| LeetCoder |
Im still wondering if building DIY projector worth the effort... or I rather just auction a LCD projector from ebay for around $300-$500 and then modified the lights.
Have anyone successfully modified their LCD projector lights yet?
Maybe this idea might not work but... yeah this what i think.. Why dont we build a light box with a 250W HQI outside of the lcd projector and using mirrors to guide the lights inside of the projector. :confused:
It seems the DIY projector will eventually end up cost close enough to buying an LCD projector from ebay itself.
Someone please prove me wrong...... Or I need to sell off my Polaview 3000 projector panel and start working on retrofitting a light into a real LCD projector. :( :( |
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| Video Freak |
| Well lets discuss, First Most older projectors have 100-1 contrast ratio, you can get better contrast with a lcd monitor. Second, A hqi setup would most deff have to be mounted outside the projector because its still too large to be in the actual projector. 3rd, If you can find a projector for cheap there are usually no guarentees that the insides are in good shape( especially if its stated not working as there is no bulb) Most projectors are canabalized once something goes bad on them, ie why bulbs are missing etc. Other then that I cant say either way. Good luck |
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| qwkbird |
hmmmm.
well i just saw today that best buy has dropped the price again on X1's to $1000.00.
I still think DIY is great if you really just want the satisfaction of building something, but in this case i would not do it if it cant be done cheap.
lets add up what i think some average costs are to DIY right.
overhead - 100.00
lcd monitor of decent quality - 200.00
halide setup and ballast - 200.00
HTPC - (if you cant dedicate your other pc) - 400.00
what you get for your money?
XGA resolution
400:1 contrast
akward stage size fitment of monitor
bulky setup
great feeling that you did it yourself
or......X1
SVGA native (scales up to 1080i, so resolution is only marginally worse than monitor.
about 800:1 contrast (i know it says 2000:1, but this is a more realistic number.
small portable compact unit
no need for HTPC
SO I SAY TO DO THE DIY PROJECTOR RIGHT, YOU WILL SPEND ABOUT THE SAME AS THE X1, WHICH YOU CAN FINANCE NOW AT 0% INTEREST THROUGH BEST BUY.
....granted if you can get the hook up on the monitor,ballast,overhead,HTPC then DIY is a better choice.
for most of us that dont have the hook up, i say that a NEW DLP is looking better and better. - unless you have to DIY.
the days of the 200.00 crappy panel results DIY are over.
so you get what you pay for, just research it well.... |
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| pizzi |
For those who have gone into used LCD and DLP projectors we were all happy with our DIY project once including myself. I made a really big screen myself and it did not cost me that much, under $300. I got a screen bigger than 5 times my tv, boy am I proud of myself.:clown:
That was months ago when lcd and dlp projectors were still pretty high even the used ones. It still is sometime when people go crazy when they bid on ebay. But since the price of new units had drop alot in the past couple months many people and companies have upgraded. So there are alot more bargains on ebay right now, you just have to keep on looking and be patient...............
For those of you who never had a DIY project I recommend doing it because it is fun and you will learn alot. But keep in mind that you should not go over $300 or $400 because you do not know the outcome and could waste that money! Any more than that I can guarantee you can surely get a good starter used commercial projector........
Eventhough I already have a good dlp I still look around for bargains. I bought 2 so far and sold it back for a little profit. I just sold another one today and made $200 profit!!!
Here are some advice if you are looking for a used commercial projector.
Dont buy any thing with resolution below 800x600 no matter how cheap it is. With todays standard its not worth it
Ghosting and sync problems are very serious and could cost thousands to fix.
If they say no lamp but unit works, immediately look for a lamp and completed items for that lamp to see if it is available and not hard to find. I picked up a bargain this way.
I dont really recommend buying a cheap projector for $300 and trying to retrofit a bulb or lamp that might cost you more and you dont know if it will work. The end price is probally $400-$500. You can get a decent working projector with lamp for that price ask some of our other members they will tell you cause I know they did.
In the end we all want to watch tv a really big tv or else we wouldnt be in this forum. If you are on a budget DIY is for you. For around $300 you can get a good big screen but depends on how long you get that project done.
For $400 nowadays you can get a decent projector depends on how long you can find it, usually a couple of weeks.
