BenQ W1080P ST HD Projectors

[HarryZ]

As promised, I'm reporting on how my commercial visual installation went using the BenQ HD projectors in a Boeing 777 simulator that will be used for entertainment purposes.

I've never seen a clearer, crisper projector image in a simulator to date.  The 1920 x1080 resolution spread over an approx 180 degree viewing area on a curved screen was excellent.

But using this kind of projector does have some drawbacks to overcome.  The first is the throw distance required from screen to projector.  Fortunately this sim had a lot of room and I was able to place the projectors  8 1/2 feet back and almost 8 1/2 feet high up to obtain the largest image I could.  Most home owners wouldn't be able to do that.

The throw distances on all the charts that I looked at prior to the installation weren't as accurate as I thought they would be.  And there was a challenge placing the left and right units at the proper distances in order to get the proper site lines.   Fortunately the Warpalizer software was able to fix a lot of that problem.  By no means perfect but the results were better than I thought before I started.

The viewing area out the 777 windows was huge compared to the 737.  Probably doubled. When we did a short test flight my friend and I, both experienced simmers, ended up with short dizzy spells when the aircraft was banked.  Interesting to say the least.

So, in summary, if you have the room and prefer projectors over televisions, the HD projector is the way to go.  My home sim uses 1280 x 800 ST projectors which I thought were decent...but when compared to the HD units, it's no contest.

[Sudden81]

Any film? Pictures?

[HarryZ]

Any film? Pictures?

I'm waiting to get permission from the company to use the few pics I took.  I'm hoping to get some video when I go back towards the end of the month for some tweaking.

[tinker27]

This is what i need to see . have yet to see decent enough footage too make my mind up .

[HarryZ]

uFly Simulator of Mississauga, ON had the grand opening for their B777 simulator this past Saturday. There were over 100 people in attendance with Mayor Hazel McCallion performing the ribbon cutting ceremony.

Flight Deck Solutions built the simulator and I installed the visual system using BenQ W 1080 ST HD projectors. While providing the best visuals I've seen with projectors, there is a compromise to using these units.  Due to the limitations of the throw, I could not get the full 180 degree view that I wanted but we knew this was an issue going into the project. The owners wanted the HD look and were not interested in the 1280 x 800  projectors.

Here are a few pics I took but I'm anything but a good photographer.  While the difference between 1920 and 1280 resolution can be seen in person, I'm not sure how noticeable it is with these pics.  I hope to get a decent video of the sim when there is far less commotion going on without the last minute construction that took place.

[Flying_Fox]

Looks impressive Harry! 
Could you share some visuals details? What is the warping solution? What is the limitation of the throw? Projecting angle less than 60 degrees, or image distortions at the edges?

Nick

[HarryZ]

Looks impressive Harry! 
Could you share some visuals details? What is the warping solution? What is the limitation of the throw? Projecting angle less than 60 degrees, or image distortions at the edges?

Nick

Using Warpalizer I was able to mostly fix the angled  distortion to the extreme left and right views.  But the height of the image at these points was not as high as the rest of the viewing area as we could not move the projectors back far enough. The BenQ 1080 units, even though they are short throw, don't give you the size of image that the 1280 x 800 short throw projectors give.  And we had them almost 9 feet back from the screen! Complicating the issue was the huge size of the 777's windows.  The farther back you moved the sim from the screen, the higher the viewing area you could see. In earlier testing, if we had the sim 8 feet back from the screen, you could see 10 feet up in front of you....far too high for a projector to throw an image.  That is, unless you wanted to pay well over $ 5,000 per unit!

[mickc]

Harry, are you running 2 or 3 projectors?

[XOrionFE]

Looks great Harry.  Even though I love my HD TVs i dont think you could do the 777 any other way but with projectors in oerder to fill those huge windows.  What also never ceases to amaze me is how the folks at FDS can build something as gorgeous as that and in so little time.

Thanks for sharing the pics and experience on the projectors.

Scott

[HarryZ]

Harry, are you running 2 or 3 projectors?

I ran 3 projectors on that install.

[HarryZ]

Looks great Harry.  Even though I love my HD TVs i dont think you could do the 777 any other way but with projectors in oerder to fill those huge windows.  What also never ceases to amaze me is how the folks at FDS can build something as gorgeous as that and in so little time.

Thanks for sharing the pics and experience on the projectors.

Scott

Scott,

In speaking with my projector supplier you can fill an image that large...IF you want to spend the money. They have HD projectors that have several different arrays and configurations of lenses and you can get almost anything you want in image size display...for a price!  But the starting price for something like that is $ 5,000 and up (each projector) which puts it beyond the reach of most simmers, even  for the commercial entertainment level that this installation was done.

And yes, this 777 by FDS is beautiful.  I've taken a couple of short test flights in it and the level of avionics and feel compared to my home FDS 737-800 is about a light year ahead!

[HarryZ]

Here is a news story about Mississauga's 80 plus Mayor who cut the ribbon to open the B777 sim for uFly and then was given the opportunity to fly the sim.

http://www.mississauga.com/news-story/4178061-hazel-takes-to-the-skies-sort-of-/

[Sso]

Looks really great.

Any of the Rainbow effect mentioned in various reviews of the BenQ projectors experienced?
How is it w focus on a curved surface - projector optics are designed to focus on a flat screen, so is the image not out of focus when not shooting perpendicular to the screen?

/Stephen Odgaard

[HarryZ]

Looks really great.

Any of the Rainbow effect mentioned in various reviews of the BenQ projectors experienced?
How is it w focus on a curved surface - projector optics are designed to focus on a flat screen, so is the image not out of focus when not shooting perpendicular to the screen?

/Stephen Odgaard

I didn't see any of the Rainbow effect when I took a couple of short flights and I haven't been called by the business who handle the sim with any problems...yet!

To use projectors on a curved screen you need specialized image blending software that handles the positioning of the image as well as the projector overlap area.  I use Warpalizer (I distribute in Canada for Univisual Technologies from Norway/Sweden) which many companies around the world use, not only for flight simulation but other high end applications. It does a pretty good job!