I doubt anyone will read this.. but I have a LOT to learn.. and so as I go through this process.. I'll post in this thread what problems I come across and how I attempt to solve them. In general I pay more than some people get their stuff for.. mainly because I'm not that well connected and I'm impatient.
Among the threads which talk about crazy optics, light recycling etc. etc. Here's my dumbass attempting to retrofit an Elmo A305-SD with a 250w HQI solution. As I start.. I have to warn you that I'm a complete newbie to DIY in general.. soo.. I have not much idea about electrical stuff (wiring etc), only as much knowledge about light as I've read on here.. and way too much trust (trusting all these strangers in trying this)
Well this afternoon my Elmo arrived, as expected, it was missing the stage glass and wouldn't power on whatsoever. I don't like the idea of 750 hour bulbs ~$100 so I didn't want it to work anyway. I picked it up for US$85 after shipping / crossing the border etc. and I hoped that all the optics would be intact.
I was happy to see the reflector, condenser and projection lens all in good shape, the top side of the fresnel has a small? scratch on it.. but since I can't light the OHP yet, I have no idea how big a deal it'll end up being.
Anyway, 30 minutes and a few shredded screws later, I now have a roomy, empty, Elmo to work with. By the way, I have a bunch of Elmo guts I have *no* idea what any of which does, if anyone wants some.. e-mail me.. I might want to keep some handy for now though./I]
Costs incurred (shipping/tax/everything):
Broken Elmo $85
Benq FP567s $278
Total = US$363
The Broken Elmo
Optics intact!
The "fixed" Elmo 🙄
Among the threads which talk about crazy optics, light recycling etc. etc. Here's my dumbass attempting to retrofit an Elmo A305-SD with a 250w HQI solution. As I start.. I have to warn you that I'm a complete newbie to DIY in general.. soo.. I have not much idea about electrical stuff (wiring etc), only as much knowledge about light as I've read on here.. and way too much trust (trusting all these strangers in trying this)
Well this afternoon my Elmo arrived, as expected, it was missing the stage glass and wouldn't power on whatsoever. I don't like the idea of 750 hour bulbs ~$100 so I didn't want it to work anyway. I picked it up for US$85 after shipping / crossing the border etc. and I hoped that all the optics would be intact.
I was happy to see the reflector, condenser and projection lens all in good shape, the top side of the fresnel has a small? scratch on it.. but since I can't light the OHP yet, I have no idea how big a deal it'll end up being.
Anyway, 30 minutes and a few shredded screws later, I now have a roomy, empty, Elmo to work with. By the way, I have a bunch of Elmo guts I have *no* idea what any of which does, if anyone wants some.. e-mail me.. I might want to keep some handy for now though./I]
Costs incurred (shipping/tax/everything):
Broken Elmo $85
Benq FP567s $278
Total = US$363
An externally hosted image should be here but it was not working when we last tested it.
The Broken Elmo
An externally hosted image should be here but it was not working when we last tested it.
Optics intact!
An externally hosted image should be here but it was not working when we last tested it.
The "fixed" Elmo 🙄
Sadd LOL I was just thinking of doing the same thing, Getting the Elmo for its optics etc and retrofitting it( given that I wouldnt spend over 50.00 for a Non working projector) good job
Well, congrats on your first DIY projection project. I'll tell you, for $80 you got a great ohp to retrofit. Theres great optics in it, and plenty of room to work in and place components like ballasts and what not. I take it you have seem rolms retrofitted apollo ai-1000 that had to have the ballast outside the ohp. And dont feel like a newb. Frankly i'm more exited to see your project finished than you are 🙂 (because I own a solar deluxe of coarse). And if you dont talk **** about submerging the light in a fishtank... your not a newb in my book [kind of an inside joke if you remeber the breaf rain of property and his ideas]😀! Also, the bulbs may be $100 here in the states, but our good friend here at diy audio, YWH, teamed up with our other good friend 18wheeler to get these bulb for $20 shipped (from china that is). That really does not help you though 😀. Anywho, I think HQI will kick as much *** than HMI in your projector 🙂. So, good luck, and keep us updated.
Getting closer..
Well, it's been a while since I updated, not much has happened that I can really show, but I've started gathering some parts and I'm ready to start DIYing (btw, this is my first DIY project at all, but I've been sucked in and want to build more stuff! Next up will probably be a headphone amp).
My DIYlabs ballast/light has been shipped and I'm currently tracking it as it makes it's way towards me. I picked up the Benq but it turned out to be an FP557 😡 so I'm not sure what to do. I haven't taken it apart yet.. I told the lady I'd live with it but leave her negative feedback.. unless she's willing to do something about it.
