Junkyard Posted January 3, 2009 Share Posted January 3, 2009 I've been coordinating/cooking a Super Bowl party at my church for the past 10 years. Pretty high-end with roasts, bbq, wings, and plenty of beer. Usually end up with close to 50 people attending. The old 40-inch picture tube finally died this year after about 25 years, so the debate is on about what to get. Our group has the dollars from fund raisers so that we can buy a nice 50 inch plasma and donate it to the church. Any organization could use it (probably only about 10 hours per month), so it would last awhile. The bishop is arguing we should buy an HD tuner for the church (his) laptop so he can project the game on the wall for the party. I know nothing about this technology... We don't have a screen, speakers would be from the laptop, buffering issues?... Will we see the commercials or halftime show? Though probably cheaper, I'm concerned about putting on a bad show for this event, and then not being able to run this in the future. And selfishly I admit, I want to make sure I can see/hear the game. We wait all year for this. Don't know if I can win this... or if it is wise to pursue. Can someone give me some advice/talking points about using an HD tuner with a laptop? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
keggerz Posted January 3, 2009 Share Posted January 3, 2009 (edited) I've been coordinating/cooking a Super Bowl party at my church for the past 10 years. Pretty high-end with roasts, bbq, wings, and plenty of beer. Usually end up with close to 50 people attending. The old 40-inch picture tube finally died this year after about 25 years, so the debate is on about what to get. Our group has the dollars from fund raisers so that we can buy a nice 50 inch plasma and donate it to the church. Any organization could use it (probably only about 10 hours per month), so it would last awhile. The bishop is arguing we should buy an HD tuner for the church (his) laptop so he can project the game on the wall for the party. I know nothing about this technology... We don't have a screen, speakers would be from the laptop, buffering issues?... Will we see the commercials or halftime show? Though probably cheaper, I'm concerned about putting on a bad show for this event, and then not being able to run this in the future. And selfishly I admit, I want to make sure I can see/hear the game. We wait all year for this. Don't know if I can win this... or if it is wise to pursue. Can someone give me some advice/talking points about using an HD tuner with a laptop? if the LAPTOP speakers are all there will be then most can forget about hearing the broadcast also I am just curious but what projector is he planning on using? Edited January 3, 2009 by keggerz Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
moneymakers Posted January 4, 2009 Share Posted January 4, 2009 I've been coordinating/cooking a Super Bowl party at my church for the past 10 years. Pretty high-end with roasts, bbq, wings, and plenty of beer. Usually end up with close to 50 people attending. Plenty of Beer at your church What no naked women. What kind of church dont have naked women to go with plenty of beer. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BYoder Posted January 4, 2009 Share Posted January 4, 2009 The bishop is arguing we should buy an HD tuner for the church (his) laptop so he can project the game on the wall for the party. I know nothing about this technology... We don't have a screen, speakers would be from the laptop, buffering issues?... Will we see the commercials or halftime show? Though probably cheaper, I'm concerned about putting on a bad show for this event, and then not being able to run this in the future. And selfishly I admit, I want to make sure I can see/hear the game. We wait all year for this. Don't know if I can win this... or if it is wise to pursue. Can someone give me some advice/talking points about using an HD tuner with a laptop? You will get the commercials and halftime show because you are seeing the same broadcast as everyone else. You are basically just converting the laptop to a tv and pulling in the local signal. Assuming that you are using an antenna you are going to need to make sure that your antenna is strong enough to pick up the channels that you need. Also, you will need make sure that your laptop can handle the hd tuner. I have an hd tuner that I use on my laptop and the picture/sound is choppy at times. I am almost certain it is the computer because I know others that us the same hd tuner and have no issues (although they are using desktops). The screen may or may not be a problem depending on what you are going to project onto. If it is simply a flat white wall you should be fine. As Keggerz said, the speakers are going to be a big issue. At the very least you should bring in some computer speakers to setup but I'm not even sure that will be enough for everyone to hear. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
i_am_the_swammi Posted January 4, 2009 Share Posted January 4, 2009 plenty of beer. Our group has the dollars from fund raisers so that we can buy a nice 50 inch plasma and donate it to the church. Why not rent the TV for the night for a nominal cost, and donate the $3000K to a homeless shelter? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Junkyard Posted January 4, 2009 Author Share Posted January 4, 2009 You will get the commercials and halftime show because you are seeing the same broadcast as everyone else. You are basically just converting the laptop to a tv and pulling in the local signal. Assuming that you are using an antenna you are going to need to make sure that your antenna is strong enough to pick up the channels that you need. Also, you will need make sure that your laptop can handle the hd tuner. I have an hd tuner that I use on my laptop and the picture/sound is choppy at times. I am almost certain it is the computer because I know others that us the same hd tuner and have no issues (although they are using desktops). The screen may or may not be a problem depending on what you are going to project onto. If it is simply a flat white wall you should be fine. As Keggerz said, the speakers are going to be a big issue. At the very least you should bring in some computer speakers to setup but I'm not even sure that will be enough for everyone to hear. Thanks for tips. Good info to follow up on. Just put so much effort into building this up over the years, I'd hate to turn people off and see numbers drop in the future. I'll check on the projector type. