6/9/2011

Multi-Touch Interfaces
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Choosing A Projector For Your DIY Mul

Choosing A Projector For Your DIY Multi-Touch Table

Posted on 19 October 2010 by Jonathan

Your projector will sit at the heart of your table and, more than any other component, this will determine so many factors about the size and quality of your table and how you construct it. In practice, youll have better success if you obtain the projector first and design the table around that rather than fix the dimensions of your table then try to find a projector to match. Since Ive just gone through the process myself, heres my guide on what to look for in a projector

Projector Factors
1. Resolution
Generally speaking, you want the highest resolution projector that you can afford. Low resolution projectors will look very chunky on a large table and will limit what you can do with it. Higher resolution will allow more content and much better definition on anti-aliased text and graphics when objects are rotated to any orientation. But resolution is not just about image quality, its also about Aspect Ratio. If you build your table with a 16:10 aspect ratio then use a 4:3 (e.g. XGA) projection, youre going to have a large area of wasted space on each side of the table. Similarly, if you build a 4:3 table then use a 16:9 projection resolution then youll have empty bands at the front and back of the table. Even the difference between a 16:9 (HD) and 16:10 (WXGA) display can be significant. Thats why its important to get the projector first! The demand for High Definition (HD) TV and film is pushing up the resolution specs of projectors and bringing down the price. However, at the time of writing, full HD (1920 x 1080) projectors are still very pricey. If theyre too expensive then the best compromise is to look for a WXGA (1280 x 800) projector. Very Important: Check the Native Resolution for the projector. Many projectors will say they can accept WXGA and even HD 1080 input signals but the native resolution is only XGA (1024 x 768) so the display quality will be reduced considerably. Recommendation: 1280 x 800 (WXGA)

2. Throw Ratio
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While resolution is important, the single, most significant factor is Throw Ratio. This determines how big the image will appear when the lens is at a given distance from the projection surface. A ratio of 1:1 essentially means that the image will we 1m wide at a distance of 1m. A 2:1 ratio means that the image will be 1m wide at a distance of 2m. If youre setting up a home movie theatre with the projector mounted on the ceiling at the back of the room (and youre not too bothered about people getting up in the middle of the show and casting shadows) then a high (2:1) ratio is fine. But, in the case of a multi-touch table, what you want is to project a large image from a very short distance within the confines of the table itself. While its possible to use a number of mirrors to bounce the image around inside the table and therefore increase the projection distance, this introduces a number of problems. Mirrors will increase the cost (though not by much) and complexity of the table. Each one will need to be precisely positioned and may introduce distortion or otherwise impact image quality. With a lot of mirrors, a 1 degree shift in one mirror, due to vibration or knocks, may offset the image by several centimetres. And getting the image onto the projection surface is only half the story. You may be able to create a mirror configuration for a large display within a very low depth table but you still need to position your camera (or cameras) and light sources (for a Rear DI set-up). So what we need is whats called a Short Throw (or Ultra-Short Throw) projector. These have ratios between around 0.35:1 and 0.8:1, and are a much more practical choice for a table set-up. But this comes at a price and short throw projectors tend to be much more expensive than more typical projectors. As ever, your own budget will determine what you can afford but the extra cost for a short throw projector is worth considering to reduce complexity and problems in building your table. And unless you want your table surface at chin height, the longer throw projectors are simply not practical at all. One further note Throw Ratio is often specified as a range, such as 0.90-1.08:1. As far as I can tell, this either refers to the fact that the projector can adjust the size (using a Wide to Telephoto setting) or it refers to width and height variances, taking into account the aspect ratio since the Width will be larger (the smaller ratio, 0.90:1 in this case) and the Height will be smaller (1.08:1). In general, if a range is given, just look at the smaller ratio. Recommendation: 0.48:1 0.70:1

3. Minimum Throw Distance/Image Size

Its all very well finding a Short Throw projector that will theoretically give you a nice 40 surface from just 20 away (yes, I like to mix my metric and imperial measurements!), but that doesnt mean youll necessarily be able to get a focussed image at that distance. Since most people use a projector to display the biggest image they possibly can, the spec sheets often show typical size/distance charts starting with an image size of around 50. They can obviously display smaller images when positioned closer but there will come a point where the focussing limit is reached.
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Theres not much advice I can give here except to check the specifications as far as theyre available and be wary if it states a minimum image size thats much larger than youre intended surface size. When you get the projector, youll be able to experiment and see what you can actually get away with. Recommendation: Minimum Image Size <= Desired Table Surface Size

