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RE: Playing With A Projector

Tom Morton — Wed, 03 Jan 2007 12:22:33 GMT

looks great there!

Although you might enjoy the frames / sec kick if you take them down to 800x600 for playing - seeing as that's its resolution :)

It looks a good little projector - I would have gone for something like that but at 800 lumens it's probably not quite bright enough for my room :( hence a £400 outlay :P

RE: Playing With A Projector

ToRReVeZ — Wed, 03 Jan 2007 02:36:19 GMT

i may be a little late for this convo but i have a projector a Hitatchi CP-S220 specs can be found here http://www.dealtime.co.uk/xPF-Hitachi-CP-S220 at the moment i have 100" picture and can play games on it at 1024x768. i just project it onto a white wall. I will post some pics below there not very good you will have to blame the photogrpher for that (me) i cant blame the camera cause it was a £500 SLR. As for the projector it is an old office projector in fact i saved it from a bin at collage they were just throwing it out but it works fine. One thing you will deffinatly want if you are gaming on a projector is a good wireless keyboard and mouse

http://img409.imageshack.us/img409/3526/dsc0095gf1.jpg
http://img514.imageshack.us/img514/8876/dsc0097je7.jpg

Hope this helps some

Danny

RE: Playing With A Projector

Tom Morton — Tue, 02 Jan 2007 20:50:35 GMT

Cheers guys! Im planning a fun new years treat involving a new laptop a projector and a new TFT possibly too :) £1200 goes way too fast apparently :( I'll let you know how it goes in a few weeks I hope :D

RE: Playing With A Projector

Slipstreem — Tue, 02 Jan 2007 12:47:55 GMT

...and a USB powered popcorn making machine. LOL :D

Cheers, Slipstreem. :cool:

RE: Playing With A Projector

Muttzcuttz — Tue, 02 Jan 2007 12:44:34 GMT

Wow slipstreem, all you need now is automatic light dimmers :D :D :D

RE: Playing With A Projector

Slipstreem — Tue, 02 Jan 2007 11:38:03 GMT

Hi Tom! :)

As microbot says, it's possible to mount the projector on a TV bracket with a little modification.

I made a shallow, 4-sided box out of plywood, fixed it to the ceiling and mounted the projector on that. The box is painted white to blend in with the ceiling and is all but invisible unless you deliberately stare at it. Bear in mind that you will need some clearance between the projector and the ceiling to avoid a pool of warm air building up around it and shortening the lamp life.

The projector I have has a 12volt screen output to drive an electric screen. I run a 120mm AKASA fan from this output and use this to provide additional airflow. There just so happens to be an outside wall vent directly behind the projector at ceiling height, so the fan lives inside the vent. This provides a cool, fresh air supply around the back of the projector prolonging lamp life.

As long as you're fairly handy with a saw and a pot of paint, you should be able to knock something up without too much trouble.

Have fun! :D

Cheers, Slipstreem. :cool:

RE: Playing With A Projector

Muttzcuttz — Tue, 02 Jan 2007 11:25:09 GMT

Nice Slipstreem, I would go for a proper installation myself, but as im living with my parents *mumble mumble* ... :Whistling:

As for mounts, mine just sits on a bookshelf, with the back propped up on a dvd case to get the angle right. Its not the best set up but it works :D

RE: Playing With A Projector

microbot — Tue, 02 Jan 2007 07:55:31 GMT

I have seen cheep TV wall brackets used to hold projectors.

This method alao allows for some degree of adjustment to get viewing angles right.

RE: Playing With A Projector

Tom Morton — Tue, 02 Jan 2007 07:10:29 GMT

What do you use to hold your projector? is it just stood on a table or do you have it hanging from a bracket etc.

Trying to figure out a way to make summat like that cheap as it looks like £100+ for one retail :( and I have no table.

As to the screen that sounds an awesome idea! I'll give it a go when I get the projector :P

RE: Playing With A Projector

Slipstreem — Mon, 01 Jan 2007 19:19:22 GMT

Hi Jon! :)

Happy new year matey!

The screen is a home-brewed affair and works very well. Here's the shopping list for my 60 inch version :-

1 sheet of hardboard - 50 inches x 38 inches,
Skirting board - 15 feet,
1 cheap white bedsheet,
1 Packet of wallpaper paste,
1 Tin of aluminium flake paint,
1 Tin of matt black spray paint,
1 Mitre block for cutting 45degree angles on the skirting,
2 Cup hooks,
1 bottle of PVA wood adhesive.

Firstly, mix up some wallpaper paste and paste one side of the hardboard. The textured side is probably best as it tends to be more absorbent.

Now stick the bedsheet to the hardboard being very careful to exclude all air bubbles, detritus, etc. Allow to dry thoroughly, then trim off the excess sheet with scissors.

Apply the aluminium flake paint to the sheet. Flood it on to avoid brush marks. Repeat until you get a consistent reflective finish. Mine needed 5 coats.

Cut the skirting into 2 lengths of 52 inches and 2 lengths of 40 inches. Cut 45degree angles on the ends to place the rounded edge of the skirting on the inside of the frame.

Spray the skirting matt black and stick it together with PVA adhesive checking for squareness with a set-square (or adjacent edges of a piece of A4 paper for cheapness).

Stick the frame to the front of the screen using more PVA (or use screws from the back).

Screw 2 cup hooks into the back of the frame along the top edge to hang the screen.

Job done! :D

The net result is a screen with a VERY wide viewing angle and a high level of reflectivity. The matt-black chamfered border allows for any lack of squareness that leads to overspill in the projected image to be soaked up almost invisibly.

Why the bedsheet? Because it gives a subtle and consistant textured effect that makes the boundaries between pixels almost undetectable when using a DLP projector without losing any actual definition.

