Advice on LED projectors

[badsequel]

Hi,

I'm drooling over an Acer K330 LED projector.
Small, affordable and should work fine for MapTool during game sessions.

Anyone have experience with it? Or perhaps experience with another small projector worth taking a look at..

Thanx
-Bad

[badsequel]

Asus released a led projector.

http://www.asus.com/Display/Projectors/P1/

Looking forward to testing it. Should arrive next week.

[sasigns]

You know I have been looking at this as well. I think a projector system table would rock! Are you thinking a below style or above style system

[badsequel]

I think I will go for an above table system. Haven't figured it all out yet but as soon as the unit arrives I will fire up google sketchup and start planning.

I want the stup to be portable as my round table sessions are always at a friends house. My group live far apart so we gather at the place that is geographically in the middle between us. Dragging a table with me is out of he question, and there is no way it would fit in my Toyota Augo anyway..

Also I would like the setup to as unintrusive as possible. That means I have to fiure out a way keep the scaffolding holding the projector from blocking sight for me or the players.

I will post the results and design suggestions here. Maybe someone has some good ideas.

[badsequel]

wow.. that is one small projector.

First test looks good. Just projected maptool on my living room table. The room is brightly lit and the picture is great with just a sheet of paper on the table.

I rediscovered a tripod I had lying around. The head on that thing can be tilted so the lens projects straight down. Tipping it upwards a few degrees from straight down, then tweaking the keystone settings a little got me a pretty good result. Attaching the projector to the tripod was easy - it comes with a screw hole underneath for just that.. \O/

I think I'll start with just a flat base where I can attach the legs of the tripod and a small weight to keep it stable and the legs as close to each other as possible. If I extend the legs out to max someone is bound to trip over the legs when getting more drinks and topple the whole thing... So I need to keep the legs close.

All I need now - I think - is some nice surface to project on. I'm thinking to just use a thin piece of birch plywood, sand it and apply a coat or two of white paint. If I can get hold of some white vinyl I could glue that to the plate or just use as an overlay.

This really looks promising!

edit:spelling

[Jagged]

This really looks promising!

I demand pictures

[badsequel]

This really looks promising!

I demand pictures

Pictures or it didn't happen, right?? =)

I'm out of town. Will post some pictures on sunday when I'm back home.

[JamzTheMan]

I have been using a top down set up for over a year now and have tried several surfaces and the best so far and current is black out cloth. I found this tid bit out on another site. It is what they use on back of curtains, one side is black out free and the other white and runs around 5$ a square yard.

I used fabric glue to glue it to a masonite board, and then cut a square out of black felt although i would use something else next time as the felt is hard to clean.

[badsequel]

I have been using a top down set up for over a year now and have tried several surfaces and the best so far and current is black out cloth. I found this tid bit out on another site. It is what they use on back of curtains, one side is black out free and the other white and runs around 5$ a square yard.

I used fabric glue to glue it to a masonite board, and then cut a square out of black felt although i would use something else next time as the felt is hard to clean.

Good tip. Thanx!

So far I've tried the white plywood surface and it works fine. I'll check that out for sure. The vinyl I've seen at the local stores I suspect has a surface that is a tad too shiny so I am a bit hesitant to buying it.

edit:spelling

[badsequel]

Here are some pictures of the little beauty during test setup.

I took an old desk lamp I had lying around and added a simple wooden construction to attach the projector to the lamp.
The thing is light enough for the lamp stand to handle the weight.

I have since made another stand to get a bit more height but sadly I have no pictures of that, nor any in play pictures.
In total I have been through 3 stands so far: tripod, lamp stand and now a home made construction..

All 3 setups works great, though.

Here are some pics of the "old desk lamp" stand
Pic 1: https://www.dropbox.com/s/sfulpumkoxtfb ... 211321.jpg
Pic 2: https://www.dropbox.com/s/754abkewo9bkb ... 211213.jpg

[Jagged]

Two months late but we forgive you

[RPTroll]

Amazon has that for $461. Is that about what you paid? (if you don't mind me asking)

[badsequel]

I paid about 490$ for it.

[hyperfish21]

I am on my third projector (well 4th if you include a faulty one) and the urge to upgrade has bit me before a bulb has died on me.

At your budget i would contemplate second hand , you can get some good deals here.