I have always wanted to have video accompaniment at my gigs, but considered this an unattainable dream. Even though projectors have come down in price considerably, the replacement bulbs are exorbitantly priced (seemingly in accordance with the cheap printer/expensive toner cartridge economic model). However, woot.com recently sold the Torpedo for $69, an item that Gizmodo, the gadget blog, characterized as "The World's Crappiest Projector." The projector is marketed primarily for kids to project video games. Demos posted by helpful YouTubers convinced me that despite the bad reviews, $69 might be a worthwhile expenditure provided I managed my expectations.

Would you want to use this projector for a mission critical Power Point presentation in a semi-lit room? No. But it performed much better than expected given the cheap price tag and even cheaper replacement bulb costs. In fact the projector uses halogen track lighting bulbs that can be found at the supermarket or on ebay for under $10. They aren't the brightest bulbs, but they are affordable and readily attainable. I was able to score a cheap DVD player at Radio Shack in time for my first multimedia gig. Unfortunately a skylight initially interfered with my video debut, but once night fell, the Torpedo did a great job of projecting my lo-fi stream of consciousness mashups on the wall behind me. I recommend this for multimedia on a shoestring budget!
posted by Bev  # 8:47 PM | Perma Link ShareThis
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