Short throw projector

[Tatguy]

Ok I purchased the narrowboat for my daughter to use at uni were are in process of refit and it's time to think about tv

So my question is does anyone use a projector in there boat?

I'm thinking led low power and her boat has portholes and only one large window in galley so with light being the way it is in there she could use for tv and uni work with projector used as monitor

Anyway thoughts and insight most welcome

Tat

[NB Lola]

My daughter is at uni and she does not bother with a tv, best ask her and possibly wait until settled?

[DHutch]

I have not used one, but I have been temped by the compact LED projectors as a TV replacement to allow infrequent watching without the large flatscreen currently dominating my living room.

 

Obviously you get what you pay for, and I dont know about durability either, but having had a very small play with one at a airport duty free they can certainly pack a punch for the price.

 

 

Daniel

[Tatguy]

Thanks for the replies

She wants to use for tv and work/studies I was just wondering how it would be in a narrowboat really

[Jak]

I'd only comment that we have had a son and stepson at Uni and both have used laptops for everything. And no TV license needed so long as not watching TV live or using Iplayer. Both considered tellys but decided not to bother...

[mattlad]

A friend of mine has has a compact projector in his camper van. When he showed it to me he hadn't had the chance to mount it properly (or the screen for that matter) but we had a quick play with it one evening after meeting up for a curry and it seemed pretty good.

 

I'll try to remember to ask him about it at the next curry night.

[Jambo]

You don't need a particularly short throw projector if you project along the length of the boat and have the screen stretched across the width. You can get ultra short throw projectors that you can sit on the floor and fire up to a screen just a foot or so away - they have some clever lens that bends the light quite severely - but the quality generally isn't that great for the cost.

 

We picked up a screen off ebay for not very much that we roll up when not in use but when stretched across the (widebeam) boat it gives us about a 2m diagonal viewing area from about 2.5m away. The hifi speakers are mounted on shelves at the front on either side firing backwards so the sound comes from behind the screen. We use a full size projector which is great but is power hungry (somewhere between 200W and 300W) so it's not ideal for most people - we use it when running the generator in winter and off batteries in summer as we have plenty of excess solar. I'd love to have a full HD LED projector of a decent brightness with sub-100W power consumption but they were just too expensive when I looked a couple of years ago.

 

I'd exercise caution when buying the little LED ones. There is a HUGE range of crappy imported projectors with performance that bears no relation to the spec that's described in the ad (especially the resolution and brightness). The adage "if it sounds to good to be true etc etc..." definitely applies in this market.