Hi,

I am new in this business and I am considering building a 16:9 projector and have been looking for suitable panels. I was wondering whether I could use a 1280x1024 panel, which supports 1280x768 resolution (almost 16:9). I know of course, that it is a waste of some pixels - but overall it might be a more cost effective solution.

The black bars that will appear on the LCD could / should be covered with some sort of material in order to prevent light from passing through.

Have anyone tried this or what do you think?

I was thinking maybe of using the samsung 730bf which seems to give a great performance.

You can use a program called powerstrip to set the resolution of a 1280x1024 panel to 1280x720 (16:9) (actaully is can be any resolution you choose, not just 1280x720). I have done this succesfully on a Samsung 730B, but only using the VGA connector, DVI does not work for this function.

cheers,
gs

edit: clarification of panel resolutions available.

PowerStrip is ideal for this purpose.

Hi,

Thanks for recommending PowerStrip.

Actually I am aiming at making at relatively small projection image (5 feet diagonal in 16:9). I would like to have a throw distance (triplet to wall) of 2 m (~6.5 feet) and place the projector at the floor.

From what I have been reading here, I guess I need a small LCD <= 15 inch in order to do this without getting a really long-sized projector.

Any suggestions on where to start (some specific look-a-like design)?

Best,
Soeren

<15" screen normally := <1024x768 resolution