Post Your Results II

The start of matrix2
 

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My Results

Hi All,

I have lurked for about 6 months now, made a few posts and generaly learned from you all here. Now

it's my time to post some results.

My setup is hardly DIY, the only thing DIY about it is the power supply ( i had to solder the end on) and

the PC to LCD panel VGA cable was custom made by my dad.

Parts list (USD):

Overhead projector: Elmo HP-4K DX
4000 lumens, triplet lens
$ 72 - eBay + $ 42 shipping

LCD projection panel : ASK Impact 16.7
VGA (640 X 480) 16 million colors
$ 110 - eBay + $ 30 shipping

DVD player: Apex 1201
Plays DVD, CD-R(W), MPEG, (S)VCD
$ 15 - eBay - local pickup

Portable projection screen: 70 " matte white - tripod stand
$ 20 - Value Village

ALSO have

80" X 40" home made glass bead screen (shown in photo) made from two smaller glass bead screens I found at a yard sale and thrift store, $1 and $4

LCD panel power supply: 120VAC to 12V 3A
$ 32 - purchased locally

Scan converter: Viewsonic VB50HRTV
s-video, rca, cable IN - analog RGB VGA OUT
built in TV tuner, OSD, audio pass through
$ 42 - eBay + $ 12 shipping

Sound system: Sony mini system
my old stereo - CD player busted, but line in works great for audio from tv tuner or DVD player - good and loud

Currently use PC speakers because they are small and self powered

Attached is a picture of my set up followed by another post with some screen shots (my camera is old and the night photos did not work, so I shot some video with my old handycam, and then took some stills from the mpeg I captured),

Here is a link to that video (WMV v9 file - 1.9 Mb - 34 seconds)

VIDEO or paste this URL into windows media player:

http://members.rogers.com/jacobezra/screenshot.wmv
 

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Screen shots taken from above video

Here are the stills I captured from the video I took of my projector in action.

My setup will fit in the back of my Mazda and can be set-up anywhere (like backyards etc..) and only needs a coaxial cable input from a satellite receiver or regular cable, or a downloaded movie burned to a CD, and your good to go.

Picture quality is very good and the brightness is ok in lit room, but great in a darker room or outside after sunset.

I am very happy with the results, and like most photos in here, it does look better in person, very clear and bright, I can bearly see the seam of the 2 screens and the hotspot is minimal with the glass bead screen. Such a large image takes over and the 2 dead pixels and other anomalies are not noticed at all.
 

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finally finished...

... so now it's time I also post my results :)

some pictures

I use a 3M overhead, 250W halogen, with a Dell 17" TFT. It is a bit too big for the overhead, so I can only use 1024x768, instead of the full resolution 1280x1024. It's an old display where the backlight inverter broke, so I could have it for free :D The overhead was AUS $70 on an auction.

You can see two different screens - the first try was vinyl floor, with the reverse side painted white, using a flat white paint. It was ok, but warping a bit too much. The second and final screen is made of black out cloth, stretched between two steel rods, with little metal eyelets to distribute the force. Works quite well, and is nice and flat.

For the display, I had to extend one flat cable, which connects the display with the controller board. Since the controller board was designed to sit behind the display in the original monitor, it was too short. You can see it in the picture of the inside of the projector:
inside the projector Nice thing is, the display has a DVI input, and an excellent analog input as well, which synchronizes perfectly.

I'm quite pleased with the image quality. You can see on the second picture that the pixels are sharp on the screen. The only little flaws are a slight blooming at strong black-white contrast (i.e. credits) due to some imperfections of the overhead, and a slightly darker image in the corners. In movies, this is hardly noticable, only in an absolutely uniform white throughout the screen, you can see a slight change in brightness. After carefully aligning the lenses, the blooming is almost gone.

My image is about 2.2 meters wide, the brightness is good when it's dark in the room, and the contrast and colors are fantastic. The black appears almost perfectly black - the Dell monitor is an excellent screen.

