UPDATE:
These pics are from early on and are not representative of the image now. For better pics (and video), continue through the pages of this gallery.

I've "completed" my 15" projector except for making the outside of the box look good. So I'll save those pics for later.

Parts:
15" Samsung 512N LCD
Standard lens kit from Lumenlab
Standard light kit from Lumenlab
Norpro reflector
Thermo switch for automatic shut downs of fans when cool enough inside box

Here are the first results:

I assume it looks better in real life, right? Looks pretty dark there.

But its good to see some Ascension on the big screen anyway. Best Halo 2 map for rocket matches.

Yep, definitely brighter in real life. I mentioned this camera problem in my PLOG. I hope to figure out how to get the camera to capture the true brightness so I can post some good pics.

Woohoo! I got around to making sure my bulb and reflector were alligned correctly. I could see from the spillage that the reflector needed to be tilted up and held in place, bringing the bulb into correct position. Once this was done, I immediately got 30-40% increase in brightness.

I then messed around with the monitor settings (blur decreased, contrast increased, etc.) and have an amazing picture. I'm looking back at these screenshots and laughing. Hopefully I can have some new screenshots soon.

UPDATED PICS:

All of the "After" pics were taken with the night mode and no flash on my camera. I didn't mess with the shutter speed since most of the scenes were on pause.

Great results

Yeah, I love the results also. I also used a 512N. I should be finishing my projector tonight. Have no more than 1 hour worth of finishing touches. Then it will be time to start my ceiling-mount pj hanging contraption and build my screen.

Us 512N users have to stick together.

Thanks for the compliments, guys.

The pics look very dim on this PC monitor at school compared to on my Mac at home. I believe that the gamma is different on Windows than on Mac, so that's probably why the pics looked so dim. Stupid platform differences.

Here are some pics with the shutter speed set at 1". Looks good on my Mac's monitor; hope it looks good for the PC folks...

Is that the monty python and the holy grail?

By the way I am happy to see it all worked out for you vroom after that little accident you had with your first lcd. I would have done the same thing if I were in your place and bought another monitor. Good Job!

These pics are better, but your camera still seems to be capturing a large brightness in the middle and dim corners..... with that aside, your image looks nice and sharp, good work .... the 512n is a good panel isnt it ...... Seems likes its growing to be just as popular as the BENQ.

I recomend you to enjoy your PJ for a few days, but then start tweaking it. Once you get used to looking at your creation you will critique it tougher than you are now. (I thought my first picture was brilliant, but it sucked compared to the one I have now), I believe alot of people have to make slight alligments with the lenses/bulb distance.

With your camera fish eyeing that badly, Im sure your corners are darker then the center, however Im also sure there are no where near as bad as your camera is displaying.

If you cut power to the LCD while the PJ is on, you will get a perfectly white screen, take a look at this screen and glare at your sides/corners really well. Also take a look at what spillage you have around your triplet

Good work again man ..... that thing looks incredibly sharp ... maybe sharper than mine ..... Remember to show it off to everyone that comes into you house .... and have the gaze in amazement at what you built .....

***EDIT .... How big is your image???, also is that a console game with the Orange Mazda RX7??, if so what are you doing to feed the console into your LCD (N6, HTPC Capture?***)

Mongals-- it's Braveheart.

scubasteve-- When the screen is white, I can tell that it's brighter in the center. It is by no means dark in the sides/corners, though. I do have some rather large spillage around the entire triplet, but at least it's centered (now it is anyway). Also, I recently added a UV filter to my temp glass, so that's causing some rainbow effect on the left and right. It's not sandwiched between anything since there's a gap between temp glass and rear fresnel. I'll have to pull it snug to get rid of the rainbow.

To sharpen the picture up, I messed with the blur settings on the monitor. Seemed to do the trick. And I've been showing it off even outside of my house-- at a friend's house. The pj is normally in my tiny room which has yet to receive a couch, so we've watched a couple movies and played some Halo at his house with plenty of people over. It's a hit.

As far as the gaming, the RX-7 is in Need For Speed Underground on my modded Xbox. It's fed into the pj with a VDigi VD-Z3 (Component to VGA). Definately a good buy. I don't care much for TV in, so the lack of a TV scaler doesn't concern me.

The screen size is 80"x60"x100". Big enough to wow, small enough to take to college.

Awesome results!

Just thought I'd add a pic with (3) 60 watt light bulbs on in the other section of the room. My brightness definitely improved! Forgive the messy room.

What angle are you keystoned at. As I stated above, I too have the 512N and am having a problem with a blur when keystoning. I did just get running in a completed state last night so I am still doing a lot of adjustments. Yours looks very crisp though. Again great work.

Well, without any kind of right angle to measure with, I used the old math skills (well, current skills, I guess). Turned out to be 20 degrees. I know that 15 is supposedly the limit, so maybe I'm wrong. It will change, however, since I believe I'm going to mount the pj to the ceiling pretty soon.

