Help with picking a projector

[Dtruitt2@yahoo.com]

I am building my simulator room and having issues with finding a suitable projector for my space!!!
my screen is from par2pro SQ 12x9.
My depth from screen to back wall is 16.5’
I have been looking at 16:10 ratio but can’t find one that will fill my screen. I would like to have one that has around 5000 lumens. Can anyone help suggest a projector that would work?
Thanks!

[Dtruitt2@yahoo.com]

It sounds like the BenQ is best for my budget and space. I will probably go with that option.
Thank you all for your help, it’s greatly appreciated!

[MadMax2021]

I have a related question on projectors. My space is 11 feet wide by 9 feet high with depth of 15 feet or more. I am expecting to go with a 4:3 ratio translating to roughly 10.5 by 8. This will be a Skytrak setup (essentially right handed only). I need to floor mount (unfortunately, nonnegotiable unless I could safely mount to a 11 by 10 enclosure instead of to the ceiling). From the Projector Central calculator, it is suggesting about 7 feet from the screen with a .50 throw projector like the Optoma GT1080HDR. My question is whether that means I will need to stand way back . . . say 11 feet . . . which raises shank issues or whether if the hitting area is offset and the floormount projector is in the center, I could stand at say 9 feet without trouble (i.e., floor mount interfering with the stance or the ball flight). Does anyone have recommendations for relative position of the floor mount vis-a-vis the hitting area with this sort of space? Is there another reasonable approach to make this work? Thanks.

[GarnetGolf]

Why can’t you ceiling mount?

[MadMax2021]

Unfortunately, it is a rental house and the landlord won't let us mount anything on the basement ceiling. We could move to a more traditional ceiling set up if we decide to buy the house.

[3on3putt]

I have a related question on projectors. My space is 11 feet wide by 9 feet high with depth of 15 feet or more. I am expecting to go with a 4:3 ratio translating to roughly 10.5 by 8. This will be a Skytrak setup (essentially right handed only). I need to floor mount (unfortunately, nonnegotiable unless I could safely mount to a 11 by 10 enclosure instead of to the ceiling). From the Projector Central calculator, it is suggesting about 7 feet from the screen with a .50 throw projector like the Optoma GT1080HDR. My question is whether that means I will need to stand way back . . . say 11 feet . . . which raises shank issues or whether if the hitting area is offset and the floormount projector is in the center, I could stand at say 9 feet without trouble (i.e., floor mount interfering with the stance or the ball flight). Does anyone have recommendations for relative position of the floor mount vis-a-vis the hitting area with this sort of space? Is there another reasonable approach to make this work? Thanks.

Floor mounts can be good for people in your situation (offset and low ceiling). Because you will be offset to the right side, a projector on the floor won't be in the way for putting because it will be closer to where your feet are. So you will be putting to the right side of the projector.

So if you put that Optoma on the floor at 7 feet, you could hit from about 9 feet (essentially just right behind the projector). The projector can butt right up against the front edge of your hitting mat.

It does have a vertical offset of 14 inches, so the bottom edge of your image will be 14 inches off the ground. That would push the top of your image all the way to the top of the screen (would actually cut it off by an inch or two). You may want to look at something with less vertical offset to more easily square up the image. Your screen is 108 inches and your image height will be about 95 inches, so you'll have about a foot of blank space to distribute between the top and bottom.

[MadMax2021]

Thanks. That is really helpful!

[2wheeler]

9 foot screen with a 10 foot ceiling, so you'll have to consider the vertical offset of any projector you buy. Vertical offset is the distance from the top of the image to the middle of the lens (for a ceiling mount) or the bottom of the image to the middle of the lens (for a floor mount).

For your hitting distance and screen width, your throw ratio will be in the neighborhood of 0.6 to 1.0. With only 10 foot ceilings, you probably don't want anything too close to the screen (golf balls, follow throughs) or too far behind you (shadows). Mounting directly over the ball or pretty close to it is always safe.

What's your lighting situation? Lumens is less important if you have the ability to totally black out the room. Brightness is relative to room light, so the 5,000 lumens you spoke of earlier may not be totally necessary if you have ample control over the lighting.

At a $1,500 budget, you're probably looking at 1920x1080 projectors.

The BenQ I linked to earlier is used quite a bit for golf sims and a number of people here have it. For your screen size it would mount 12 feet away and fill the screen in 4:3 (giving you a 1440x1080 resolution). It only has 3 inches of vertical offset, which would work well for your space. Best part is its under $700 new.

https://www.projectorcentral.com/Ben...ulator-pro.htm

A lot of BenQ projectors have short vertical offsets, so you could browse their selection and see the throw distance for each. This one for example would also work for you =

https://www.projectorcentral.com/Ben...ulator-pro.htm

Optomas for the most part tend to have longer vertical offsets which would make it a little tougher for you. The one I linked to earlier requires 16 inches for your space, which obviously doesn't work when you only have 12 inches to work with (screen to ceiling).

