[SpiderMonkey]

Good evening!

I'm searching for a couple of projectors - one I'd like to use indoors to use the spectral illusions Daisy the Ghost Bride in a doorway. A second one we'd like to use outdoors to do singing pumpkins. I've read quite a bit on the forum about lumens, etc. What I'm curious about is that most projectors, I guess, need to have a laptop or dvd player hooked up to them? I mean, I don't see many out there, unless you spend BIG BUCKS, that will project straight from a dvd or even a thumb drive. If that's right, I assume you'd have to have some fairly long cables so that your dvd player or laptop/computer isn't sitting right there beside your display?

Just curious how others use the projectors and/or what they use to play the videos through the projectors.

Hope that makes sense.

Thanks in advance!

 

[Icepick]

You are right. Not many that have a built in DVD player, and the ones that do are poor quality, or thumb drive ability. I use my laptop next to my projector, in a custom made booth. If you have the yard space, have you looked into projection mapping? Can get away with what you want (and then some) with one projector.

Here's a link to a quick how to I put together on how to do it. You can do as little as as much as you want with this method.

http://www.halloweenforum.com/tutorials-and-step-by-step/133936-projection-mapping-tutorial-3.html

 

[horrorman]

Hello Spider Monkey. You might want to check Micca Media players. They allow you to use USB and card inputs and they are small in size. You can hook up the HD output to the projector and you're set. I hope this helps. Good luck and have fun.

Here is an Amazon link to them.
http://www.amazon.com/s/ref=nb_sb_ss_i_0_5?url=search-alias=aps&field-keywords=micca&sprefix=micca,aps,308&rh=i:aps,k:micca

 

[SpiderMonkey]

Appreciate the responses. Your projections are really cool Icepick. It might be something for me to look at for Christmas! I think the micca spec is exactly what I need horrorman. Thank you so much for the link. What's the difference between the two that show up on the link? One is HD and the other isn't, maybe?

Thanks again to you both. Have a great evening!

 

[Icepick]

Appreciate the responses. Your projections are really cool Icepick. It might be something for me to look at for Christmas! I think the micca spec is exactly what I need horrorman. Thank you so much for the link. What's the difference between the two that show up on the link? One is HD and the other isn't, maybe?

Thanks again to you both. Have a great evening!

It looks like one is HDMI only, while the other has HDMI and composite. Less expensive of the two was HDMI only. That's just based on photos. I'm sure the description can be compared.

Edit: even the cheaper one has composite. The more expensive also has digital optical audio.

 

[foolishmortal42]

Keep in mind that if you are looking older used projectors, many don't have hdmi inputs. If you are looking to get older projectors you might be better off with composite inputs. I use cheap $25 DVD players from Walmart with my projectors and it works great. I have older Infocus projectors that use composite inputs.

 

[BarryJ]

A lot of pico projectors have built in memory or SD card slots. I used a 3M pico with my iPod to do singing pumpkins last year. Only problem is that the iPod would only last about three hours on a charge.

 

[Jack-o-Lantern King]

I actually have some recommendations for projectors AND media players on my Singing Pumpkin website! Follow this link to get the info...Singing Pumpkin Tutorial

Happy Haunting!

John
TheSingingPumpkin.com

 

[BarryJ]

Other option if you get a projector with an HDMI input is to stream to it using a Chromecast.

 

[89Lt1]

i just got some of the small dvd players at some garage sales. They are about 10" long, 8" wide, 2"tall. I found three in the last two weeks for less than 5 bucks... they are perfect for my projections.

My projector isn't HDMI though. Mine uses component which in my opinion is better, it allows me to plug the projector into the video port only and the audio ports go to the speakers.