I guess it's time to be less trusting on eBay 🙁
I also picked up a few more things for the project:
- different coloured wire (600v 30A rated) for general use
- a few fuses (1A, 2A, 3A) for the 120V AC fan
- A dremel (I spent quite a lot on this.. but I figure it's an investment, so I won't include it in the project cost)
Now I'm not sure what the next step will be. I'm gonna try to wire up the AC fan, and then I'll take the lcd apart and see how it fits on the OHP.. before modifying the OHP top (to get more horizontal screen) and getting new stage glass (not sure where I'll put the glass yet). I'll probably split the fresnels too since I have a dremel now 🙂
-rep
Costs incurred (shipping/tax/everything):
Broken Elmo $85
Benq FP557 $278 😡
250W DIYLabs HQI Kit $170
12.2" Fresnel $30
5 fuses $1
6m wire $3
Total = US$577
This has turned out to be NOT cheap.. but I'm still having fun and if it turns out ok, I'll be happy. The only part I'm mad about is the monitor.
Grr.. oh well the video I played on it was still pretty nice
Well, it's been a while since I updated, not much has happened that I can really show, but I've started gathering some parts and I'm ready to start DIYing (btw, this is my first DIY project at all, but I've been sucked in and want to build more stuff! Next up will probably be a headphone amp).
My DIYlabs ballast/light has been shipped and I'm currently tracking it as it makes it's way towards me. I picked up the Benq but it turned out to be an FP557 😡 so I'm not sure what to do. I haven't taken it apart yet.. I told the lady I'd live with it but leave her negative feedback.. unless she's willing to do something about it.
I guess it's time to be less trusting on eBay 🙁
I also picked up a few more things for the project:
- different coloured wire (600v 30A rated) for general use
- a few fuses (1A, 2A, 3A) for the 120V AC fan
- A dremel (I spent quite a lot on this.. but I figure it's an investment, so I won't include it in the project cost)
Now I'm not sure what the next step will be. I'm gonna try to wire up the AC fan, and then I'll take the lcd apart and see how it fits on the OHP.. before modifying the OHP top (to get more horizontal screen) and getting new stage glass (not sure where I'll put the glass yet). I'll probably split the fresnels too since I have a dremel now 🙂
-rep
Costs incurred (shipping/tax/everything):
Broken Elmo $85
Benq FP557 $278 😡
250W DIYLabs HQI Kit $170
12.2" Fresnel $30
5 fuses $1
6m wire $3
Total = US$577
This has turned out to be NOT cheap.. but I'm still having fun and if it turns out ok, I'll be happy. The only part I'm mad about is the monitor.
An externally hosted image should be here but it was not working when we last tested it.
Grr.. oh well the video I played on it was still pretty nice
Let there be light!
It's me again 😛
Well I got my HQI kit from DIYlabs today, the packaging was a little.. lacking
and as a result the socket was broken. I epoxied it back together, but it's still missing a section, not essential, but I think I'm gonna replace the socket when I get the chance. I spent a good 4-5 hours working on the projector today.
I wired that bad boy up and after 10 minutes of plucking up enough courage to plug it in.. it was sooo dim. I was about to lose it.. I just paid $150 for THIS?!@!@ (mind you it was daylight) and I forgot that it took time for the HQI to warm up.. Eventually it got brighter.. but I was still skeptical and wondering if something was broken (ballast, socket, bulb). This was an off-center light with no reflector, no condenser, and a backwards fresnel. Anyway.. i figured it MUST get better than that.. soo I went to work.
First I compared the two lights and thought about how to get the HQI as CLOSE to the original position as possible.
There's pretty much no way to get the HQI into the Elmo without doing some cutting, so I tried out my dremel for the first time, and cut some metal.. let the sparks fly!
The top 2 (narrow) cuts were to be able to put the HQI in as it's too bulky to slip through the side. The bigger areas were cut because this was a "raised" area and without this area, the DIY sockets could sit lower. In fact, after putting the pieces back together.. it turns out the height difference is pretty much EXACTLY right.
The DIY socket (bigger one) is sitting in the (lower) cut area, the original Elmo socket is sitting at it's original height. It's hard to tell from the photo, but I think that it's almost a perfect match 🙂 After everything was put back into the Elmo, everything fit perfectly. The only thing missing is a latch for the condenser flip down.. I'll think of something later on.
Haha, I swear it looks like a face 🙂
Once night rolled around, I was ready to try again.. and I let it warm up for a good 5-7 mins. I was a little scared since I had no fans at all yet, but I kept checking to make sure nothing was melting. I made sure everything was perfectly aligned.. and I hoped, and plugged it in again....
