT I absolutely know that there are worse, in fact much worse, so just get a mount that lets you have complete flexibility to mount your projector in the exact position you want it mounted… I can’t over emphasize how important this is!
Finally, that brings us back to the two projectors that I tested in my sim space...
I will first say that both companies have been GREAT to work with through this entire process. Both have excellent call centers and handled all my questions regarding set up specs and helping me get the best possible image from each projector.
To read "InFocus IN138HDST vs BenQ TH671ST - PART 2 of 3: InFocus IN138HDST Review" click below:
That said, for me at least, no other element of the sim build was as confusing and required the amount of self-education and research as selecting the appropriate video projector. In fact, I avoided for many, many months taking the plunge into the projector aspect of my sim build due to the overwhelming aspect of embarking on narrowing the choices from hundreds (if not thousands) of options to the 2 options that I finally choose as my “finalists”.
Although not the purpose of this review I would be remiss in not mentioning the following websites as the start of my sim build. Several years ago I started my search on GolfWRX.com. From there I learned about GolfSimulatorForum.com. That led me to ProjectorCentral.com. Again it would be beyond the focus of this review to explain what each of them helped me with but just know that all 3 are EXCELLENT resources for the things that they specialize in. I highly recommend all 3 sites.
What makes the projector aspect of a sim build such a challenge is that you are dealing with a highly technical technology coupled with the fact that each individual sim build (or home theatre build for that matter) are so unique. Very small changes in room size, ceiling height, lighting factors, screen size, image throw distance, and the list goes on and on, all can make one projector better than the next or conversely make one projector that you thought was going to be perfect and make it a less than optimal choice.
All that said, I will tell you that I am a bit of a perfectionist. My wife has another name(s) for it but I just like to think of it as an acute attention to detail. I am also a bit of a “go big or go home” type! I just know that if I don’t do it right I am going to have regrets and when you are spending the sum of money it takes to build one of these sims you DO NOT want to have regrets!
So, that brings me to how did I narrow down my list to just 2 finalist? Well, honestly, I read and read and read some more just to begin to understand the technology enough to figure out the things that were specific and unique to my sim build. If you are reading this and are in the initial stages of learning about projectors I highly recommend that you read and follow the Home Theater Projector Buying Guide provided by ProjectorCentral.com seen here:
https://www.projectorcentral.com/hom...yers_guide.htm
This overview will take you step-by-step through the process of learning the basics of what you need to know to begin to make an informed decision about your projector choice.
If you come across a term that you don’t recognize or you don’t understand reference the ProjectorCentral “Dictionary of Industry Terms” here:
https://www.projectorcentral.com/glossary.cfm
Once you have a grip on the basics you can start to narrow down the choices for your specific build by entering specific measurements into the ProjectorCentral.com “Projector Throw Distance Calculator” seen here:
https://www.projectorcentral.com/pro...ulator-pro.cfm
Finally, you will come up with a list of projectors that should start to be your contenders. From there you can continue to hone in to your finalists using factors such as price, availability, features and other specifics to your individual sim build.
That is exactly what I did and that brought me down to 2 projectors that I just could not decide on after all my research. Those two projectors where the BenQ TH671ST and the InFocus IN138HDST. Below I have linked both projectors to their corresponding pages on the BenQ and INFocus websites. Rather than cut & paste all the technical data about the two projectors I will simply point out some of the important aspects of the 2 projectors for my sim build and let you look up any of the specifics that are pertinent to your build on their websites.
BenQ TH671ST - CLICK HERE to see the BenQ TH671ST specs
Current Retail Price: $699.00
- Short Throw Lens
- 3000 ANSI lumen
- 10000:1 contrast ratio
- Native Resolution: 1080p (1920x1080)
- Throw Ratio: 0.69~0.83
- Very Low Input Lag
- Very High Color Accuracy
- 1.2x Optical Zoom
Current Retail Price: $829.00
- Short Throw Lens
- 4000 ANSI lumen
- 28,500:1 contrast ratio
- Native Resolution: 1080p (1920x1080)
- Throw Ratio: 0.499
- “TechStation” for hooking up streaming devices right on the projector
After some research it became very clear that a short throw projector was the only option in my sim room. This is where throw ratio became a very important ratio to understand. By definition throw ratio is:
“For any given projector, the width of the image (W) relative to the throw distance (D) is know as the throw ratio D/W. So for example, one of the most common projector throw ratios is 2.0. This means that for each foot of image width, the projector needs to be 2 feet away or D/W = 2/1 = 2.0.”
This became the most limiting factor for me in my build to the large image size I was projecting to from the distance I was able to project from. This is where “Go big or go home” mentality had some drawbacks because I wanted a very large image from a relatively close distance. Not to mention I wanted all of that from a fairly low mounting height (more on that later).
Both of the finalist projectors on paper were going to technically allow me to project the image I wanted. What I did not realize was just how tricky it was going to be to get the image to project exactly where I wanted it to project in the exact size I wanted it all while keeping good or great image quality.
This is not a review on projector mounts BUT I will tell you that if you are dealing with a tight space DO NOT buy a cheap projector mount. You are going to need to have every conceivable adjustment to get the image to project exact where you want it. I decided on the Vantage Point CGUPM12-S Universal Front Projector Mount. You can find it on Amazon here:
Vantage Point CGUPM12-S Universal Front Projector Mount
Are there better mounts out there… perhaps yes BUT I absolutely know that there are worse, in fact much worse, so just get a mount that lets you have complete flexibility to mount your projector in the exact position you want it mounted… I can’t over emphasize how important this is!
Finally, that brings us back to the two projectors that I tested in my sim space...
I will first say that both companies have been GREAT to work with through this entire process. Both have excellent call centers and handled all my questions regarding set up specs and helping me get the best possible image from each projector.
To read "InFocus IN138HDST vs BenQ TH671ST - PART 2 of 3: InFocus IN138HDST Review" click below:
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