Choosing a Projector

By Gerry Morris

Whether in the courtroom or boardroom it’s becoming increasingly important to make effective presentations utilizing audio/video equipment. In my practice I find that more and more of my adversaries are preparing presentations of some sort for juries that require projection of an image. This may be, for instance, displaying evidence to the jury, playing a video, or using a PowerPoint presentation to guide the jury through argument. My personal experience as well as studies conducted by jury researchers has shown that visual presentations are effective. In boardroom and conference room settings, A/V presentations have become the norm.

In the larger counties, the courtrooms are often equipped with “built-in” A/V facilities so that all a litigant has to do is find out ahead of time what format the visual material must be in to work with the system. For instance, in Travis County, all the courtrooms either have an A/V system installed or have a portable system available that accommodates input from the VGA output of a computer, audio/video input via the three standard RCA plugs and has a document camera that will project opaque images such as hard copies of documents. The system projects the images on a wall mounted screen. Other courthouses I travel to have screens available but no built in projection equipment. Still others have no A/V equipment whatsoever.

If your practice takes you to courtrooms with no or inadequate A/V equipment or to meetings in settings where a projector is not available, you may want to consider investing in a projector. Like all other electronic devices, in the past few years the price has continued to go down while the quality has steadily gone up. There are many good projectors on the market now for under $1000. If what you want is a standard projector for under a grand, take a look at the InFocus IN24 or the Epson PowerLite S4. However, for a much more versatile device that is especially useful in the courtroom I suggest you consider spending about $1,500 and take a look at the Toshiba TLP-XC2500U.

The Toshiba TLP-XC2500U is a DLP projector rated at 2500 ansi lumens (plenty of brightness for a semi dark room). Its resolution is XGA 1024 x 768 resolution, and delivers a 400:1 contrast ratio. But, the feature that makes this projector worth the money is a built-in document camera. The projector has a folding arm with a 3 megapixel document camera attached that makes it possible to project just about anything including hard copies of photographs, documents, objects or anything else that might be introduced into evidence or that might be relevant to your presentation. The projector also accommodates input from a computer through a VGA port, Video through either a standard RCA jack or S-Video port and audio through either RCA jacks or a stereo mini-jack. The remote control operates all functions of the unit. In short, if you bring this projector to your courtroom or meeting room, there’s not much that you can’t project onto a screen.

I have the predecessor model to the TLP-XC2500U, a LCD unit with a document camera of much less resolution. I have used it now for about 5 years and wouldn’t consider a projector without the document camera. I bought mine refurbished but still paid about twice what the TLP-XC2500U costs new.

If you already have a projector, you can purchase a document camera that will work through the VGA port of a standard projector. Toshiba makes one as does Epson.

E. G. “Gerry” Morris is a solo practitioner and has practiced law for over 27 years in Austin, Texas. He is certified as a Criminal Law Specialist by the Texas Board of Legal Specialization. His firm web site is at www.egmlaw.com. Email your comments and questions to Gerry at tech@egmlaw.com.