Upgrading your Projectors: Is Now the Right Time?

By: James Careless

With the options available to houses of worship when considering a new projector, it can cause some heads to spin. Whether looking at a lamp projector, or laser projector prospects, it may be hard to arrive at a decision.

Advancements made in recent years, though, have caused several major projector manufacturers to head in a distinct direction.

“Pretty much every projector manufacturer is heading toward laser,” said David Leuschner, executive director of Digital Great Commission Ministries, based in Colorado Springs, Colorado. “Most of the major projector manufacturers, from Barco to Epson, is end-of-lifing their lamp projectors.”

For churches with one or more lamp projectors, though, Leuschner wasn’t about to suggest immediately replacing them with laser projectors.

“If your projector’s working fine, a laser projector might do away with lamp replacement costs in 8-10 years,” noted Leuschner. “If you’re going through lamps rapidly, though, there might be a financial incentive to move to a new laser projector.”

Based on where the projector industry is going, Duke DeJong, president of integration for Vantage Pro, in Kansas City, Missouri, cited laser as a wise choice.

“I would do laser over a lamp projector. The longevity is longer, the brightness stays longer, and the drop-off is faster with lamps,” explained DeJong. “From a maintenance and long-term perspective, as well as quality of image perspective, I’d go with laser. Even if there are a few caveats, but not many.”

When considering the premise of “when is it time” to replace a projector, Todd Heft, media arts director at Hillside Community Church in Bethel, Connecticut, pointed to its age as a starting point.

“Anything more than five years old, you’ll have to think of bulk replacement,” noted Heft. “The resolution you have, if looking to enhance it in any way, would make it a good time to upgrade.”

How Things Have Changed for High-Lumen Projectors

A few years ago, when churches needed a 15,000-lumen to 20,000-lumen projector, almost exclusively “they had to go with a lamp projector,” explained Leuschner. “At that time, some projector manufacturers couldn’t get above 15,000 lumens for their laser projectors.”

Advance the calendar to today, and “if you need a 20,000-lumen projector, manufacturers like Digital Projection, Barco and Christie Digital will sell you a laser projector (over a lamp projector),” Leuschner said.

Despite such advancements in laser projectors, small to medium-sized churches still often opt for a lamp projector, Leuschner noted. “How much are you running that projector? If you have one service a week, a lamp projector is still a good solution,” he said. “If you’re using a projector six days a week, and five to six hours a day, changing out lamps often, though, laser would be the better option.”

How quickly one replaces lamps can play a large role in one’s decision, noted Mark Hanna, owner of FxN Productions, and former video control director for Hope Community Church in Raleigh, North Carolina. “Some lamps have lifespans in hundreds of hours. For those who have services that run dozens of hours, the lifespan runs pretty quick.” While at Hope he recalled, he said, “Between rehearsals and services, we had lamps running 25 hours a week, which is a lot.”

Comparing the benefits of each type of lamp, Hanna added, “that’s a big benefit of laser, not replacing the lamps.”

When having to frequently change lamps, supplemental costs can add up quickly, DeJong detailed.

“For some lamps, they can range from $350 to $3,000, for big projectors,” he said. “Even on a small projector, if you’ve replaced a lamp every year for five years, you’ve paid for the difference of paying for a laser projector up front.”

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