Hooray! I had light! and LOTS of it. Next up is permanently fixing the socket to the Elmo and hooking up some fans. Then I'll go about wondering about how to deal with the LCD.
Pretty accurate picture, it was bright enough to hurt to look at the wall
Couldn't resist this photo 🙂
It's me again 😛
Well I got my HQI kit from DIYlabs today, the packaging was a little.. lacking
and as a result the socket was broken. I epoxied it back together, but it's still missing a section, not essential, but I think I'm gonna replace the socket when I get the chance. I spent a good 4-5 hours working on the projector today. I wired that bad boy up and after 10 minutes of plucking up enough courage to plug it in.. it was sooo dim. I was about to lose it.. I just paid $150 for THIS?!@!@ (mind you it was daylight) and I forgot that it took time for the HQI to warm up.. Eventually it got brighter.. but I was still skeptical and wondering if something was broken (ballast, socket, bulb). This was an off-center light with no reflector, no condenser, and a backwards fresnel. Anyway.. i figured it MUST get better than that.. soo I went to work.
First I compared the two lights and thought about how to get the HQI as CLOSE to the original position as possible.
There's pretty much no way to get the HQI into the Elmo without doing some cutting, so I tried out my dremel for the first time, and cut some metal.. let the sparks fly!
An externally hosted image should be here but it was not working when we last tested it.
The top 2 (narrow) cuts were to be able to put the HQI in as it's too bulky to slip through the side. The bigger areas were cut because this was a "raised" area and without this area, the DIY sockets could sit lower. In fact, after putting the pieces back together.. it turns out the height difference is pretty much EXACTLY right.
An externally hosted image should be here but it was not working when we last tested it.
The DIY socket (bigger one) is sitting in the (lower) cut area, the original Elmo socket is sitting at it's original height. It's hard to tell from the photo, but I think that it's almost a perfect match 🙂 After everything was put back into the Elmo, everything fit perfectly. The only thing missing is a latch for the condenser flip down.. I'll think of something later on.
An externally hosted image should be here but it was not working when we last tested it.
Haha, I swear it looks like a face 🙂
Once night rolled around, I was ready to try again.. and I let it warm up for a good 5-7 mins. I was a little scared since I had no fans at all yet, but I kept checking to make sure nothing was melting. I made sure everything was perfectly aligned.. and I hoped, and plugged it in again....
Hooray! I had light! and LOTS of it. Next up is permanently fixing the socket to the Elmo and hooking up some fans. Then I'll go about wondering about how to deal with the LCD.
An externally hosted image should be here but it was not working when we last tested it.
Pretty accurate picture, it was bright enough to hurt to look at the wall
An externally hosted image should be here but it was not working when we last tested it.
Couldn't resist this photo 🙂
sadd cant wait to see the setup after the lcd is on it are you using a panel or monitor? Im looking at getting a hqi setup soon I want a lights on experience or even in the dark a bright projector dangitttttttttttttttttt. 700 ansi is good in the dark but what if it was 1000+ that would be sweet
Sadd, I've been away for a while, and haven't kept up one the lighting situation, I've got an elmo, and was wondering about the advantages of the new lighting setup your using, is it cheaper, brighter, lower heat....
Thanks for any info!
Thanks for any info!
vfreak: I'm gonna be using a Benq FP557 (not Fp557s 🙁, stupid eBay) which I'll take apart today. I don't know how bright it's gonna be, since I obviously haven't got the LCD on it yet and I know the light output cuts down tremendously, but I will for sure take pictures which are as accurate as possible. Obviously I can't take into account everyone's gamma settings, but I'll put in a reference bar or something 🙂
ds21: I'm not using anything new, tons of people here have already got this up and going, It's a standard 250W electronic ballast (M80) running a double ended metal halide HQI. I just picked up the kit from diylabs who I have to warn has pretty sketchy packaging and my sockets broke.
The elmo bulb lasts 375 hours (half life) before brightness begins to go.. replacement bulbs are ~US$100 (although of course there are the US$20 china bulbs which require going through ywh i think? wherever he is)
This 250w HQI bulb has an est. life of 5000 hours (half life), I assume it's brightness will also fade. Bulbs are ~$US40. I think the Elmo light could possibly be brighter.. I didn't have the original working to compare.. but as it stands I'm not worried about not having enough light with this alternative. So..
cheaper? in the long run yes
brighter? probably not, but i cant believe it's much dimmer.
lower heat? beats me, any bulbs putting out this much light is gonna make a ton of heat.
good luck
-rep
ds21: I'm not using anything new, tons of people here have already got this up and going, It's a standard 250W electronic ballast (M80) running a double ended metal halide HQI. I just picked up the kit from diylabs who I have to warn has pretty sketchy packaging and my sockets broke.
