Any advice/experience upgrading a 4:3 1024x768 projector for simulator build

[mck315]

So I built my budget simulator last year and decided to go with a BenQ MX819ST projector which is 4:3 ratio, 1024x768 native res, and 3000 lums. This is because my screen is 4:3. For the most part it does the trick, but it's a little lackluster in terms of graphics. Also being brighter would be nice but not entirely necessary. I wanted to know if anyone had experience upgrading from a similar projector, or can just give me some advice. I don't want to spend $1,000 or more on a projector that would obviously upgrade my current, that's not what I'm asking. This projector was only around $300 at the time, so I'm looking more for whether a different type of projector (higher res, diff ratio) or even $500-600 would make a noticeable difference.

For example, if I tried to buy a higher res HD projector with a different aspect ratio (16:9, 16:10) and change it to 4:3, would it improve the image quality more than the native 4:3 lower res? Would it even be that noticeable? Do you have experience with this? If it's not going to drastically improve the image quality, I might as well just wait until I can buy a high end projector. My benQ is also a short throw projector which isn't entirely necessary for my sim, I could easily set up a mount behind instead of a floor build. This would def cut costs so if anyone has any models to suggest as well that would be really helpful. Even other short throw model suggestions would help as well.

Just for some extra info, my screen is 12'x9' so 180'' diagonal. Here's a pic of the build. https://imgur.com/a/pNNbWRl (P.S. I bought the cheaper floor mount for the projector so I use a wooden plank with the turf fabric over it to make it more of a ramp. That's where the projector is)

Feel free to ask any questions if I forgot to mention anything

[wahnamch]

I can't offer insights, but am interested to hear/read what others have to say on this as I am in a similar position.

[stubious]

Haven't gone through a transition of projectors, but in research for my sim, what I learned was (some of this may be obvious!)

• 1024 x 768 gives you 768 pixels high
• if you went up to HD, you'd have 1920 x 1080 available - but if you wanted 4:3, you'd be setting a custom resolution in your graphics card (generally) which would crop off 480 pixels of width to get you to 1440 x 1080 (4:3 ratio) - so you'd still be cramming in 40% more vertical pixels in the same screen size
• if you went up to 4k, you'd have 3840 x 2160 available, but again you'd set the 4:3 ratio in the graphics card and just crop off width pixels to get to 2880 x 2160 (4:3) - so about triple the number of vertical pixels that you have today

The key thing is making sure you make the custom format change in the graphics card and not accidentally letting the computer downsample you to a worse resolution. I think the 'how' depends a bit on the graphics card and the projector, but I think there is a pinned post that has more detail.

[stubious]

Here's the stickied post on setting up custom resolutions: https://golfsimulatorforum.com/forum...tor-resolution

[OttawaP]

Haven't gone through a transition of projectors, but in research for my sim, what I learned was (some of this may be obvious!)

• 1024 x 768 gives you 768 pixels high
• if you went up to HD, you'd have 1920 x 1080 available - but if you wanted 4:3, you'd be setting a custom resolution in your graphics card (generally) which would crop off 480 pixels of width to get you to 1440 x 1080 (4:3 ratio) - so you'd still be cramming in 40% more vertical pixels in the same screen size
• if you went up to 4k, you'd have 3840 x 2160 available, but again you'd set the 4:3 ratio in the graphics card and just crop off width pixels to get to 2880 x 2160 (4:3) - so about triple the number of vertical pixels that you have today

The key thing is making sure you make the custom format change in the graphics card and not accidentally letting the computer downsample you to a worse resolution. I think the 'how' depends a bit on the graphics card and the projector, but I think there is a pinned post that has more detail.

Thanks, this is very helpful.