Just my 1 cent. Later |
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| Lifter |
| quote: | Originally posted by qwkbird
hmmmm.
well i just saw today that best buy has dropped the price again on X1's to $1000.00.
I still think DIY is great if you really just want the satisfaction of building something, but in this case i would not do it if it cant be done cheap.
lets add up what i think some average costs are to DIY right.
overhead - 100.00
lcd monitor of decent quality - 200.00
halide setup and ballast - 200.00
HTPC - (if you cant dedicate your other pc) - 400.00
what you get for your money?
XGA resolution
400:1 contrast
akward stage size fitment of monitor
bulky setup
great feeling that you did it yourself
or......X1
SVGA native (scales up to 1080i, so resolution is only marginally worse than monitor.
about 800:1 contrast (i know it says 2000:1, but this is a more realistic number.
small portable compact unit
no need for HTPC
SO I SAY TO DO THE DIY PROJECTOR RIGHT, YOU WILL SPEND ABOUT THE SAME AS THE X1, WHICH YOU CAN FINANCE NOW AT 0% INTEREST THROUGH BEST BUY.
....granted if you can get the hook up on the monitor,ballast,overhead,HTPC then DIY is a better choice.
for most of us that dont have the hook up, i say that a NEW DLP is looking better and better. - unless you have to DIY.
the days of the 200.00 crappy panel results DIY are over.
so you get what you pay for, just research it well.... |
??? Ok, I'm not gonna pick sides and argue here. But your reasoning doesn't make sense. First of all, why would you need an HTPC for a diy projector but not the X1? That makes no sense whatsoever. Secondly, you don't need to spend $200 on a lamp and ballast and then another $100 on an OHP. You can get a good MH OHP for $100-200 which already has a lamp and ballast. And if you did want to buy your own lamp/ballast, you could get one for much cheaper.
I'm not saying the X1 is a bad idea. There are pros and cons for both, but what your saying just ain't flying. |
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| poohbear |
| AND ANOTHER ONE CROSSES OVER TO THE DARK SIDE!!! MUAHAHAHA!! "join us, join us, join us" Yeah im going the lcd projector route also, I will let you know how it goes. |
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| ace3000_1 |
well one thing with diy u can upgrade for a hell low price and not to metion the bulb life and replacement cost's, one u have made the actual unit all u need to do is upgrade the lcd and change bulb when required, when u buy a projector u need not only bulbs if u are a heavy user but if u want a higher reso u need to buy another projector so in the long run u spend more on a bought one one would think but this isnt for all situations and there are ways to beat price barriers with upgrades to pro projectors and i think its called ebay, if u sell your projector before the bulb goes good for u u get a better price and maybe only have to spend $100-$200 on top of your sell sale but that works out to be the same of a diy upgrade so realy maybe there isnt any benifit with diy but for that startup first of getting into the big screen system, with that being said i plan to have a pro projector and a diy projector i like to create things and learn along the way and someone has to keep u guys going in the future lol
Trev |
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| Negative Design |
| quote: | Originally posted by qwkbird
hmmmm.
well i just saw today that best buy has dropped the price again on X1's to $1000.00.
.
overhead - 100.00
lcd monitor of decent quality - 200.00
halide setup and ballast - 200.00
HTPC - (if you cant dedicate your other pc) - 400.00
the days of the 200.00 crappy panel results DIY are over.