The theater setup is completed by a 4.1, 100W per channel HiFi system. I couldn't find a center speaker matching the performance of my two main front speakers (25 years old, but still fantastic - Orbid Sound Supernova, 4way, 101db/W, 25Hz-20.000Hz)
I decided that I don't need a center, the stereo rendering is excellent, when I sit in the middle.
The subwoofer is selfmade, 12", 150W class D amplifier (also selfmade), with a special preamp which allows for a flat response from 50Hz down to 16 Hz. It has about 500ccm displacement... if that is relevant for a subwoofer... :scratch2:

So if you excuse my now, gotta watch a movie :cheerful:
 
Here's my DIY project!

Here's my DIY project!

PROJECTION SYSTEM

Panel: nView Spectra C
OHP: 3M 9100 - 360w/2800 lumens
Video processer: ViewSonic NextVision N4
Throw: 13ft.
Screensize: 92"
Screen: 109" 16x9 - JoAnne Black-Out fabric (I had the materials :p)

My total cost - $220

As far as this being my first DYI projector project I'm VERY pleased (I just watch SG1 :bigeyes: ) all the info that I found on this site was a GOLDMINE - Thanks diyaudio.com!!!

I know it's not the best but man it's a DREAM come true!
(at least until I build my 15" LCD project!)

Results -

STAGE ONE: Just the OHP, Panel + DIY screen

Star Wars Anamorphic DVDr - this shot was taken while playing.
An externally hosted image should be here but it was not working when we last tested it.


Here's a Pic of my screen itself :p
An externally hosted image should be here but it was not working when we last tested it.


I'll post more pics later with the processer

This is the rest of my system -

VIDEO SYSTEM

Signal Source: Dishnetwork Dish 500 System
Projection Panel: nView Spectra C
Over Head Projector: 3M 9100 - 360w/2800 lumens
Video processer: ViewSonic NextVision N4
TV: Apex 27" with S-video
SAT Reciever : DISH 322
DVR 1: TiVo Series2 (stock 40hr recorder)
DVR 2: Dish DVR 510 (100hr recorder)
DVD 1: Mintek 1600 (hacked)
DVD 2: Apex AD-1500 (hacked)
Laserdisc Player 1: Panasonic LX-120
Laserdisc Player 2: Pioneer CLD-V2400
Connections: Monster S-Video, Toslink and Digital Coax connections and Phoenix Gold Composite audio connections and some Factory Dishnetwork Composite connections

AUDIO SYSTEM

A/V Receiver 1: Onkyo TX-SR501 (DTS,DD EX)
A/V Receiver 2: JVC RX-315 (used to power tactile transducers)
Front Speakers: NHT New Wave x2
Center Speakers: NHT New Wave
Rear Speakers: Kenwood KS-203 x2
Center Rear: Kenwood KS-203
Sub: KLH ASW10
Tactile Transducers: AURA "Bass Shaker" AST-1B-4 x2
 
thanks to parts from snootch

Mostly dIY Labs parts (250w MH, triplet) in an overhead enclosure. No reflector of condenser currently installed. QA-1800. Some pictures are with ambient light and some without. First picture is RCA input from vcr, rest are vga. These give a pretty good estimate on quality, although some areas (notably finding nemo) are darker than in person. 80" diagonal.

An externally hosted image should be here but it was not working when we last tested it.

An externally hosted image should be here but it was not working when we last tested it.

An externally hosted image should be here but it was not working when we last tested it.

An externally hosted image should be here but it was not working when we last tested it.

An externally hosted image should be here but it was not working when we last tested it.

An externally hosted image should be here but it was not working when we last tested it.

An externally hosted image should be here but it was not working when we last tested it.
 
Heading to bed since i have two tests tomorrow and have to be up in 5 hours. After messing around with it all night, Games such as Doom 3 look great - even with the low contrast ratio of the 1800. There's obviously smudges on the optics and glass panel that need to be cleaned (can see them in the pictures). Only disappointment is being limited to 800x600. Screendoor is hard to see from 6 feet away but desktop resolution is what gives me gripes. This'll have to do until next year when I should have the money to spend on a better lcd. I encourage anyone and everyone to build one of these as they're very useful and easily impress other people...as I had done tonight. First night through, looks like tweaking is next.