I'm going to attempt to retrofit a RPTV with a 15" LCD.
This is more or less a place holder until I start posting pictures.

All I really have to report right now is that parts are coming in.
I have no pictures as I left my camera at a friends & haven't gotten it back.

I have stripped a Dell 1503 , extended the FFC with parts from mouser & gosh darn it the think actually works!!

Edit:

For a light source I am going to try two of these:


http://www.yinyanghome.com/Products/LOA/9266c.html

I was originally going to use a 9.6" hannespree TV but I figured out I would need a new triplet & frenel & that just wasn't going to happen according to my wife.

Their 500w equivelent incandecent or so they say.
I didn't think they would work until I saw my buddies.
He has one of these flourex 65 watters on the corner of his garage & a 150w MH on the front.
I saw them both on next to each other & honestly the flourex looked brighter to me.
Perhaps it was that the flourex had a whiter light.

I was confident two would suffice for a 9.6" screen but i'm not sure about a 15".
I should get them in the mail in a few days & then I can start testing.

how'z the build going. There isn't much support for RPTV's but a number of people are interested in them. Keep posting, we're watching and reading.

My wife works nights.
I work days.
I have a child that just turned one.

So, my project time & energy is limited.

On the plus side, with him upstairs & me in the basement I can run everything but the table saw without waking him.

I did manage to mount my LCD over the weekend to a wooden frame.
I now need to add some wood for mounting the controller boards.

I am going to try to build the light box this week to see if I can actually pull this off with just two of these guys or if I need to go to walmart & pick up some booster bulbs.

I have a standard triplet & fresnal, I shouldn't need a back fresnel with CFL's.

This is going to need to be folded in order to work in the RPTV.
but for now i'm going to make it as a straigt shooter for simplification then go to folded if it works.

I broke my 15" LCD so this project was on hold.
I have aquired an AMW 7" portable DVD with A/V inputs.
I would prefer an LCD with a 4:3 aspect to match the RPTV aspect, but instead of a "47 4:3 i'll have a 43" 16:9 RPTV.
Still, it's better than the barely functioning 25 inch TV in there now.

I'm going to be using this unit.



It was ridiculously easy to open up & check to see if it is usable. It is.



I'm currently using the cheap mini AV cable that came with my digital camera so i'm sure that affects the quality of the signal coming off my video card.
This unit will accept a mini a/v to s-video cable so i'll see if I can locate one of those as the graphics card i'm planing on using for this project only has s-video out.

One of the advantages of the 15" is that you have a shorter throw, right? How do you plan on keeping the throw reasonable with the little guy (I assume varifocal)?

Curious to see how your fluorescent solution works. What's the CRI on that guy?

Answered my own question. Its not in the page directly, but another product (http://www.yinyanghome.com/Products/LOA/LOA_outdoor.html) made with the same light reports:

CRI 84
Lumens 4550

On the low side, but good luck!

Havn't quite worked that out yet. LOL!
I have a std triplet & fresnel.
I also have the Lens from the RPTV.
I'm thinking I can feed what comes out of the std triplet to the RPTV lens to get the magnification I need.

Perhaps i'm wrong, but what comes out of the triplet should fit within the RPTV len's feild of view.
Combinig a 320mm lens & a 110mm lens should give me a FL of 82 which should let me work with the existing mirror in the RPTV.




I'll be running two of these.
I'm also banking on the fact that the original CRT's didn't put out much lumens at all, yet when I got the TV only one CRT was actually starting up & the picture was visible (& all blue) in the garage during the day with the doors open.

So i'm hopeful that my two lights will be enough using the same screen.
Not sure however if I can keep the fresnel over the screen.
I'm thinking because the image coming off the triplet will be smaller than what the RPTV lens was made for I can lengthen the throw distance enough to keep the lens below the screen itself.

I honestly don't know what i'm doing, but even if it doesn't work, I'm fairly certain i'll have fun learning why.

I think its awesome. SD RPTVs are all over the free section on Craigslist and I gutted one myself. Not exactly free given the CRT disposal fees, but worthwhile for the exploration.

SPK used a 400W and his image is stunningly bright but its worth noting he's also using a 52". Your screen area is effectively 25% smaller and if someone (Natural Newbie, I think) can get good RPTV with an EVO, I think you might be golden. I love the lower restrike time on the fluorescent although I wonder about the luminosity measurements. The size of the fluorescent means a lot more wasted light (I reckon).

Anyhow, good luck. I posted on the other CFL projector thread a link to a study showing the efficacy of even higher wattage fluorescents, if the pair 65 watters don't do it for you. Maxlite is a US vendor making 105, 150 and 200 watts (although the biggest ones are about 16" long and 5" wide).