so you get what you pay for, just research it well.... |
X1 1k$$? how much was it before (i 4got)
my whole setup cost less than 300$ i dont know where YOU get your stuff from...lol my HQI setup is not even NEaR 200$ how could a normal MH be 200$$
the DIY days may be over for you but not for me, i see my self using my DIY lcd for years to come, yes i will eventually buy a DLP but by the time i get one they will be 500$ lol |
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| gui_999 |
OHP 100$
LCD MONITOR 250$
VGA BOX VB50HRTV 99$
WOOD FOR SCREEN 3$
SHOWER CURTAIN 2$
SCREW AND BOLT FOR SCREEN FRAME 4$
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total of 458$
-------------------------------
Comercial projector 1k+$
-------------------------------
The joy of a self-made
project.. and show that
to the familly and friends
and feel like the king of
the world.. PRICELESS! |
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| Negative Design |
Jeez how many times has the "Priceless" joke been used :rolleyes: have you no shame MAN!! OH THE HUMANITY!! lol
ahem, any ways what LCD are u using? |
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| ace3000_1 |
| negative design and his sarcastic behaviour............. hmmmmmmmmmmm......priceless lol |
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| Negative Design |
| quote: | Originally posted by ace3000_1
negative design and his sarcastic behaviour............. hmmmmmmmmmmm......priceless lol |
hehe anythng else would be UN Civilized!:cool: |
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| Property |
| Bet you can't score again. You bet *I* can't score again?? |
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| poohbear |
| erm i dont get that one... |
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| Negative Design |
| -LOL- my thoughts exactly, was that quote from a Canadian movie? |
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| ace3000_1 |
| na i think its time for property to take his medication he must have forgotten to take the last lot lol |
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| Property |
| It's another frikkin' quote from a famous tv commercial! COme ON PEOPLE!!! Snap snap! |
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| ace3000_1 |
| was it in this decade cos i dont know it , not one of those voices in your head is it? lol |
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| Property |
| I'm sorry i don't know spanish well enough to sing the cola-cao commercial. |
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| poohbear |
| Oh god this has potential to turn into a funny country stereo type war. In fact i had to delete what i was gonna post because it went to far. But yeah, what "famous" commercial was it from? A commercial for Tim Hortons maybe? ey? |
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| Property |
It's from the new Micheal Jordan commercial...where he's playing against himself.
And you'll never catch me dead saying "RRRRRRRRRRRRRROll Up the RRRRim to Win" |
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| poohbear |
| Ok ive seen that commercial but stop with the quotes because i didnt get that one either.. same commercial? |
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| poohbear |
| Oh ok, sorry i guess i set that up myself. I didnt think tim hortons actually had commercials. I was just making fun of the fact that Canada has one on every block. But yeah. erm... yeah... Does crabby dicks have a commercial. |
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| Video Freak |
| Time Hortons is the shiznit for food, Awsome sandwiches and great soup...........MMMMMM potatoooooooooo, I hear its only in Canada and now just creepin into the USA, IE northern states, Michigan here. and the doughnuts are quality, man Im hungry guess where Im going to eat tonight???????????/ LOL |
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| poohbear |
| Guess where Im going to eat tonight!? NO WHERE I HAVE TO WORK!! AND I HATE YOU!!! I wanna go... but im from south west MI so we dont have it herrre yet. |
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| Video Freak |
| what????????, does ka-zooo have one, Im surprised, Im about 45 min north of Det and we have 3. wierd |
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| poohbear |
| Yeah im from kzoo, well is more of country land but yeah. No i dont think kzoo has it. But we do have a panera bread! |
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| Video Freak |
| Weird oh well, On another topic Im wating in anticipation to see pics of your projector inside etc, I saw the screen pics and they look good. Well GTG and go eat talk to yall later. |
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| poohbear |
| HAHAHA rub that salt right in the wound!! send me some soup damnit. But yeah i guess i will go take some pics. Those result pics were horrible but the lamp also needs to be replaced and like I said i dont plan on buying one for 600$ im gonna retrofit. |
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| bitbyter |
I think the only main benifits left to commercial projectors are size, and the fact that you don't have to build them yourself. However, even if you use the smallest XGA LCD available at about $1000 us, you are still coming out on top of the commercial projectors price wise for one reason.....replacement bulb price (averaging about $600 us).
If you are only planing on using your projector for movies, I would suggest saving up your cash and purchasing one of the cheaper DLP projectors or trying to get lucky on E-Bay as you won't be leaving the unit on for long periods of time.
Unfortunately I am not in the category. I want to hook up my home PC and it's hardly ever off. In a case like this I believe that DIY is still the cheaper way to go (even if you want to shell out the bucks for a small size & high resolution LCD).
