Greetings folks. I've been trying to follow up on a DIY projector for the past 2 years. For the longest, I read threads over at DIYaudio, as I was following Ace's promise to provide plans for a 6" proj. That never materialized, and I'm still yearning to build one. SO... I decided to come here. It seems like this place is quite active, and a place where I could get some assistance. I'm a total newbie. I've read and read, but it just gets confusing for me. I have bought the plans, so I just have to d/l and print 'em up now. I won't be updating a lot for the meantime, but I will get this thing on the road soon.

For now... if any of you guys have suggestions on where I should start, please PM me. I need all the help I can get!

THANKS!

Check out the link "State of the DIY Projetor" in my signature. I tried to summarize everything that people are doing on these forums. They are breif summaries but can be a good start and provide you some info to search the forums on. Let me know if it helps, and what you think could be added to help newcomers like yourself.

Firstly Dergrin, A BIG THANKS for putting that thread together. It is quite helpful! I'll study it more when I'm not at work and can concentrate on the details

Here are some rough pictures of the environment this baby will go in. I haven't decided between the two for sure yet, so your input would be greatly appreciated.

Option 1: Living Room (Den)
Click for larger images



Pros:
Its in the living room. Lots of company could view the movies. Largest room, most comfortable. Closer to the kitchen.

Cons:
Large room = larger throw distance. Open room, poor for acoustics if/when I hook up surround sound (pictured). Would have to position projector under window (approx 1.5 ft. to work with). With position so close to floor, would have to tinker with tilting image upward to project onto wall.


Option 1: Bedroom (My drawing studio)
Click for larger images



Pros:
Smaller room = smaller throw distance. Acoustics are WAY better.

Cons:
Seating for guests would be very limited. Would definitely distract from doing artwork (not that I do a lot now).


So those are the things I'm weighing. I live alone, so the 'studio' is a storage room at the moment from remodeling another bedroom. This studio will be the next room I remodel, so I suppose I need to decide quickly where I'm putting this projector. My gut feeling would tell me that the studio would be the better place, but as afore mentioned - seating would be limited...

THANKS FOR LOOKING

I am assuming based on your distances shown that you are planning on getting the pro lenses? Is this so?

Um... well I haven't gotten that far yet. I was hoping all of you pros could assist me there. I could do these distances... or since it is my studio, I could probably encorporate this thing in my computer desk and project it onto the wall with the singel door leading into the room. It would decrease the throw considerably. If I did the living room - its that far or bust - its really the only place I can put it in there.

Here is a link to the Lumenlab Focal Length Calculator. This will show you how far away you can place you projector with a particular screen size you want projected.

The focal length of the standard lens is 12.6 in.
The focal length of the pro lens is 19.7 in.

Hope this helps.

Thanks again Dergrin...

I'm still not quite sure what I need to buy first, but I'll get there. I'm just throwing my ideas out there now for anyone that would like to give any feedback. Ideally, I'd like to build a projector like pjgibbs:
pjgibbs - 8" Hami

Or I'd at least like to keep it smaller. Obviously, I'd like to have the brightest picture possible, but I may be expecting too much. Since I'm gonna have this thing in either my studio or den, I'd like to try to conceal it the best that I can. My wood-working skills are novice at best, but I had imagined building a container like this:



That way, it would function as a side table. If I do this project in my den, I'd have a matching table like this that would have the slide-out drawer....

I'm pretty detail oriented, so I think I can make it happen. Its just the fact that I'm foreign to all of this projector stuff that scares me.

Cheers.

SO I went ahead with a few purchases. It would probably suit me better if I'd stick with the straight-up LL design... but I have to test a few things regarding a light engine... I'll post more as I get them more completed as they are just floating in my mind right now.

Since I'm using a 9.5" lcd, supra suggested I get a smaller fresnel. So I got a 165mm from Anchor Optics for $10.75 (incl. shipping).

I've now picked up the LCD that I'll be using. More than likely, I'll be using the dvd player that came with it so long as it works - Advised from tawamiami and yoshuaspawn, as they have used the same unit.

I went with the 8.9" Toshiba SD-P2000 with I was able to pick up off Ebay for $48.95 (incl. shipping). The only drawback was it didn't have a power cable or battery charger. I'm hoping I can pick one up cheap off Ebay.