The elmo bulb lasts 375 hours (half life) before brightness begins to go.. replacement bulbs are ~US$100 (although of course there are the US$20 china bulbs which require going through ywh i think? wherever he is)
This 250w HQI bulb has an est. life of 5000 hours (half life), I assume it's brightness will also fade. Bulbs are ~$US40. I think the Elmo light could possibly be brighter.. I didn't have the original working to compare.. but as it stands I'm not worried about not having enough light with this alternative. So..
cheaper? in the long run yes
brighter? probably not, but i cant believe it's much dimmer.
lower heat? beats me, any bulbs putting out this much light is gonna make a ton of heat.
good luck
-rep
Awsome progress! That light output looks a little stronger than my solar delux, but keep in mind my bulb is almost dead and very dim (and i have no clue where there $20 bulb 18wheeler is getting are 🙁). I can't wait to see the final image with the benq monitor.
vERBOSE VERBOSE VERBOSE Weeks after you got your OHP and still no Lights on pictures C mon thats the holy grail. as for me Im making a MSN group for my projector escapades, However I noticed on the MSN messageborads you cant Imbed the Images into the post it has to be a link( BLAAAAAAA) that stinks.
First contact! Preliminary Results
Well.. it's been an interesting weekend to say the least. On Friday night I discovered that the Benq FP557 (not FP557s) had a flat cable connecting the vertical and horizontal PCBs and so without extending, would be useless for this project. I went back to Toronto yesterday (I'm normally at University outside of TO), Saturday, and I bought a NEC 1550V and checked it that night to make sure it was good to go. Yep, looks identical to the 1545v inside.
Today I dismantled it (live on #diyvideo on Dalnet!) and after a little sweating over the vertical PCB (was attached by hidden glue, didn't want to apply pressure) I managed to get it completely dismantled. I followed cruser's post on how to dismantle the 1545v and it worked like a charm: Check out the thread here
Seeing as it was still BROAD daylight and there was a huge freakin window shining onto where I was testing.. I lugged all the equipment to the basement to the windowless storage room and set it up around 4 feet from the wall. And here is my first image! i took several pictures at different exposures etc. and this is the one I feel is most true to the actual image. Of course it depends on your monitor.. my monitor is calibrated for photo work and I like to think it's pretty accurate:
Now currently my LCD is sitting on a cardboard mount (a sheet of cardboard with a hole cut in it) and no split fresnel and a lot of leaky light.. I played with some pieces of cardboard and the contrast improves instantly (putting a piece in front) so that'll be a must in the future. I'm going to move the ballast out cause it got hot (after a few hours of use) but the LCD is only warm to the touch without any active cooling.. so I'll leave it until after the fresnels are split.
Here are some movie clips (I put on a white shirt for the movies heh) and more photos that I took using my digital cam (Canon G2) with me being a dork in front of the cam for some kind of reference. The OHP was maybe 8 feet away from the wall and the full (non letterboxed) image was approx 8 feet diagonal? I'm really tired so I can't remember.. I moved it around so I forget what I took these pictures at. (These images werent taken with multiple exposures, but I did use manual settings of F2.0 1/5) the light isn't completely even.. it seems to get dim to the top left.. I'll worry about it after the split. The following are all projected on a wall with no screen.. and the wall is a pale pale green.
It's hard to tell scale in the videos.. but the shiny reflective thing in the bot left is a 17" TV and I'm 5'11. I think the Fifth Element clip is the best at showing the colours/size with me in it. The Gundam Seed one is for full screen size and the Aliens clip is for "dark movie" sample. The Aliens clip is slightly too contrasty so in real life you can see more of the dark patches..
I think with a proper screen, split fresnel, no light leakage.. the contrast/picture quality will be fantastic. I'm VERY happy with it as it is, and it's still a ways from being complete 🙂
These 3-4mb movies require MJPG (so get quicktime and play these in WMP or QT, they wont work in BSPlayer etc. its weird) Not much sound cause my roomies were sleeping.
Fifth Element (DVD) Clip: Colours/Size
Gundam Seed (DivX) Clip: Full Screen Size
Aliens (DVD) Clip: Dark Movie Sample
Comments welcome!
Well.. it's been an interesting weekend to say the least. On Friday night I discovered that the Benq FP557 (not FP557s) had a flat cable connecting the vertical and horizontal PCBs and so without extending, would be useless for this project. I went back to Toronto yesterday (I'm normally at University outside of TO), Saturday, and I bought a NEC 1550V and checked it that night to make sure it was good to go. Yep, looks identical to the 1545v inside.
