New Sim Build. Need Help/Redommendations

[todthames]

Just ordered SkyTrak and am now officially on the waitlist. Ordered FiberBuilt 4X7 hitting mat. Ordered Cimmaron 5X10X10 with net and impact screen.

planning on using one bag of my garage. 10 ft wide. 20 ft deep. 15 feet high.

I’ve read so many threads looking for someone with a similar setup to get some ideas. If possible, Ineed help with the following:

Based on screen 10X10 with 5k’ side net as well as the size of my garage how, far should hit area bee from screen? Looking for ideal area with minor adjustments as necessary.

Based on that answer what projector is recommended?

Finally what is best for landing zone?

im certain I’ll have more questions. I’m trying to have everything setup and fully operational as I wait on the arrival of the SkyTrak.

Thanks in advance for your assistance.

[jerry3]

todthames

I'd recommend for your setup to use either of these projectors...
Panasonic PT-VZ580U (Last Gen Model)
Panasonic PT-VMZ50U (Current Gen)

I'd hit from about 10' from the screen and mount the projector at about 11' from the screen.

For the landing zone a bunch of things you could go with, simple carpet or putting turf would do, or if you wan to raise up the surrounding area to be roughly the same height of the fiberbuilt 4x7 I'd recommend...

1) Buy 1.5" thick MMA Mats from Amazon
2) Buy your putting turf, for budget conscious buy menards marine carpet, for a more premium experience buy from Turf Factory Direct
3) Lay putting turf on top off the 1.5" mma mats

End result would look something like this. Mine is a bit different because I just inserted the fiberbuilt directly into the mma mats, but yours would ultimately look and function fairly similarly.

[todthames]

jerry3 thanks so much for your response. Definitely appreciate it. I’ll look into all your recommendations. Your are looks great!

[jerry3]

todthames your welcome, good luck with your build, let me know if you need any help

[todthames]

jerry3 is that a 10x10 screen? Also, what are your thoughts hitting at 8’ with projector mounted at 9? Pros? Cons?

[jerry3]

todthames those projector recommendations and distances were with consideration of filling the width of your screen, the height won't be perfectly filled, but you can mess with the projector settings to get a 4:3 aspect ratio and get it mostly filled. With the projectors I recommend you can't mount them any closer and still fill the width of the screen. However you could go with something like the optoma 1090hdr or 1080 hdr and output a custom resolution from your pc to fill the screen properly.

So let's just say you're hitting from 8', if you want to use one of the short throw Optomas you could mount at 7' (it will be safe) or closer if you want but you might want to put a cage around it for protection from any crazy high lofted shots. It would output a 14' wide image at 7' naturally which is too wide obviously, but through windows you can do a custom resolution to make it fit your screen, or you can also do the same thing through the projector settings.

If you don't want to do the whole custom resolution thing, you can take a look at a list of these projectors and they should all be able to be mounted at your desired 9' distance and fill the width of your screen...

The best projector out there that meets what it sounds like you're trying to do is the BenQ LK953ST which will output native 4k, but it is quite expensive, plus you'd have to have a pc powerful enough to output native 4k.

[jerry3]

Here is the list of projectors.

[todthames]

Thanks. Great information.

[todthames]

In an attempt to save a few dollars I was considering one of the two projectors listed below. The are extremely similar in specs and price and should provide the appropriate throw distance based on the recommendations above regarding the 10' hit and 11' projector mount.

BenQ632ST or BenQ631ST

The only difference I can see from the comparison too on Projector Central are:

MW632ST has a native resolution 1280 X 800 and aspect ratio of 16:10 (WXGA)
MX631ST has native resolution of 1024X768 and aspect ratio of 4:3 (XGA)

Any recommendations for one over the other?

Thanks

[3on3putt]

In an attempt to save a few dollars I was considering one of the two projectors listed below. The are extremely similar in specs and price and should provide the appropriate throw distance based on the recommendations above regarding the 10' hit and 11' projector mount.

BenQ632ST or BenQ631ST

The only difference I can see from the comparison too on Projector Central are:

MW632ST has a native resolution 1280 X 800 and aspect ratio of 16:10 (WXGA)
MX631ST has native resolution of 1024X768 and aspect ratio of 4:3 (XGA)

Any recommendations for one over the other?

Thanks

The 631 has a slightly better resolution of course, but not likely enough to be hugely noticeable to the eye. It also has a few more inches of vertical offset but not a huge difference. The 631 has a slightly longer throw ratio.

What is your screen size and eiling height?

Also, what's your budget?

[todthames]

3on3putt Screen size is 10 X 10. For budget, I'd like to be around $700-$800 if possible.

[3on3putt]

3on3putt Screen size is 10 X 10. For budget, I'd like to be around $700-$800 if possible.

If you're willing to go that high in price, you can get a higher resolution projector.

Why not get the BenQ671ST? It will mount 10 feet away for your setup and give you a resolution of 1440x1080 in 4:3 mode. It retails under $700.

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

What's your ceiling height? If you have some room to work with between the screen and the ceiling you could also check out some other brands that can be had within your budget that will give you the higher definition 1080 resolution.

[todthames]

If you're willing to go that high in price, you can get a higher resolution projector.

Why not get the BenQ671ST? It will mount 10 feet away for your setup and give you a resolution of 1440x1080 in 4:3 mode. It retails under $700.

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

What's your ceiling height? If you have some room to work with between the screen and the ceiling you could also check out some other brands that can be had within your budget that will give you the higher definition 1080 resolution.

