OT - CRT projectors
- Thread starter Doc B
- Start date
OK, I'm getting an inkling of why people say these projectors are so great. The thing was really out of cal, but I'm slowly going through and pulling the image together. Still have the old Dwin TV3 proj up on ceiling and the 'new' one on the floor so I can compare. I streamed a netflix movie through the Mac Mini. Getting this to work long term from the VGA output that I am using at the moment is probably not worth it and I have ordered a card for the projector that will update it to input HDMI from the mini or a bluray player. But even with that less than optimal setup I can see why people rave about the black blacks and subtle tones that the digital proj just doesn't seem to quite get. In the minus column the DLP projector pretty much clobbers the CRT on sharpness at this early point in the game. Hopefully better cabling will make as big a difference as I suspect it will. Plus I still have quite a bit of tuning to do to focus and convergence.
I would say at this point that a higher end CRT projector is highly recommended if you like to watch movies rather than sports and you have the budget for the projector and to hire someone to set it up for you. Or you have a certain masochistic streak for learning overly complex obscure gear like I do. Unless you grasp what an undertaking DIYing one of these installations is it will just be a letdown. Better to call Curt Palme to set it up for you.
On the other hand, though it's only 720p the old Dwin still rocks and that sucker is pretty much plug n play with the Mac. And the Mac color adjustment feature works really well to calibrate the Dwin, which is not possible otherwise without a service menu that I could never locate. I was looking at my cousin's mid level 1080P LCD projector at Thanksgiving and aside from the higher resolution picture I prefer the Dwin for movies. I guess once they give out they are not salvageable, and hence they are CHEAP! I have only relamped mine once and I clean it inside regularly. I had planned to sell the Dwin if the Sony worked out, to offset a little of the expense. But they go for so cheap that I will probably just hang on to it. If you can risk a hundred or so bucks and won't cry if it dies on you the Dwin could be a killer way to get into front projection HT.
I would say at this point that a higher end CRT projector is highly recommended if you like to watch movies rather than sports and you have the budget for the projector and to hire someone to set it up for you. Or you have a certain masochistic streak for learning overly complex obscure gear like I do. Unless you grasp what an undertaking DIYing one of these installations is it will just be a letdown. Better to call Curt Palme to set it up for you.
On the other hand, though it's only 720p the old Dwin still rocks and that sucker is pretty much plug n play with the Mac. And the Mac color adjustment feature works really well to calibrate the Dwin, which is not possible otherwise without a service menu that I could never locate. I was looking at my cousin's mid level 1080P LCD projector at Thanksgiving and aside from the higher resolution picture I prefer the Dwin for movies. I guess once they give out they are not salvageable, and hence they are CHEAP! I have only relamped mine once and I clean it inside regularly. I had planned to sell the Dwin if the Sony worked out, to offset a little of the expense. But they go for so cheap that I will probably just hang on to it. If you can risk a hundred or so bucks and won't cry if it dies on you the Dwin could be a killer way to get into front projection HT.
mcandmar
New member
Now thats a projector! If its anything like TV's and computer monitors i would go back to a quality CRT any day. For computer use i can see an argument for flat panels as they are sharper, better able to draw lines with clearly defined edges and all that, but for watching TV/Movies all you get is grainy image with more noticeable compression artifacts on lower quality sources. At least with a CRT all that blends away, and with the more natural colours it just looks better to me. Guess its a bit like opamps vs valve amps, ones technically better but we all know which we would rather be listening to 
Tubejack
New member
I feel the same way about Plasma vs LCD FP screens. I have a Pioneer 50 (Exited Plasma 3 years ago) and a Panasonic 55 (Exited Plasma 3 months ago, the last to exit plasma - sad) that my LCD 42's can't compare in contract and black ratio. All about volume and price point.
Granted, I haven't seen an OLED screen yet ..... but that price point really needs to come down before I can seriously consider ...
Granted, I haven't seen an OLED screen yet ..... but that price point really needs to come down before I can seriously consider ...
See that's why I changed to Netflix, much higher quality programming. I watched Dredd last week. It's a very cerebral and unique story about a cop in the future who shoots a lot of people. After that he shoots a lot more of them. I can't imagine how the writers come up with these original story lines.
