I sold my old projector yesterday. I have 750 bucks to make a new projector. I have a little extra money if i go over budget a little. I havent been on the forums in about 6 months or so and am rather overwhelmed by all the information. So I hate to be like a typical noob and ask what to get, but honestly it would take me a whole day to read all the new posts and I dont have the time.

I see that we now have a zoom lens, and some bigger lenses to use. I have read a post about an electronic ballast aside from the one in the store that is 240v. Then I have even saw that we have another new bulb, a pulse one to replace the smaller eye bulb. I am assuming that the monitor scene is the same.

I have decided this time to buy a computer screen instead of a tv with the tuner and everything built in. It is a pain to design a box with all the inputs for a tv then to just get an external tuner and have one remote and one wire to the monitor. The new box will be made out of an aluminum frame with sheet metal sides to help reduce weight and size.

So now I am debating how much to drop on this new one. If i go all out and get the good stuff it is 250 for the lenses, would be 200 for the new bulb and electronic ballast, I guess the norpro is still the way to go, that is 10 bucks, 10 bucks for a socket, then about 50 for all the glass. I am also guessing a monitor would be about 250 or so, then after all that then I still have to buy the enclosure materials and other small things it takes to make it work. With my bad math skills that would put me around 720 or so. I doubt they make many 30 dollar tuners that put out a nice hdtv signal.

I cant complain about the quality of my old projector, I was happy with it. I did not like how I had to mount it 10 feet away, always seemed to be the wrong spot. I just wonder if it is worth the money, is the quality increase really going to be that much more than my old setup? There has to be a limit of quality.

Tell me what you think, also what are the hot monitors nowadays, leave me some feedback and I will check them out. I plan on buying everything within this week so I can get it sometime soon in september.

This is off topic, but I have to ask because it is a real PITA. Did Brainchild disable the option to insert space between paragraphs ?. I start to notice more and more long posts with no paragraphs at all (look at ezra's post too).

I just ordered the N6 on buy.com since I knew I would be using that for any final setup I end up with. I also broke the statement up into a few paragraphs, hopefully someone will donate their opinion.

It sounds like you are pretty much caught up with what has been happening. Still using the same panels. The new lens has a huge apature so the brightness/clarity should be great. People are just gearing up to try out 17" and 19" panels($$$) to use with the lens as it is comatible with 15"-19"WS panels. The lens looks very promising and I would have bought one if I hadn't purchased my lenses two days before the group buy was announced. My biggest concern with my projector is the placement of the box as you have attested to. If that is a big concern to you then it is probably worth the extra money. It promises to be a quality custom optic and a good value at $200. The box will have to be a bit longer or include a mirror to fold the projection out the side of the box. Plans are being worked on now but we have no results just yet. My guess is that Brain is busy testing his sample lens every chance he can get so he can put up some pics so more people will buy it. He's commited to spending a lot of money on this group buy and I think we should support him by putting in our orders now if at all possible. Wrote my post with one paragraph and no indentation to annoy Jones Rush.

Ahh, now I can read it. I would say go with the 17" monitor that Brainchild bought. Mainly because of the excellent contrast. The extra resolution will help with your HDTV too. I believe that any other change will prove to be insignificant to your eyes.

DeathRay64,
I see my name at the end of your post, but because you've made no spacings, I can't read it. Anyway, next to my name I see a smiley, so I assume it must be some sort of a compliment you wrote me. Thanks.

Definately a compliment

How much is that 17"er that Brain bought?

~$400 USD

That's not too bad. This is getting expensive though. I think I'll stick with the 15" for my first projector.

FoamCows, I'm Glad to see you back and also glad your able to build another projector, yes some things have come along but basically things still work the same.

Good luck on your new projector.

Joe

Dell 1702FP. Ebay has them. Here's the contrast test.

http://www.pcworld.com/news/article/0,aid,110483,pg,2,00.asp

Welcome back Foamcows, my next projector is going to fall in line with the new lens system and a 17 or 19 inch LCD.

Cheers,
Lee

Foamcows, I'm a newB. I'd be interested in seeing pics of your old pj that you sold. Just curious to see your final build. Thanks. :-D
Dave

my old projector setup is in the forums somewhere, i think in project gallery under foamcows projector

WB Foamcows! For the record, I'm going to be upgrading to the new lenses, but I can't afford to spend much more, so I'll be tearing down my old pj and recycling everything I can: lamp, ballast, fan, switches... everything! The only 'new' parts will be the lenses and the wood...

Another recent trend has been to drop the glass, except for the tempered glass. A number of people are dropping that as well, and replacing it with Lexan because it's cheaper and easier to obtain.

The less glass, the brighter the image.

cool. i didnt read that, what about scratching with lexan?

Although I am using lexan (I may have started the big trend), and it is working out...I think I would prefer glass. I suggest using lexan as an easy, versatile and very cheap interim solution to glass particularly in the early build phases so you can get going quickly. It can get scratched if you aren't careful (so that just means be careful and buy more than one piece just in case) and it attracts dust like mad I find (tho it doesn't seem to hurt my picture too badly). You can use your lexan as a template for glass later on.

There is also a Lexan product called Lexan Margard that is impervious to scratches, but I don't know how readily available it is. I know Home Depot only stocks Lexan XL-10.

On my last box i never had a problem getting glass, i just used 3/16 inch glass, it was like 8 bucks for 4 pieces, the tempered cost me the fortune, like 30 bucks or something. So if i can get the regular glass for cheap, do you all think i just use that over lexan?

If you use it in front of the light it will break.

I know that, i just used it behind the tempered, as some extra barriers to help stop the heat, i also wrapped my lenses in it to keep em from warping

The Lexan is usually used to replace the tempered glass, because of the expense. It costs ~ $4 at Home Depot.

After Joe Chevy posted this project, JoeChevy pj, people started dropping all glass other than the tempered glass. He showed that each additional piece of glass reduces the brightness.

(EDITED) Sorry, I originally cited the wrong Joe.

I have not had a scratching problem with Lexan yet. It's inside the pj, and therefore is somewhat shielded. I am also using a filter to reduce the dust problem.

If you do use Lexan XL-10 (the version at Home Depot), track which side has the UV coating, and face that towards the lamp. Otherwise it may turn yellow. (It's indicated by the side with the protective film that does not have writing on it).

You may also want to clean it well before use. I found the residual "glue" from the protective film collects dust, then bakes on. It's possible to get it off later, but it's a real pain. I actually used one of those scrubbing sponges for non-stick pans and didn't scratch the Lexan.

One other advantage of Lexan -- it is an insulator. I moved it a few inches closer to the lamp, and dropped my LCD temperature by about 7 F. It is now steady at 85.2 F. Rather than using it to frame the fresnel, I am using a large piece of Lexan as a heat shield.

awesome idea, that would save money, i might try that out. and ill read the post about the glass blocking light