Home made projector!

[Chaz]

Ok, for now I've used a pair of CD cases underneath at the edges of the shroud to prop it up about a centimeter. Unfortunatly this means the whole purpose of the shroud is defeated, light is escaping. Also because the LCD is further up more of the corners are getting chopped off. Im gonna take the LCD off now and look at hacking away at some of the plastic corners.

[MiccyNarc]

I got paid and am about to bid on this monitor:
http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll...tem=5221882881
What do you all think?

[Chernobyl]

Hmm that seems to be a decent spec LCD, I hope it goes on the OHP easily.
Nice contrast ratio, brightness and 16ms speed!

Well done guys losing the interference patterns.
Instead of raising the LCD, you may have luck moving the Fresnel lense instead?
Good luck

[MiccyNarc]

Hey Chernobyl, you should create an FAQ for this project, unless you already did.

[MiccyNarc]

http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll...tem=7532579445
A projector for $45!
And a monitor for $50!
Something is bound to go wrong :P

[Chernobyl]

haha nice one!

Regarding the FAQ, I'll start writing a mini guide soon.
I feel accomplished enough now to put the basics in a form that should be easy enough not to get wrong.
I am learning all the time so a full guide is not appropriate yet.

Today I learnt that the MH bulbs need better air circulation as my bulb appeared to have started on its end of life cycle, most probably due to heat build up. This doesnt mean it is near the end of its life, but is just getting too hot. This is to be expected as the efficiency drops, its a matter of finding out how cool it needs to be kept.

Pumping more air round inside the OHP has stopped it turning off now (80mm fan running at 5v). I was previously worried blowing air round may crack the bulb but these dont run as hot as the halogens. It appears good so far

The projector had an appraisal yesterday from an experienced AV engineer.
The only point he made was it is 'slightly' yellow/cream coloured which I agree and prefer it this way as I suffer no eye fatigue ever! (the bulb colour temp is 5200K whereas LCD monitors run 5600 to 5700K, I find them very bright)
He had no complaints after seeing it in use, saying it is impressive.
Woot!

I'll try another colour bulb some time, just for kicks.

[Chaz]

Chernobyl, I noticed you can adjust the colour temperature on the E380S, I've set mine to 9300K like on my CRT monitor and the colours do look better.

[Chernobyl]

yours will work differently as you are using a 3400K colour temp bulb.
I had to compensate a lot to get a fair colour balance when using a similar bulb.
9300K looks blueish and darker for me now with the new bulb.

I've tried all manner of colour temp settings with the MH bulb and have found the best is manual mode with 55% on all colours
Its really bright with lovely colours.

[Chaz]

I'm thinking about buying a 6800 pretty soon as a replacement for my crappy 9550. But I'm worried about the projector. The screen resize function is extremely useful, I can get all of my screen onto the shot, and I've only cut away a small amount at the corners. Today I got the most recent ATi drivers, so the squash settings were reset, and there appeared to be quite a bit of the screen chopped off.

Do nVidia drivers not come with a function like that?

[Chernobyl]

The NVidia drivers have the Keystone util for resizing the screen.
It does resize the screen but it slows the display to a crawl, the mouse jerks a lot too.
I never use it.
I hope NVidia sort this out some time.

The amount displayed is down to how close the LCD is to the fresnel, how much light the OHP lid blocks and how much I can shrink the screen.
The fresnel must be big enough to fit the whole LCD.

With the LCD laying almost flat on the OHP glass, the screen shrunk on the LCD config and some of the OHP lid plastic cut away, I get over 96% of the screen in display which is enough

ps after putting a fan inside the OHP, the bulb works perfectly again

[Chaz]

Well, I've got good news for all. My 6800 came (wahey) and so I was prompted to sort out the chopped-off-ness. I was getting half of the clock cut off, and a strip along the left hand side, from half way through the windows logo on the start button.
I cant find NVKeystone, on the nVidia website I think it says you need a 256 GPU in order to use it anyway, my 6800 is only a 128mb. Or did it mean 256bit? Anyway.