Received the Moome HDMI input card that I ordered for the Sony today. Hopefully that will create a little sharper picture than the VGA feed I am watching right now. If I can just crisp it up a bit I will be a very happy camper. The blacks from the CRT are really something else. In our blacked out room (black ceiling and front wall, dark gray side and back walls with brown trim, floral rug with black background, black curtains in front of opaque window panels, black chairs) the black in scenes gets amazingly close to the black of the velvet masking the screen.
Been slowly tweaking the geometry all week. Pretty good now but it does seem to drift around a little bit. I do miss the set and forget aspect of the digital projector. Tomorrow I will attempt to enlist all able bodies in the house to get the monster hung from the ceiling. Once the Moome card is in it will be time for some color calibration. The plan is to end up with a room where we can demo Bottlehead and Blumenstein gear for HT applications.
Received the Moome HDMI input card that I ordered for the Sony today. Hopefully that will create a little sharper picture than the VGA feed I am watching right now. If I can just crisp it up a bit I will be a very happy camper. The blacks from the CRT are really something else. In our blacked out room (black ceiling and front wall, dark gray side and back walls with brown trim, floral rug with black background, black curtains in front of opaque window panels, black chairs) the black in scenes gets amazingly close to the black of the velvet masking the screen.
Been slowly tweaking the geometry all week. Pretty good now but it does seem to drift around a little bit. I do miss the set and forget aspect of the digital projector. Tomorrow I will attempt to enlist all able bodies in the house to get the monster hung from the ceiling. Once the Moome card is in it will be time for some color calibration. The plan is to end up with a room where we can demo Bottlehead and Blumenstein gear for HT applications.
My oh my. Installed the Moome card last night. Ths gives me the ability to plug an HDMI cable into the analog projector. First I plugged in the Mac Mini since my plan was to use it rather than the Samsung bluray player we have used in the past. The Mini recognized the card via its HDMI output and said it was sending a 1080p signal, but I couldn't get it to properly size the bluray image. I got it good enough to watch for a bit, then we decided to try the Bluray player.
Holy s**t.
Basically plug n play, no hassles with setting up connection or sizing, and a stunning 1080P image. We watched Pacific Rim, which we expected to be a pretty hokey giant monster vs giant robot movie. Turned out to be very entertaining, and the cinematography was great with a surprising amount of practical effects and very well integrated CGI. I did have to apologize to the poor Orcas afterward for subjecting them to the power of a Stereomour reproducing 80 foot tall robot footsteps but they held up to my abuse. Ran the TOSLINK out of the bluray into an earlier prototype Bottlehead DAC.
So, CRT projector - once dialed in, fed HDMI and tweaked it's stunning
Mac mini as video server - not so great, decent image but lacking adjustability
Orcas for HT - wonderful, just watch out for those giant robots
Holy s**t.
Basically plug n play, no hassles with setting up connection or sizing, and a stunning 1080P image. We watched Pacific Rim, which we expected to be a pretty hokey giant monster vs giant robot movie. Turned out to be very entertaining, and the cinematography was great with a surprising amount of practical effects and very well integrated CGI. I did have to apologize to the poor Orcas afterward for subjecting them to the power of a Stereomour reproducing 80 foot tall robot footsteps but they held up to my abuse. Ran the TOSLINK out of the bluray into an earlier prototype Bottlehead DAC.
So, CRT projector - once dialed in, fed HDMI and tweaked it's stunning
Mac mini as video server - not so great, decent image but lacking adjustability
Orcas for HT - wonderful, just watch out for those giant robots
caffeinator
New member
If you liked "Piranhaconda," then you'll love "Sharktopus," and, of course, we should all see "Sharknado" before it's added to the AFI Top 100 and it's impossible to find on DVD.
Speaking of Dredd, I couldn't resist adding a bit of trivia - the best pithy film review I ever read; for "Judge Dredd," ostensibly the progenitor of "Dredd," though I suppose the second could add some vital social commentary about future cops shooting future people.
Review of "Judge Dredd"
Judged dreadful.
