When the A/V team at St. Paul's Lutheran Church watched 13-year-old projectors die out, they set out to find two new state-of-the-art projectors as replacements. With the help of Ed Goldman from Projector Team, St. Paul's in-house team set up two CP-X8160 projectors in the church's Niceville, Florida, sanctuary. In the end, Chief Trustee Bob Hoffman and the rest of the board went with Hitachi, citing state of the art technology and versatility along with low price point.
St. Paul's has around 300 registered members and the sanctuary seats anywhere from 400-450 people at any given time. The versatile sanctuary space is used for many different occasions in addition to Sunday services, like graduation ceremonies for the Church's preschool and elementary school. Choirs from the Niceville High School and the local college choir association also use the sanctuary for concerts. Bob Hoffman is the Chief Trustee at St. Paul's, and he and three other trustees are in charge of maintenance care of the church including projectors, the sound system and setup of all other A/V technologies.
"We knew we wanted state-of-the-art and that we also had a budget, but other than that we hadn’t needed a new projector since 2003. We went with Hitachi and it does everything we wanted. We are slowly discovering how much more it can really do."
Bob Hoffman
Chief Trustee, St. Paul's Lutheran Church.
“When our projectors started to burn out we didn't really have a specific make or model in mind for a new projector,” says Hoffman. “We knew we wanted state-of-the-art and that we also had a budget, but other than that we hadn't needed a new projector since 2003. We went with Hitachi and it does everything we wanted. We are slowly discovering how much more it can really do. With each feature we discover we start creating new plans for our church and our services.”
When Hoffman first purchased the projector for St. Paul's he only knew that the projector would fit the room size of their sanctuary, it had more lumens than their previous projectors and that it was affordable. Since the install, the trustees have had a chance to experiment with the projector and are beginning to understand the many features they hadn't even expected. “One of the things we found right away was that the projector had Wi-Fi capabilities,” says Hoffman. “The church was just converted from hardwire internet to wireless in the IT department, but used the existing hardwire to the projectors because we didn't know it had Wi-Fi. Once we switch it over we will be able to project different things on each screen which is something we have never done before.”
St. Paul's also benefitted from a promotional discount for purchasing both projectors. Hitachi's House of Worship promotion provides a complimentary lamp when you buy and register select models on their website. Now, St. Paul's has two extra bulbs on hand as back up.
Since the installation, Hoffman and the rest of the trustees have had many church members comment on the improvement the new projectors bring to their services. “My wife is in the choir at church and she even told me about how she could read the screen on the other side of the room for the first time,” says Hoffman. “It's one of those things where we didn't really realize how much we needed a new projector until we installed it.”
