Having worked on many theater and
auditorium projects, here's some 'outside' perspective.
as far as having lights on during a projected show there is little to no light ever on if we would be using the
projector again this is not for presentations this is for show effects and or slide shows for talent show.
right now we only really use it during talent show and high school band concerts. mostly because of the horrible quality this produces.
You original comments made it sound like the
current use was limited due to the
image quality. If the the goal of this effort is improving the
image quality then is that the only way the
projector would ever be used? Are you limiting yourself to how you have used it rather than thinking of how it could be used? This also relates to...
...i was wondering , on an public school district of about 8,000 students budget, how expensive and what kind of
projector, cable, and PC should be used to do this.
...but our theater likes our things nice if we have a
speaker coming for presentation things they bring there own
projector.
Any investment, much less the amount, is typically easier to justify if there is broader potential use. At least in my experience, the more you limit the potential use and benefit, the harder it is to justify the investment. Can the school district justify investing in an installed
projector for the space with that then not being able to be used for functions like a
speaker's presentation, for which they would have to bring in a different
projector? If so, you would probably be the first school I have encountered that could do so.
and as far as that goes there should be no reason they need to project the
image that large as our theater with the balcony only seats 900 people.
Our
projector system right now consists of just a standard school room
projector, generally the cheapest
system possible, sitting on a "custom" built stand in front of the balcony seating. this projects the
image about 75' to 100'.
The seating capacity is irrelevant, it is the physical viewing distances, viewing angles,
etc. that matter. If the 75'-100' is at the front of the balcony, I would guess the back of the balcony, which would be the furthest viewer, is then maybe 100'-125' from the
screen and that is the factor, along with the
image content which has not been
identified, that matters most in assessing
screen size, not the seating capacity.
Based on past experience, this sounds like a situation where you may have to present a very strong case for a rather limited use or, more likely, think about the situation as the decision makers likely will in the context of the cost and benefit relative to the school and school district as a whole. At least in my experience, by focusing on one user's specific needs and excluding other possible users you limit the potential benefit to the school. Planning a
system with a broader potential application than just band concerts and talent shows may significantly help in the school district justifying any investment. If you do want to push forward with this as a limited application you may have to present a stronger argument than that is how you like it.