Speaking of Dredd, I couldn't resist adding a bit of trivia - the best pithy film review I ever read; for "Judge Dredd," ostensibly the progenitor of "Dredd," though I suppose the second could add some vital social commentary about future cops shooting future people.
Review of "Judge Dredd"
Judged dreadful.
I have a full 5.1 set of Orcas and BUF sub to install, but at the moment we are running stereo. In the future the new DAC will have the ability to be daisy chained with two others to decode 5.1. For now I am considering a few options and leaning towards the Outlaw 975 as it is one of the few processors that can decode the Dolby Digital Plus used in Netflix streaming. Another possibility is to get the Oppo bluray player and just use its analog out directly into the amps.
As of today we are in a state of construction as I get the CRT up to the ceiling. Yesterday I installed a mount that hangs from steel angle mounted on top of the ceiling joists. After trying a couple of different lifting ideas that turned out to be too difficult, it's looking like a hoist mounted in the attic will be raising the proj to its mount through a small hole in the ceiling. This CRT stuff is not for wimps.
As of today we are in a state of construction as I get the CRT up to the ceiling. Yesterday I installed a mount that hangs from steel angle mounted on top of the ceiling joists. After trying a couple of different lifting ideas that turned out to be too difficult, it's looking like a hoist mounted in the attic will be raising the proj to its mount through a small hole in the ceiling. This CRT stuff is not for wimps.
Ha, I've also been looking at the 975. I had a 990 a few years back and it was great but "upgraded" to an onkyo pro 886 because I needed hdmi. Doesn't sound that good. The 975 seems like a very good alternative with less messing with the signal in the digital section. I just asked if they ship to Mx.
Grainger49
New member
Xavier,
. . . That will make the month when it is released.
If you guys release it while I'm still working (first day today) I am interested, very interested!
If you guys release it while I'm still working (first day today) I am interested, very interested!
madbrayniak
New member
CRT projectors are really cool but I will never be in a place that I can use one as they usually seem to need such a long distace to really work well.
I was going to suggest looking at the LCOS as I saw that you wanted good blacks but it looks like you found a CRT already.
You should post some pictures of your theater when you are done Doc!
I was going to suggest looking at the LCOS as I saw that you wanted good blacks but it looks like you found a CRT already.
You should post some pictures of your theater when you are done Doc!
Throw distance was one of the things I had to find out before I decided to buy. Actually the throw distance of the CRT is about 3.5 feet shorter than my DLP was for the same screen size, 110" distance for an 84" wide screen (96" diag. 16:9). Which is good because the whole thing is so long it wouldn't fit in the room otherwise and there is no zoom adjustment like there is on digitals. The back of the Sony sits about where the front of the Dwin was.
There is a lot of math involved in calculating throw distance, screen height and tilt angle of the proj. with only about a 5% tolerance allowed. I worked out most of it empirically with the projector "floor mounted", actually on a couple of ikea parsons tables. Even so I ended up with a few sheets of paper covered with calcs for ceiling mounting at the same distance before I felt that had it all sorted yesterday.
There is a lot of math involved in calculating throw distance, screen height and tilt angle of the proj. with only about a 5% tolerance allowed. I worked out most of it empirically with the projector "floor mounted", actually on a couple of ikea parsons tables. Even so I ended up with a few sheets of paper covered with calcs for ceiling mounting at the same distance before I felt that had it all sorted yesterday.
A forged eye bolt with heavy duty fender washer for the projector and a hoist ring for my rafter are on the way from McMaster. With the trusty comealong that I have used for everything from dragging cars with frozen brakes on to trailers to straightening out my bashed in truck bumper after getting rear ended in traffic jam a couple weeks ago (the woman had the gall to ask me to fix her bumper for her after following me at a crawl for a mile or so and then ramming me) I should be able to get this puppy winched up to the ceiling in style.
Chris
New member
Not to belabor the fun, but, I ran across yet another movie that is just what your CRT needs running through those big tri lenses.... "My Left Eye Sees Ghosts" on the thrill channel... Gotta think that would be quite inconvenient while driving... They should also add that to the disclaimer.. "If you are to operate heavy machinery, you cannot be under the influence of drugs, alcohol or ghosts in your left eye"....
