DIY projector really works!

[Auryg]

Yep..I built one. Used an NEC 1545v monitor I believe, and a 400 watt metal halide bulb.

I sold it to a guy here, actually. He modified the design to be wall-mountable, and it turned out a heck of a lot better than my design. Hah.

I eventually couldn't live without a big screen anymore, so I plopped down 900 dollars for an Infocus X1. Now that I have a real projector, I can tell you guys...unless you never plan to move it, the portability of a real projector is great. Not to mention the bulb heats up a ton faster and is a lot more configurable. I might be a bit biased though because I bring my projector to a lot of places for Halo parties.

As a project though, building a projector was a ton of fun. I learned quite a bit about optics and LCDs.

 

[Fenixgoon]

<neo> whoooaaaa </neo>

 

[hevnsnt]

Originally posted by: Jhill
Has anyone else here succesfully built a DIY projector?
I think it would be a cool project if it is really clear.

Very basic question. What do most people use for tuners? A laptop? VCR?

I'll go read up on it now before any more dumb questions.

You could probably build a good one and make your money back in no time if you rented it out for parties and stuff.

???????

Did you not see the FIRST POST in this thread?

 

[cmv]

Originally posted by: Auryg
Yep..I built one. Used an NEC 1545v monitor I believe, and a 400 watt metal halide bulb.

I sold it to a guy here, actually. He modified the design to be wall-mountable, and it turned out a heck of a lot better than my design. Hah.

I eventually couldn't live without a big screen anymore, so I plopped down 900 dollars for an Infocus X1. Now that I have a real projector, I can tell you guys...unless you never plan to move it, the portability of a real projector is great. Not to mention the bulb heats up a ton faster and is a lot more configurable. I might be a bit biased though because I bring my projector to a lot of places for Halo parties.

As a project though, building a projector was a ton of fun. I learned quite a bit about optics and LCDs.

Any thoughts on quality of old image versus quality of X1 image? Are both XGA?

 

[Auryg]

The X1 has a native resoluton of 800x600, but it does compress higher resolutions.

Basically it boils down to this...

Real Projector-Portable, smaller, better contrast ratio, brighter, easier use.

Built-Higher resolution (although that could be negated based on the projector you get), cheaper.

 

[Spudd]

Originally posted by: Auryg
The X1 has a native resoluton of 800x600, but it does compress higher resolutions.

Basically it boils down to this...

Real Projector-Portable, smaller, better contrast ratio, brighter, easier use.

Built-Higher resolution (although that could be negated based on the projector you get), cheaper.

It's really more like this:

Commercial Projector: much more expensive, smaller size, better contrast ratio (usually 2000:1), easier to use.

DIY Projector -- completely dependent on your parts, but can generally have: much cheaper, larger enclosure, much bigger picture, brighter picture, hard but fun to build, much higher resolution, bulbs last much much longer: 20,000 hours compared to a few hundred or thousand for commercial projectors, and bulbs are much cheaper to replace if blown: $38 for S400DD vs. upwards of ~$300 for the cheap commercial projectors like an X1. Even greater for high end projectors.

 

[jpeyton]

Has anyone figured a way to run a laptop LCD in one of these setups? I'm asking because HP/Compaq/Dell/etc. have had 15.4" 1920x1200 LCDs in their laptops for a couple years; find a replacement screen on eBay and you'll have a TRUE HD projector for incredibly cheap.

 

[cmv]

Originally posted by: jpeyton
Has anyone figured a way to run a laptop LCD in one of these setups? I'm asking because HP/Compaq/Dell/etc. have had 15.4" 1920x1200 LCDs in their laptops for a couple years; find a replacement screen on eBay and you'll have a TRUE HD projector for incredibly cheap.

The problem is the control signals to the screen are specific to the chipset used by the laptop. Everyone used different chipsets and standards. Some new laptops use a form of DVI (LVD?) so it may be possible in the future.

You can buy a generic type of driving circuitry from some websites for something like $200. It does not work for all LCDs.

The screen you are describing sounds like it may work well based on resolution but older LCDs aren't so good in some of the other ratings (contrast/brightness?) and once you toss in $200 to possibly drive it, many go for a tried and true cheap 15" XGA.

But it would be cool if you figured something out. Go to Google and Groups.Google.com and do a few searches and you'll find many people looking for information on how to drive LCDs.

