Projector lift?

william149

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Hi Guys

I'm looking to transform our living room in to a cinema room, but a compromise must me made from an aesthetics point of view..

I'm looking in to finding a suitable electric projector lift & the 2 companies that seem to crop up most are Future Automation & Pure Theatre..

Has anyone any experience of one of these lifts, or from another manufacturer?

I understand it's not a perfect solution, keep raising the projector down, but unfortunately if i ultimately want a big screen, then i have no other option, i just don'y have the space for a fixed projector.

Any advice / comments would be helpful.

I'm open to other suggestions regards projectors, but i seem to be leaning to either a Sony or JVC & both are quite big machines..

Thanks
 
I did look into this myself, but I found that for a lift big enough for a JVC X35 it cost more than the projector (by a fair amount too). While the prices of the smallest versions are initially tempting I felt it would be a false economy to buy the small one and then be limited to buying a projector that could fit in it.

That was when I developed my floating shelf instead, but of course this leaves the projector in view when not in use (though IMHO a bit more discrete than just hanging from the middle of the ceiling).
 
Hi, my wife certainly won't entertain a shelf with it on show, so it's either a lift or no projector...

Our living room isn't that big anyway, it's prob only around 15 foot long.
 
William,

I had essentially the same challenge. I had to turn a living room, same size as yours, into a projection based home theater, but I wanted equipment generally to be out of sight, especially the projector. I couldn't put it on the ceiling as it would be in sight through bay windows. Couldn't mount it on the wall because of the bay windows.

I had a special lift built for me by Flatlift:

Flatlift TV-Lift Systeme GmbH

It's terrific. It hides the projector out of sight behind my sofa, at a mere 23" from the floor.
When raised the lift telescopes to over 6 feet - 75" tall.

Here's some info from my home theater build thread on the AVSForum:

Rich H's Variable Image Size Home Theater - Build Thread - Completed!

You can see pictures of the real lift later on in that build thread.

Works beautifully and gets lots of gasps and "wow cool" comments.

(I just noticed some of the actual projector lift photos are missing. Darned unreliable imageshack!)
 
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Pure Theatre lift is a no brainer, I fit these and am a reseller of there products. No one comes near with the price and quality of there products.

If you want more info just let me know.
 
Pure Theatre lift is a no brainer, I fit these and am a reseller of there products. No one comes near with the price and quality of there products.

If you want more info just let me know.

Thanks for ht heads up, but aren't you slightly biased then?
 
William,

I had essentially the same challenge. I had to turn a living room, same size as yours, into a projection based home theater, but I wanted equipment generally to be out of sight, especially the projector. I couldn't put it on the ceiling as it would be in sight through bay windows. Couldn't mount it on the wall because of the bay windows.

I had a special lift built for me by Flatlift:

Flatlift TV-Lift Systeme GmbH

It's terrific. It hides the projector out of sight behind my sofa, at a mere 23" from the floor.
When raised the lift telescopes to over 6 feet - 75" tall.

Here's some info from my home theater build thread on the AVSForum:

Rich H's Variable Image Size Home Theater - Build Thread - Completed!

You can see pictures of the real lift later on in that build thread.

Works beautifully and gets lots of gasps and "wow cool" comments.

(I just noticed some of the actual projector lift photos are missing. Darned unreliable imageshack!)

Hi

I've had a quick look at your conversion & it looks fantastic, we live in a cottage so we have beams & panelling etc, si i really have to go for a ceiling drop lift, there just is no room behind our settee for a rise lift & i really don't think (in our room) it would be descreet enough anyway..

I've done quite a bit of hunting around & it seems my only 2 options are the Pure Theatre or the Future Automation..

The prices for the 2 similar sized machines seems miles apart - the PT one is £1575.00 (i think) & the FU one is almost £2.5k, which seems ridiculous?
 
Pure Theatre lift - I have the large model for a JVC X55 projector, yes they are pricey, but wow do they work to perfection.

The real question is would I buy it again, and the answer is yes every time.
 
Pure Theatre lift - I have the large model for a JVC X55 projector, yes they are pricey, but wow do they work to perfection.

The real question is would I buy it again, and the answer is yes every time.

Have you a picture of it with it dropped?
 
Just had a proper look at the PT one & the drop distance won't be enough as i need to clear an 8" beam, my only work around for this model would be perhaps lower the ceiling to allow for that?
 
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Being biased does not come into it, I fit all sorts of lifts and screens from various manufacturers and in my opinion the Pure Theatre Lifts are the best by far.

They are made in the UK and the engineering of it is superb.

Have a look at the links in the footer and you will see a write I did for Home Toys Magazine in USA.

AV and Automation Industry eMagazine - Pure Theatre Projector Lift | HomeToys

I wasn't having a pop, but if you sell & install these, then you are bound to have a biased opinion, but that's not a bad thing.

Just had a look at your install which looks fantastic, but my problem with this mount is the drop, it's not enough, not unless i lower the ceiling by around 4", i may have to go that route yet, but i have a few other obstacles to think about..

This home cinema malarky can be a right pain..
 
The Pure has proven excellent, reliable and accurate, something which is often overlooked. It goes down to the same place every time.
 
Hi, my wife certainly won't entertain a shelf with it on show, so it's either a lift or no projector...

I meant solution where the projector is hidden behind door when not in use, I remember seeing on some forum at some time that users could increase WAF (Wife Acceptance Factor) with such solution. Something like this:
http://i37.photobucket.com/albums/e64/3D-Matth/Inkast2.jpg
Although that seems to have little space for air flow it shouldn't be hard to install projector so that it's completely out of sight when not in use with plenty of space for airflow.

(Found that image with google and it's from this thread:
Official Epson PowerLite Home Cinema 5010 / 6010 thread )

While browsing for picture to show what I mean I saw a very clean installation but I can't find that picture again. The projector was hidden behind a plate between two shelfs with a hole for lens.
 

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