Here are a few shots from a completed RPTV project.
Here is where the unit was built. 30" deep x 51" wide x 60" tall.


And here is a wide angle shot showing the results with all the lights on.


And another showing a closeup with same lights on.



And another from monsters inc. (Same lighting conditions)

Not bad at all! What material are you using?

He has a PLOG going and I believe he used a screen from another rear projection TV.
He just built it all to fit in the spot that was pre made in his furniture.
Its a pretty cool PLOG I was really surprised with his results both quality and brightness wise.

Wardog

Yes, I did re-use an existing screen from a Mitsubishi 60".

I just did a little more tweaking and finally sat down and watched most of a movie. The colors and clarity were much improved over the orginal TV.

My orginal intent was to just get a TV going again in the existing cabinet. Lower quality was to be expected as I orginally was going to use a PSone. Had trouble finding a lens to work in the space. I really did not want to invest a lot in a new TV and rework my entertainment center to give it the built in look. Then build a better projector for a big screen.

What I ended up with was a step up in quality and now I never need to worry about it breaking again as I can fix it myself.

Thought I would add a couple of shots from the completed setup. I ended up with a much better picture than the orginal TV produced.

Here it is with maximum ambient light.
Click to view attachment

Closeup of the preceding shot.
Click to view attachment

Nemo at school
Click to view attachment

and I-Robot to finish it off.
Click to view attachment

I'm not surprised too much by this brightness and performance in ambient light. Most people who complain about brightness and ambient lighting tend to have screens that are 110" or more. SPK's screen is 60" and his lighting setup looks like it was designed to minimize direct light on the screen. This makes a huge difference in performance in ambient lighting. My own experiences show that for good ambient light performance you should keep the screen less than 72" and control the amount of light shining directly on the screen. If you do this then most of us should be able to watch our projectors with the lights on also.

I don't remember who it was, but when I first signed up here someone told me that screen size doesn't matter when it comes to brightness. I always feel like I am rubbed the wrong way when I buy into someone elses bunk information. I feel rubbed the wrong way right now! LOL

In other words I agree with your thinking.

The sad part is that you believed him.


Those shots of the RPTV are AMAZING, looks ridiculously good. To bad you didn't take any screenies of original TV vs. RPTV. But from most of the RPTV's I've seen, your DIY one looks by far the best.

What that person may have meant was that the total lux leaving the projector is the same regardless of screen size. However, as the screen size gets smaller (less area) then that lux gets more concentrated in a smaller area, making the image much brighter.

It's a lot like frying ants with a magnifying glass. the amount of light entering the magnifying glass is the same as the light in the atmosphere. However, the magnifying glass concentrates that light into a very small area, making it extremely bright in that area. Once that light is absorbed and converted to heat it starts to heat up whatever is there.

Its a slow cook when you make the focal point bigger, and a short death when its small with the fresnel lenses we use. I have actually noticed that you can cook around three ants at once, and still keep the focal point pretty concentrated. Yeah, thats cool

Very nice job, great picture, etc, etc, etc...

But man what fine looking room! The woodwork, the leather, the hanging speakers... phew. Even the table lamps are handsome. That would make for a great home theater experience if all you had in that space was a crumpled old poster of Farrah Fawcett ;-)

--- Mike

How's the viewing angle? Is it the same as before or better?

Hello I was thinking of doing the same as you. I got a hold of a 42" RPTV . I am going to basically gut the inside and retro fit all the nesesary parts inside of it. I Basically want to keep it to the same consept of the CRT , shine my image to the mirror and then on to the screen. I still have the three lenses inside the TV and was wondering if you experimented with those lenses when you built yours.

I am probably going to use a smaller lcd, 8 inches or so. Any Help would be apriciated .

PS. I have already build a projector, so I know the basics to build one.

Don't know if this helps, but here is SPK's Plog http://www.lumenlab.com/forums/index.php?a...t=0#entry109138

Nice going & way to not reinvent the wheel. I tried using Tyvek home wrap per an instructables.com article, but its semi-transparency has MUCH to be desired.

BTW, does the introduction of that big mirror introduce any visible ghosting? Or is it a massive front-surface mirror?

im thinking of using my TV as a projector...i just wanna find out will the concept work and how is the quality of the picture ? ...check the link for the diagram
http://img153.imageshack.us/img153/7672/tvprojectorzw1.jpg

Not to be negative, but I'm 99 percent sure that will not work:

1st: a tv does not produce enough light to make the picture enjoyable compared to regular LL pjs.
(Beware of those convert your tv schemes)

2: I think there was a light in your diagram after your tv screen. The light will drown out the picture being carried on the light from the tv.

Carry on though, and welcome to Lumenlab!

SPK I like your rptv it looks great!

What's funny is that those are the plans people sell on Ebay for "150" BIG SCREEN TV OMG!" that doesn't work at all and looks like crap.

Oh it works! It just looks like crap!