I've emailed Toshiba about the Contrast Ratio and Response Time. Will update when I get a response or find out otherwise.

Man, that place has some pretty cheap fresnels. I'd like to see these in action for sure.

FINALLY! The unit arrived in the mail

Here's a quick spec sheet for the back




As previously mentioned, I'm still tracking down an AC Adapter for the thing to power it on. Looks to be in good shape. I'd kind of like to have one of these to travel with!

Meanwhile, I'm still deciding what size bulb to get, etc.

Cheers - AC

Hello again,
Figured I would mention.. just for the heck of it.... The adapter I found on ebay was a Sony adapter. Wish I could tell you what it was originaly for though

although I belive the vendor was 'Dave's surplus cables'. It was a steal at 9$ shipped!

What was that... 12v 3amps... maybe 2amps?
Anyway, try that vendor, and be sure to punch the exact voltage in your search with and without title and description ticked.

You probably already did this, but figured it cant hurt to mention. Took me about a week to track one down myself.
I do still have a battery for the spd-2000 if ya wana build a portable camping pj

checkin checkin, likein likein

lol anyways i think the living room would fit yer needs a little more
and i like the art work on MY PLACE very nice.

i think that was yer art work anyways.

but i think the living room is a better idea. and for hiding options. if i could do art work i would draw it out for ya

here we go. : I am thinkin of this anyways.... End table. cut out or dont cut out. the middle. put it on sliders. kinda like a jack in the box.. you press the Projector down into the end table for hiding it.. and when you want it up you (maby use an acuater) spelt wrong of course. lol but you press on it or something. and the projector comes up./.. Hiddin. and not hidden...

get my drift br0.?

if i had hands that could draw i would patent alot of ideas i get, but i suck. and have no more money. so take it if ya want it..

peace

red

Hey Red - Thanks for the props. It is my artwork on myspace - but far from finished. The stuff on my living room walls is just one of my fave artists.

The jack-in-the-box idea is interesting. I hadn't thought of that. I might give it a go. I had just planned to have matching side tables. One would have the actual sliding door. The projector one would just have a door held on by magnets for when the pj isn't in use. It would look like a drawer - only not function as one.

We'll just have to see how it goes as I build the thing.

Thanks for looking!

hey man any time... thought i would try an help in any way i can.

i like the door magnet idea.. thats good. if you worked at it a little. the drawer, its self. if you left it partial funchinal. it would act as the focis mechinism. man my spellin sux.

anyways

cool
red

IT'S ALIVE!!!

OK, so I got good news and bad news.

Good news:


Bad news:

1) The adapter that I acquired doesn't fit especially well, so if you move it the least bit, the unit powers off. And, I actually purchased 2 of those adapters to cut down on shipping. 1 of them doesn't even work! Naturally, I tried the one that doesn't work first, and when it didn't power on, I went into a fit of panic. Alas, the 2nd one worked - so long as you don't move it around too much.

2) NO SOUND! I went through every setting on the unit, and no where could I find anything related to turning it off or on. I tried earphones, and nothing worked. SO... I don't exactly know what to do about that.


In summary, I'll probably ship the adapters back and try another one. Since I know that the amperage can be higher, I'll probably try to find one that plugs directly into the wall. The one I got was more like some speaker or printer power cables. An actual power cord plugs into the wall, and then into the adapter to supply power.

I was so frickin excited yesterday when the adapters came in! Now... more waiting. Ugh.

Hello,

I think you can get an adapter head/tip/terminal thinger from radio shack, and just mod it on to your adapter. While radio shack dosent have the adapter itself, they do have a tip to fit in the jack.I think it comes in a pack of three or four, specificaly for A/V stuff.

As far as the sound... dunno bout that one. Not the biggest deal though, if your using av in anyway right? just shoot your audio out of the dvd payer or whatever your using.

unless....
there also there are some sound settings in the navi menu(easiest with the remote) along with alot of other fun features. It could just be on a wierd setting or somthing.

At the least your still up and running with a quick trip to radio shack. mention its for a portable dvd player and they should point you in a direction towards some certain tips.

id bring the dvd player with.....

and test it there while your at the store..
well you know the lcd works anyways... did the dvd player work?

red