Are you wondering, “Can Short Throw Projectors be Ceiling Mounted?” If yes, you’ve landed on the right page.
Short throw projectors sit close to the projection surface compared to long throw projectors and are ideal for bedrooms or smaller office space.
In this article, we’ve go over the question about ceiling-mounting short throw projectors, things to consider, and other alternatives.
Are you ready? Let’s get started!
Benefits of Short Throw Projectors
A short throw projector is useful for someone who wants to set up a projector within a small room. As the name suggests, short throw projectors produce big projection size from a shorter throw distance.
As a result, you can place a short throw projector on your coffee table or place it very close to the projection surface.
To further save space, it is crucial to question, can short throw projectors be ceiling mounted? And that’s what we’ll answer in this article.
Before that, it is important to understand the two types of short throw projectors:
- Regular short throw projectors: It produces a 100-inch screen from a distance of 4-6 feet from the projection surface
- Ultra short throw projector: It sits just a few inches away from the projection surface and projects a 100-inch screen. A UST projector’s ideal placement is on a TV unit.
In comparison, a long throw projector requires around 10-12 feet distance to produce a 100-inch screen.
Can Short Throw Projectors be Ceiling Mounted?
Yes! You can easily ceiling-mount a regular short throw projector. You can use a regular ceiling mount for your short throw projector. Whereas, ultra short throw projectors are specially designed to be placed on a TV unit and extremely close to the projector screen.
For a regular short throw projector, you can easily mount it with this VIVO adjustable projector mount and run power to it.
On the other hand, ultra short throw projectors are a newer technology and therefore costlier. On the other hand, regular short throw projectors have been selling for a long time and are readily available under $700.
While ultra short throw projector typically designed to be placed on a TV mount; however, you can also ceiling mount them too. More specifically, you can wall mount ultra short throw projectors to free up additional space in your room.
In comparison, the ideal placement for an ultra short throw projector is on a TV stand. Although, several wall mounts are available in the market that will help you mount a UST projector on a wall and free up your room’s real estate.
To wall mount an ultra short projector, you’ll need a specialized wall mount like this one.
Having said that, ultra short throw projectors work best when used with an ALR (Ambient Light Rejection) screen. In case you wall mount an ultra short throw projector, it defeats the whole purpose of the ALR screen.
An ALR screen works best when an ultra short throw projector is placed on a TV stand. It’s because the projection screen displays the content from the projector and eliminates glares and reflections from sunlight and surrounding lights.
As you can see in the above illustration, an ALR screen has a textured surface that reflectss everything that is projected from the screen’s bottom. On the other hand, any light coming from top is rejected and not reflected by the screen.
Uses of a Short Throw Projector
A regular short throw projector works like other popular long throw projectors like Epson EX9220 or the BenQ HT2050A. However, it requires almost half the distance to produce a big projection than a long throw projector.
As mentioned above, you can ceiling mount a short throw projector. Plus, you can also use it on a coffee table or a dedicated projector stand.
Short throw projectors work well in a small room or limited space. They find their main applications in gaming or to set up a home golf simulator in a compact room.
The shorter projection distance also means you’ll get brighter projection even with the same brightness output than long throw projectors.
Since the projector lamp’s light needs to travel shorter distance, short throw projectors seem brighter even at a similar brightness output.
3 Popular Short Throw Projectors
| Projector | Distance for 100-inch projection |
|---|---|
| BenQ TH671ST | 5 feet (60 inches) |
| Viewsonic PX706HD | 5 feet (60 inches) |
| Optoma UHD35STx | 3.7 feet (43 inches) |
Uses of an Ultra Short Throw Projector
For a compact room, short throw projectors are an excellent replacement to long throw projectors; however, ultra short throw projectors aim at replacing your TV by providing a massive 100-120 inch screen.
A UST projector sits extremely close to the projection screen; hence, cable management is effortless. It eliminates the need for longer wires and run them across your entire room.
Ultra short throw projectors are relatively new, and hence a decent UST projector can cost around $2000-3000. Moreover, a satisfactory 100-inch ALR projection screen costs $500+, which increases the total price by a significant margin.
On the upside, you get a massive screen size that you can use during daytime with the help of ALR technology.
Most people prefer UST projectors because they don’t require additional modification to your room, except mounting the projector screen.
In addition, the projection quality is faultless and doesn’t require lamp replacement. Modern UST projectors use a LASER light source and last up to 20,000-30,000 hours.
Problems Associated with Ceiling Mounting Short Throw Projectors
For a regular short throw projector, there’s hardly any problem with ceiling mounting. Hundreds of ceiling mounts are available to mount your short throw projectors, and you’re good to go.
In comparison, ultra short throw projectors aren’t made with ceiling mounting in mind. Most UST projectors either don’t have mounting holes at the bottom, or the option to flip the screen.
In addition, ultra short throw projectors are also heavy and weigh upwards of 20 pounds.
It’s because UST projectors consist of multiple lenses and mirrors, and the LASER technology that adds up the weight. Furthermore, most UST projectors also come with an inbuilt speaker system consisting of several speakers.
For example, a popular UST projector like the Epson Epiqvision LS300 comes with a 2.1 speaker system from Yamaha. It consists of two tweeters and one subwoofer module, which increases the projector’s overall weight.
Hence, before purchasing an ultra short throw projector, make sure the projector has mounting holes and a flip screen option. You can check it by going through the projector’s instruction manual from the manufacturer’s website.
Frequently Asked Questions
How often should I clean my ceiling-mounted projector?
It’s recommended to dust it at least once a month. However, if your room is particularly dusty, consider doing it more frequently. In addition, I recommend using a dust cover when the projector is not in use
Can I mount my ultra short throw projector on the ceiling?
While it’s technically possible, most UST projectors are designed for table or wall mounts. However, it’s preferred to use the wall-mount mentioned above for mounting ultra short throw projectors
Conclusion
I hope this article helped answer your question, can short throw projectors be ceiling mounted? The simple answer is yes, but there are quite a few caveats that need consideration.
While regular short throw projectors are ceiling mount-friendly, the same cannot be said about an ultra short throw projector.
Suppose you are considering purchasing an ultra short throw projector, make sure the projector has ceiling mounting holes and the option to flip the projection screen.
In addition, you can cannot take advantage of an ALR screen and need to use a regular projector screen or paint your wall with projector paint.
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