z4 - Distance from Back Wall?

[ash72]

Hello All

I have been umming and aahing for a number of months and had nearly decided on the Z4 to replace my old Sony HS1. However, the HS1 is currently mounted on a small shelf in the back corner of the room - large window at back centre of room. The HS1 is currently angled up and into the centre to point at the screen, uses digital keystone correction to try and get a more or less rectangular picture on the screen and shoots a nice grey trapezoid of light all over the ceiling.

The major reasons for upgrade were to reduce very obvious chicken wire effect, HD, reduce fan noise and use lens shift to reduce the grey trapezoid. However, just checking the manual for the Z4 and itseems to want 50cm clearance behind the projector and 1m to the right hand side (facing screen).

Does anyone have any experience of mounting this projector on a shelf on a rear wall? Do you really need to maintain those clearances? What happens if you don't? Fan runs faster/noisier? Bulb fails? Whole thing self destructs?

If this one is not recommended, can anyone suggest an alternative that will be happy in that position?

A different position (for the projector) would be very hard to sell, as many months of fiddling, cable laying, trunking, etc would have to be redone.

Thanks

Ash

[Lrrr]

I will have an answer to this either tonight or within a couple of days. Mine is mounted on a shelf which leaves the back fairly close to the back wall and it is currently (v) noisy, though I suspect a faulty fan.

The PJ itself is 30cm deep and you have to leave some space for cables and connectors, so if we do have to leave a large clearance then I would not consider it feasible for shelf mounting, which seems absurd given the target market.

[PJTX100]

Originally Posted by ash72

The HS1 is currently angled up and into the centre to point at the screen, uses digital keystone correction to try and get a more or less rectangular picture on the screen and shoots a nice grey trapezoid of light all over the ceiling.

Does that mean the HS1 has both vertical and horizontal keystone correction?

Because the majority of PJs only have vertical. The Z4 included I think.

[ELV]

Correct PJ, no horizontal correction.

[ash72]

Hello All

Thanks for the replys. I look forward to hearing what you find out Lrrr and what decision you make regarding replacement, if any.

PJTX100

The HS1 only has vertical keystone correction, so the picture on the screen is still a little distorted. I seem to remember the HS2 had both vertical and horizontal correction, but I can't remember if they could both be used at the same time.

I was under the impression that lens shift technology meant that I wouldn't have to use keystone correction. In this case the projector will be mounted off centre in both vertical and horizontal planes. Have I got the wrong end of the stick?

Ash

[paul1967]

My Z4 is sitting on a shelf above my head just down from the ceiling 6ft off the floor and 6" away from the wall used a kitchen work surface as the shelf. Throw 11ft 96" wide screen.
paul1967

[Lrrr]

Ash, see my posts here Q about fan noise levels on the new 720P LCD projectors (Z4 etc)


I tried moving the Z4 back and forwards on the shelf, leaving between 2 and 6 inches of space between it and the wall, and found no discernable difference in noise levels, which indicates the cooling function was working efficiently in all cases. This is not really surprising, the back contains filtered air intakes, and since air is a gas it is not as if it is going to "get stuck" going around a tight corner into the filters. The outlet vent was completely clear, easy to do since it vents forward and sideways from the right hand side.

However, just checking the manual for the Z4 and itseems to want 50cm clearance behind the projector and 1m to the right hand side (facing screen).

Does anyone have any experience of mounting this projector on a shelf on a rear wall? Do you really need to maintain those clearances? What happens if you don't? Fan runs faster/noisier? Bulb fails? Whole thing self destructs?

Those tolerances are if you are building the projector into a cabinet, aka "hush box". They do not apply to mounting in the open air. I can't find anything in the manual that specifies clearance for the air filter intake holes. I would have thought 2 inches was adequate - you will need at least this much anyway to connect the cables.