DIY Video Projector

[Myren]

dont bother with hardware decoders. i bought one and it was way lower quality than the software players out there. PowerDVD is really slick, almost as much as the free alternative dScaler (free except the hour it takes to tune it just right to your system).

[Myren]

does anyone know where i can find info on bulbs?

i'd like to just be able to browse through bulbs in search of the perfect bulb.

[Bitch]

Myren, are you sure that the decoder you bought wasn't just piece of ****? I would think different models has differences in quality just as DVD-player devices have.

I didn't quite undestand the dscaler, it requires tv-card? My tv-card is with bt878 chip but I coudn't find the damn thing from anywhere yesterday since it's not plugged in to the machine. I would have wanted to try get it working with the dscaler. They said somewhere in the dscaler webpage that dvdplayer device->tvcard->dscaler doesn't produce as good quality than dvd-decoder card.

I have probably missed something but what's wrong with the bulb you have now, Myren?

I have now three 5x5" fans the noise is already absolutely terrible. It mostly comes from the box though but I really don't want more fans anymore. I actually don't know what to do. I think it is the cooling "design" which in my thing just isn't proper, rather than the coolers woudn't be powerful enough, cause they are quite powerful and were the expensivest ones I could get.
One thing would be if there are condenser lenses that could stand more heat.? I don't have problem with the LCD but the fresnel can't deal with the heat. And it's not even that hot. It's still basicly touchable by hand when I can see that delisicous white light in the screen turning in to brown ****!!

[lokost]

Myren

This gobo projector uses something close to the perfect bulb. The problem is, who sells this bulb at a reasonable price?

http://www.enliten.co.uk/pdfs/CAL_V3.PDF

[fender4]

MAN! Check this light out:

150watt fluorescent

Perfect! For only $400! Well, it's good to know that there is SOMETHING out there. 12000 lumens from 150 watts is pretty nice.

Anyway, here are some ok sites for lights to check:

http://www.lite-house.com/
www.hellolights.com
www.ahsupply.com
www.fulham.com

The two middle links deal mostly with aquaria, but they can be helpful. Fulham does ballasts. I'm still interested in the overdriving option or a power compact fluorescent. I'm thinking about trying to run a PC light with a T8 ballast. I'm probably asking for trouble, but $5 is pretty cheap for a learning experience. If anybody else tries this before (or after) I do, PLEASE BE CAREFUL! Electricity kills.

I'll let you know how it goes, if it goes at all. I'm convinced that LOA doesn't have to be the only game in town. I think they are just overdriving a PC tube and putting a reflector behind it. Just my opinion.

soje, welcome to the board! Any ideas on LCD sources? I'm still having a tough time finding a suitable LCD. Anybody?

Also, to those using the page magnifier fresnels, does the circular pattern of the fresnel degrade the projected image quality?

Thanks for everybody's input on the project. I've been side tracked recently, but I'm still in the game. Good luck.

-f4

[zark]

I'm using two LOA's driving a 5" lcd and it works pretty good. It fills a 6.5' screen with ambient light. I'll have some pics of the screen test on the web soon.

[soje]

A tip on what to be interesting in lamps and ballast

Lamp: click here Price: $348.93

Ballast: click here Price: $71.70

Total price: $420.63

It is a lot of money, but it will give you a chance to get a 1500 ANSI Lumen projector.

Fans: Find out how to do the cooling most efficient.
Hitachi has a site with some information: click here

Will find more later on!

[soje]

FANS

Check this out: click here

[Schaef]

Myren, I'm not sure if this is more of what you're looking for about lighting info, but try:

http://www.gelighting.com/

This sends you off to the GE Lighting home page and seems to have lots of info about their lamps (bulbs) and about lighting in general. I just skimmed it briefly, so I'm not absolutely sure if it has what you're looking for.

If you're looking for other lighting ideas, as I've mentioned before, take a look at some theatrical sites on lighting design and see what they have to say about lighting in general. (Sorry, don't know any right off hand...)

Hope this helps!

[Bitch]

The 150w fluorescent is cool! The price is absolutely terrible though. It's not bad price for it's lifetime but what if the damn thing blows up after two days for no reason?! There you have $400 of ****. Even if it has somesort of warranty it probably won't cover the whole life time and anyways they'll tell you you used it wrong or some **** like that.

I would still consider buying that one if it would be possible me to actually get one from somewhere. I'll try to look in to that.

I think the GElighting had some 105w fluorescent, the lumens was about the same than LOA one but it's an alternative anyway.