Heh, big

[youthsonic]

http://test-dev.tsanet.org/big.jpg

13' 6"...

I'll most likely just stick with a 92" widescreen due to the wife

[atron]

Is this yours? if so is it a homeade projector? I've been thinking about making one with an old LCD and overhead.

[youthsonic]

This is mine. Its a Panasonic PT-AE700U, native 720p LCD Projector. I was playing around with different sizes till one was found that the wife could cope with, because once you order a screen you can't take it back. I wanted to go with 106" but we finally agreed on 92". This pic was take at max zoom, and took up about 13' 6" diagonal. The wall you see is a ~14 foot wall.

As far as the Make-your-own, I actually have a projector in my basement that me and a friend made as a prototype. We kept on having problems with the focal length, but we finally got it right. My problems with it was the bulk and the need for an external video processor / line scalar (i.e computer). Also, its hard to find an lcd screen that is native 720p (1280x720). Some of the newer lcd screens can do this resolution, but are usually like 1680x1050 natively, so any true 720p signal you give it will look real bad. ANY time you take lcd out of its native resolution, picture quality suffers somewhat. Also, you get better color saturation / accuracy out of a bought projector, because there are 3 mono lcd screens overlaid on top of each other to more accurately render each shade, instead of the best approximation you get out of just one screen.

The build-your-own though was a fun project, and the images them make are pretty nice, as long as everything is spaced correctly. As I was makin it, besides the focal length issue, I also had some hotspots and really washed out areas, and had to play around with the lamp position in order to find the best compromise. If you are going to do this, make sure you use a smaller, newer (and high res) LCD that has a good contrast ratio, or your projected blacks will be pretty sad.

If you have any questions, lemme know

[atron]

thanks man I probably will have a few I plan to do this later this summer.

[thetrio]

My roomate and i have been thinking about building one of these do it yourselfers. we have a pool and want to find a way to strech a screen across the pool for outdoor pool movie nights. Any helpful hints I need to know about?

[Mindscape]

Helpful Tip #1:

Drain all water from the pool before attempting to make a TV out of it.

[atron]

great tip !

[thetrio]

Yeah I dont think that we can do that now that I have looked into it a bit more. It could probably be done but it would take a lot more time and money then we have.

[youthsonic]

It'd prolly cost you about 150$ to build, + a laptop screen. The most expensive part is the ballast for the lamp. It's also a hassle to build one, and the quality isn't as good as a "real" projector. Thats the biggest reason I decided to just buy one. Another thing to think about in the build your own projector is that the LCD you'd use would not be designed for the heat that the bulb would put off, and would break down alot quicker then the PolySi panels in a "real" projector.

I got my screen last week, and all I can say is WOW. HD content looks amazing. So does standard dvd due to the good internal scaler of the projector.

[Mindscape]

Hmm... what if you didn't need a lamp? Lemme test a few things.

[youthsonic]

UPDATE:

Had the system set up for a few weeks. Pretty damned nice


The screen, the day after I installed it. Pretty happy with it.



The Projector. The mount sucks, so I'm buying a real metal one today. Darn thing shifts too much, and the chain makes it impossible to keep level.

I tell ya, a projector sure does make porn alot more enjoyable

[dogpatchexpert]

i have a old kodak lcd projector and a newer older one but i never use them unless for halo lan parties then i hock them up. one lan party i had 3 lcd projectors and my lcd computer monitor all hocked up together

also wait untill you have to change the blub in that thing you will be po'ed there very high