It’s that time of year when college basketball fans thoughts will soon be turning to their brackets and hopes of their team making the championship round. Even though early rounds and regionals are spread across the country, most of your customers won’t be making it to many games.
Turn this unfortunate fact into an opportunity and give your customers the next best thing to courtside seats. A projector and screen combination can offer an enviable game watching experience with a price per square inch of viewing that can’t be touched by standard LED and LCD TVs. We’ve provided a few stats below to help you coach customers when they’re trying to select equipment to ensure a slam-dunk viewing experience.
Projectors
A good video projector is the first step to transforming an average living room or man cave into a championship arena. When it comes to athletics, bigger is almost always better, which is why projectors are so popular with sports fans. Retail prices for projectors can range from several hundred dollars to a few thousand, and there are several factors that determine the best projector for your customer. Room size and location is extremely important. The distance between the projector and screen determines picture size where the greater the distance, the larger the picture. How much room a projector needs can also vary for smaller rooms with less than 10 feet between the projector and screen. For these instances, a short throw projector like the Optoma X3166ST would be a great recommendation for your customers.
For projector brightness, the ambient light in the room will determine how bright the projector needs to be. The more ambient light coming from windows or other sources, the higher output (measured in lumens) the projector will need to present an acceptable image. There is a trade-off between picture size and picture brightness, as the picture will become brighter but smaller as the projector is moved closer to the screen.
Lastly, resolution is the MVP specification for projectors. Just like shopping for a TV, the higher the resolution, the better and clearer the image will be. For customers who want very large pictures, the Optoma EH300 is a good recommendation as it delivers true 1920 x 1080 HD resolution.
Screens
Images are only as good as their canvas, which is why the projector screen is so important. Help your customers narrow down what size they need by asking where the projector will be housed. If it’s being used permanently, like in a man cave, an electric screen, like the Elite Sereen ELECTRIC100V is a great choice. They can be installed in or on the ceiling and use a small motor to raise or lower the screen. A pull down screen, like Pyle’s PRJSM1006, offers the same permanent installation without the cool factor (or expense) of the electric motor. A fixed frame is another permanent solution that attaches to the wall, similar to a picture frame. For a more portable screen, a floor stand, or a tripod screen is a good option. MGM’s inflatable screen is a great option for outdoor viewing parties.
The material for projector screens is also a key factor in image quality. Screen surfaces are specified by the amount of “gain” they provide. A screen with a gain greater than 1.0, increases the brightness of the projected image. Inversely a gain less than 1.0 will absorb light. Rooms with ambient light will benefit from a screen with significant gain and darker rooms may have a better viewing experience from a screen with less gain.
Audio
Great audio is key to having a great viewing experience. Some projectors are equipped with speakers, but they’re generally not loud enough for a raucous crowd watching their team fight for a championship. Since we’re so conditioned to expect our primary audio to be coming from the location of the picture, there are multiple ways your customers can incorporate audio to solve this dilemma. One, simple way to add better audio is with a speaker bar. The Sherwood S-9 accepts three different HDMI inputs and offers impressive audio for its size. A step above a speaker bar is the full home theater system in a box, like the RCA RT2911, with five speakers, a subwoofer and a receiver. This system serves as a solid audio solution, but will require a little more setup. For the ultimate audio experience, customers can diagram their own play by handpicking a team of speakers and matching receiver.
We’ve given you a leg up with the technical stats mentioned above but how do you use the information in a practical retail application? Well, we’ve got some advice for that too. Since projector screen setups can require a good deal of precious floor space, it may not be practical for you to demonstrate the full range of options you can provide. Make it easier for your customers to make a purchase by bundling items together at different price points for different applications as they take the guesswork out of exactly what components your customers will need. And don’t forget to include all of the cables and mounting hardware and other necessary accessories for the complete DIY package. If you offer installation service, provide your customers bundle pricing with the installation fee included.
Another big selling point with a projector/screen setup is the lower price per square inch compared to big TVs. Why not create a price per square inch comparison poster and put it next to your projector display, or pass out brochures explaining the difference in price and performance between these two components? Have you contacted the sports bars and restaurants in your community? It’s a market that you shouldn’t ignore. Championship seasons are some of their busiest times – help them have the biggest brightest viewing experience in town to draw the largest crowds of fans.
Now’s the perfect time to get those basketball nuts warmed up for a Mad March. Projectors are large and in charge, making them the perfect addition for game viewing. A projector setup offers a truly unique experience that dominates any defense an HDTV throws at it. See all of our projectors and accessories here.