Church Audio Visual Services

St Andrews Church Marks Tey

AV Installs Ltd were approached by another AV hardware reseller to assist them with providing a bespoke audio visual installation for a Church in Kent. The Church wanted a large 3M wide projector screen installed at the front of church without covering up the entire stained glass window when it was in use.  The main Church Hall was very narrow with a large window in access of 5M tall, this meant that bringing a screen with extra drop down from above the window was not a possible solution. The Church were keen to avoid using a mobile screen and preferred a fixed installation so we set about brainstorming ideas on how we could achieve this.

Inside St Andrews Church Hall

Projector Screen

After much deliberation with screen manufacturers It was decided that we would mount a Draper 3M wide Major Manual screen upside down beneath the stained glass window. This meant that instead of pulling the screen down, the screen needed to be pulled up out of the canister from a pulley system above. Manual screens when turned upside down the mechanism that controls the screen stop does not function and the retraction mode is constantly in play  and wants to return the screen back. This meant that the system we used to pull the screen up also needed to be sufficient to hold the screen in place, stopping the canister from retracting it. Due to this force a manual pulley system was not suitable and it would of took an enormous physical effort to pull the screen up not to mention holding the screen in place. To overcome these obstacles AV Installs designed a system using a heavy duty winch along with pulleys, this was fixed into the roof cavity  8M up in a custom made housing which held the winch in perfect alignment to the screen and pulleys. The winch was attached to the pulley system and a rocker switch was installed at the back of the hall where the other AV connections were, this made operating the system easy with everything needed within hands reach.

With the flick of a switch the winch automatically engages and raises the screen into the perfect viewing position without covering the entire stained glass window. When the screen is retracted the canister is barely visible and neither is the single length of high tensile steel cable used to suspend the screen.

Church Projector Installation Service

The Church Projector Installation also came with its own challenges  as always with Church Installations there are many factors to take into consideration when choosing the correct projector, and the best possible place to mount the projector. In this case there were only a couple of practical places to put it which was on first archway facing the screen. This meant that the projector itself is not visible at all by the congregation, at AV Installs we always strive to integrate Audio Visual Systems into Churches with the minimum effect on the existing aesthetics. Due to the throw distance between the projector and the screen a long throw lense was required which allows installers to use the projector from extended distances again there are many things to take into consideration when using Long Throw Projectors in Churches. The Projector was cabled back to a stand alone dedicated PC using VGA over Cat5 allowing us to extend the length of cable over far greater distances than regular VGA cables.

St Andrews Church Projector & Screen Installation

For More Information On Our Church Audio Visual Services Please Click Here Or Contact Us On 01604 493755