However, once someone has successfully retrofited a longer lasting bulb to a commercial projector, the equation will be very different. The only advantage left to building your own projector will be the satisfaction of DIY (not a bad reason in it'self). |
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| poohbear |
| someone already has, http://www.tweaknmod-av.tk/ Although the results arent quite as good as i hope to make mine... its a great start. |
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| ace3000_1 |
yeah man thats a job a would have done when i was twelve lol bloody rough job lol
Trev |
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| poohbear |
| Haha, its about time someone said it. And since when did people from spain say bloody? I thought that was an english thing... But then again i say it too and i say aboot and im not from canada... kinda close though.. but yeah. back on topic. I think im gonna find some hqi from germany because its cheap and prevelent there, its just hard as a batch to search pages you cant read. |
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| ace3000_1 |
yeah man germany has some great bulbs and france too ill try to find u a site i was looking at from germany duno the prices but some of the gear is impresive, also im an australian in spain lol i hope to go back to aust soon to keep using my bloody and amungst other words that i cant say on here lol
Trev |
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| poohbear |
| Haha, thats great your all culture filled, i totally forgot bloody is highly used in australia. But yeah erm i emailed some german person from ebay but they havent emailed back.. they suck.. i also emailed that tweaknmod.com guy and he hasnt emailed me back... he sucks also. |
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| ace3000_1 |
| maybe he is in intensive care after the great shock lol |
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| poohbear |
| We can only hope... jk im a horrible person.. Do you know what household current is used in germany? Would i have to rewire a ballast to our current if its aleady wired for someone in germany? |
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| ace3000_1 |
| na i think its 230v but u dont need to rewire crap lol just buy a ballast in the usa that will take your bulb, most of this stuff is unbelievably campatible like u wouldnt believe it, its just the arcing strike voltage that makes the diff in the ballast to light the bulb not so much the current to be honest most hps ballasts and hpm ballasts rum hm bulbs and im talking the new hqi |
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| Negative Design |
pooh bear i dont think it takes a rocket scientist to figure out not all germans speak english i emailed afew and also got not replies.
and about that tweakmod guy hes a memebr of this forum and also VM/s forums hes rarely on...i doubt he will ever reply.. |
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| poohbear |
| quote: | Originally posted by Negative Design
pooh bear i dont think it takes a rocket scientist to figure out not all germans speak english i emailed afew and also got not replies.
and about that tweakmod guy hes a memebr of this forum and also VM/s forums hes rarely on...i doubt he will ever reply.. |
Yes I know that is why i emailed them in german ya damn triscuit.
| quote: | | na i think its 230v but u dont need to rewire crap lol just buy a ballast in the usa that will take your bulb, most of this stuff is unbelievably campatible like u wouldnt believe it, its just the arcing strike voltage that makes the diff in the ballast to light the bulb not so much the current to be honest most hps ballasts and hpm ballasts rum hm bulbs and im talking the new hqi |
I actually planned on buying a ballast, bulb, all of it pre wired and everything from germany its alot cheaper to buy the whole setup. Around 80 Usd But i wonder how much shipping would be. But thats why i was wondering if i would have to rewire it to accept american current because i figured germans had higher currents... crazy germans... jk.. those are my roots |
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| Negative Design |
| oh.. umm well i KNEW that!:cool: |
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| ace3000_1 |
| na they are easy to wire up they tell u on the ballast and the ballast are heavy so i would just go the bulb and get a kit from the usa it would be cheaper in the long run cos u got no shipping if u get one from your home town |
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| poohbear |
| well what the crap... I dont have anywhere around here that i could order one from.. So i would prolly have to order it from pretty far away anyway... Im confused... I know i could get the bulbs in the US for about 30$ so the bulbs arent a big deal. |
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| ace3000_1 |
| well ive got my eyes on a couple of street lights that are in a park that have had the diffusers smaed exsposing the ballast and bulbs ect lol but they are 230v! so i cant help ya out there poop sorry |
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| ace3000_1 |
| yeah i want it and a great price but u cant go and rewire it for 110v unless u know what u are doing lol and prepared to wind about 500m of wire around a peice of metal perfectly aligned lol i want that light its a great price but it still doesnt say the voltage |
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| poohbear |
| Well then find out damnit, They list em all the time. So find out if it will work on an american 110 or 120 current and yeah... let me know... They usually sell em with 2 osram bulbs so yeah.. |
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| ace3000_1 |
yeah why dont u give them an email? my german is as good as nd's lol maybe it is 110-230v compatible u never know your luck
Trev |
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| poohbear |
| quote: | Originally posted by poohbear
Yes I know that is why i emailed them in german ya damn triscuit.
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Im glad you have been paying attention... |
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| ace3000_1 |
| lol u get that, this thread is turning to more of an amusment than a serious doing lol and i didnt know u emailed them either, u never said that u emailed this guy or girlie i never knew their name was them lol |
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