Ceiling height is approximately 12'. At 10' away from the screen, it drops down to 10.5' as a beam runs sideways across the garage that's about 12" wide.

[3on3putt]

Ceiling height is approximately 12'. At 10' away from the screen, it drops down to 10.5' as a beam runs sideways across the garage that's about 12" wide.

So yeah, that higher resolution BenQ would work just fine then. You may even be able to mount it on the crossbeam.

This Optoma is within your budget and will get you more brightness than the BenQ. Will mount 6'8'' away. It has a 14 inch vertical offset which will work in your favor because you can mount it closer to the ceiling to get it even more out of the way.

https://www.projectorcentral.com/Optoma-GT1080HDR-projection-calculator-pro.htm

I paid $900 new for this Infocus that would also work well for you. Even more brightness than the Optoma with the same mounting distance and height.

https://www.projectorcentral.com/InFocus-IN138HDST-projection-calculator-pro.htm

This InFocus has similar specs (just a little less bright) and retails for under $500.

https://www.projectorcentral.com/InFocus-IN128HDSTx-projection-calculator-pro.htm

This Optoma was really popular back in its hey day. It's discontinued so a used one will only be a few hundred bucks.

https://www.projectorcentral.com/Optoma-GT1080-projection-calculator-pro.htm

It's cousin the Darbee =

https://www.projectorcentral.com/Optoma-GT1080Darbee-projection-calculator-pro.htm

Another InFocus =

https://www.projectorcentral.com/InFocus-Genesis_IN118BBST-projection-calculator-pro.htm

What I'm getting at here is that you don't have to settle for a lower resolution with your budget. You can easily go 1080 in your price range. You have some nice high ceilings so that gives you a lot of options since vertical offset won't be much of a concern.

What software will you be running?

[Dax]

Great advice on a possible projector. Only thing I will add is that Benq was selling refurbs of that projector at a great price not that long ago. Also, GungHoGolf is selling this projector at a good price as well.

[todthames]

So yeah, that higher resolution BenQ would work just fine then. You may even be able to mount it on the crossbeam.

This Optoma is within your budget and will get you more brightness than the BenQ. Will mount 6'8'' away. It has a 14 inch vertical offset which will work in your favor because you can mount it closer to the ceiling to get it even more out of the way.

https://www.projectorcentral.com/Optoma-GT1080HDR-projection-calculator-pro.htm

I paid $900 new for this Infocus that would also work well for you. Even more brightness than the Optoma with the same mounting distance and height.

https://www.projectorcentral.com/InFocus-IN138HDST-projection-calculator-pro.htm

This InFocus has similar specs (just a little less bright) and retails for under $500.

https://www.projectorcentral.com/InFocus-IN128HDSTx-projection-calculator-pro.htm

This Optoma was really popular back in its hey day. It's discontinued so a used one will only be a few hundred bucks.

https://www.projectorcentral.com/Optoma-GT1080-projection-calculator-pro.htm

It's cousin the Darbee =

https://www.projectorcentral.com/Optoma-GT1080Darbee-projection-calculator-pro.htm

Another InFocus =

https://www.projectorcentral.com/InFocus-Genesis_IN118BBST-projection-calculator-pro.htm

What I'm getting at here is that you don't have to settle for a lower resolution with your budget. You can easily go 1080 in your price range. You have some nice high ceilings so that gives you a lot of options since vertical offset won't be much of a concern.

What software will you be running?

My plan is to get TGC2019 - I have a laptop that can run it, somewhere in between minimum and recommended specs. I also plan to mount a BenQ 27" monitor on the wall so it can be seen from the hitting mat.

[3on3putt]

TGC19 has amazing graphics. Go with something HD and get the most out of the experience while still staying within your budget.

[todthames]

Based on all of our communication, I'm leaning towards BenQ TH671ST Projector.

[Opedog16]

todthames ,
I just got "off" that SkyTrak waitlist a month ago. So nice to not have to stress about that aspect any longer. lol. While waiting (ordered just after thanksgiving 2020) I spent time revamping my basement to turn it into a sim.

I ended up going with a BenQ myself. Got it off Amazon for $650.
Amazon.com: BenQ MW632ST WXGA Short Throw Projector | 3200 Lumens | 3D | 10W Speaker | Keystone | 1.2X Zoom: Electronics

It's actually billed as a golf sim projector. Not that it is super duper by projection standards, but if you're on a bit of a budget (as I was..) and were already fretting about the cost of the launch monitor, hitting mats, screens, and in my case, a gaming laptop, then dropping another 1k on a projector was a tough pill to swallow.

If you're a video/audio geek and are really into 4k, high speeds etc. then you may prefer to go higher on the scale of projectors. But for the money and a $20 ceiling mount off Amazon, I have zero complaints about my BenQ.

A short throw is needed so that you're not standing in the projection path and creating a shadow on your screen, obviously. I mounted my projector right above where my hitting mat is. My mat is not fancy by any case ($75 off Amazon) but it will do for now. It does slide on my carpeted floor and I just readjust it every few hits. ) Frankly, I like being able to move it so I can hit off the tee spot as needed, adjust it to a fresh surface for fairways shots, etc.)

My hitting surface is approx 10' from my impact screen. My screen is 10' wide and 8' tall. No issues with bounce back from the screen at all.

After a month I'm finding my setup is still going through changes and what works in my mind doesn't work in reality. Of course, I hadn't found this forum until most of my sim was installed.. go figure. You're asking all the right questions!!!