Although happy with its existing EH2060 projector, the live music and entertainment venue Gorilla was keen to upgrade to the brighter, higher resolution Panasonic EH7700 projector.
Reliability, connectivity and performance when the club’s fog machines were in operation, were key factors. It also needed to fit into the existing installation mountings.
Masons Sound for Venues recommended the EH7700 due to its brightness, resolution and extra functionality in terms of wired remote, dual lamp system, low maintenance requirement and installation flexibility.
The venue’s existing EH2060 projector was used to provide visual backdrops for club nights and video playback for film screenings. This projected onto a 4m screen positioned at the back of the stage area, with HDMI and VGA connections running from both the stage and the Engineer’s position at the rear of the venue.
With the existing set up, problems occurred as the use of fog during performances blocked the infra-red signal and needed an additional infra red-repeater to operate the projector. The previous model also needed a video scaler to provide all video format options at both the stage and Engineer’s booth.
Gorilla was delighted with the overall HD image quality, brightness, reliability and functionality of the EH2060 but, with the additional features offered by the EH7700, was happy to consider upgrading to this brighter, higher resolution projector.
Reliability was an essential consideration for both the venue and Masons Sound for Venues and both were keen to tap into the DLP based 24/7 functionality offered by all ProScene projectors.
The projector’s dual lamp system enables an even higher level of reliability as both lamps can be used together to achieve maximum brightness, whilst still providing redundancy should one of the lamps fail. Alternatively a single lamp can be used in Lamp Relay Mode to combine the full lifetime of each individual lamp and thereby minimise service intervals.
The dust-sealed, filter free design of the EH7700 also reduces the amount of ongoing maintenance required. The projector’s five motorised lens options and 360˚ operation, including reproduction on a ceiling or floor, guaranteed it would be flexible to install.
The EH7700 has the option for wired remotes, while the web browser interface and full support for Extron’s IP Link, AMX dynamic device discovery and PJ-Link protocols, allow almost all aspects of the EH7700 to be controlled across a network.
Feedback from Gorilla has been extremely positive. As a result of its enhanced performance, the system is now being used more frequently for a wider range of events.
