Things Newbies Should Know

[justme]

Guy Grotke

Yep, you're right. I totally ignored the reflective part even though I remember reading it. I was just thinking that since I already had the optics it would be neat. Unfortunately they're not for a set of reflective LCDs. I suppose that for this kind of thig you would have to use an extra set of fs mirrors to redirect the light reflected from the LCDs into the prism. Or do they even use a prism for this type? I doubt that I could pull it off anyway, I've never been very good at sneaky stuff.

[jobailey32]

ok, searching for a lcd, i found my old compaq presario 1700T, and it has a 1024 x 768, 60 hertz refresh rate, 32 bit color

is that good enough

I'm wondering, am i going to run into problems if i try to use a laptop lcd, this is going to be my first project but i would still like to take the time tobuild a quality projector

p.s. - i have scoured this site for about a week, but i haven't found any actual plans for the projectors, am i missing a thread that's got some plan info

[Guy Grotke]

If you just want to use your projector to run windows (or linux), games, and DVDs, then a laptop LCD will work fine. Just use the built-in controller in the laptop to run it, & add a DVD player if needed.

If you also want to show other video sources (ie. TV), then it is much harder. You need hardware that can do real-time video capture for display on your laptop screen, which is hard to find for a laptop. The other option is to find a stand-alone LCD controller board, that will turn your LCD into a video monitor. That will cost you easily twice what a comparable new LCD video monitor would cost. That's why almost nobody does this.

You can buy any number of different 15" XVGA LCD monitors that do 1024 by 768 fast video with terrific contrast ratio, for under $200 US. You can also buy a tv tuner box with XVGA output to drive it, for under $80. Most of those have S-Video inputs which will give you a great picture from a cable box, satellite decoder, or DVD player, as well as a VGA passthrough for driving it from a computer.

[justme]

jobailey32


Hi, just some ideas for you:

Toms Hardware used a laptop and an overhead projector in their project.

If your laptop has a DVD drive does it play movies well enough for you?

Do you want to play pc games and is the laptop fast enough to play all the games you want to play?

There are external pc card tv-tuner video capture devices available (expensive in my opinion).

If your laptop is in good working condition, you could sell it and use the money to pay for at least part of your projector project.

Since most people are using different LCDs, light sources and optics the plans for each projector are different.

There are some basic plans here somewhere but I couldn't find them with a quick search. I download most of them and will email them to you if you want.

[zimmy]

look up LUMENLABS i believe.....
its all about how to build a projector out of
a 15" LCD monitor and a big light bulb.......
or u could just buy a CRT pj...my NEC rocks!.....zimmy

[jobailey32]

anything you can send me would be great

i would like to do a compact projector, but i understand that i am very inexperienced and i was wondering if maybe i should try an ohp style projector first. are they easier to build, and if so can i get a decent picture from them

[Guy Grotke]

There is one big problem with OHP-based projectors: They almost all have 10.5" by 10.5" stages, which does not match the size of the most available LCDs. You either use a 15" LCD monitor and get the edges cut off, or a 7" LCD monitor and then don't use much of the available light.

LCD projection panels ARE designed to fit, but they generally are older technology, so they have limited color depth, resolution, contrast ratio, and slow response time.

The other problem: The lamps don't last very long. (Buy some spares on eBay.)

But it is an easy way to start: You will get an image on the screen the first time you turn it on.

[2005lino]

When trying to make a thread it comes up with 'Please search the forums'. Now that is fair enough except i have searched the forums ALOT for questions i have had, but like anyone i still have some questions which i hoped to make a concise thread about so i could get my first projector up and running. Could anyone tell me how i can by pass this to make my own thread as i don't think i am trying do something which would be unbenifical to the forum and which may help other people who are new anyway. I have read alot of the FAQs and 'newbie threads' so i do not want to start off on the wrong foot.

[TaskMaster]

There is a checkbox to indicate you've searched - look for it when starting a new thread.

[2005lino]

oh I see, thank you