Hanging the Projector

This picture shows the installation of the electrical connections to the blue utility boxes for the projector. Also, the soffit framing is just below the utility boxes. The electrical boxes were placed in the back center of the room to provide connectors for the projector once it is hung from this location. 

1. The left side utility box contains the 120V AC wiring for the projector. 

2. The middle utility box is intended for video and control cabling. 

3. The right side electrical box houses the smoke detector connection. 

As can be seen, several cables were already run from the side of the room to the center utility box without any conduit. As mentioned in other parts of the design description, this is one of many oversights. Running conduit would have made upgrading HDMI or Ethernet easier, but in this situation, replacing a cable through the soffit may not be too difficult, especially if I used an existing cable to pull a new cable through.

This is another photo of the projector's location. This one shows the HDMI, smoke detector, and power boxes, with wiring and insulation placed between the floor joists and in the soffit. As previously noted, the insulation used is typical builder fiberglass insulation. The middle two-gang utility box contains an HDMI cable, a composite video cable, and a CAT5a network cable. The composite cable was briefly used with an old receiver but was quickly rendered obsolete. The HDMI connection is the primary video connection and is capable of HDMI v1.4. The Ethernet cable was installed "just in case" we might install an IP-controlled projector someday. This cable is primarily unused, except for one spare twisted pair, which has been used as an IR repeater cable to connect to an emitter attached to the projector's IR receiver.

Double Drywall with Green Glue was used for most of the ceiling. This picture shows the area of the ceiling where the projector will be installed. The first layer of drywall around the projector location was replaced with plywood. This plywood section is large enough to allow some flexibility in the placement of the PJ mount. Using plywood provides a firm surface to easily screw the projector mount into and hold a heavy projector. Hopefully, this will prevent the projector from falling on the viewers.

This is a picture of the same location with the second layer of drywall and joint compound applied. Unfortunately, I should have taken photos of the second layer of drywall before it was installed. These would have shown the surfaces receiving a generous layer of green glue treatment. The lower part of the picture displays the side of the soffit, and the wood visible is the soffit tray edge. Eventually, several pieces of molding will be attached to finish the edge.

This shows the final results of the mounted projector. The lower left inset image displays a picture of the final video utility box. For some reason, there are two HDMI connectors, but only one is in use. This may be due to the faceplate configuration that I had. Although it would have required more effort, it would have been more sensible to reduce the fan noise in the room by placing the projector back into the soffit area and using it as a hush box.