Hi!

You guys are building some fantastic projects, I'm very impressed!

But my project is going to be a bit more small scale. I have a relatively good qulaity 15" widescreen LCD that I would like to gut and turn into a 30" or 35" monitor. Are there plans/specs/pictures/instructions for someone building a smallish projector?

Want to have this on my computer desk for playing video games & surfing the web. So rear projection would be a big plus!

Thanks, looking forward to doing my first project!

theres a few people working on rear projection units.. mainly using old 60" or so cabinets from CRT projection TVs. do a search for RPTV or browse thr plogs and you hopefully will come across some. There is no detailed plan laid out for RPTVs as there is for standard front projection units, but basically the idea is identical except the image is reversed

It doesn't *have* to be a rear projection, but it must be 30 to 35 inches. Its for a computer gaming screen at a desk. Anyone tried this, or know of anyone who has?

Thanks!

don't take this post the wrong way (I'm all about DIY) but you can get a VERY nice 20"+ LCD for far less the cost of a PJ build.

BB has a 22" wide screen for $400 - http://www.bestbuy.com/site/olspage.jsp?sk...d=1152837304703

its smaller then a 30" projection but has a higher res and will be brighter. if you're really set on a 30"+ display you can land a entry level 32" lcd tv for under a grand (and your build will be a lot faster - unbox, hook up, play games!)

i bet if you shop around or wait for a good sale you may find a bigger lcd for a better deal. I think the real cost benefit of the DIY PJ comes in when you go bigger.

btw. how close do you plan to sit from the screen? a 35" screen should be viewed from atleast three or four foot away.

30-35" is a nice-sized monitor, and very doable in either FP, or RP. In addition, you can probably use a lower wattage lamp with excellent results.

I might suggest though that you keep the 400W lamp, and change the collimator fresnel to a longer FL, say the 3Dlens 330mm model, using the same for a collector fresnel, and standard lens. This will result in less lumens, (Still more than adequate for your 30-35" image) but superior vignetting. The end result would be an excellent image.

For this, I'd probably go with RP, since with FP it'll be more difficult to keep the projector itself out of the way. I did an experiment with my old 15" build, where I had a screen made from dark grey fabric. The idea was to see how well this increased contrast with ambient light. (I was dissappointed with the results, the grey was too dark to get good results with FP.) It turned out that the probelm was that the fabric was letting too much light through. It ended up being a very nice RP screen.

Hello,

I'm new to this discussion board and to RPTV DIY in general. If you could direct me to a suitable subject heading I'd really appeciate it. My problem began when I bought one of the first RPTV's available to consumers. It's a Panasonic 54" RPTV. The replacement bulbs cost nearly $500. With the vast # of replacement lamps out there for sale, for different TV's, there must be a lower cost lamp that, although not designed for my TV, would work just fine as a replacement. I dont' understand how to power these lamps or how they're different from regular bulbs. I have some experience with Metal Halide bulbs used for outdoor lighting, streetlamps, etc. These lamps need a ballast, their own power supply. If I could find a cheaper lamp with similar output that would work with the power supply in my Panasonic, I could run my RPTV much more economically.
I noticed that some people on this board have built their own projection TV's. It makes sense that some of the DIY'ers might be able to help me with my problem.

Thanks,

Steven Hebert