Well, after sitting on the fence for the past three years, observing all that has gone before. I am starting the journey.

After reading RCDavids PLOG I am ready to jump in. http://www.lumenlab.com/forums/index.php?s...c=27247&hl=

I will be using the same HDTV that he did, the Westinghouse Model W1603. It looks pretty straight forward. Not to hard to take apart and no FCC issues.
Since LL seems to no longer stock many parts needed, I did a search and came up with diyprojectorkits.com. They seem to have just about everything that I need. The beginners kit seems to be pretty good.

The kit includes:
330mm projection triplet

220/330 Fresnel set

Cold mirror reflector
Focus ring

Bulb 400 w MH T-15 style

Mogul Base
E-Ballast 400W MH

Power Module

Fan Thermostate

Fan 120Vac 120mm Artic

S-15 plans Full Scale

I am not sure at this point if I am going to buy this kit or get pieces here and there and piece together exactly what I need.

My main question at this time is will the 220/330 Fresnel set work with the 15.9" LCD I am looking at?

If the dimensions of your 15.6" LCD are not much larger than the dimensions of an average 15.4" LCD, and the fresnels from that other vendor are 400mm x 320mm (same size as in their Short Throw Lens Kit?), you might be okay.
That is, if you don't mind the short throw that the lenses provide. You might want to create a mock-up of your enclosure out of cardboard and use masking tape to tape an outline of your screen on the wall and sit where the seating area will be (much like what John D did for his build).

Click to view attachment

If you use the plans, you'll probably have to adjust the width of the enclosure to accommodate the width of the widescreen LCD. The plans are probably drawn up specifically for a 15" 4:3 aspect ratio LCD.

A question.
I have a home theater setup in my basement.
I would like to put the projector on the other side of the wall in the back of the theater, in the next room. Not unlike a regular movie theater.
My setup is this:
My screen is 12' from the wall, my pull down movie screen, measured diagonally (16 x 9) is 80.3", the widescreen television I want to use is 15.6" diagonally. So those are the three numbers that I need to work with. twelve feet, wall to screen, 80 inch screen, 15.6 inch television.
When I punch those numbers into Focal Cal II, I come up with a (Un-Split) Triplet FL of 647mm, is there such a thing?
What else can I do? I have low ceilings in the room, and need to put the projector on the other side of that wall.

The largest size front fresnel that I know of is the 650mm one that LL sold. Paired with a 500mm triplet (also the largest I know of), your throw would only be 9.8 feet for a screen 80" diagonal.

Come to think of it, a 22" Beseler lens is only about 560mm. That will get you closer to 11 feet - but still short of the 12 foot goal.

Maybe you could put up a pull down screen and mount it a foot from the wall hanging from the ceiling. This would be hung after the projector is ready, and could be hung at the precise distance to get the maximum screen area used.