While many business conference rooms use front projection technology, if you have the room, rear projection has significant benefits. Putting the projector behind the screen prevents light in the room from interfering with the image and when people walk in front of the screen the image doesn't break up. Rear projection screens also hide the projector, giving the room a cleaner appearance.

Mount a specially designed rear projection screen in front of an opening using the hardware and methods specified in its owner's manual. Typically, the opening will need to be a similar size to the image being projected.

When you design your projection area, remember that your projector will need an area between it and the screen that is equal to the distance you'd use when you front project. In other words, if your projector needs to be 10 feet away to fill a 100 inch screen from the front, it'll need to be 10 feet behind the same screen. Short throw projectors are optimized to generate a large image from a relatively short distance; These are particularly well suited to rear-projection duty in areas with limited space.

Place the projector behind the screen at the appropriate distance. One strategy that some businesses use is to have the space behind the screen serve as a storage area or as an audio/visual equipment room. That way, you don't just have an area of wasted space between the projector and the screen. Bear in mind, though, that the projection will be interrupted if any light comes between the projector and the screen.

Connect your projector to any video source components, just like you would with a front projection unit.

Turn your projector on. Adjust its position until it perfectly fills the screen.

Enter your projector's on-screen menu setting to turn on its "rear projection," "rear display," "image flip," or "mirror image" setting. While the name and location of the setting varies between projectors, all will flip the image to make up for the fact that it's being projected through the screen instead of being bounced off of it.

Tip

If you don't have enough space to put your projector far enough away from the screen, you can install it in a rack with a mirror that bends the light and helps to extend the effective projection distance. For instance, if the mirror is located five feet above the ground, you could place the projector four feet behind the screen and get the equivalent of a nine foot projection distance.