[The Godfather]

100" horizontal, 75" vertical: I've grown used to this setup for the last 6 months, and I decided to document my mini-IMAX just for Eug

I kid you not, my glass frames are smaller than the resulting image. I would need Chicken Little glasses.



HP Projectors: HP vp6320 DLP projector
1024x768. Not HD but does the job fine, and I have no HD content in my castle.

QTVR:
RapidShare: 1-Click Webhosting

The fancy trick: a mirror to ricochet the projected light and add 5 feet to the throw length

More images tomorrow.

[brassplayersrock²]

what was that tv show where they had silhouetted characters talking about the movie as it was playing?

I'm envious of the ones who can actually do projectors. I would really enjoy it if I got the right setup.

Thanks for sharring

Alex

edit: Just noticed the interesting ceiling patterns. When was your house made? or was that a custom done thing? snowflakes?

[The Godfather]

My house is made around 1985. The pattern in my ceiling is sponged stucco, and it came that way when I bought it 3 years ago.

[brassplayersrock²]

that's cool. just don't really see it now a days. atleast it's not popcorn ceiling

[cjrivera]

Originally Posted by brassplayersrock² 

what was that tv show where they had silhouetted characters talking about the movie as it was playing?

Mystery Science Theater 3000?

Nice theater Godfather.

[brassplayersrock²]

"Mystery Science Theater 3000?" Hah, yeah that's it.

Also, ditto on the nice theater

[Teronzhul]

So I was doing a DirecTV upgrade in a customers house today. He had a dedicated home theater room with a Runco projector. I asked how much it cost and suggested something in the neighborhood of $20,000. I of course was wrong, and he told me it was more like $56,000.

That is more money than I make in a year. I am sad.

[analogue SPRINKLES]

Hope you keep that mirror clean.

Even so does it affect the image quality at all?

[The Godfather]

Originally Posted by analogue SPRINKLES 

Hope you keep that mirror clean.

Even so does it affect the image quality at all?

The image quality isn't affected at all, until someone leaves a finger streak. I might use windex before the end of the year, if I feel very anal about it.

The projector was US$650. So, in relative terms, the theater was built on a shoestring budget.

[analogue SPRINKLES]

My lord it isn't HD?!!! Standard Def looks horrible on most 40" screens I hate to think what it looks like on 125"

[residentEvil]

Originally Posted by Teronzhul 

So I was doing a DirecTV upgrade in a customers house today. He had a dedicated home theater room with a Runco projector. I asked how much it cost and suggested something in the neighborhood of $20,000. I of course was wrong, and he told me it was more like $56,000.

That is more money than I make in a year. I am sad.

Runco is really nice; their line of video processors are the best in the business as far as I'm concerned.

[Eug]

Nice.

I considered the mirror method, but it turns out it would have added too much throw to my desired mounting position. I was considering a 768p DLP first, and actually bought one, but then found out about the Panasonic 3 LCD model that I finally went with. (I went with the Panasonic because of the rave reviews, excellent price - $1299, and its flexibility for mounting positions.)

What's your screen?

Originally Posted by analogue SPRINKLES 

My lord it isn't HD?!!! Standard Def looks horrible on most 40" screens I hate to think what it looks like on 125"

Actually, if a good projector, 1024x768 wouldn't be that bad (depending on the seating distance). Remember, 720p is only 1280x720, which is only about 17% more pixels. That is, if all 1024x768 pixels are used. If only a part of the screen is used, then it's 1024x576. 720p is 56% more pixels. 1024x576 would be tougher for seating spots in terms of avoiding screen door effect, but again it depends on the projector. DLPs and LCoS projectors (and Panasonic LCD projectors) are less susceptible to screen door effect, and he has a DLP.

Originally Posted by Teronzhul 

So I was doing a DirecTV upgrade in a customers house today. He had a dedicated home theater room with a Runco projector. I asked how much it cost and suggested something in the neighborhood of $20,000. I of course was wrong, and he told me it was more like $56,000.

That is more money than I make in a year. I am sad.

Runco makes reportedly astounding quality 3-chip DLP projectors. Nice.

However, you'd be amazed what you can get for $3000 these days from other companies. Truly amazing.

