Projector recommendations for mobile user

Technology Streaming, AV & Lighting
1

I was asked to find a wireless projector that would:

  1. work whether the throw distance was 10 feet or 20 feet.
  2. in any kind of lighting because some rooms can be darkened while others can’t.
  3. on a wide range of screens because they often don’t know if the screen will be 8 feet or 20 feet.

I can find projectors to meet the above 3 requirements. But their biggest want is wireless. Unfortunately, I’ve found that “wireless” means different things to different vendors.

  • Some mention Bluetooth but only for connecting to speakers
  • Some say WiFi but they mean both devices have to join the same WiFi to share screens but in some places they may not know the WiFi password and therefor can’t join the network… Or sometimes WIFI means the ability to stream through an app or by surfing the web directly from the projector itself. Others mean you can create a wifi connection between the two devices but that since a laptop can’t be connected to two wifi networks at the same time, I assume that once connected the laptop wouldn’t be able to retrieve content from the internet…
  • Some mention connecting phones but some will cast while others require device specific wires.
  • Some menion Miracast, AirPlay or Happycast (technology with which I have no experience.)

They will want to connect iphones, maybe iPADs and definitely a PC or Apple laptop devices.

Can anyone recommend a projector that will allow for a wireless connection between the laptop and the projector. Our local A/V company said that wireless connections between projector/laptop are problematic and unreliable and most require a third party device. He suggests using an HDMI connection.

2

Epson PowerLite 1781W ?

Bump to 1785W if you want Miracast + Auto-keystone.

3

K -

Your A/V companies recommendations are spot on. Wireless connections for projection are problematic at the best of times, and are essentially guaranteed to fail in a mobile environment.

To double down on the above, to have a chance at reliable wireless projection you need to be in an environment where you ENTIRELY control the RF environment (wifi, walkies, surveillance, phones, AVL, etc). You then need great wifi equipment which is masterfully deployed, over which you lay a solution like airplay to actually deliver the video. This combination is hard to accomplish in a fixed environment which you own, and functionally impossible to do in any other scenario.

The best you can do for a wireless projector is to acquire one which allows you to natively play back slideshows or the like from a thumb drive attached to the unit itself and let people use the projectors remote to click through said slideshow.

For the use case you described, what I would recommend is to procure a durable, bright projector from a reputable maker which has at least 2 HDMI inputs (so if one gets broken there is still another…) and then intentionally build a way to store, transport, and provide connectivity to it.

To me, that would look like a pelican case of sufficient size to hold the projector and the cables. In it I would have the following, all of good quality and durability:

  • Projector
  • Projector Power Cable
  • Projector Remote
  • Remote Batteries
  • HDMI Cables in 3, 6, and 12’ lengths.
  • VGA → HDMI
  • microHDMI → HDMI
  • DVI → HDMI
  • DP → HDMI
  • mDP → HDMI
  • USB-C/DP-AltMode → HDMI
  • MHL-USB->HDMI
  • Lightning->HDMI

I would construct the pelican case in such a way as each of these items has individual and discrete storage slots/cubbies which are labeled.

In this way it is easy to find what you need, to put things back where they belong, and to instantly see what might be missing.

I would have an email address on the lid of the case that states “if an adapter is missing, no worries - let us know and we’ll get a replacement to you right away” - and then make sure everyone knows your serious. I might even stock a few spare of the common types.

If you do this right, you will have equipped your users to have the easiest possible time connecting whatever they might have and reliably getting a signal out in the least amount of time - and that’s what people are (typically) really worried about.

-Karl P

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