i know u can have an idea just reading a guide on projector building, but what do u really think? and what will be ur suggestion to a noob?
i mean guide are made for people that wants to start to build theyr projector, but if u'r confused with all this info and u want only to understand what's mean build a projector i think i need to find answers to theese basic questions:
1) Why i have to build a projector by myself instead to buy a commercial one? (i know it's fun!!)
2) Let's assuming that selfmade PJ is cheaper, is this means that having 2000$ budget i can build a 10,000$ commercial PJ?
3) Is possible to build not only a cheaper PJ but a better PJ then commercial?
4) is possible to build a small and beautiful PJ like the commercial?
For what i read around, i know that's impossible give an answer to thoose Qs, so i imagine that i have to change this doubts into a different kind of question: what i expect, and what i search for a selfmade PJ?
** I like (like all of us, i think) to buy a 10,000$ PJ, FullHD (1920x1080), Bright enough to see during day (2000 Ansi), with natural and vivid color, with all newer connection (hdmi).
The fact is that i don't have 10,0000$ so i can build it using 2,0000$ and with no experience at all?
i mean guide are made for people that wants to start to build theyr projector, but if u'r confused with all this info and u want only to understand what's mean build a projector i think i need to find answers to theese basic questions:
1) Why i have to build a projector by myself instead to buy a commercial one? (i know it's fun!!)
2) Let's assuming that selfmade PJ is cheaper, is this means that having 2000$ budget i can build a 10,000$ commercial PJ?
3) Is possible to build not only a cheaper PJ but a better PJ then commercial?
4) is possible to build a small and beautiful PJ like the commercial?
For what i read around, i know that's impossible give an answer to thoose Qs, so i imagine that i have to change this doubts into a different kind of question: what i expect, and what i search for a selfmade PJ?
** I like (like all of us, i think) to buy a 10,000$ PJ, FullHD (1920x1080), Bright enough to see during day (2000 Ansi), with natural and vivid color, with all newer connection (hdmi).
The fact is that i don't have 10,0000$ so i can build it using 2,0000$ and with no experience at all?
Hmmmm, I've been in an answering mood lately so I'll give it a shot. Though I still claim I'm quite the noob myself as I haven't yet completed mine.
Ok.
1. Yes it's fun, but also it's quite economical when you look at associated cost with maintaining a commercial projector.
2. Hmmm $2000 is a pretty large budget, I've spent close to $1000 on mine, and it's going to be something of an oddity here on the forums.
3. Check out the results in this thread.
http://www.diyaudio.com/forums/showthread.php?s=&threadid=33356
His results are quite fantastic, and are even better than the commercial "higher end" dlp projector pitted against it. (at the time, still looks great to me now)
4. Size overall determines quality, which of course once it's all said and done comes down to the capabilities of the lcd panel you choose to use. 1920x1080 is possible, but I haven't seen anything less than a 23" lcd monitor that could achive that resolution, which, I imagine you COULD find parts that would work, but you might end up exceeding your $2000 budget to get everything. (especially since your monitor would end up being almost half that budget)
But really, that's only if you want the full 1080i(/p? I give up) resolution, there's other resolutions under the HDTV specs which you could infact reach. Check
http://www.hdtvinfoport.com/HDTV-Resolution.html
The monitor I plan to use suppousedly is HD ready, but I'm not really overly concerned with it at this time, I haven't been impressed with what I have seen so far. Do you really want to see the pits on Laurence Fishburne's face in the matrix? I don't.... (I still to this day want his shades though)
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16824112002
So what about lamps? I'm using the ushio 400w MH Conversion lamp.
http://www.businesslights.com/product_info.php?products_id=1403
Produces about 33000 initial lumens, and something like 25000 mean. People on here speculate that the panel and accessories take up maybe 30-50% of the light. Even at 50%, and mean lumens, that'd end up being about 12,500 lumens projected, provided that you were actually able to capture all of your light. Of course that's unreasonable, so say you were able to capture 60% of the light, which may be alittle high. That puts you at 15,000 lumens to start, then add in the loss from the panels, and that puts you to 7,500 lumens projected. Doing a search on google for "lcd projector "7,500 lumens"" gives me links back to here, and a bunch of rental sites, but not one where I could actually purchase a projector with that kinda powa!
Cost of these lamps is about $40 per bulb, a case of 12 cost about $450. Their reported lifetime in a horizontal position is 15,000 hours. So, under perfect conditions, you could theoretically run the bulb 24/7 for almost 2 years!
Now, a lamp for a standard commercial projector of any somewhat decent quality is anywhere from $220 to $460, and that was just newegg's offering, we are paying around $600 per bulb for the ones at the office. Their rated lifetime is, well nobody's ever been able to tell me, and I can't seem to find any listing of their lifetime on the net. I've heard guesstamites of about 500 hours per bulb, and we seem to go through about six a year per projector so that's $1,200 per year per projector (they get left on/used alot :/).