It's like plasma screens. 50" plasma screens used to be $50000 a few years back. Now for better quality 50" plasma screens, you can get one for less than $2000.

[The Godfather]

A pic of a flick of a recent popular movie. The little dude's head is 3ft tall on my screen.





Sorry for the bad quality of the picture. I will have something that fully uses every pixel on this DLP tomorrow.

[Uncle Skeleton]

Mine's 132"

I'm in the same camp: it doesn't have to be the most pristine picture up close, but the bigger the better. I have a big room to work with though, so no one has to sit that close anyways.

When I moved in here I was big into HD, I was downloading it from my comcast cable box. But since then I've come to the realization that what's on TV isn't good enough to justify the hassle or expense, and I'm pretty much just watching Jon Stewart's big blurry head 8 feet tall. When I do want to watch something that's quality, it's on DVD anyway, and really DVD is about as good as my XGA projector can display already (and it's a darn sight better than broadcast).

How are you guys photographing the screen? I've tried my point-and-shoot, but it always comes out absolutely awful.

[Railroader]

I like the mirror trick, I haven't seen that before. That would have solved a problem I had with a projector and a mounting location that was blocked by a speaker. I ended up just buying a more expensive projector.

[Cadaver]

My lil' setup: 106" screen with an Optoma HD72 720p projector, Blu-Ray and HD-DVD players. I'll post some pictures tomorrow.

[cjrivera]

ok you last 3 posters... let's see some pictures.

[Railroader]

Originally Posted by cjrivera 

ok you last 3 posters... let's see some pictures.

My installation was for a non-profit group that I currently live 300 miles away from. Gimme a few minutes.

[Gator Lager]

I read about some sort of paint that is applied to the wall and your wall is used as a screen, instead of a pull down screen. anyone seen that ?

[Railroader]

Originally Posted by Gator Lager 

I read about some sort of paint that is applied to the wall and your wall is used as a screen, instead of a pull down screen. anyone seen that ?

Everyone I know who has used it switched to a traditional frame shortly after. The one time I saw it used I was not impressed.

[Eug]

Originally Posted by Gator Lager 

I read about some sort of paint that is applied to the wall and your wall is used as a screen, instead of a pull down screen. anyone seen that ?

The reviews say that it's very difficult to get the formulation right, and you have to make sure your wall is absolutely pristine, so it may take a fair amount of prep work.

There are well-reviewed dedicated screen paints available, but they don't look like normal paint, and cost even more than an inexpensive screen, and that's just for enough paint to cover the area of a screen, not the entire wall. A higher end screen is only a bit more than the better quality dedicated screen paints and remove a lot of the guesswork.

[Peter]

medal.

[Uncle Skeleton]

The special paint I read about was called "goop" or "screen goop" and cost about $80 for a kit including paint rollers and whatnot. I looked up a DIY recipe on some home theater forums and in the end went with ordinary white ceiling paint (which is the brightest, and the main ingredient in the DIY recipe) on the recommendation of the paint store guy. It was about $25. I always prefer a little DIY, it makes the end product feel more personal.

I'll have some pics when I get home tonight.

[Eug]

One gallon of Screen Goo is $620 CAD.
It's a $185 for one litre, and $105 for 0.5 litres.

My main problem with DIY matte white paint is then you have a matte white wall, or else a matte white rectangle in your wall, and then you have to add the black out cloth around the edges to make it look nice.

I'd rather just hang a screen.

[Uncle Skeleton]

Oops you're right, wrong name. I guess I typed it wrong in the search field and google found it anyway. It says $68 for half a liter though.

Do you have to do the top and bottom borders in black, or just the sides? I didn't do the top and bottom because most things that matter have letterboxing anyway; the black on the walls would be too far from the image to make a difference (4:3 projector). This leaves me with a somewhat stylish dark accent wall with a white column in normal lighting, and it doesn't clash with the normal off-white walls because they're not near each other. That wall isn't well lit in normal lighting either, so that helps.

[Eug]

Originally Posted by Uncle Skeleton 

Oops you're right, wrong name. I guess I typed it wrong in the search field and google found it anyway. It says $68 for half a liter though.

Damn higher Canadian pricing. And it's a Canadian company too, which makes the pricing even more annoying.