Where is this blur setting and what does it do? I too have a 512n and my picture looks good except that it's just not bright enough to portray dark scenes well, which is a problem since most movies I care to watch are darker in nature. What settings have you changed on the monitor? I don't have a reflector so that might explain the problem, though I've read of mixed results concerning reflectors. I was hoping the blackout cloth would help but it only helped slightly.

Wow, great results. Seeing halo 2 so big definitely motivates me to get working on my own projector. I'd love to see those pj pics

Ammut, you can see the pj in its current state in my PLOG.

buttsplice, I just turned on my projector to find the blur setting and it seems I was thinking of the Coarse, Fine, and Sharpness options. Don't know why I thought it was called Blur.

Great results, really bright with deep colors. Reflector make a huge difference. Love the video game shots, gotta get the XBox hooked up to mine.

Anybody have before and after pics of reflectors? I'm having trouble finding something suitable and some things I've read seem to indicate a reflector didn't do much for them

Here's the exterior of the box almost finished. It is covered with the black vinyl I got from Joann Fabrics. The front needs to be touched up, but other than that it's pretty good. The eyehooks are for when it's hanging from the ceiling-- in the works.

Here is a movie showing my projector in action. It does it no justice, but what do you expect at 2.6 megs.

EDIT: Better movie clip added to page 3.

PJ from ceiling-- in the works. No keystone problems.

Now you need to motorize it so when it isnt in use you can retract it up to the ceiling so you wont bump your head on it.

Looks good.

Yeah, I've been hoping for something like that...

UPDATE: I moved everything to their EXACT places according to the guide. My measurements were way off! Check out these before and after shots. You'll notice that the light is way more evenly lit; look at the corners and sides to get an idea. The image is smaller because I have the pj down from the ceiling to work on and it's a tad closer to the screen.
After:

After:

After:

After:

*Notice the much improved colors as well. This was from bumping the color levels all the way up.

Just a couple more shots to gaze at.

Check out the difference between my brightness then and now. This was done by taking a picture of the screen and using Photoshop to invert the blacks and whites. It's more evenly lit and has less of a hot spot.
Very first setup:

Bulb closer, but no lens adjustments:

NOW!!! NOW!!!:

Good job vroom. I am going to do the same thing. I know my alignment isnt perfect because I never checked it.

Showing the updated vinyl exterior. Currently down from ceiling for adjustments.

HERE WE ARE GENTLEMEN. Some REAL results! Hooked up to my mom's laptop @ 1024x768. What a difference! And I'm not even using FFDSHOW yet. Just that crappy Interactual Player that comes free.

Aww man... I want an HTPC now...

Windows desktop- clear from edge to edge.






That's all for now....

How much did you have it keystoned when you took these pictures. Awesome results.

It was probably 5-10 degrees. I can't be sure though. With the LCD closer to the front fres, there is less keystone correction when projecting at an upward angle. It won't be a problem since it'll be from the ceiling again soon.

Hye vroom... What did you do to have a clear edge to edge focus..
mine is almost but not perfectly.

I made sure everything was perfectly aligned, and then I played around with my focus box. I have just enough movement that I can tip my focus box up and down and side to side to get each part of the screen in focus. It's not perfect, but it's tons better than it used to be.

Also, if you're careful, you could try bending the corners of the ff.

Did you use a laser for the alignement ?

if yes what kind of laser did you take ?
the one i have is not enough strong.

Nope, no laser for me.

hello, amazing results. and better exhibition of them. he is first post that I see really well photographed. a question you have proven to put the triple lens to the misfortune? the pretty part inwards. I believe that it is not the same to put it of a side and another one. I believe that it improves your resultado(que already is very good) with the lens to the misfortune inwards. a greeting and congratulations.

Check it out! Here's a demo video I made of my projector in action. Just under two minutes at 6.6mb. Right click, Save as.
EDIT: Now located on Lumenlab's DIY projector page.

Nice vid

Very cool video vroom! Those 5th element shots towards the end are very telling. The video actually looks better that some of the screenshots; the area on the wall to the bottom-left of Leeloo is plainly visible in the video - it isn't in many scrrenshots.

Just out of curiosity, what did you use to do the capture with? Any exposure compensation at all?

I used my brand new Panasonic DVX-100A. The iris is full open and the gain is set to 6db to get the colors accurate. These settings allowed the image on the camcorder to be the same as what I was seeing on the screen.

My screenshots aren't exactly up to date. If you've seen my Vdigi thread, you'll know that I recently tweaked the dip switches to get the best image. I was able to get a much brighter image that made even the darkest of scenes easy to watch.

And I finally got Brain to comment in one of my threads. My life now has purpose.

EDIT: I found out my compression software was altering the gamma of the video. If you watch again, you'll see the updated version with a better depiction of black levels. There is now 0 change in gamma between what the camera recorded and the compressed video.

I have a DVX too, awesome 24p cam.

Very nice images and video! Thats a vvery nice camera eh?

Antiglare removal complete and the replacement polarizer is on!