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Junkyard Posted January 4, 2009 Author Share Posted January 4, 2009 Why not rent the TV for the night for a nominal cost, and donate the $3000K to a homeless shelter? Renting is a possibilty, but buying/donating the TV would benefit a lot of organizations that use the church, ranging from videos for Sunday School to other civic organizations that use the facility. Also have worked out a deal where I can get the TV for around 800-900 since it's for non-profit use. Appreciate the feedback about social responsibility. As a side note, I ran a season-long MNF pool (kind of like super bowl squares, but you buy the box for the season and the numbers change weekly). Netted about $1300 profits, of which $800 went to the local homeless shelter and the rest to subsidize kids for summer camp next year. I wouldn't normally consider a purchase like this unless I thought there would be some community good that came out of it. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Big F'n Dave Posted January 4, 2009 Share Posted January 4, 2009 I wish I was Catholic. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Chief Dick Posted January 4, 2009 Share Posted January 4, 2009 I wish I was Catholic. They will always take new recruits. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kid Cid Posted January 4, 2009 Share Posted January 4, 2009 Assume for a second that this isn't about the Super Bowl party and that the goal is to provide an environment where groups can use a "community room" (for lack of a better term) for display of large images and the accompanying sound. There are three important questions that need to be addressed before looking at any type of system. What is the intended size of the audience? What is the size of the area available for this system? What is the budget for this purchase? There are associated questions that go with this such as will the system be premanently mounted or should it be mobile, is this a dedicated viewing room or is it an all purpose room that needs to have things put away, will there be children using this room for non-A/V reasons, etc. but the top three are the most important. The third question is really the one that drives everything. What is your budget? It's pretty straight forward because if your budget is $1500 then what you can purchase is a lot different than what you can get with a $5000 budget. However, The size of the audience and the size of the room play a significant role in determining the direction of your research for the purchase. Oh yes, there is one other question that you(we) probably already know the answer to but that will play an important role in the discussion as well. Is there cable/satellite available or will this system be capturing signals OTA (Over The Air)? Here are my thoughts on the matter, you may take or leave any portion of this. It sounds like the Bishop wants a TV for his laptop. It will get far more personal use than community use IMO, but I don't know the man or his habits so this is just a guess. If it is a quasi-permanent installation, I would seriously consider a projector and a dedicated sound system for the room. This is the most expensive option so it would only work if you had a large enough budget. The key pieces would be projector, screen, TV tuner, receiver, and speakers. The nice thing about this approach is that if one piece wears out you only need to replace that piece, not the entire system. If the system has to be mobile, then I would consider a large screen TV. Look for an RPTV rather than a plasma or LCD. The reason is that it is a bigger box, less chance to be damaged when moving, it is on it's own cart/wheels, and it will most likely have a better integrated set of speakers. You will also be able to find a larger screen this way for about the same price and the viewing angles will be much better. Here are some thoughts that may help steer you in the right direction. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
satelliteoflovegm Posted January 4, 2009 Share Posted January 4, 2009 Why not rent the TV for the night for a nominal cost, and donate the $3000K to a homeless shelter? Why not let them do whatever they want with their money. As I am quite sure the church does many good things for the community. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
i_am_the_swammi Posted January 4, 2009 Share Posted January 4, 2009 Renting is a possibilty, but buying/donating the TV would benefit a lot of organizations that use the church, ranging from videos for Sunday School to other civic organizations that use the facility. Also have worked out a deal where I can get the TV for around 800-900 since it's for non-profit use. Appreciate the feedback about social responsibility. As a side note, I ran a season-long MNF pool (kind of like super bowl squares, but you buy the box for the season and the numbers change weekly). Netted about $1300 profits, of which $800 went to the local homeless shelter and the rest to subsidize kids for summer camp next year. I wouldn't normally consider a purchase like this unless I thought there would be some community good that came out of it. :thumbsup: thats awesome! It came off a little odd that in todays times of families suffering from lose of jobs/poverty that a church would dole out $3K+ for a TV. Great to hear you are getting it for a fraction of the cost, and it will be used for a variety of good causes. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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