Today I dismantled it (live on #diyvideo on Dalnet!) and after a little sweating over the vertical PCB (was attached by hidden glue, didn't want to apply pressure) I managed to get it completely dismantled. I followed cruser's post on how to dismantle the 1545v and it worked like a charm: Check out the thread here
An externally hosted image should be here but it was not working when we last tested it.
Seeing as it was still BROAD daylight and there was a huge freakin window shining onto where I was testing.. I lugged all the equipment to the basement to the windowless storage room and set it up around 4 feet from the wall. And here is my first image! i took several pictures at different exposures etc. and this is the one I feel is most true to the actual image. Of course it depends on your monitor.. my monitor is calibrated for photo work and I like to think it's pretty accurate:
An externally hosted image should be here but it was not working when we last tested it.
Now currently my LCD is sitting on a cardboard mount (a sheet of cardboard with a hole cut in it) and no split fresnel and a lot of leaky light.. I played with some pieces of cardboard and the contrast improves instantly (putting a piece in front) so that'll be a must in the future. I'm going to move the ballast out cause it got hot (after a few hours of use) but the LCD is only warm to the touch without any active cooling.. so I'll leave it until after the fresnels are split.
Here are some movie clips (I put on a white shirt for the movies heh) and more photos that I took using my digital cam (Canon G2) with me being a dork in front of the cam for some kind of reference. The OHP was maybe 8 feet away from the wall and the full (non letterboxed) image was approx 8 feet diagonal? I'm really tired so I can't remember.. I moved it around so I forget what I took these pictures at. (These images werent taken with multiple exposures, but I did use manual settings of F2.0 1/5) the light isn't completely even.. it seems to get dim to the top left.. I'll worry about it after the split. The following are all projected on a wall with no screen.. and the wall is a pale pale green.
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.
It's hard to tell scale in the videos.. but the shiny reflective thing in the bot left is a 17" TV and I'm 5'11. I think the Fifth Element clip is the best at showing the colours/size with me in it. The Gundam Seed one is for full screen size and the Aliens clip is for "dark movie" sample. The Aliens clip is slightly too contrasty so in real life you can see more of the dark patches..
I think with a proper screen, split fresnel, no light leakage.. the contrast/picture quality will be fantastic. I'm VERY happy with it as it is, and it's still a ways from being complete 🙂
These 3-4mb movies require MJPG (so get quicktime and play these in WMP or QT, they wont work in BSPlayer etc. its weird) Not much sound cause my roomies were sleeping.
Fifth Element (DVD) Clip: Colours/Size
Gundam Seed (DivX) Clip: Full Screen Size
Aliens (DVD) Clip: Dark Movie Sample
Comments welcome!
Congratulations sadd3j on a job well done!
😉 🙂 
Edit:
Whoa!! I just saw the movies, you must be really happy now. Did you have fun watching gundam seed? 🙂
😉 🙂 Edit:
Whoa!! I just saw the movies, you must be really happy now. Did you have fun watching gundam seed? 🙂
Not much of an update.. I'm just dead tired but I'm too lazy to get out of my chair and flop into the bed which is 2 feet behind me. Well not much has happened since my last post. I still have a ghetto booty cardboard mount for my lcd 😉 and no split fresnel and a green wall as a screen.
Today I went to home depot and picked up a sheet of plexiglass, and some bits of wood to play around with fresnel heights etc. and just make a prototype. I'm not sure whether to split the fresnel or not yet. I might wait until after I receive the DIYlabs fresnel since its such an irreversible process and I don't have any other fresnels lying around.
I reattached my LCD to the cardboard using screws (yes, screws into cardboard, but its studier than the tape I was using) and then plopped it back onto the OHP. I have to say that the light is VERY even, even to the edges. The top left gets a lil dark but nothing compared to how cruser's used to be before he split his fresnel:
I'm just speculating but I think the uneven light could be attributed more to the 3M's condenser vs the Elmo's condenser. So while not expecting much more evenness in light, I'm still hoping that split fresnels will get me a brighter picture, and of course the ability to get more of my lcd visible.
I have to say that even in the leaky light stage of my projector, I can't stop being impressed by the brightness/colours of the image on the wall. I lowered the green content through the monitor's hardware controls and the colour is a little better. Earlier tonight I taped a few pieces of paper to the wall to see how it would affect the picture, the colours are so much nicer on white paper than the pale green wall (duh) 😛. I also taped up a piece of photo paper which I found to brighten the image by about 5-10%. However.. the problem with the photo paper is that at the right angle, you can see the reflection of the OHP in the paper so I guess it's too reflective? All I know now is that a decent screen is a MUST!