Building it yourself with a $2000 budget is completely possible, there's people here who have built one on a less than a $100 budget. All it takes is your ingenuity, an ability to do research, and willingness to put the effort into constructing it.
I also hear it's great when people come over and you can comment that you built that incredible projector yourself.
Ok.
1. Yes it's fun, but also it's quite economical when you look at associated cost with maintaining a commercial projector.
2. Hmmm $2000 is a pretty large budget, I've spent close to $1000 on mine, and it's going to be something of an oddity here on the forums.
3. Check out the results in this thread.
http://www.diyaudio.com/forums/showthread.php?s=&threadid=33356
His results are quite fantastic, and are even better than the commercial "higher end" dlp projector pitted against it. (at the time, still looks great to me now)
4. Size overall determines quality, which of course once it's all said and done comes down to the capabilities of the lcd panel you choose to use. 1920x1080 is possible, but I haven't seen anything less than a 23" lcd monitor that could achive that resolution, which, I imagine you COULD find parts that would work, but you might end up exceeding your $2000 budget to get everything. (especially since your monitor would end up being almost half that budget)
But really, that's only if you want the full 1080i(/p? I give up) resolution, there's other resolutions under the HDTV specs which you could infact reach. Check
http://www.hdtvinfoport.com/HDTV-Resolution.html
The monitor I plan to use suppousedly is HD ready, but I'm not really overly concerned with it at this time, I haven't been impressed with what I have seen so far. Do you really want to see the pits on Laurence Fishburne's face in the matrix? I don't.... (I still to this day want his shades though)
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16824112002
So what about lamps? I'm using the ushio 400w MH Conversion lamp.
http://www.businesslights.com/product_info.php?products_id=1403
Produces about 33000 initial lumens, and something like 25000 mean. People on here speculate that the panel and accessories take up maybe 30-50% of the light. Even at 50%, and mean lumens, that'd end up being about 12,500 lumens projected, provided that you were actually able to capture all of your light. Of course that's unreasonable, so say you were able to capture 60% of the light, which may be alittle high. That puts you at 15,000 lumens to start, then add in the loss from the panels, and that puts you to 7,500 lumens projected. Doing a search on google for "lcd projector "7,500 lumens"" gives me links back to here, and a bunch of rental sites, but not one where I could actually purchase a projector with that kinda powa!
Cost of these lamps is about $40 per bulb, a case of 12 cost about $450. Their reported lifetime in a horizontal position is 15,000 hours. So, under perfect conditions, you could theoretically run the bulb 24/7 for almost 2 years!
Now, a lamp for a standard commercial projector of any somewhat decent quality is anywhere from $220 to $460, and that was just newegg's offering, we are paying around $600 per bulb for the ones at the office. Their rated lifetime is, well nobody's ever been able to tell me, and I can't seem to find any listing of their lifetime on the net. I've heard guesstamites of about 500 hours per bulb, and we seem to go through about six a year per projector so that's $1,200 per year per projector (they get left on/used alot :/).
Building it yourself with a $2000 budget is completely possible, there's people here who have built one on a less than a $100 budget. All it takes is your ingenuity, an ability to do research, and willingness to put the effort into constructing it.
I also hear it's great when people come over and you can comment that you built that incredible projector yourself.
thx for ur reply 🙂
i can't go for an HD-ready PJ, i already have one (toshiba) and with 1400$ i can buy epson tw-600 (epson pro cinema 800) so if u don't have a passion for build things, it's a completly waste of time and money.
i can't afford a full-hd, but there r big news for next year, in fact fullhd PJ are expected to cost around 4/5000$, so for me it's not a good deal to start a build one using a 24" monitor fullhd and have a big PJ inside my little room 🙁
sure i can spend 2000$ or why not, like the current price, i can even raise my budget to 3000$, but for that price i must build a small PJ and full hd, for small i mean like the commercial one.
i can't go for an HD-ready PJ, i already have one (toshiba) and with 1400$ i can buy epson tw-600 (epson pro cinema 800) so if u don't have a passion for build things, it's a completly waste of time and money.
i can't afford a full-hd, but there r big news for next year, in fact fullhd PJ are expected to cost around 4/5000$, so for me it's not a good deal to start a build one using a 24" monitor fullhd and have a big PJ inside my little room 🙁
sure i can spend 2000$ or why not, like the current price, i can even raise my budget to 3000$, but for that price i must build a small PJ and full hd, for small i mean like the commercial one.
Well, you won't be able to beat it's (epson pro cinema 800) contrast ratio, but you can match it's resolution in a really small panel, and beat it out in everything else execpt for the "extras" and even most of those you can match if you put the effort into it, especially on your budget. However, I'm not going to do all your research for you. 😛
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