Looking for a unicorn

[Steve Guttag]

Age is never on your side, unless you are seeking a short-term (5-years or less) solution. Projectors, inherently, have a finite life (this ain't film no more). Servers have a shorter lifespan. Each light engine has but so much use before you'll get a stuck pixel...each board has but so much life before you get a failure...the same with every other part on a projector. What those times are will vary within each production, each model. However, there is a finite life span, none-the-less.

The early 4K stuff was all about screens over 40-feet so they are going to be on the high-lumen side of things. The early lasers are going to be closer to beta and experimental than production (how many do you think they made?). I wouldn't touch a DP4K-xxL, unlike the xenon machines, when had a LARGE production run (lots of parts, lots of customers to keep satisfied), those are going to have support issues sooner and, likely, the knowledge base for them will diminish quickly too.

In 4K laser, I would stick to what is out now. They are becoming the normal machines (we sell more 4K than 2K now and all laser).

[Scott Tallal]

We only put 100-150 hours per years on our projector -- but in any event, we'll do our best to follow all of the advice given.

[Ryan Gallagher]

With those hours I’d be curious what the venue is. Screening room? Private residence? Education? Community arts space?

i thought we were low hours with a couple festivals and a summer classic series, but we still average 1100 hrs/year.

[Scott Tallal]

Malibu Film Society. We host 50-60 Awards Season Screenings each year. We created our own screening room back in 2009 and operated there until 2021 (at a building that's no longer here). For now, we're four-walling theaters in adjacent communities -- but we hope it won't be too much longer before we can return to Malibu, and I'm currently developing the budget for that.

[Dave Macaulay]

For me, that quote referenced Christie. But I think their current laser projectors are pretty good.

[Elia Orselli]

Maybe you could ask if your activity is eligible for an SP4K-P (but the small model isn't already available anyway)