I took some photos but I can't find my CF card adapter right now so I can't put em up right now, I'll put them in the next post.
As said in various threads before, leaking light is also another huge factor. Playing with cardboard has confirmed this 🙂
Anyway, to end this rather pointless post, anyone who is wondering about a 15" LCD + 250W HQI + OHP optics setup, you will NOT be disappointed by the quality. It's fantastic as a dark-room solution and for the price, I think it's hard to beat (and hella fun building it). $30-40 bulbs which last (halflife) 5000 hours, can't go wrong with that!
-rep
Today I went to home depot and picked up a sheet of plexiglass, and some bits of wood to play around with fresnel heights etc. and just make a prototype. I'm not sure whether to split the fresnel or not yet. I might wait until after I receive the DIYlabs fresnel since its such an irreversible process and I don't have any other fresnels lying around.
I reattached my LCD to the cardboard using screws (yes, screws into cardboard, but its studier than the tape I was using) and then plopped it back onto the OHP. I have to say that the light is VERY even, even to the edges. The top left gets a lil dark but nothing compared to how cruser's used to be before he split his fresnel:
I'm just speculating but I think the uneven light could be attributed more to the 3M's condenser vs the Elmo's condenser. So while not expecting much more evenness in light, I'm still hoping that split fresnels will get me a brighter picture, and of course the ability to get more of my lcd visible.
I have to say that even in the leaky light stage of my projector, I can't stop being impressed by the brightness/colours of the image on the wall. I lowered the green content through the monitor's hardware controls and the colour is a little better. Earlier tonight I taped a few pieces of paper to the wall to see how it would affect the picture, the colours are so much nicer on white paper than the pale green wall (duh) 😛. I also taped up a piece of photo paper which I found to brighten the image by about 5-10%. However.. the problem with the photo paper is that at the right angle, you can see the reflection of the OHP in the paper so I guess it's too reflective? All I know now is that a decent screen is a MUST!
I took some photos but I can't find my CF card adapter right now so I can't put em up right now, I'll put them in the next post.
As said in various threads before, leaking light is also another huge factor. Playing with cardboard has confirmed this 🙂
Anyway, to end this rather pointless post, anyone who is wondering about a 15" LCD + 250W HQI + OHP optics setup, you will NOT be disappointed by the quality. It's fantastic as a dark-room solution and for the price, I think it's hard to beat (and hella fun building it). $30-40 bulbs which last (halflife) 5000 hours, can't go wrong with that!
-rep
Because I don't get sick of posting pics!
Because I'm sure most people are ignoring this thread by now 😉 But because I can't help but be impressed every single time I turn on my projector..
My friend came over and asked me to push the projector further back to see how big we could get it.. and so I pushed it back a few feet, and also put it on a taller desk, with this set up we were able to sit in front of the projector on the couch (a little to the sides of the proj, and a little slouched) and watch Windtalkers. The size worked great for widescreen movies and just blew me away for size. Full screen it becomes a little too big. But no really noticeable loss of light going up to a ~130 inch screen. (11ft1" diagonal). Btw wind talkers isnt a great movie to show off colour since most war movies are pretty muddy coloured.
In the third picture, you can see a piece of photo paper taped onto the wall at the top right corner of the video windo. The photo paper works great except at certain angles you can see the ohp reflection and its not tolerable.
I also tried a white bedsheet today to get rid of the green of the wall, but it was horrible and made everything appear kind of hazey. When i took the sheet off, contrast and sharpness improved SO much.
Still no split fresnel, and you can see the light is pretty damn even. The LCD doesn't get too hot either after 3-4 hours of use. Not gonna do much at all until the DIYlabs fresnel arrives and then I'll split my current fres and make a more permanent mount.
wee!
-rep
Because I'm sure most people are ignoring this thread by now 😉 But because I can't help but be impressed every single time I turn on my projector..
My friend came over and asked me to push the projector further back to see how big we could get it.. and so I pushed it back a few feet, and also put it on a taller desk, with this set up we were able to sit in front of the projector on the couch (a little to the sides of the proj, and a little slouched) and watch Windtalkers. The size worked great for widescreen movies and just blew me away for size. Full screen it becomes a little too big. But no really noticeable loss of light going up to a ~130 inch screen. (11ft1" diagonal). Btw wind talkers isnt a great movie to show off colour since most war movies are pretty muddy coloured.
In the third picture, you can see a piece of photo paper taped onto the wall at the top right corner of the video windo. The photo paper works great except at certain angles you can see the ohp reflection and its not tolerable.
I also tried a white bedsheet today to get rid of the green of the wall, but it was horrible and made everything appear kind of hazey. When i took the sheet off, contrast and sharpness improved SO much.
