Home Theater Mod

[Darth Viscera]

My home theater mod is complete, pictures are forthcoming. Here are some stats:

-Elmo 2500 lumen overhead projector
-Nview Spectra C LCD overhead panel (translucent-lies on top of overhead projector so image is projected onto wall-LCD displays just like a monitor)
-Old Celeron 566/Radeon 7000 box (needs upgrading to ~Duron 1ghz in order to play newer XviD/DivX files)
-Old Creative Soundworks FPS2000 Digital 4.1 connected to SBLive! Value DIN card-going to upgrade with Midiland ADS4000 Dolby Digital/DTS decoder and generic 5.1 speakers, $130 for the decoder, $40 for the speakers, for entry-level Dolby/DTS 5.1 audio

-Projects an ~80 inch full motion display of whatever is currently on your computer. DVDs, games, internet, DivX, porn, email, whatever. So far, the projection system is about 90% color calibrated.

So far, this mod has run me $75 for the projector, $190 for the LCD panel. I haven't taken a tape measure to the wall yet, but it looks like it's 80".

As I said, pictures are forthcoming.

[Darth Viscera]

No pictures yet. My digicam is out of AA batteries.

Color is pretty good, but not as vibrant as say, a new 27" Sony TV. There is a little problem with the whites being a bit too white and the darks being a bit too dark, i think it's because it's an old lcd panel from 1995 or so, pre-TFT. A scavenged 15" TFT LCD with the backlight ripped out would likely afford me far better quality. The white/dark problem is ignorable, though.

If you want to turn a spare computer into a projector and get a 90" or so screen with very good quality, here's the guide to read:

http://www.gideontech.com/guides/projector/

[JMK]

Bring on those pics! HT is another one of my hobbies....

[Admiral Lebron]

When I move out I'll probably rig up something like that...

[Darth Viscera]

Okay, got the pictures. Unfortunately, the cheapo 1.3 megapixel camera doesn't work very well in the dark, so they came out grey, drab and dark, and I had to try and retouch them in photoshop. The finished images are not really indicative of the full quality of the setup, which produces bright, sharp, normal-looking images for the most part. The whites are a bit too white (not as white as in the pictures) and the darks are a bit too dark, but it's ignorable.

First picture is Gandalf the White from the Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers DVD (theatrical version, not extended)

[Darth Viscera]

Second picture is ALSO Gandalf the White.

[Darth Viscera]

Third picture was a scene from Saving Private Ryan. It's hard to retouch this one, darn cheapo digicam.

[Darth Viscera]

Fourth picture shows equipment I'm using

[Xenodoros Stormrider]

Hey that's pretty cool. Looks like something fun to do. I'll try that one day.

[Darth Viscera]

Fifth picture shows what it looks like when the lights are on.

[Darth Viscera]

All in all, I'm very happy with this setup. You can't really tell from the crapiness of the pictures (sorry bout that), but the quality is really quite good. I really enjoy the fact that I can watch LOTR: TTT on a screen that's like 80-90" diagonal. I can put pieces of paper over the LCD panel to cut off the black borders of a widescreen movie, which works well.

I put an order in at directv.com for an additional satellite receiver to be installed alongside the projector on thursday. This means that come Thursday, I'll be able to watch TV at about 120" diagonal (the picture is bigger because TV programming is squarish, 4:3, while movies are wider-i'm just cutting off the tops and bottoms of movies so you can't see the black letterboxes) with Dolby Pro Logic.

Sweet beans :D

[James Prent]

Ossum!!

[JMK]

Sweet setup. I wish I could get some pics of my setup. I'll try and steal a digital camera.:)