# Projector operation angle



## headcrab (Aug 9, 2011)

The manual for at least one of our projectors claims that if one tilts the projector, with the lamp struck, more than a certain amount in any direction, the lamp could explode. Interestingly, I only see this warning for Mitsubishi projectors. How much truth is there to this, and if tilting a struck discharge lamp can detonate it, how can one use a projector with the Right Arm (or similar pan-tilt mount)?


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## Sony (Aug 9, 2011)

headcrab said:


> The manual for at least one of our projectors claims that if one tilts the projector, with the lamp struck, more than a certain amount in any direction, the lamp could explode. Interestingly, I only see this warning for Mitsubishi projectors. How much truth is there to this, and if tilting a struck discharge lamp can detonate it, how can one use a projector with the Right Arm (or similar pan-tilt mount)?



It probably has more to do with the type of lamp and how the lamp is mounted inside the projector than with the actual lamp itself. Maybe Mitsubishi projectors have a looser mounting system or cheaper lamps so if you were to tilt the projector the lamp would rattle around and explode. It could also just be Mitsubishi covering their ass in case such a thing were to happen they could not be blamed for personal injury or damage to property. Discharge lamps don't have filaments so they should be less prone to vibration/movement damage.


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## metti (Aug 9, 2011)

Often, these issues are specific to the way the ventilation system in a particular model has been designed. Using the projector past a particular angle can result in the heat produced by the lamp being trapped in the lamp housing instead of being properly vented and this heat build up can damage the lamp as well as other parts of the projector. No particular brands come to mind but I have definitely seen this type of warning for brands other than Mitsubishi. Regarding the Right Arm, one must simply choose a projector than can handle a wider range of mounting angles if they wish to use it with a motorized yoke.


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## museav (Aug 9, 2011)

It is also not always just a certain angles in general but certain angles in relation to pitch, yaw and roll, especially pitch and roll, and in some cases to certain combinations of these. And it applies to many projectors, always confirm anything other than a standard 'tabletop' use, although rare even ceiling mount can be problematic for some projectors. Back in the three gun CRT projector days there were some projectors well known for needing to have spare power supplies on hand if they were inverted or ceiling mounted as the power supplies would routinely fail in those installations.


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## headcrab (Aug 10, 2011)

What's a CRT projector?


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## sdauditorium (Aug 10, 2011)

headcrab said:


> What's a CRT projector?


 
A CRT projector is a video projector that uses Cathode Ray Tubes -the picture tube. The image is then focused and enlarged onto a screen using a lens kept in front of the CRT face. Most modern CRT projectors are color and have three separate CRTs - RGB (red, green, blue).

They usually have a better black level and longer service life compared to LCD and DLP projectors but are also heavier, take longer to set up and adjust and *generally* lower ANSI (lumens) compared to similar projectors.


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## Chris15 (Aug 10, 2011)

headcrab said:


> What's a CRT projector?


 
A museum piece these days...


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## museav (Aug 10, 2011)

Chris15 said:


> A museum piece these days...


Still highly sought by some for home theater and screening room applications.

I still remember the days of working with 640x480 resolution CRT 'video' projectors and 800x600/1024x768 resolution CRT 'graphics' projectors with outputs in the hundreds of lumens as well as with multi-image slide setups. The first large screen LCD devices, which were small LCD panels that you placed on top of overhead projectors, were not common until I had been in the business professionally almost 10 years. Very different times and I guess it also qualifies me as a museum piece!


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