There are many ways to integrate a projector into your light show.  The trick is to have the projector automatically turn on each evening, play videos on-demand, and turn off at the end of the show.

There are a number of ways to control a projector automatically:

If you have a projector equipped with a serial port

1. On a Raspberry Pi with Falcon Player installed, it can send commands to your projector as part of your show (turn it on and off) and send videos to it on-demand, too.  This is the easiest solution, though projectors with serial ports tend to be expensive (buy used on eBay!).

2. On a Linux computer or Apple with OSX, you can send commands directly to the projector with a few commands.

3. On a Windows computer, you can send commands directly to the projector with a few commands

4. If you can't hook a computer to the projector, you can use an Arduino microcontroller to send commands to the projector

If you have a projector equipped with an Ethernet port

1. These projectors may have a web interface where you can schedule the projector to turn on an off using a daily schedule.  Please read the manual that came with your projector to learn how to use its web interface and scheduler.

2. On a Raspberry Pi with Falcon Player installed, it can send commands to your projector as part of your show (turn it on and off) and send videos to it on-demand, too.  This works for projectors with PJLink capability.

If your projector only has an infrared (IR) remote

1. You can use an Arduino microcontroller to learn the commands from your remote (on, off, etc.) to send these commands to your projector via infrared on a daily schedule.

The How To Build it section will explain how to implement each of the above scenarios.