As far as E6 or TGC ... TGC offers better graphics, more courses, and a bigger online community for less cost. In your case, E6 might make sense if you figure you probably want to play with your friends who have E6. But aside from that, I think you would have a hard time making a case for E6. Just my two cents. You do occasionally see people selling their TGC license that you can buy for slightly less than what you would pay new. So yes it's possible. But those offers don't come by too often.

Sorry for jumping in on the thread but I have a very similar setup to Dtruitt2 and was looking at the BenQ’s mentioned but when I dragged the projector back to 12ft from the screen on Projectorcentral throw calculator it says Reduce image size. Image brightness is too low, so I didn’t go any further and was going to wait for the BenQ TK700STi as this seemed brighter even though the lumens seem the same, I’m totally new to this and getting more confused the more I read

[3on3putt]

Sorry for jumping in on the thread but I have a very similar setup to Dtruitt2 and was looking at the BenQ’s mentioned but when I dragged the projector back to 12ft from the screen on Projectorcentral throw calculator it says Reduce image size. Image brightness is too low, so I didn’t go any further and was going to wait for the BenQ TK700STi as this seemed brighter even though the lumens seem the same, I’m totally new to this and getting more confused the more I read

I don't have the BenQ and have never seen it perform in person, so I can't speak fully on it. I have read from others here who have it that they feel like it's brighter than advertised. If you toggle the estimated image brightness from projector central's estimate to the manufacturer's specs, it shows it as being plenty bright. (Now you could certainly argue that of course the manufacturer will say that; they are trying to sell you a projector after all. So take that for what it's worth).

As far as the TK700STi goes ... it's the same lumens with a longer throw distance, so if anything it will be less bright. To cast an image 12 feet wide in 4:3, it needs to go 15'8" away compared to the other BenQ being 12 feet away for that width of an image. So now you're talking about 3,000 lumens from 15'8" away compared to 3,000 lumens from 12 feet away. I can't see how that's going to help in terms of brightness (although the resolution will of course be much better).

What's your screen height and width and ceiling height?

[2wheeler]

Thanks for the info, height of ceiling is just under 10ft although it is an outside cage covered with netting with a tarpaulin skin, but I am able to mount a projector (sounds strange I know ) The screen is 9ft high by 11ft wide (I know I will never fill the screen due to strange dimensions). I have a Mevo plus so was wanting as much ball travel distance as possible.

[jharrison85]

Hi there,

Jumping on the bandwagon i'm also having projector issues!
Screen is from par2pro SQ 3,344mm wide x 2,750mm high - ceiling height 2850. Screen will have pelmet surrounds for the walls and ceiling.
Room depth will be circa 6000mm
Does anyone know how to work out what projector to go for and distance away from screen to fill it best. it can be ceiling mounted.

Many thanks!

[Dax]

Have you checked out projector central’s calculator? You can put in your dimensions etc and do a search for what might work. There are too many projector options etc so good to narrow things down. Also, what is your budget?

[3on3putt]

2wheeler and jharrison85
You guys both have the same screen dimensions.

Determine your throw ratio, which is the distance you will mount the projector from the screen divided by the width of the screen. So at 131 inches wide, if you mounted 10 feet away (120 inches) your throw ratio would be about 0.9.

Here is a search for 1920x1080 projectors with throw ratios in the range of 0.5 to 1.1. Sort through these and pay attention to the vertical offset as both of you will need short vertical offsets due to a lack of space between screen and ceiling.

https://www.projectorcentral.com/projectors.cfm?g=1&hide=0&st=1&exp1=1&r=13&br=&c=&w=&db=&ar=&zr=&wt=&ltg=&ll=&wr=&dt=&mfg=&p=&t=&pjl=0&pjw=0&pjh=0&exp4=1&td=&is=&i=d&tr=0.5&tr2=1.1&exp5=1&oop=2&sort=pop&sz=15#list

When you click on a projector, then click "calculate throw distance." Then change it to 4:3 (closest to your screen dimensions) and play with the sliders to see the image size in relation to the mounting distance. Note the vertical offset at the bottom.

[2wheeler]

Great, thanks again for all the info, how far in front of the ball is it safe to have the projector, 1or 2ft or not at all?

[3on3putt]

Great, thanks again for all the info, how far in front of the ball is it safe to have the projector, 1or 2ft or not at all?

It's actually very safe in front, provided that you have the bounce back from the screen under control. And of course it depends on ceiling height. I wouldn't put anything only 3 feet away unless I had really high ceilings with a large vertical offset. But in the ballpark of 6 feet away is totally fine. That's far enough away to not get hit by any balls bouncing back and your club will be going well left of it on the follow through. But it's also close enough to you that flop shots will stay under it.

My projector is about 1.5 feet in front of me and I couldn't hit it with a club or ball if I tried.

*All of this is assuming your hitting spot is centered to the room/screen and not offset. If you are hitting offset but the projector is centered than your follow through can come into play.

[2wheeler]

Brilliant, you have sorted a good few things that were buzzing around I’m my confused mind, and thanks to the thread starter also