Ultimate LAN-Party: DLP vs. LCD [Split Screens & Dual View]

[PaulH_1980]

My friends held another LAN Party last night and today, and I was lucky enough to have brought my camera along and get some very cool pictures I wanted to share with the forum. I am not going to be like some of the people out there and say "go buy a commercial projector!" but I find this experience was VERY motivational for me in terms of the type of quality projector I plan to build, and now have renewed energy to continue working very hard on.
Two people at the LAN Party had brought commercial projectors which got setup in a seperate room side by side for massive gameplay on UT2 Multiplayer. They took up almost the entire wall which is similar to a "widescreen" ratio size, because of a shelf underneath it mounted to the wall. You can see from the pictures the quality and differences between the two in the following sets of photos. I will try and provide information about the two projectors and just general comments about the various pictures to explain how they had things setup.

The two projectors used were the:

Compaq MP2800 [DLP] [which is the projection on the left]
Projector Review
Manufacture Info

Epson Power Light 7300 [the projection on the right]
Manufacture Info

The pictures will be listed in the posts below:

-Paul-

[PaulH_1980]

Picture of the Compaq MP2300. Notice the DLP logo on the side.



Getting the two projectors setup side by side. [With lights on]



Looking really nice and sharp with lights off. DLP on the left and LCD on the right



Computers up and running loading into windows.



Two screens in one. DLP overlaying the LCD projection. You can see winamp ghosting through the background of the other PC.



UT2 multiplayer side by side. Both are on opposite teams. I hope no one is peeking at the the other guys screen. hehe



MP2800 is action. Blinding all who walk in front of it.



Epson Powerlight 7300 & Compaq MP2800 side by side.



Clear shot of the MP2800.



What do you know. He found you... I wonder how he knew where you were ¿

[PaulH_1980]

This setup was done by hooking both of the projectors up to one computer with the nvidia dual view feature. It outputs your desktop to multiple monitors as one desktop. This would be [IS] great for watching huge widescreen movies. Very cool effect in general. This is something I want to setup myself, by creating to high quality, identical DIY projectors. Also these are good pictures to compare the quality and color/contrast between the 2 projectors. The DLP looks really sharp, but in some pictures it looks like the color is better than the other one, and in some it looks more washed out. Judge for yourself.



Joe standing 6 feet in front of the projection. He is standing between the twp projectors which are setup out to the sides angled in. This way he doesn't throw a shadow on the screen. I'm taking the pictures from in between the two projectors.



Note sure what movie this is.



Which one do you think is better Joe ¿ Oh really, the DLP you say...



Fast and Furious off some guys computer. Some good shots of colors and comparisons.



Picture #2



Picture #3



Picture #4



Picture #5

The black line between the two can be removed if you align the projectors perfectly which only takes a minute to do. I told them do do that so I could get some pictures for the forum, and people would be able to tell where one projection stops and the other begins.

I hope people are able to get a good comparison from the pictures. Being able to watch this last night and get ideas from what I saw has really inpsired me to keeping working hard on my DIY projector. In the future I would like to be able to setup 3 projectors side by side, one DLP commercial, one LCD commercial, and one really nice DIY projector, to compare the quality between them all. Seeing this has given me even more drive than before to create a really nice, high quality projector. Thanks to all in the forum for the ideas and inspiration, I think this is what keeps the community strong and helps keep people on track.

-Paul-

[Bricolo]

I want one!!!

So small, so beautifull, DVI input and composite inputs, the image looks good





4500$

[PaulH_1980]

I have seen people on the forum at times post that commercial is the way to go, and about how much they spent on their DIY setup. But I feel that for the money you save doing it yourself, it's totally worth it to build your own. Look how far people have come in just the last two years. Who knows, a year from now we may be building projectors of this quality, based of the inovations people on this forum come up with day to day.

I think these pictures are a good representation of the quality differences between exsisting commercial projectors, and a good benchmark for those who already have great quality DIY's that they are improving everyday. I mainly wanted to share some pics for those who have not seen DLP or LCD commercials in action. They look great but I am all for DIYing it !! This has been good inspiration for me.

-Paul-

[Negative Design]

nice, on your next lan party I want to see a comparison with a CRT

I seen an episode of techlive whre they showed 1 LCd and DLP...the LCD won..

anywho my real reason for posting is...Nice avatar! I love RK lol

[freeupyermind]

personally i like the lcd better from the pics youve shown, im qute interested now in building 2 identical projectors and using them side by side, bigger picture size, major cutdown on screendoor, are you sure its really that easy to align them?

[PaulH_1980]

NegativeDesign - Thanks man... Kenshin is a great series. Loved the final OAV. I'll be interested if we can track someone down with a CRT projector. I will be asking around. With 3 types of projectors we would probably need to do it in a longer room with more wall space for the next set of pictures. Always a good thing though!

freeupyermind - Yeah the LCD looked really nice for some things, and the DLP looked really nice for others. Notice the scene in picture #3 and #4 of Fast and the Furious. In #3 you can notice some skin colors are off for what you would normally expect and the white shine off his eye is sharper with the DLP projector. Picture #4 makes this more apparent as you can see the distortion as the car is speeding down the street. [Look at his arm for a good example in this shot.] The DLP had issues also where it seemed that if you moved your eyes from one point to quickly you could see RGB flashes. [I can't really explain what this looked like.] Seemed both had their pros and cons. I think the best thing about the DIY projectors is that we know more about our setups than someone who bought a commercial. According to the guy that had the MP2800, when I told him a MH can put off about 15,000 - 25,000 lumens on average he told me that his projector puts off "60,000 - 90,000 lumens". *hehe* I just smiled and nodded.
I think for aligning two DIY projectors you would just want to make sure that they are at the same height. Like when you setup R-L front surround speakers. As long as they where at the same height you should not have a problem. The spacing would be good to work out before you have anything set in stone, but for these two they were about 6-7' feet apart and not really at much of an angle. As you can see in the pictures the MP2800 is actually about 2-3' feet lower than the epson power light 7300, but this projector is able to angle the image upwards without any kind of distortion. I agree that this would cut down on screen door alot, as I was about 4' feet from the wall at times and did not notice any pixels, and I would say the images were about 4-5' feet tall. Another nice thing is if someone is standing right in the middle of the screen you won't get a huge shadow blocking a lot of your picture. You can see when my friend is standing there there is actually no shadow at all, unless he is extending his arm out to the sides. I am also very interested in creating a setup like this, for a really huge high quality widescreen. Thanks for the input.

-Paul-

[freeupyermind]

well if at the next one your gonna have a retail lcd, dlp, and crt, you should also have a diy lcd to be able to get some good comparison shots!

[Negative Design]

Originally posted by freeupyermind
well if at the next one your gonna have a retail lcd, dlp, and crt, you should also have a diy lcd to be able to get some good comparison shots!

Why not have a Plasma,Flat LCD tv, and a WEGA tv as well and lets not forgrt the 100" tv

If you were in my area I'd probably lend you my CRT for compariosn, I dont have any room for it anyways..lol

as for DIY LCDs...I think they can compare will many retails but I doubt it can compete with anything above 1,500:1 ratio
My new goal is to find the HIGHEST ratio projector...either LCD or CRT whichevers cheaper....

anywho..what "FINAL" OAV are you talking about? seisouhen?
Because thats the nly OAV I've seen, I also seen all episodes(uncut) up to 64, I'm waiting till I have a MAIN projector so I can see the rest...RK deserves no less! lol

ND