AWOL Vision LTV 3500 Pro Ultra Short Throw

[Bill Seipel]

https://awolvision.com/products/4k-3...r-ltv-3500-pro

Wondering if anyone has experience with these ultra low throw projectors. I know they're typically used in home theater but wondering how these would fare on a smaller (than 25x12) screen.

I think there's a rebate on these on Amazon.

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[Frank Cox]

You won't be able to play movies from the major studios since that projector doesn't have all of the security razzmatazz that they require before they'll issue a key to play it.

[Marcel Birgelen]

Those things are designed for screens of a diameter of about 150" at the max, so on a 25ft wide screen this would look terribly washed out and probably not able to fill the screen at all. And like Frank already indicated: No DCI compliancy, no way to play any recent studio releases via DCP.

[Bill Seipel]

Those things are designed for screens of a diameter of about 150" at the max, so on a 25ft wide screen this would look terribly washed out and probably not able to fill the screen at all. And like Frank already indicated: No DCI compliancy, no way to play any recent studio releases via DCP.

All true. I was really considering this for 'special use' like programming a "game night" and hooking a laptop up to it. But that's an awfully expensive projector for 'game night'. They claim that it does not wash out in a lit room.

[Marcel Birgelen]

If you use high-gain screens at limited sizes, then it will still be "acceptable" with average lights on in the room. Still, your average movie screen will be too large and the short throw lens won't be capable of throwing a sufficiently big picture on screen.

But why can't you use an existing DCI projector for "game night"? We've been using that for years now. We amp up the light level to max and just keep some ambient room lightning on. Works pretty fine. We keep a HDFury Vertex handy to some HDMI magic if necessairy.

[Mark Gulbrandsen]

All it would be good for is a lobby projector to play trailers. Trailers are not keyed, but there have been a few exceptions to that in the past...
BTW: I have driven past your theater... way back in the 1980's I used to do service for a Chicago area Theater Supply if their tech was ill, and once in a while they'd send me to the GKC Theaters in Peoria and Galesburg. Went through your town on the way to Galesburg and filled up the van... Don't even know if GKC is still around or not... I do know that Kearsotes is, but that was a different brother in the Kerasotes family.

[Devin McNamara]

Most DCI projectors should have at least a DVI input for alternative content. Usually selected by the push of a button or executing a certain macro. GDC and Doremi media blocks both also have HDMI inputs. But they can be a bit of a pain to call upon. Depending on the game console or PC, you should be able to use its optical out to the sound tower if your audio processor has one. PC users that are also electronic engineers can fashion an adapter to use the computer’s multichannel analog outputs to the processor’s multi analog in that most theaters no longer use.

[Bill Seipel]

If you use high-gain screens at limited sizes, then it will still be "acceptable" with average lights on in the room. Still, your average movie screen will be too large and the short throw lens won't be capable of throwing a sufficiently big picture on screen.

But why can't you use an existing DCI projector for "game night"? We've been using that for years now. We amp up the light level to max and just keep some ambient room lightning on. Works pretty fine. We keep a HDFury Vertex handy to some HDMI magic if necessairy.

My concern was related to having game players and the MC on the stage. With the projector doing its thing, the folks on stage would be in the path of the projector. Was hoping to do a real looking game show & draw a crowd.

[Bill Seipel]

All it would be good for is a lobby projector to play trailers. Trailers are not keyed, but there have been a few exceptions to that in the past...
BTW: I have driven past your theater... way back in the 1980's I used to do service for a Chicago area Theater Supply if their tech was ill, and once in a while they'd send me to the GKC Theaters in Peoria and Galesburg. Went through your town on the way to Galesburg and filled up the van... Don't even know if GKC is still around or not... I do know that Kearsotes is, but that was a different brother in the Kerasotes family.

Small world Mark! Our theater has gone through just a handful of owners in 100 years. Ed & Vivian Hahn owned it from the 1930's until 1979. Vern Reynolds owned it from 1979 to 2016. Now a group of about 40 investors own the Palace Theater in Elmwood.

I remember GKC but it looks like that name no longer exists in central IL. GQT is the closest (GQT Willow Knolls in Peoria) I am "new" to the theater biz in central IL but I'm sure our theater manager knows a lot of names you know.

Great forum guys. Glad to be here.

[Mark Gulbrandsen]

Yea... I remember Vern... I did a few calls at one of his theaters, might have been somewhere near Gibson City, as I also serviced the Drive in at Gibson City. All this goes way back...

[Marcel Birgelen]

My concern was related to having game players and the MC on the stage. With the projector doing its thing, the folks on stage would be in the path of the projector. Was hoping to do a real looking game show & draw a crowd.

What we've done in the past in those cases is only using the non-obstructed part of the screen. How much that is, in your particular case and if it still makes sense, is obviously hard to judge. On the other hand, an MC or comentator blocking the view all day also isn't optimal, even if the picture is projected behind him. I made a preset where the picture was realigned to only hit the "safe zone" and we even did go so far as to mask part of the window in the booth to mostly avoid hitting the people on stage directly with the light from the projector.

Also, you seem to have a stage in front of your screen. Do those people need to be on-stage all the time? Isn't there enough room besides the stage? Looking at someone behind a computer or console isn't that exciting anyways and the commenter can also take place in the front rows of the crowd for a while... just thinking...

[Marco Giustini]

They claim that it does not wash out in a lit room.

When it comes to consumer AV equipment those claims can be pretty exaggerated.
Surprisingly, reviews of this projector seem to confirm those numbers - say more around 3000 lumens if you don't want 10.000 Kelvin of colour temperature Still a lot.

Anything washes out in a lit room on a white screen. The clue in my statement is "white screen"