4. Projection Technology
As soon as you start looking at projectors, youll notice that some use DLP technology and others use LCD (and, if you have more money that sense, you might also spot some hugely expensive LCOS, SXRD or D-ILA projectors). Over the last few years, projector technology has improved so much, especially with the higher resolution projectors, that theres very little to choose between DLP and LCD. DLP projectors will tend to have a much higher contrast ratio (2000:1 compared to 500:1 for LCD) but LCD might display sharper text which can be an advantage for information display on the table. Both will offer similar levels of brightness (2000+ ANSI Lumens). For a detailed explanation of how DLP and LCD projectors compare, see these two articles: DLP and LCD Projector Technology Explained The Technology War: LCD vs. DLP In practice, it will make little difference which you use so this should only be a factor if youre trying to decide between two different projectors. Recommendation: Doesnt matter but LCD might be slighty advantageous for certain applications.

5. Brightness
If youre going to use your back-projected table in a moderately lit room then it will need to be fairly bright. On the other hand, in a darkened room, it can be too bright and hurt your eyes after prolonged use. Most projectors will have a low power setting that not only reduces the brightness for use in a darkened room, will also extend the life of the bulb. Recommendation: 2000 2600 ANSI Lumens

6. Other Factors
By the time youve taken all of the above into account, your short list of available projectors will be fairly small. After that, you might want to compare the Noise Level (all projectors are noisy at around 30 36dB), the life expectancy of the bulb and cost of replacement (be prepared for a shock here!). In the end, it will probably boil down to overall cost and availability.

My Short List
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Projector models come and go all the time so please dont take this as a definitive list; its just here to give you an idea of what I had to choose between (early October 2010). Had I put in more effort, Im sure I could have found some more. The other thing to note is that the same projector model is ofter available in different parts of the World with a different model number, typically a different suffix. These models were from UK suppliers and all have a Native Resolution of 1280 x 800 (WXGA):
Projector Throw Ratio Brightness (Lumens) Contrast Ratio Approx. Price

Mitsubishi EW230U-ST Hitachi CP-AW100N Toshiba TDP EW25 Epson EB-410W Hitachi CP-DW10N Optoma GT700 Sanyo PDG-DWL100 Sanyo PLC-WL2500

0.42 : 1 0.48 : 1 0.48 : 1 0.48 : 1 0.50 : 1 0.50 : 1 0.50 : 1 0.50 : 1

2500 2000 2600 2000 2000 2300 2600 2500

2000 : 1 ? 2000 : 1 500 : 1 400 : 1 2500 : 1 1750 : 1 500 : 1

566 950 ? 675 720 ? 920 ?

My Projector of Choice
My projector will be the heart of my table and the cost is too high for the decision to be taken lightly. In the end, I plumped for the Epson EB-410W. This is a great little projector with a good specification thats hard to beat on price. Having said that, while I paid 675 for it, I just checked this morning and the price seems to have shot up to 880! Hmm maybe I got myself a bargain!

Ill let you know how it works out as I develop my table!

This entry was posted in DIY and tagged diy, multi-touch, multitouch, projector, table. Bookmark the permalink.

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2 Responses to Choosing A Projector For Your DIY Multi-Touch Table

Jameth says:
19 January 2011 at 11:15 pm

Any updates? I have been wanting to make a projector based virtual pinball table for a long time, this is similar in execution.
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Jonathan says:
20 January 2011 at 4:49 pm

Good question, Jameth! Theres a lot I need to post about but I just havent had the time lately. The project is sort-of on hold at the moment while I get a few other things sorted. The status of my table project is that I have a prototype set-up using rear DI on a Windows 7 64-bit PC. But the top surface is made from stuff I had lying around and is not suitable. It is too diffuse and blob detection is very poor. I need to get a new top surface, possibly moving to a DSI set-up instead (which means getting new lights). However, I can tell you that the Epson EB-410W is definitely a suitable projector producing sharp images at close range (< 30). If youre not interested in a touch surface for your virtual pinball table and will be using real, physical switches instead then it would work well for you either pointed directly at the surface or reflected off a mirror. Cheers, Jonathan
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