 

[Spudd]

Originally posted by: jpeyton
Has anyone figured a way to run a laptop LCD in one of these setups? I'm asking because HP/Compaq/Dell/etc. have had 15.4" 1920x1200 LCDs in their laptops for a couple years; find a replacement screen on eBay and you'll have a TRUE HD projector for incredibly cheap.

A few people are attempting it. No one I've come across has succeeded yet. The problem of the controller board still exists.

Edit: And the ffc cables appear to be extremely short, making mounting it a no-go.

 

[Auryg]

"DIY Projector -- completely dependent on your parts, but can generally have: much cheaper, larger enclosure, much bigger picture, brighter picture, hard but fun to build, much higher resolution, bulbs last much much longer: 20,000 hours compared to a few hundred or thousand for commercial projectors, and bulbs are much cheaper to replace if blown: $38 for S400DD vs. upwards of ~$300 for the cheap commercial projectors like an X1. Even greater for high end projectors.
"

Oh come on man. I was involved in building my projector, from research to finish, for a good year or so. At www.diyaudio.com's forums they have the best of the best. We even had some crazy Koreans show off their stuff for a while. Even though their projectors were great for being home built, comparison side by side shots were taken. Now, some people's projectors came very close to being as good as the X1 (a BUDGET projector, mind you), and a lot had higher resolution..but the X1 was still better in every shot I ever looked at.

I'm sorry, but they just use some really good optics and processing for pictures in commerical projectors. Add on top of that the small size, a lot of different inputs that you don't have to buy adapters for, keystoning, zoom lenses, color+gamma+everything control...and you have a winner.

Yes, the bulbs last much longer, but will the LCD? Apart from being pretty fragile in their stripped state, LCDs are extremely heat sensitive. After a few years it'll start to lose color. DLP projectors don't have that problem. LCD projectors do, but it takes them a good long while to have anything noticable happen to them.

And yes, the bulbs are cheaper to replace, but those metal halide and the like lamps are dangerous. If they get scratched, they can explode when being started up. They get EXTREMELY hot, and the ballast needed gets pretty dang warm too. On top of that, they're absolute power hogs.

Commercial bulbs aren't cheap, no..but when you figure 300 dollars for 4000 hours..that really isn't all that much. I'm probably saving that in energy costs from the 400w lamp

 

[Spudd]

Originally posted by: Auryg
"DIY Projector -- completely dependent on your parts, but can generally have: much cheaper, larger enclosure, much bigger picture, brighter picture, hard but fun to build, much higher resolution, bulbs last much much longer: 20,000 hours compared to a few hundred or thousand for commercial projectors, and bulbs are much cheaper to replace if blown: $38 for S400DD vs. upwards of ~$300 for the cheap commercial projectors like an X1. Even greater for high end projectors.
"

Oh come on man. I was involved in building my projector, from research to finish, for a good year or so. At www.diyaudio.com's forums they have the best of the best. We even had some crazy Koreans show off their stuff for a while. Even though their projectors were great for being home built, comparison side by side shots were taken. Now, some people's projectors came very close to being as good as the X1 (a BUDGET projector, mind you), and a lot had higher resolution..but the X1 was still better in every shot I ever looked at.

I'm sorry, but they just use some really good optics and processing for pictures in commerical projectors. Add on top of that the small size, a lot of different inputs that you don't have to buy adapters for, keystoning, zoom lenses, color+gamma+everything control...and you have a winner.

Yes, the bulbs last much longer, but will the LCD? Apart from being pretty fragile in their stripped state, LCDs are extremely heat sensitive. After a few years it'll start to lose color. DLP projectors don't have that problem. LCD projectors do, but it takes them a good long while to have anything noticable happen to them.

And yes, the bulbs are cheaper to replace, but those metal halide and the like lamps are dangerous. If they get scratched, they can explode when being started up. They get EXTREMELY hot, and the ballast needed gets pretty dang warm too. On top of that, they're absolute power hogs.

Commercial bulbs aren't cheap, no..but when you figure 300 dollars for 4000 hours..that really isn't all that much. I'm probably saving that in energy costs from the 400w lamp

When's the last time you checked out the latest results on the projector gallery at LL from kjudki, jo@joewerb.com, skanmyth, etc? I've been on both forums for a long time, and I dare say there are more LL folks with better projector results than over at diyaudio. And the bulb and ballast only cost me around $4 a month to run for about 12 hours a day, all month. That's only about $48 for 4,400+ hours of use a year. That's still no where near paying $250+ for a replacement bulb. My ballast does not run warm. It's cool to the touch, because I have an 80mm fan blowing over it. And if the bulb were to explode, God forbid, that 's why the enclosure's made of 1/2" thick "plytanium" and the guts are protected by two layers of Lexan XL 10.

