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12-28-2003, 06:34 PM
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#1 of 35 
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Member
Join Date: Dec 2003
Local Time: 02:50 PM
Local Date: 11-18-2008
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Building your own LCD video projector
Hey everybody...I've been designing and building video projectors for about a year now. I thought some of you DIY types might be interested in building your own projectors. Basically you can build a very high quality LCD projector for a couple hundred bucks. The great thing about these projectors is that the metal halide bulb last for 20,000(!) hours and costs about $15; a far cry from the $250-$600 commercial projector bulbs cost, plus the commercial projector bulbs blow easy and last about 2000 hours if you nurse them. The LCD actually comes from a LCD computer monitor...the deals on these are fantastic now...you can get very fast, high contrast XGA panels for about $175 new and I've seen them go for $75 used.
Anyway, I've spent several months putting the info together and created a guide that I sell on our site: lumenlab dot com for $19.99. For those of you who don't have a big knowledge of optics, lamp types (color temps, wattages, form factors), lcd technologies etc, this guide makes it super easy for you...basically if you can build a speaker cabinet you can build an XGA projector.
I also run a private forum for anyone who gets the guide so that we can give attention to your project and see you succeed. Check it out and let me know what ya'll think...peace
p.s. i was going to post some pics of my results however for some reason i can't link to images off site and there's no image upload for this forum. So just message me and I'll point you to some pics.
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12-28-2003, 08:25 PM
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#2 of 35
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Member
Join Date: Apr 1999
Local Time: 01:50 PM
Local Date: 11-18-2008
Posts: 1,596
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Geez, for that kind of money I can get a Fresnel lens that converts my regular TV into a 100" big screen!
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12-28-2003, 10:39 PM
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#3 of 35
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Join Date: Mar 2002
Local Time: 01:50 PM
Local Date: 11-18-2008
Posts: 339
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why not just go to DIYAUDIO.com and get the info for free?
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12-28-2003, 11:15 PM
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#4 of 35
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Join Date: Dec 2003
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Local Date: 11-18-2008
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Mark, we have a thread going at DIYAUDIO where there is a lively discussion about this very topic. Here's what one of the DIYAUDIO users has to say...
| I agree that you should offer kits and different options. It would attract a lot more people. Things happen one step at a time though, I know. And as for $20 for information, that is nothing, even if it is pretty basic. My time is worth a lot more to me than that. Say you make $10 an hour, does this information save you 2 hours of searching through this sea of unorganized posts? Yes, and probably a lot more than that. I haven't seen brainchild's pdf, but I would guess it has quite a bit of useful info that it took me days to find. Nice looking site too. |
Here's a pointer to the thread if you'd like to check it out for yourself
diyAudio Forums > Top > Video > Video > Lumenlab.com
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12-29-2003, 08:10 AM
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#5 of 35
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Join Date: Oct 1998
Local Time: 02:50 PM
Local Date: 11-18-2008
Posts: 3,038
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Huh? A quality LCD video projector with a 20,000 hour metal halide lamp?
Have I missed a revolution? I guess I can cancel my trip to C.E.S. next week.
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12-29-2003, 09:14 AM
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#6 of 35
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Member
Join Date: Apr 1999
Local Time: 01:50 PM
Local Date: 11-18-2008
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OK, what we're talking about is taking an LCD panel and taping it to an overhead projector. That's high quality? That's ridiculous.
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12-29-2003, 10:47 AM
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#7 of 35
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Member
Join Date: Dec 2003
Local Time: 02:50 PM
Local Date: 11-18-2008
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Quote:
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OK, what we're talking about is taking an LCD panel and taping it to an overhead projector. That's high quality? That's ridiculous.
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Dan, actully that's not at all what we're talking about. While overhead projectors coupled with an LCD do have limited success -i.e. better than the fresnel scam you mentioned in you first post- the design we chose for our first projector has the metal hallide light source, it's ballast, cooling fan, fresnel lenses, 15" LCD panel, and objective lens incorporated into a clean, simple, and easy to construct form. A wooden box. We used an XGA LCD panel with 500:1 contrast and 15ms response. The resolution of the lumenlab projector is higher than the X1 or Powerlight S1, and the contrast ratio is higher than the Powerlight S1 as well. This projector is bigger than those but you can build a SVGA projector based on a 7" panel that would be about the size of half a briefcase, cost half as much as the X1 or S1 and would have a bulb life of 10,000+ hours and a bulb cost of ~$30. Oh, and we didn't use any tape.
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12-29-2003, 01:03 PM
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#8 of 35
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Join Date: Oct 1998
Local Time: 02:50 PM
Local Date: 11-18-2008
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| Oh, and we didn't use any tape. |
And why not?? 3M Duct Tape will help hold anything together.  And, we could use the sales.
Okay Scott, post some close-up, high-res screen shots. |
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12-30-2003, 03:19 AM
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#9 of 35
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Member
Join Date: Mar 2002
Local Time: 01:50 PM
Local Date: 11-18-2008
Posts: 339
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I went over to diyaudio.com and saw the thread. It looks intresting. Might have to drop20 bux for the instructions.
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12-30-2003, 07:58 AM
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#10 of 35
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Join Date: Jun 2001
Local Time: 03:50 PM
Local Date: 11-18-2008
Posts: 7,403
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Gonna give a cut to HTF for the free advertising?
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12-30-2003, 04:06 PM
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#11 of 35
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Member
Join Date: May 2003
Local Time: 11:50 AM
Local Date: 11-18-2008
Posts: 132
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Quote:
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We used an XGA LCD panel with 500:1 contrast and 15ms response
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Why do manufacturers use three lcd panels instead of just one? There must be some disadvantage to using just one. |
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12-30-2003, 06:16 PM
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#12 of 35
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