The Carada Criterion screen I'd get is $627. Or if I wanted to save a few bux I'd get the Precision model for $519. The two screens are the exact same fabric. It's just the Carada has a bevelled edge reducing possible shadowing from ambient light, and looks nicer.

Originally Posted by Uncle Skeleton 

Do you have to do the top and bottom borders in black, or just the sides? I didn't do the top and bottom because most things that matter have letterboxing anyway; the black on the walls would be too far from the image to make a difference (4:3 projector). This leaves me with a somewhat stylish dark accent wall with a white column in normal lighting, and it doesn't clash with the normal off-white walls because they're not near each other. That wall isn't well lit in normal lighting either, so that helps.

Well, it's all personal preference, but I would prefer black on all sides. I'm "settling" for a 16:9 black border, which means that 4:3 and 2.35:1 material will have black sides or bars, respectively.

16:9 material will fit perfectly with my HD projector. 16:9 is the output from both my HD DVD player and my Xbox 360 too of course, and most of the time I'd be watching TV on the projector would be with 16:9 HD material.

[The Godfather]

786432 perfectly focused DLP pixels, over 8ft across *drool*

[Uncle Skeleton]

Originally Posted by The Godfather 

786432 perfectly focused DLP pixels, over 8ft across *drool*

I wonder what's on that hard drive you've got there, I mean, don't you get seasickness trying to watch it that big? Or a touch of an inferiority complex?

[Uncle Skeleton]

Originally Posted by cjrivera 

ok you last 3 posters... let's see some pictures.

Ok I got some together. First with a movie, then with TV, then what it looks like with the projector off, then a pic of the projector itself. The white "screen" measures 13' diagonal, the projected image 11' (in 4:3).






I'll take care of all those wires soon. I just switched to using a mini in the same room; before I had a long VGA cable to my powermac in another room, with wireless gyro mouse (from woot).

The projector is a BenQ PB6200.

[Eug]

Piccies no worky.

[Uncle Skeleton]

gdamnit! I edited that post like 6 times to get them working, but they were!

Ok, someone help. The pictures don't work on my machine, until I edit the post, don't change anything, and save the edit. Then they work.

Here's the direct links; can someone please tell me if they work?

http://home.comcast.net/~noah2/pics/movie.jpg
http://home.comcast.net/~noah2/pics/tv.jpg
http://home.comcast.net/~noah2/pics/nomovie.jpg
http://home.comcast.net/~noah2/pics/back.jpg

[Eug]

Yep working now. Interesting projector mounting method by the way. Whatever works.

[Uncle Skeleton]

Oh yeah. I can't do a ceiling mount here because drilling might damage the radiant heating system. So that's what I came up with. For a while I had it upright on a high shelf, but the angle of the projection is about 15 degrees upwards (for a high screen in a conference room?), so to compensate I had to angle it too far down for comfort.

[The Godfather]

Originally Posted by Uncle Skeleton 

gdamnit! I edited that post like 6 times to get them working, but they were!

Ok, someone help. The pictures don't work on my machine, until I edit the post, don't change anything, and save the edit. Then they work.

Here's the direct links; can someone please tell me if they work?

http://home.comcast.net/~noah2/pics/movie.jpg
http://home.comcast.net/~noah2/pics/tv.jpg
http://home.comcast.net/~noah2/pics/nomovie.jpg
http://home.comcast.net/~noah2/pics/back.jpg

Uncky!

Do you connect any videogame console to that?

My projector is naturally angled upward. So, in a ceiling mount situation, I naturally mounted it upside down. Fortunately, my projector can mirror the image in any way, so it didn't give me any trouble with the mirror trick.

[Uncle Skeleton]

I'm not into games, but I did once hook up whatever guitar hero is on. The hard part was the audio, since all I have out there are computer speakers. As I recall I only got one channel working for want of another composite barrel connector.

I'm pretty sure all projectors support mirroring etc. It's pretty trippy to set it to a left-right mirror of what's right. Of course, OS X can switch it any which way too, so even if your projector doesn't it's ok.

[The Godfather]

When I got my projector, I was happy to learn it can take Component Video (R, G, B plugs) through the VGA port. I took a $3 KVM (eBay), made the appropriate cables, and funneled the audio through the PS-2 connectors.

Soon, my four AV signals will get multiplexed with one single, no-brainer button.