Well I'm finally getting around to posting my results, the actual screen shots are a little fuzzy till I can get a tripod, they also look really keystoned but that's because my screen is propped against the wall instead of hanging.

Anyway, this is my third enclosure (mostly recycled from the first, second was a Haas and I kept running out of space for adjustments) and rather than spend all the time making the cheap wood look better (like I did on the last one), I decided to make "texture" my friend and do a design wear sloppy would be an asset. Hence one very tagged box....

the other side....


PS That isn't the "good tarp" if you're wondering... Just a little home renovating going on.

Fuzzy Leeloo and Mr. Incredible

THAT looks like a bus straight out of Philly!

Sense and Sensibility (Comic Book Guy voice "Best Movie Ever!")

Ha ha! Thanks Mikau! I used to live in Paterson, NJ and took a little inspiration from 'da hood.

Brightness looks really good. What bulb are you using?

The LL light kit with the Ushio. Got a set mildly used on eBay. I am also using the Ikea Soare reflector. (Thanks joewerb!)

Soare reflector? Never heard of that.

Yeah, at least that's what I think that's the semi-official name of the napkin ring holder.

A clearer shot or two

LOTR

Gandalf (screen size is about 96" diag widescreen, full screen almost 108")

Man there has GOT to be something wrong with my light engine. Really nice, and bright.

The tint appears to be a bit on the red side though. Might want to adjust that.

I guess I never really noticed the red tint (great reason to get feedback), but I tend to like warm colors and probably felt that was just right. But the greens don't seem to suffer, so I guess I better ask "the regulars" to my little theater to see what they think. Thanks.

As far as light engines go, I didn't do anything spectacular but while light testing in the garage I found that having my collimator fresnel 30mm farther forward helped with even light distribution for the size I intended to make the image.

I am sorry to hear that you lived in Paterson, NJ. A guy from paterson built a pj you say?!? Thats as funny as a guy from Newark, nj building one oh wait thats me. Nice job on ur pj buddy.

I am sorry to hear that you lived in Paterson, NJ. A guy from paterson built a pj you say?!? Thats as funny as a guy from Newark, nj building one oh wait thats me. Nice job on ur pj buddy.

[/quote]

Thanks, shivers20! Actually, that's a girl from Paterson! I'm a native Utard (Utahn) but spent a few highly educational years in Jersey and consider myself an honorary Jersey Girl. It was funny coming back here. I kept thinking to myself, "What's with all the freakin' white people?! Everyone looks the same!" Even though I'm about as anglo as they come.

What part of Newark? I had a few friends in Ironbound, but didn't get to know your beautiful city as well as I would have like to.

Is this a LL first???

Gee, I guess I assumed there were others... Oh well, from now on I'll go by "Double-A, Token LL Female!" Given my gender, most people here are more tech savvy and have lots more power tool expertise, but there is a large obstacle many of you face that I never will. The WAF (wife approval factor). I'm hard pressed to think of a guy that would whine, "Honey, is there something we could do with that large, noisy box in the middle of the living room? And did you really need a 350w subwoofer?"

Anyway, I'm going to paint the wall behind the screen after work this week and try to get some tweaked full screen shots.

Ironbound is where I am from. Wow thats cool! Where are you currently residing? Maybe we can eventually get some people together and make a group buy of mirrors from Mississippi man. Let me know if you are interested.

You're from Ironbound! Como vai?

I would love to go in with you and other NJ Folk on a mirror buy, but alas, I'm 1300 miles away in Utah. :angry: I miss Jersey... there's always something to do out there but everything here shuts down at 10:00 pm, 9:00 in the winter. I think that's what led to this whole project in the first place.

I'm gonna have to check with IronGecko and others out here on the board for a mirror group buy. But thanks for the consideration!

If you want a 1/16" 48"x96" mirror for a LF screen, you can get one from Professional Plastics in Kaysville. No need for a group buy, just a pickup truck.
Bring it by the house, and I'll even let you borrow my HVLP and compressor.

Nice PJ by the way. I'm totally jealous.

Thank you, that's very kind! I had no clue there was a place in Kaysville...hmmm....now I'm gonna have to think about that. Here's the thing, IronGecko, a really big image is kind of a must for me. Secondly, I think that it is important to have a screen the same ratio as the LCD one is projecting (that's why I'll be projecting onto the wall, 86" x 44" widescreen is great but I can't do full screen and I miss playing PS2) and I will be upgrading eventually to 16:10 so the max I could go with that mirror would be 76.8" x 48", but the 1/16" is awesome! Hmm... I guess I'll have to wait to hear back from MississippiMan or see if Professional Plastics can get me something bigger. Thanks again!

(In my best Mike Meyers Shrek voice:) Do you think she's compensating for something?
-snort-
Ahem...
I understand...
...no, really.

The 4x8' sheet is a stock item; I haven't asked about bigger ones. I rather expect large price tags for custom sizes, but it can't hurt to call them.
http://www.professionalplastics.com/cgi-bi...gname/locations

You could also try joining them (difficult) or anamorphic lenses (expensive)

You're dang right I'm compensating! Compensating for the fact that my other tv is 16"! Other than that....well, many things I say could be misconstrued, but suffice to say I think that's a game only boys play. Maybe I should get all righteous indignation and quote the ever famous public service announcement from the 90s, "That's sexual harrassment! And I don't have to take it!"

