OK So Here goes again...yet another idea for a thin RPTV

I was hunting around for ways to make a thinner RPTV and found this on this page:


So I came up with yet another idea for a thinner RPTV.

Click to view attachment
The drawing is just for illustration purposes, so it's not to scale.

This of course would require the same concave mirror or equivalent, if I could find another one. I did find the mirror (I think): looks to be $246 dollars.

I don't think that this design would be all that much thinner, but it would save a lot more space. There should be plenty of room to put some components on the bottom. Maybe even a computer???

A couple of thoughts:

• It would definitely be thinner if a folded design was used instead of a straight shooter. But there might be too much loss of light that way.
  
• It would be neat to be able to make the flat mirror adjustable. So if I wanted a smaller brighter image, all I would need to do is adjust the mirror and focus the image.
  
• I like the thought of being able to take out the projector and use it as a front projector when I want to watch a movie at night.
  
• And I'm almost certain that there would be issues with flipping the image.

b.t.w - I would highly appreciate your thoughts and comments. Is it doable?

I think its possible to do it but I dont think you could with angles of mirrors and all that it would almost be impossible to try and focus it, plus with the PJ sticking out the back its not going to be 10" thick anymore it will be more like 2 feet thick, and I have no idea what kind of lens you would need to make that (I mean what focal length). If your really going to try and make a RPTV then I wouldn't try it that way because it will be as I said hard to focus and a $250 mirror is way to much. Looks interest though.

Yah I figure that It wouldn't be that much thinner unless I would use a folded design, but I would leave a lot more space on the bottom for components or a computer. And yes, I agree $250 is way too much for a mirror.

I think that to make it worth while I would need to find a good concave mirror for a lot less, go with a folded design, and have a very bright light source.

Trying to figure out the focus would be difficult, but it's probably something that can be resolved if I delve into it well enough.

Thanks for the input mdmfootfall. So far this is the best idea that I've come up with, so I think I'm going to see if I can come up with some more viable options on what kind of changes I can make to the design. Hopefully I will be able to come up with some answers.

Well looking at it again I dont know why you would need a concave mirror I think your normal FS mirror should work. I think this was a great idea, but it may cost too much to make it worth all the time and effort.

I was doing some reading here and it seems that the concave mirror will magnify the image, so that the projection can get real big real fast.

I was going to guess that too. It might also help with viginetting (corner brightness/evenness).

I've been trying to figure out the size and dimensions of the concave mirror. I used Raytrace to get a rough sketch, but I would prefer to use tools like LensView, OSLO, and Synopsys. The bad part is that they are so complicated, that I can hardly use them. I don't know jack about optical systems.

Click to view attachment

I'm going to wait to see the results of the LED lighting & the 7.2 WUXA before I do too much planning. I think they would be great in a rear projector.