Still no split fresnel, and you can see the light is pretty damn even. The LCD doesn't get too hot either after 3-4 hours of use. Not gonna do much at all until the DIYlabs fresnel arrives and then I'll split my current fres and make a more permanent mount.
wee!
-rep
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My way of dealing with short throw distance
Dear diary... lol its 5am and I need to sleep..
Not much has happened to my projector at all, no split fresnel, no mount.. just pure big screen enjoyment 😉. I haven't even screwed my ballast down yet. I'm blaming it on my upcoming exams and the fact that the new 12.2 fres has yet to arrive.
I've been dealing with the problem that almost everyone else (with an OHP solution) is dealing with: short throw distance. I don't have the time, resources ($) or brains to figure out how to truly increase throw distance, but I can at least say how I'm dealing with the prob.
The problem:
The further back the OHP is, the bigger the already ridiculously big image gets.. the image also gets dimmer as the light diffuses over a larger area. At first I had my OHP a certain distance from the wall and my couch and chairs on the sides, this was pretty unacceptable.. having to sit off-center and being able to see the OHP was a real drag so I just had to try it behind the couch (since kl899 did it). The couch had to be ridiculously close to the wall.. so I pushed it back further, resulting in a huge image, slightly dimmer but an acceptable sitting distance. My following solution isn't acceptable to everyone (or maybe many people at all)..
The goal:
My goal for this DIY proj was to have a cool, convienient projector which I could watch movies on (maybe some console games, but I haven't even tried yet). Having it in the middle of the room was not acceptable so I had to deal with it behind the couch.
My solution:
In a totally dark environment, the image at the pushed back distance is fine brightness wise, while computing it's dim (since I'm used to a monitor), but while watching movies it's perfectly acceptable and still very bright (comparing it to say, the cinema) and the colours are strong.
The problem of course is that the image is something like 140" and takes up the entire wall floor to ceiling! Watching movies at this size, is not possible, its too big and its difficult to watch, especially fast sequences (like when I went to see crouching tiger at IMAX). My solution? Using BSplayer, I play the movie at it's original size (or more/less dependant on the file) on a black background. Yes, I'm wasting a large (often majority) part of the LCD displaying black while only a tiny part is showing my movie.. so the resolution isn't as good.. but it allows me to:
A. Have my projector in a good location behind the seating...
B. while still being able to watch movies at a personally acceptable brightness/colour/size.
However, it's not as bright or as detailed (resolution) as it COULD be.. but I'm willing to forgo it given I get what I really want, an enjoyable movie watching experience. 🙂
Dealing with the grey non-black border:
I saw that doing this resulted in a not-quite-black area where the OHP would still shine through the black of the LCD and so I'd get a big grey screen around my movie.. UGH. I plopped some paper on top of the LCD to frame the image and bingo, perfectly black borders, resulting in a high contrast of movie to surrounding wall.. the effect was very dramatic and got me all excited like when I first put my image up. I'm very pleased with the "end result".
I was thinking that I could make paper frames for all the different aspect ratios that I'd watch, so if I were to watch a 16:9, I'd just get the 16:9 piece of paper, slide it in/plop it on and then use BSplayer (resize command) to fill up that aspect ratio. I'm sure at most there'd be a dozen or so pieces of paper.
So.. thats one way to solve the short throw distance (not completely, since my projector is still pretty damn close to the wall) but it wont appeal to those who MUST have the maximum resolution or the absolute brightest image possible.
-rep
I also recommend BSPlayer to anyone who hasn't heard of it or used it recently. It's got so much good stuff which perfectly suits my htpc through the projector. It supports a remote, so I can program it easily without girder, my remote is configed to FF/REW.. change hardware overlay brightness/contrast/saturation on the fly (SO USEFUL) as well as resize/reposition the movie while its in full screen mode.
No more fiddling with overlay sliders while my friends are over and the movie is starting 🙂
Dear diary... lol its 5am and I need to sleep..
Not much has happened to my projector at all, no split fresnel, no mount.. just pure big screen enjoyment 😉. I haven't even screwed my ballast down yet. I'm blaming it on my upcoming exams and the fact that the new 12.2 fres has yet to arrive.
I've been dealing with the problem that almost everyone else (with an OHP solution) is dealing with: short throw distance. I don't have the time, resources ($) or brains to figure out how to truly increase throw distance, but I can at least say how I'm dealing with the prob.
