Well 9 months into pj ownership I feel the need to modificate/redo things

Things that need addressed:

1. The PJ is directly over the seating area (I'm ~6'4" tall the ceilings are 8'...do the math )
2. The PJ is only works in the room aimed at the short wall, that is to say seating is limited to a single love seat by the arrangement/size/shape of the room
3. I feel it isn't Bright/White enough
4. It is a little noisy, not bad (the only person it bothers is me)

The potential solutions:

1. Switch from Std LL Triplet to 18" Buhl, get fresnels from 3dlens (already done)
2. Put the pj in the office with a "port hole" this turns the setup in the room by 90deg so it will be projected on a longer wall which will allow more comfortable furniture to be placed in the room
3. Investigate alternative lighting options, I'm currently using the Venture Setup with the 4000K lamp it's not bad but I want something better (possibley the Osram HQI 400W/D, I'm certain that I want double ended because it seems like everytime I remove the old bulb it moved to a different place), I'm still contemplating using a precon.
4. Is handled by the solution for #2 if it's in another room noise isn't an issue.

The Parts:
LCD: Hyundai L72S (AG removed TAC still in place currently in existing PJ), eventually to be replaced with a wuxga panel
Lamp/Ballast(updated): Osram #HQI-TS400W/D - Advance(d) S51
Triplet: Buhl 18"EFL
Fres: 550mm/220mm from 3dlens.com
Cooling: ?
Precon: Altman 6x12" (18-2009)
Box: ?

For those interested in the Altman lenses:
"Our 6 x 12 pyrex lenses have no coatings applied to them. This type of
glass is fairly transparent to IR, as far as UV at 380nm this glass
absorbs about 10% of the UV going thru it. When you get to 315nm (end of
UVA) about 40% of the UV is absorbed. By the time you get to the far
side of UVB (280nm) all of the UV is absorbed by this glass."

So to clue everyone in on the plan a little bit more.... the Plan I have in my head right now is to pemanently place the triplet in the wall between the office an my theater room. I'm seriously considering making it unmoveable in the wall and instead building the rest of the PJ on a sled on rails that I can move to adjust the focus. I would then have a threaded rod of sorts that would protrude into the theater room near the lens that I could use to move the rest of the PJ on the sled. The actual enclosure would then really just be a shell that covers the optics from dust, that really isn't attached to the rest of the pj. If I can find some time and a decent sketching program I'll try to draw it all out, because while it seems clear in my head I'm sure somewhere along the way I have/will do something insanely wrong.

Ideas/Comments?

For the new bulb, Simul8r just did a comparison between an HQI and a T15 style bulb. Both are 400W, but I can't remember the model numbers. The pics he posted show clearly the HQI is the lesser of the two, atleast in terms of color reproduction. Or maybe it's all a matter of preference...

Probably worth a look.

Dave

I saw it and to my eyes the HQI looked like a much cleaner/sharper image....but I really think for the most part the trick is dialing the LCD into what makes it look the best to you. Right now I've got a Venture bulb in my pj that makes everything look really yellow to me. With my new plans though I can swap them out later more easily....in theory anyway.

Just had another thought....two separate sleds one for the lighting rig, and one for the fresnels and lcd, that way I can tune in the light to be optimal for what ever I have, which should in the end make it possible to swap out any of the projector pieces and in theory easily get them set back to optimal.....maybe.

sounds good. you definitely want adjusability in bulb position, expecially fore and aft. Side to side and up/down need only be minimum to get ARC directly centered, assuming there will slight error in your initial measurements and placement.

Haven't had time to do much lately maybe I'll get a few hours tomorrow...maybe. Anyway the way I'm thinking at the moment I'm going to build the guts first on what will be the floor of the the completed projector, I'm disliking the idea of the sides being attached to the top and pulling the whole thing off as that makes it (in my mind anyway) more difficult to control the airflow for the cooling circuit.

At the moment the only progress I've made is the Fresnel frame, which houses both fresnels since i'm going unsplit this go around.

If I get time tomorrow to work on anything I might get some pictures posted...if I get time....otherwise I'll go mad and have a nervous break down and end up taking some time off from work to settle my nerves.