Why silver? Because it gives the impression that the image is being displayed as a reflection. The image appears to be slightly behind the screen and has that pseudo-3D feel that you only usually get at the cinema. Silver also gives a perceived improvement in contrast ratio. The paint MUST be true aluminium flake paint for this to work properly. Mine came from Screwfix but should be available at most DIY stores. I suppose you could say that the image appears to be [b][i]in[/i][/b] the screen rather than [b][i]on[/i][/b] the screen.

I'm very keen for someone else to try this out. It works perfectly for me. Please be my guinea pig. LOL

Alternatively, you could just stick the bedsheet to the wall, paint it silver, then stick the frame onto the wall.

Please let me know if you try this out.

Cheers, Slipstreem. :cool:

RE: Playing With A Projector

Muttzcuttz — Mon, 01 Jan 2007 17:49:58 GMT

Hey Slipstreem, been meaning to ask you when I saw this last time.... What did you use for the projector screen? A special screen or did you do what I did and just paint a section of wall white? :P :D

RE: Playing With A Projector

Slipstreem — Mon, 01 Jan 2007 15:37:54 GMT

[quote][b]A.Chandler (31/12/2006)[/b][hr]ooo kewl kewl, thanks mate..
One problem.. 800x600 resolution is terrible.. will it run games at 1024x786 at least?

Thanks[/quote]

Hi A! :)

800x600 is not at all terrible. I'm currently sitting less than 10 feet away from a 60 inch screen being driven by an 800x600 DLP projector and the pixels are all but invisible.

It's the main display for my PC media centre and TV, DVDs and games look absolutely stunning! Remember that standard definition digital TV and DVD pictures only have 576 picture lines anyway.

The really important point is to make sure that you buy DLP and [b]NOT[/b] LCD. With a DLP projector there is virtually no gap between pixels. With LCD there is a huge gap between them which gives the impression that you are watching everything through a thick black mesh. Truly horrible!

The contrast ratio of any DLP based projector will be around 2000:1. LCD projectors are generally no better than a cheap LCD monitor in this respect at around 500:1.

All of the projectors I've looked at will rescale almost any higher resolution down to 800x600 but this is completely pointless for obvious reasons. Why waste horsepower generating an image that you can't display without rescaling? The result will always be a blurry, less well defined image due to the rescaling process.

I run all my games in 800x600 which allows me to crank up all the games graphics settings to the max. Any well written game should look stunning with 4x or 6x fullscreen anti-aliasing.

Doing a direct comparison between a Sony PS2 on a JVC 28 inch TV and my system, both running 'Need For Speed-Carbon', mine makes the PS2 look totally pathetic.

The only problem I had was getting used to playing games on such a big screen. Keep a sickbag handy. LOL :D

Cheers, Slipstreem. :cool:

PS Look at the attachment at the bottom of this post for a piccy of a movie played back at 800x600 via the DLP projector.

RE: Playing With A Projector

Tom Morton — Mon, 01 Jan 2007 13:10:40 GMT

G where did you find replacement bulbs for a £100 from???

Ive been searching and am really confused :( although I really really want one of those now :D

If you could point me in the right direction please.... :)

RE: Playing With A Projector

Muttzcuttz — Sun, 31 Dec 2006 20:19:48 GMT

mine does :) Games are no problem, the desktop is much clearer at 800x600 but games should be fine at 1024 or even 1280

RE: Playing With A Projector

A.Chandler — Sun, 31 Dec 2006 17:12:10 GMT

ooo kewl kewl, thanks mate..
One problem.. 800x600 resolution is terrible.. will it run games at 1024x786 at least?

Thanks

RE: Playing With A Projector

Muttzcuttz — Sun, 31 Dec 2006 10:40:17 GMT

Hey :w00t:

I'm the proud owner of one :D Screen size is 73", and was £400 ;)

[url]http://www.benq.co.uk/products/Projector/?product=581[/url]

Things you want to consider:

> Newest technology is DLP (Digital Light Processing) and most projectors should have this as standard.
> Replacement lamp cost (Mines around £80, which is good)
> Lamp life (mines around 3,000 hours
> Lumens (Brightness of the picture) , mine is 2000 lumens
> Contrast ratio (the ratio of the luminosity of the brightest and the darkest color the system is capable of producing.) - mine is 2000 :1
> Noise - mines 25db, which is good. Although you can get quieter.
> Is it HDTV ready? Mine is :D

Some other pointers: Check if it supports PAL-60, mine doesnt. It displays the xbox 360 games ok, but only if the console is set to PAL-50.

When its connected to my PC, it displays my desktop (all resolutions) no problem, although its best at 800x600.

[url]http://forum.micromart.co.uk/Topic124581-19-1.aspx?Highlight=digital+projector[/url] - thats the thread anyway, and has some shots of my screen in it :D

My best advice really is to price up a few you can afford, look into replacement lamp costs, then when you decide on one, download the manual from the manufacturer website to check its specs in more detail. :)

Playing With A Projector

A.Chandler — Sun, 31 Dec 2006 10:22:47 GMT

Hey Hey, Well!! At first i was looking into a 50" plasma screen for my garage to play my games and watch films on in the garage. But after looking at the prices i decided i will just go for an "Ebay" projector instead. Now im not looking for SUPER UBER colors, and 1024-768 Resolution would do me ok.. And as 24bit color... But i was just wondering, Having absolutely no knowledge on projectors what so ever. Only knowing the bulb life, lumins etc.. Is there anything i should be looking for? a reaction time? LCD type thingy? or anything? it wont blow up if i play a game will it? im not looking for anything mega expensive, just somthing cheap tbh that will let me play my games and watch my films..

Anyone with any clue on what i should be looking for?! Thanks in advance!