The problem:
The further back the OHP is, the bigger the already ridiculously big image gets.. the image also gets dimmer as the light diffuses over a larger area. At first I had my OHP a certain distance from the wall and my couch and chairs on the sides, this was pretty unacceptable.. having to sit off-center and being able to see the OHP was a real drag so I just had to try it behind the couch (since kl899 did it). The couch had to be ridiculously close to the wall.. so I pushed it back further, resulting in a huge image, slightly dimmer but an acceptable sitting distance. My following solution isn't acceptable to everyone (or maybe many people at all)..
The goal:
My goal for this DIY proj was to have a cool, convienient projector which I could watch movies on (maybe some console games, but I haven't even tried yet). Having it in the middle of the room was not acceptable so I had to deal with it behind the couch.
My solution:
In a totally dark environment, the image at the pushed back distance is fine brightness wise, while computing it's dim (since I'm used to a monitor), but while watching movies it's perfectly acceptable and still very bright (comparing it to say, the cinema) and the colours are strong.
The problem of course is that the image is something like 140" and takes up the entire wall floor to ceiling! Watching movies at this size, is not possible, its too big and its difficult to watch, especially fast sequences (like when I went to see crouching tiger at IMAX). My solution? Using BSplayer, I play the movie at it's original size (or more/less dependant on the file) on a black background. Yes, I'm wasting a large (often majority) part of the LCD displaying black while only a tiny part is showing my movie.. so the resolution isn't as good.. but it allows me to:
A. Have my projector in a good location behind the seating...
B. while still being able to watch movies at a personally acceptable brightness/colour/size.
However, it's not as bright or as detailed (resolution) as it COULD be.. but I'm willing to forgo it given I get what I really want, an enjoyable movie watching experience. 🙂
Dealing with the grey non-black border:
I saw that doing this resulted in a not-quite-black area where the OHP would still shine through the black of the LCD and so I'd get a big grey screen around my movie.. UGH. I plopped some paper on top of the LCD to frame the image and bingo, perfectly black borders, resulting in a high contrast of movie to surrounding wall.. the effect was very dramatic and got me all excited like when I first put my image up. I'm very pleased with the "end result".
I was thinking that I could make paper frames for all the different aspect ratios that I'd watch, so if I were to watch a 16:9, I'd just get the 16:9 piece of paper, slide it in/plop it on and then use BSplayer (resize command) to fill up that aspect ratio. I'm sure at most there'd be a dozen or so pieces of paper.
So.. thats one way to solve the short throw distance (not completely, since my projector is still pretty damn close to the wall) but it wont appeal to those who MUST have the maximum resolution or the absolute brightest image possible.
-rep
I also recommend BSPlayer to anyone who hasn't heard of it or used it recently. It's got so much good stuff which perfectly suits my htpc through the projector. It supports a remote, so I can program it easily without girder, my remote is configed to FF/REW.. change hardware overlay brightness/contrast/saturation on the fly (SO USEFUL) as well as resize/reposition the movie while its in full screen mode.
No more fiddling with overlay sliders while my friends are over and the movie is starting 🙂
I am going to do some experiments on the throw distance. I got a -0.5 and -1.0 eyeglass lenses. it would potentially increase the focal length of the projection lens, so the throw distance would be longer. Thus the image size will be smaller without wasting the pixels. I will post a new thread if I got a positive result.
throw distanc
😉 Please post any results on the throw distance please. I have put my diy projector together and am happy with the result but would be great to move the unit out of the middle of the room, for all the reasons stated before Thanks
😉 Please post any results on the throw distance please. I have put my diy projector together and am happy with the result but would be great to move the unit out of the middle of the room, for all the reasons stated before Thanks
the dukane 680 has a holder for magnifier lens (which will increase the image size). That lens on my 680 was missing, so it is perfect for me to put on a -0.5 eyeglass lens. The projection size decreased by 10-20%, but even the projection head was moved to the end of mast, the image is not perfectly focused. (If the mast is a little longer it will focus.) with right tool, it is not that hard to extend the mast.
But the major problem is that four corners became darker and yellow when I move the head too high! I didn't understand it at first, then I realized that the fresnel collect light toward the projection lens. the light has corn shape. When I move the projection lens too high, the tip of the 'light corn' no longer falls within the projection lens, so projected image is distorted.
I am thinking of adding another -1.0 lens at the place of the tip of that 'corn' to increase the FL of the fresnel lens. I will see how it works on Saterday.
But the major problem is that four corners became darker and yellow when I move the head too high! I didn't understand it at first, then I realized that the fresnel collect light toward the projection lens. the light has corn shape. When I move the projection lens too high, the tip of the 'light corn' no longer falls within the projection lens, so projected image is distorted.
I am thinking of adding another -1.0 lens at the place of the tip of that 'corn' to increase the FL of the fresnel lens. I will see how it works on Saterday.
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