Projectors vs. HDTVs

[EWMunson39]

So, for about 10 years now, we have been running a projection system that sends our computer signal (VGA) to a scanner, and from there, to 2 50" rear-projection TVs for the congregation, and 2 32" CRTs on the front pew facing the stage. Again, these were purchased about 10 years ago, so HD didn't exist. We have already upgraded our media computer to be up-to-date for at least the next 5 years (HA) - HDMI, etc. Everything is working just fine as-is at the moment (including our scanner which currently has a Frankenstein-like exterior power supply. However, we of course want to upgrade our displays as well. As always, we must keep our budget as low as possible, which leads me to my questions:

It seems as though replacing the TVs with 55"+ HDTVs would be a much more economical choice than any projector system we could use (our sanctuary is quite bright and would need a high-lumen projector, we would of course need to mount them, and we would need screens). Any thoughts on that?

Second, if we did go with the HDTVs, would we have any need for the scanner anymore?

I appreciate any and all thoughts here

[Esoteric]

What is the distance from the screen to the furthest viewer is the best place to begin.

[Brad Weber]

Originally Posted by EWMunson39

It seems as though replacing the TVs with 55"+ HDTVs would be a much more economical choice than any projector system we could use (our sanctuary is quite bright and would need a high-lumen projector, we would of course need to mount them, and we would need screens). Any thoughts on that?

As Mike asked, the distance from the display to the furthest viewer is the primary factor in determining how large an image you need. The practicality of addressing location, mounting, power, etc. would also be a major factor.

Keep in mind that because of the differences in aspect ratio you cannot directly compare diagonal screen sizes for 4:3 SD and widescreen displays. What really matters is the height and a widescreen display will have a shorter height than a 4:3 display of the same diagonal size. For example, if you 50" diagonal displays are 4:3 they would have a 30" high image and a 30" high image equates to a about a 61" diagonal 16:9 aspect ratio widescreen display. That 30" high image would typically be effective for anywhere from an 15' to maybe a 25' viewing distance, depending on the content being displayed.

For the 32" CRTs, maintaining the same image height would require about a 39" diagonal 16:9 display.

Originally Posted by EWMunson39

Second, if we did go with the HDTVs, would we have any need for the scanner anymore?

I'm not sure what a 'scanner' is in this application. Might you mean a scaler or scan converter or even a scan doubler? Can you identify the actual model you are referencing?

Since you mentioned upgrading the computer to support the future, it seems to make sense that if you replace any displays you also think about the future, especially if you get into pulling new cable.

[EWMunson39]

The distance from the screens to the furthest viewer is around 40'. We have discussed that we'd need to get a larger widescreen to match the height of what we're currently using. But, even so, a 65" HDTV is about a third to half the price of the high-lumen projector we would need. For the smaller televisions, I actually would prefer 40" flats on the back wall, instead of them taking up space on the front pew as they are now. It's about 30' front he stage to the back wall.

By scanner, I do mean scan converter to transfer the VGA signal to a Coax signal. My hope is that, with having an HDMI out on the computer, we could skip the converter and just use HDMI cables.

[Esoteric]

1. HDMI cables are only good to about 30' without a signal booster.
2. For 40' at text only my general rule is divide by 8. So you need an image 5' (60") tall. On a 16:9 display that gives you a 121" LCD display.
3. A 65" LCD display is only 31" high. Beyond 20' that will become difficult to see, even if you only do white text on a black background.

On the other hand, a 5x8 screen in a high ambient light situation would require a 5000 lumen projector or so. You can get that for under $2k. You could even look at a high gain screen depending on how the room is laid out.