Safety and security

[ed]

Our church is thinking about getting a projector and the other stuff to go with it. But two things have always troubled us, safety and security.

How safe are the ceiling mounts? and also. where do you keep the lapotp/desktop?? i guess if it was a laptop it could be taken home, but im thinking of using a desktop (for when the live video backgrounds come in!!!!). How can i make sure, either its not visible, and not stealable??

any suggestions would help me greatly,

Thanks in advance,
Ed

[Williamting]

Ed,
It is quite difficult to give a reasonable advise if I don't know the structure of the church. However, the other factor you would like to consider is cost. If you have a very high celing, cost of installation and maintenance will be high. So this is something you need careful consideration.

If you have a low ceiling, ceiling mount is definitely feasible. It is safe as long as you have proper bracket made and properly screwed onto the celing. Many projectors have ceiling mount bracket for sale. Before I forget, make sure you buy a projector which support ceiling mount.

Another possibility is "side wall" mounting. For this to work, make sure that the projector support horizontal and verticle keystone. Please do read the spec before you part your money.

Where to put your multimedia equipment, eg, pc, etc. I afraid you have to make the decision yourself. I saw many people put all the equipment together, ie, mixer, pc, etc in a "fenced up" area in another corner of the church, eg, up-stairs, back, or even the front of the church. To make the PC secure, you can always lock it up in the cabinet in the fenced-up area.

I suggest you don't worry too much about security - buy an insurance and trust God.

[MaFt]

buy an insurance and trust God.

surely just trust God? insurance shouldn't be needed but that's another thread!!

MaFt

[Williamting]

We only trust God here. Haven't bought any insurance so far although the leadership did suggest!

[Christian]

Well we use a desktop PC on a wheelable trolley, with a monitor bolted down on the top of it. Then we lock the trolley away in a cupboard when it's not in use.

We use a projector that hangs underneath the balcony on one side of the chapel. As William said, keystoning can be really crucial in some installations. I can't quite get my head around how it does it, but somehow our projector bends the image so it's perfectly rectangular even though it's at a really quite a sharp angle in the horzontal and vertical plane. It just depends where the possible mounting points are in your building...

[MaFt]

I can't quite get my head around how it does it, but somehow our projector bends the image so it's perfectly rectangular even though it's at a really quite a sharp angle in the horzontal and vertical plane. It just depends where the possible mounting points are in your building...

'tis magic, i tell thee, magic it be! seriously though, they are pretty clever things

[Peter_in_Christ]

In my University last year two ceiling mount Projectors were stolen from our lecture room, they were mounted on low celings and broken from the brackets even though they were padlocked too!.

What did department then do? bought two new projectors, remounted them, security pin code the project, also as an Electrical & Electronic engineering department: mounted an alarm to it (could have been someones project:-)). They haven't been stolen again since...

Peter

[ed]

[quote="Christian"]:D

I can't quite get my head around how it does it, but somehow our projector bends the image so it's perfectly rectangular even though it's at a really quite a sharp angle in the horzontal and vertical plane. [/quote]

It uses gravity. Inside is a little gadget that works out what angle it is to the ground, then, all it has to do, is either shrink the bottom (or top, or sides) so that it looks right or (and this is if you fork out something like £7,00!!!) but the lens moves, up and down, so that the lens stays 90degrees to the floor. pretty ingenious!!!

[ChrisClark]

Hmmm... The cheaper projectors probably use digital correction rather then changing the projector lens angle...

(http://www.projectorpeople.com/tutorial ... ection.asp - if you're interested)

What I know is that we've got an obliquely positioned projector screen.. (Why O why can't they design completely square churches!) and have to tilt the projector in awful ways to try and get a decent picture. I also don't think people know how to use keystoning either

Still - can't complain - I like digital projectors so much more then OHPs

[danparkes]

Probably a bit late in offering this post but hopefully it will help others so here goes...

Our church uses an InFocus LP500 projector mounted below one of the roof beams using a ceiling mount. It is about 30 feet up and couple of us put it in place ourselves after hiring some scaffoling from the local tool hire place. It has been in place for about 2 years now and has only been moved once when the electricians were in redoing our light fittings and it didn't fall (in fact it slightly improved the image we were getting so I've not been up to sort it)!

The projector is only 2000 Lumens (the most we could afford at the time) and would strongly recommend an output much greater than this. 2000 Lumens still works fine though but is a little washed out in summer but we do have blinds on the windows which help when the sun is really bright.

We use a laptop computer (Dell Latitude D510 replaces our very old Toshiba - didn't like the keybaord layout anyway) which the AV team look after so is not kept on the premises. This is great as it allows the techie for Sunday (or any other time) to prepare stuff at home rather than in the church.

As our projector is a long way from where we run the computer the VGA would would probably not cope unless we brought an amplifier. TO get around this we have degraded our signal to composite video so we can send the signal to the projector and two TVs located in other rooms in the church. This then allows the parent and toddler group to not only hear the service but also to see the song words and video clips when we use them. We also use a video camera when there are baptisms to enable everyone to see what is going on. This is much better than the mirror we used to have above the baptistry. It has proved very useful for a couple of funerals were we did a video link to to them to enable them to be used as overflow rooms. Because the signal is composite we can show DVDs and Videos without having to change settings on the projector.

The system also as the ability to run another compuetr form the front of church i.e. when visiting speakers bring their own, which we can then put throught the system enabling them to control it themselves.

We use a matrix switch box from Maplins (great place) to swith the inputs between computer, DVD/Video combo unit, camera and blackout. It also allows videos etc to be cued up using the AV desk TV while projecting songs etc. This is great when lots of DVDs have irritating menu's.

The only downside to the system (apart from the laptop) is that it is static and cannot be used in other venues - but then this is probably a blessing!

Hope this info helps.