Seriously, though, I looked up Pro Plastics website and the standard sheet seems reasonable. I'll call them tomorrow about custom sizes. Thanks IronGecko!

You could, but you have to admit you set 'em up so seems only fair someone knock 'em down...besides, you wouldn't be the first to serve as proof that size really does matter...to Dodge owners anyway...

I forgot to mention in the beginning about what I'm using:

CMV 520D
LL Light Kit
LL Standard Lenses
Delta 120mm fan 130cfm

Anyway, I remembered today as I was painting the classic retort for the whole compensating thing, "Anyone who says size doesn't matter is saying so cuz they ain't got it." Not that I'm looking to start another tete-a-tete, but just a thought as you peruse my next screen shots.... (paint can in the lower right corner for comparison -- still need a little light blocking inside and out)

I don't have many fullscreen movies so here's Myst III: Exile

'Nother Myst shot

Wow! Now I'm really jealous. Nemo whale sized; looking crisp and awfully good. Where'd you get your cmv? I haven't seen them around locally or online anywhere.

I got mine from iCuePC ($169 w/ free shipping), but that was back in May, I see now they only have the 522A's ($179). I don't know anything about that model, but it seems the CMV's are nearly all identical. One thing though as a warning, it is said that the CMV's don't have FFC issues, but they kinda do. There are two cables so there's less chance of tearing, but those cables are really short and that's actually why I did more than one enclosure, so I could drop the motherboard far enough that my front fresnel could swing to adjust without draggin' across the boards. Plus I've heard of several people having problems with the hinges that hold the cables to the board, I personally had to super glue them shut because they kept popping open or popping off. Other than that, it's a great monitor for the price.

I called Professional Plastics today and they'll call me back tomorrow with an estimate. If it's not too atrocious, maybe you'll think of joining the "Bigger is Better" Club! (However, I sincerely doubt that will be the case -- the part about the price being reasonable)

Jeez.. you're getting me all psyched to start this project, and I already blew the budget on lapidary gear at an auction last week. My 27-incher may have to get me by for a while.
(Sorry, it's just too much fun having a female DIY'er to make off-color remarks to)

Maybe I should sell off some of the other s***... er... stuff I've been collecting around here to finance this expedition. Or not. Aww hell...it's only money, right?

FFC issues generally refer to ones that need to be lengthened in order to get the control board away from the line of view, in order to get the light from the lamp to the projection lens. In this regard, the CMV does not have any issues.

The short leads are okay, they can be disconnected and reconnected later. There are nicer connections for our application, but there's nothing wrong with these. Simply disconnect them until the panel is in place so that you don't strain the cables. Disconnecting them also takes the strain off of the edge connectors while you're manipulating the panel into place.

The panel for the 520D is the same as the 529A, or as close as I can tell without plugging a panel into my control circuit board. I'm quite certain the only difference is the control board for analogue input as opposed to DVI. I suspect that the 522A may also share this panel, but I haven't got direct evidence, yet.

My 529A panel has bit the dust, unfortunately, but it was kind of a blessing. If it were still working, I'd have never stripped and installed the 17" panel that I'm enjoying currently.


And as to size, it doesn't matter. But it's sure enjoyable to have a big one.

That makes sense SupraGuy about what an FFC issue really is. I just assumed it meant problems in general relating to the FFC's.

Fact of the matter is, I knew exactly NOTHING about any of this when I joined back in April. I mean my dad started me woodworking when I was 11 and I had some basic wiring know-how from shop classes, other than that I have read hundreds of hours in these forums (many of which were consumed by the monster known as "The Reflection Thread") to get where I am. I just want to thank all the brainy and generous guys out there! You've made this easy for me and know I never would have gotten nearly this far on my own.

Results are quite impressive double-a. I have to say though, it isn't just the size that matters (nothing wrong with a 16" every now and then), its the quality of the...ahem...image...

Double-a, in which city of Utah do you live?

Hey, Mongals! I used to live in Logan, too (till I graduated in '04)! I didn't know there was a member there. I'm just to the south, between you and my new buddy, IronGecko (in Clinton).

Thanks, chrisbballas! I'm never one to begrudge a compliment... even if it is riddled with double entendres! "Oh behave!"

Yeah there aren't many from Utah on here, and I think you are the first that I have run across that lives close to Logan. I was reading what the graffiti said on your pj, definitely ghetto.

So, I take it you know some Spanish too. *blush* At least looking at those photos, the only things you can read are not exactly "family friendly". There's all kinds of super mild stuff, trust me. Like the top says stuff like, "Pinky and the Brain" and "Eat Carrots, See Better" (pretty applicable to working in the dark) Basically plenty of random things and I even glazed the whole thing so the writing would fade (I was just going for a "look"), and given that silver reflects, the photos make the letters look as vivid as when I was laying them down. Oh well, I'm issuing a general apology for anyone offended by the content and any gangs I might have infringed on.

"Pinky and the Brain" but nary a Narf, Zort, Troz or Egad to be seen? Shame on you!

I can't read the spanish, but somehow caught the gist of the visible graffiti. Strange how that works.

Quite impressive indeed. That's a definite improvement over the etch-a-sketch I've been using to watch movies on. (Is it just me or are most celebrities suprisingly right-angled?) Connecting the DVD player to the etch-a-sketch was tricky and completely not worth the 12 years of life I spent doing it, but I do have some people from Play-Skool out to kill me and I think that means I'm finally reaching people.