:beer:

 

[Auryg]

Hah..wow..lumenlab is big now? Back in the day it had about 5 members, no joke.

 

Yeah nice thingie. So why do you still have a Christmas tree up on 1/26?

 

[Spudd]

Originally posted by: dwell
Yeah nice thingie. So why do you still have a Christmas tree up on 1/26?

I didn't. Like I said in the first post, I was showing from earliest results to relatively current. I have attached the reflector and done some more tweaking, and I'm very, very happy with my latest results to say the least. All I can say about the Fusion HDTV3 card is, once you've seen HDTV....regular tv just doesn't even compare.

 

[Spudd]

Originally posted by: Auryg
Hah..wow..lumenlab is big now? Back in the day it had about 5 members, no joke.

Yep, it's big now. 4775 registered members and counting with 48,500+ posts so far.

 

[jmolayal]

Tag.. Might have to look into this.. Sounds like fun..

 

[Spudd]

Hey folks. I've got a few new shots now that I've got my reflector and some other stuff in the projector. I'm still only using my little Fuji digicam, so I'm trying my best to hold my breath as I take the night shots--forgiveness please. Hehe.

Shrek Shots:

1
2
3
4
5

Shot of Anandtech text: this was the best one I could take--I have no camera stand, so again, I'm just holding my breath and trying to be as still as possible--shaking causes bluriness.

Anandtech forums text shot

 

[ZOXXO]

Where did you acquire a reflector?

 

[cmv]

Cool! I'm curious about the relector too. By the way, you could simply put your camera on a stool or table or something like that to take the shots. Are you pausing the movie and then putting the camera in longer than normal exposure? The photos look a little yellowish but I noticed you're not using any sort of screen. White walls? I know this is tricky with digicams so I'm just curious.

 

[Spudd]

Originally posted by: cmv
Cool! I'm curious about the relector too. By the way, you could simply put your camera on a stool or table or something like that to take the shots. Are you pausing the movie and then putting the camera in longer than normal exposure? The photos look a little yellowish but I noticed you're not using any sort of screen. White walls? I know this is tricky with digicams so I'm just curious.

Yes, I know. My skills with the camera suck. I don't know how or even if my camera can take the night shots correctly. I tried placing the camera on the back of the sofa on the hard back but my hand is still moving the camera a little when I press down on it to take the shot. The slightly yellow tinge in some shots is not there in real life. I really don't think I can do any better with my current camera--I'm still trying to get my friend to lend me his camera, but he just bought it so I guess he doesn't want to just loan it out after plopping like $500+ on it. Ahh well. At least I can enjoy the real deal here.

Oh, and for the reflector, I bought a Steel-tek bowl. It's 18/8 stainless steel (nickel and chrome for luster and anti-rusting). It's a double-walled bowl, so I was able to use my dremel (my first time using a dremel too, and on steel--uber scary!) to cut the hemispherical part from the outer wall. That was no easy task mind you--but like I said, it was my first time using a dremel. Hehehe.

Edit: Here's the link to the bowl on Amazon

 

[morkus64]

major props spudd

lol about the serving bowl

 

[cmv]

How's the bowl working? I want to build one of these but I need to wait until I'm living in a house. The apartment I'm living in now has no room with flat wall that is 8 feet away! Odd apartment... I don't want to build one for a small display.

 

[Spudd]

Thanks Morkus64. And nice name btw CMV. I like your lcd monitors!

Anyway, the bowl worked out just fine (although using the dremel on it was just terrifying to be quite honest since I don't have a shop and it was nickel plated). Right now, I'm consider bumping up to a 17" projector and a slightly modified design. Some people sacrifice size for brightness, but I prefer having a 12 foot widge image, since I don't watch tv during bright daylight. However, I'll be studying and what not so I don't really know if I'll even be able to touch this project again until next year! That is unless of course my brother comes down and helps me--last time I did everything by myself. Ugh.

 

[cmv]

Spudd -- How's the project going? Do you use this at least a couple times a week? I'm interested in how it's working out for you and what you might consider doing differently having got to the point you're at now.

 

[Monkey muppet]

Originally posted by: Spudd

I suppose you could use more than a 400 Watt bulb, but the heat would become a real problem I think.

Even if heat does become and issue - Surly it can't be too hard to set up a dual 120mm case fan arrangement