Wrong purchase : short throw projector - how do you do it?

[xtiger]

Hi everyone - I while ago I built my Skytrak sim on my attic. I did one thing wrong. I bought a short throw projector, a BenQ TH671ST. There is nothing wrong with the projector itself, image quality is great, it’s silent and even has decent sound output.

The problem is that I needed to put it more or less in front and above me. Sub consciously I’m always afraid hitting it. It only happened a few times, usually with the short irons, as they are steeper in both back swing as follow through.

I managed to lend an old Acer projector from a fried and started play with it. Despite the image feels not as vivid, I do have the feeling that having (an new) projector behind is going to be the way forward.

This loaner projector has some vertical / horizonal lens shift, not much, but it will enable me to put it not directly behind me to avoid shade. However I still notice some shade at address in my temporary try out setup. I also have shade of my club during the follow through. I guess the latter is unavoidable. I was also struggling with the keystone to get a decent squared up aligned image.

Short-throw:

Pros: great image, affordable, no shade issues
Cons: has to be so close to the screen it’s always in your reach, the furthest back I could go was just slight in front of me, but that is still has some risk, especially with irons.

Normal projector:

Pros: in theory out of your reach
Cons: Shade? The angle requires (impossible) keystone corrections?

So my questions;

• where are you hanging your ceiling projectors? Behind, centred, corner
• what model do you use?
• I guess horizontal lens shift is an absolute must have?
• Maybe I need to put it a bit more forward, so the ‘beam’ misses’ me?

Thanks for your advice, so I don’t make the same mistake twice!

Pictures attached showing short throw and temp try-out of another one

[Cheeselog8]

I'm not an expert by any means and actually don't have my sim built yet but I plan on using a short throw projector. Judging by your last picture it looks like your short throw projector is mounted directly above where you are standing. I think it would make more sense to move your hitting pad so the projector is directly above the ball, not your head.

[Custom Club & Repair]

Can you raise your projector up higher and use the keystone feature on your projector to level out the picture??

[Custom Club & Repair]

I have the 631ST mounted at the back edge of my net frame approx 10' from screen and the hitting area on my mat is 14-6" from net. No problems hitting projector at all.

[Triton]

Hey Tiger, hard to tell but to me it looks like you hit far away from the screen. My setup is somewhat like yours and I have a BenQ MW632ST and it sits just above me at 10 feet back from screen. It is positioned about in the middle of the player and the ball (maybe a little more over the ball). My screen is 10 feet wide by 9 feet tall. Ceiling height is 10 foot 3 inches, so my projector is only 9 feet high with the 1 foot long ceiling mount. I have no shadow issues with it just above the hitting area. The swing arc is at it's lowest point (ball address) under the projector. Not sure if it is doable with your setup but maybe take a few careful swings with ball directly or almost directly below the projector to see if that works better for you. Also, I have no one hitting left handed but if I did, I guess I could move the hitting mat more to the right to position the ball more under the projector for the left handed person. Hope this helps and I answered some of your questions. Also, you may want to look at the aspect ratio setting, mine is set to 4:3, your looks like maybe 16:10, again hard to tell from the photos. Your screen appears to be fairly square and I think 4:3 would fill it better, unless you have it set at 4:3 already.

[sherrow70]

I have the same Benq projector th671 works great. I am hitting about 10 feet from screen and projector is right about the ball maybe a foot further back. My screen size is 8 x 14 feet. Your screen looks much smaller. I thought as you move the projector closer to the screen it gets smaller so not sure what’s going on. Do you have the zoom at full. Now im confused

[p3eps]

As above - do you have it set to 16:9? If so, try it as 4:3, as it would fill your screen better, and you’d probably have to move it closer to the screen to fill it. Maybe that foot or so forward would take it out of your swing plane?

[gene438]

The guys above are correct. You are hitting too far from the screen. With a typical short throw projector going to a 10 ft. screen, you are going to mount it approximately 8-10 ft from screen which is about the same distance that you should be hitting from. In my setup, the projector is slightly behind my hitting mat .....but basically above my hitting when hitting.

[wbond]

The problem is the projector is mounted in the center of the screen but he is hitting offset from the middle, so he needs to be far enough away to not hit the projector that is mounted within his swing arc. I would say with the current setup, he needs a projector with horizontal lens shift.

[xtiger]

Thanks everyone for the responses. I got a few questions about the dimensions. I've added them here for reference. wbond is correct, I am hitting off center due to lack of width. Many people focus on ceiling height, but I'd say width is as important.
Horizontal lens shift seems my best bet. Are there projector who have this 'more' then other? The loaner Acer projector has it, but not much. Guess it will be lots of trying until I find the sweet spot. I'll update this post once I've found a sweet spot for my setup. And I guess I'll sell my ST, just need to find a good non ST one.

[Cheeselog8]

Thanks everyone for the responses. I got a few questions about the dimensions. I've added them here for reference. wbond is correct, I am hitting off center due to lack of width. Many people focus on ceiling height, but I'd say width is as important.
Horizontal lens shift seems my best bet. Are there projector who have this 'more' then other? The loaner Acer projector has it, but not much. Guess it will be lots of trying until I find the sweet spot. I'll update this post once I've found a sweet spot for my setup. And I guess I'll sell my ST, just need to find a good non ST one.

I'd be interested in purchasing your ST if you are selling relatively soon. Just let me know thanks.

[xtiger]

I will play with alternatives but ... I am living in Belgium (Europe) That may be not ideal :-)

[xtiger]

my new projector placement can be seen in a post from me here: