Virtual Santa

Benji

New elf
Joined
Nov 11, 2018
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7
Hi Guys, I’m looking at adding a Virtual Santa to my display this year. I have no idea about projectors and would love any information that would help. Not looking to spend a lot of money on the projector as I’ll only be using it for the Santa. What should I be looking for?
 

keithsw1111

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Oct 11, 2012
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Kellyville, NSW
It all comes down to having enough brightness (lumens) and that really depends on ambient light around where you are projecting and the screen onto which you are projecting.

I have a cheap usd$250 5000 Chinese lumen projector I use and it does a good job but if you source a projector locally second hand you won’t need one as bright. Just be wary of 2nd hand as the bulbs can be very expensive.
 

Benji

New elf
Joined
Nov 11, 2018
Messages
7
It all comes down to having enough brightness (lumens) and that really depends on ambient light around where you are projecting and the screen onto which you are projecting.

I have a cheap usd$250 5000 Chinese lumen projector I use and it does a good job but if you source a projector locally second hand you won’t need one as bright. Just be wary of 2nd hand as the bulbs can be very expensive.
Do you think I could use a mini projector would it work the same?
 

djgra79

My name is Graham & I love flashing lights!
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Cranbourne West
All comes down to brightness/lumens of projector and the amount of ambient light around it.
I have a cheap Arlec projector from Bunnings which needs to be quite dark before you get any decent results from it.
 

David_AVD

Grandpa Elf
Community project designer
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Victoria Point (Brisbane)
I'm happy with the Excelvan 33+ projectors I got off eBay (< $100). The current listings claim 1280 x 800 native resolution. I think the one I got early in the year was 854 x 540 native so not sure about accuracy of the latest listings. The two that I bought more recently do look a little sharper than the first one so maybe they do have better panels in them now.

Ignore the 1080p claims in the eBay listing titles. That just means it is able to accept a higher resolution and downscale it. I have a couple of videos on my YouTube channel that show the 33+ in use and I think they are fine for a Virtual Santa as long as there's not a huge amount of light competition. That really goes for all projectors though.
 

OzAz

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Newcastle
what they said :)

Another thing to consider is the location of your window and what sort of effect you are after.
A house nearby has a very large ground floor front window which virtual Santa is projected on with a very bright projector. It looks crystal clear but to me also looks obviously fake, the kids still love it though. I've got a cheapish projector (similar to the excelvan 33) which is projected onto an upper story door (to balcony). It's far from crystal clear but in some respects looks a bit more 'realistic' of Santa wandering about in the semi-dark.

Just something else to consider.
 

Benji

New elf
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Nov 11, 2018
Messages
7
Thank you all very much for you help. Ive now purchased a projector from eBay, fingers crossed it all works out.
 
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