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Ceiling mounted projectors
Hello everyone, so I had an interview today with a cinema I've worked with in the past; they are moving to a new building and working on installations for the projectors. Much to my annoyance, I found out today that of their three cinemas only one has a booth, and the other two are going to be ceiling mounted. I haven't gotten all of the details whether these are ceiling mounted in the auditorium, or elsewhere. Which brings me to my question. How much of a pain is it to work on a ceiling mounted projector if it is mounted in the auditorium?
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Usually a major pain. Any projector should be in a closed box for noise with clean air ventilation and the heat has to be removed - the auditorium air will have a lot of dust etc.
Access has to be considered, maintenance operations may need access to all four sides and the top depending on model.
Then there are the rules. Where I am workers must have training and safety equipment to work much over 8 feet up, I can't recall the exact number. So if it's up very high, ladder access may be disallowed and a scissor lift required to be "legal" since one can't climb a ladder and have a safety harness tied off.
I've seen where a "hush box" is on an inverted scissorlift thing attached to the ceiling and the projector lowers to allow access. That setup is quite expensive and must be approved by an engineer because it suspends equipment over patrons. -
☞So, how tall are you? (lol)Originally posted by J-sun Bailey View Post
I think some of the P-I-T-A factor would be determined by the
installation. Specifically, when work is needed, will the projector 'come down' to you, or will you
have to climb up a ladder or use a scaffold to get to it.
I've never worked with ceiling mounted projectors. But at one location I work at, in addition to a couple
of actual projection booths, they have several of these 'closet booths' (as I call them) which I guess are
sort of a compromise between a full booth and an auditorium mounted projector. The C-B's are just
large enough to hold the server, as well as a rack-mount OPPO player & monitor & a small mic mixer
for alternate content playback & live event support. The projector is enclosed its' own compartment
above the closet, which has ducting for both air conditioning and an exhaust vent to the roof.
I've never had to do any 'real work' on those projectors (SONY 515p's) other than changing bulbs
& air filters, but the projector is mounted on heavy duty rails and slides out quite a bit for access.
I haven't found this arrangement too inconvenient- - and the lighting in the hallway is a lot better
than what's available in the auditoriums, even with the house lights all the way up. The only sort of
negative thing I can say about this arrangement is that it is impossible to see the screen from the
'closet booth' location in the hallway. However, this isn't really too much of an inconvenience when
checking alignment or focus, etc, as this can be accomplished using an i-pad in the auditorium.
A "Closet Booth" & Projector Compartment Above
ClosetProj_1.jpg
The Lens Projects Through A Small Snood
In The Upper Back Wall Of The Auditorium
ClosetProj_2.jpg
The Proj Is On Heavy Duty Rails & Can Slide Out Quite A
Bit For Maintenance Access. And Unlike Most Ceiling
Mounted Projectors, If I Do Fall Off The Ladder- -
It's Less Of A Drop!
ClosetProj_3.jpg
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In new installations I have worked with those https://cinemanext.com/cinemanext-p-...5-silencer-box, they are great because they do have lift so you do everything while is raise down, and just raised back up, do alignment etc and projector is up whole time. Ventilation, power inputs etc, are all in box, including also optional control for box temperature etc. Sound insulation is pretty god, and if you use lasers which doesn't have much fan like xenon you're good. Opposite than that, I know some location where they did made they own boxes but which couldn't be removed, and that is pretty pain to maintenance and work in general, plus, if ventilation is bad a lot of dust can get into it.
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Lifts are all nice and well, but nothing beats the simplicity and efficiency of a real booth. How are you ever going to do proper convergence with a projector in a lift?!Comment
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The lift type is the way I'd go after having done closet installations. Those are a big PIA! Ceiling mounted in my book would have to be laser or forget it.Comment
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Laser solves the lamp change issue but as Marcel points out, it does not address final (mechanical) alignment. I think the boothless booth is a false economy. The mezzanine need not be fancy and so long as the "closet" is large enough to accommodate servicing of the projector, to me, that is better.Comment
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We had a digital boardroom style projector at Mercyhurst. Despite advice from several people, including myself, the boss demanded that it be suspended from the ceiling at the back of the auditorium.
This was a small projector by theater standards but it still weighed in at 85 lb. It took three people on ladders to mount or dismount it. There had to be two people to lift and support the projector while a third person was needed to get it in and out of the quick-release mount. It was an effin' PAIN!
I had to build a special mounting system for it because the existing projector mount wasn't strong enough to support the projector. I had to cut black, iron pipe held together with Cheesborough clamps and steel cables for stays. It took me three days just to install, not to mention a couple-few weeks to design the system and safety test it, before requisitioning and buying all the supplies. When I finally did get everything together, I had to climb up, inside the false ceiling through a 24-in. hatch and pull my tools and everything else up with a bucket and rope. I had to drill into a cement block wall to install screw anchors. I had to climb over and around various beams to attach anchor clamps and cables. All of this had to be done with a portable "trouble light" like auto mechanics, etc., use.
Any time we needed to change the lamp, perform maintenance or troubleshoot a problem, the projector had to be brought down then, of course, put back up again. One time, the lamp even went out in the middle of a show. We had to wait until intermission before we could get out the ladders and tools in order to pull the projector down and fix it. It was a real fluster cluck!
After all that, come to find out, the reason why the boss wanted the projector to be installed in the auditorium was because he wanted people to be able to see the wonderful, new digital projector that he bought! (Facepalm!) If I had been allowed to install that projector in the booth on a proper pedestal, that lamp change could have been done in ten minutes and few people, if any, would have ever known that there was a malfunction.
I hated that freakin' projector and I never want to install another one like it, ever again!
In my opinion, anybody who wants to ceiling mount a theater projector is a nitwit!Comment
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I tough that too. Plus you need extra space for audio rack, automation, nas.....(in multi's one room can serve all). But anyway, i did had same toughs that boothless is false economy, but on some sites they did told me it is way cheaper to bought complete lift, installation etc than to do even small booth.......Originally posted by Steve Guttag View PostComment
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I was in one theater in Omaha that had the racks of amplifiers, automation, servers, etc., behind a glass wall in the lobby. I can't even fathom the amount of cable that was run in that place because it was pre Q-Sys.Comment
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