13
Positioning your projector
English
Obtaining a preferred projected image size
The distance from the projector lens to the screen, the zoom setting, and the video format each factors in the
projected image size.
4:3 is the native aspect ratio of this projector. To be able to project a complete 16:9 (widescreen) aspect ratio
image, the projector can resize and scale a widescreen image to the projector's native aspect width. This will result
in a proportionally smaller height equivalent to 75% of the projector's native aspect height.
Thus, a 16:9 aspect image will not utilize 25% of the height of a 4:3 aspect image displayed by this projector. This
will be seen as darkened (unlit) bars along the top and bottom (vertical 12.5% height respectively) of the 4:3
projection display area whenever displaying a scaled 16:9 aspect image in the vertical center of the 4:3 projection
display area.
The projector should always be placed horizontally level (like flat on a table), and positioned directly
perpendicular (90° right-angle square) to the horizontal center of the screen. This prevents image distortion
caused by angled projections (or projecting onto angled surfaces).
The modern digital projector does not project directly forward (like older style reel-to-reel film projectors did).
Instead, digital projectors are designed to project at a slightly upward angle above the horizontal plane of the
projector. This is so that they can be readily placed on a table and will project forward and upwards onto a screen
positioned so that the bottom edge of the screen is above the level of the table (and everyone in the room can see
the screen).
If the projector is mounted on a ceiling, it must be mounted upside-down so that it projects at a slightly
downward angle.
You can see from the diagram on page 15, that this type of projection causes the bottom edge of the projected
image to be vertically offset from the horizontal plane of the projector. When ceiling mounted, this refers to the
top edge of the projected image.
If the projector is positioned further away from the screen, the projected image size increases, and the vertical
offset also increases proportionately.
When determining the position of the screen and projector, you will need to account for both the projected
image size and the vertical offset dimension, which are directly proportional to the projection distance.
BenQ has provided a table of 4:3-aspect-ratio screen sizes to assist you in determining the ideal location for your
projector. There are two dimensions to consider, the perpendicular horizontal distance from the center of the
screen (projection distance), and the vertical offset height of the projector from the horizontal edge of the screen
(offset).
4:3 aspect image in a 4:3
aspect display area
16:9 aspect image scaled to
a 4:3 aspect display area