I found a program called PowerStrip. It effectively does what the ATi drivers were doing, resizes your screen. It takes quite a bit of playing with to get working, but after an hour of tweaking I've got all, 100% of my screen in view. No slowdown, it works in Doom 3 at least.

http://www.entechtaiwan.net/util/ps.shtm
Once installed you want to right click the icon in the taskbar, go to Display Profiles -> Configure. Click the advanced timing options button, then play around with the resizing buttons. Once its as you want it, save the profile, and if you turn off the PC with that profile active, it will automatically load (with PowerStrip running in the taskbar) and everything is fine.

One problem though, a 'tip of the day' is shown when your PC boots, and the only way to remove it is by registering the software. Oh and it looks like its a 30-day trial. Costs $30 to register.

[MiccyNarc]

That's really great to know chaz

Thanks for the input.


I got my 9550 and my monitor today. Right now I'm resetting up my room so I can hange a sheet. then I'll get to projector making.

Wish me luck/pray for me!

[MiccyNarc]

WEll crap. My whole setup slid off the projector onto the floor.
It still "works", but there are two dead lines, one on the left of the screen (not really visible, but there's a huge one right in the middle of the screen that is very distracting.

Any ideas? I know it's a bad connection somewhere but I can't figure out how to fix it.

HELP!
EDIT: It moved. Now it's more toward the left of the screen (it was toward the right before. Suggestions?

[MiccyNarc]

Also, how hot can the screen get before I should worry?

[MiccyNarc]

Okay I'm freaking pissed off at myself right now. Looks like there is some kind of puncture inthe connection between the circuitry and the screen. A little hole in the green plastic material that connects the two. So as you can imagine I'm very pissed off right now and ready to go postal, but I'll control myself.

I doubt there's anything I can do. I'll probably have to scrap this one. At least I have an OHP.


FFS.

[Chaz]

Damn man, that sucks. I would expect it'll be very tricky to fix up, but if the lines can move then maybe there are a few loose connections? Since you've got nothing to loose maybe you should really fiddle with those wires. Aluminium foil?

[MiccyNarc]

The line is in one spot now, if I fiddle with the busted connection, the line will shift one way or the other.

http://www.infernolabs.co.uk/projector/diy4.jpg

Not my monitor but gives you an idea, it's those strips in the middle, connecting to the screen itself.

The wires are hair thin, but I can try.
Any suggestions beyond aluminum foil? Where to put it and how?

[Chernobyl]

Damn thats chronic luck!
I have a method you might like to try...

I take it one or more of the metal traces running through the green ribbon are broken?
Scrape off the green layer and expose the metal underneath (you may have to scrape another coating off the metal too.
You can then solder a wire to bridge the break(s).

If you arent good at soldering you may want to find a friend who is.


Chaz, Powerstrip sounds just the ticket. I've installed it but the advanced button is greyed out.
I'll pursue this further, thanks for the wise up!

I just found out today that my Stereo glasses now support LCDs.
Can you imagine this in 3D!!!
Sadly I cant find the infra red emitter for the glasses, it'll turn up, the hunt starts.

Good luck fixing your LCD Miccynarc

[Chernobyl]

Originally Posted by MiccyNarc

Also, how hot can the screen get before I should worry?

My screen worked fine at 45C in the middle, I dont advise running it at that temp tho.
The hotter my screen is, the faster I get UV burn in occuring. It never leaves a permanent mark but it does show decay occuring faster at higher temps.

[MiccyNarc]

I take it one or more of the metal traces running through the green ribbon are broken?
Scrape off the green layer and expose the metal underneath (you may have to scrape another coating off the metal too.
You can then solder a wire to bridge the break(s).

If you arent good at soldering you may want to find a friend who is.

Well it's worth a shot, I have nothing to lose. But by gosh that sounds tedious.

Those wires are tiny!

My screen worked fine at 45C in the middle, I dont advise running it at that temp tho.
The hotter my screen is, the faster I get UV burn in occuring. It never leaves a permanent mark but it does show decay occuring faster at higher temps.

Roger that, thanks alot.