My Excellent 3D Home Theater Adventure (1 Viewer)

[DeanRichards]

I wanted to have a high quality 3D experience at home, but I didn't want to buy a new TV, so here's how I made it work... If you're like me, you're already using a computer as part of your home entertainment setup, so all you have to do is get it a 3D capable Nvidia video card. Make sure it is "GeForce 3D Vision Ready." Then you'll need a 3D video projector. I bought the Viewsonic PJD6211. Whatever you get, make sure it is DLP 3D capable. I also bought a retractable screen that I mounted on the ceiling, just in front of a wall. With the dynamics of my situation, I'm able to project an image that uses the full 6 ft. width of the screen... and I do it in my very small apartment, so you can do a giant display anywhere if you put your mind to it. Let me tell you, giant is better. Next, you'll need the 3D transmitter and active shutter glasses kit. I got the transmitter and two pairs of glasses for $200 all in off eBay. You will also need a Blu-Ray drive on your computer to be able to play the 3D Blu-Ray disks, if you don't already have one. The last piece of the puzzle is software to play the 3D movies. I use the ever popular Cyberlink. If all you want to do is play 3D games, then you don't need the Blu-Ray drive or the Cyberlink software, but I would advise that you get them. More and more titles are coming out in 3D all the time and as we all know, the 3D 'explosion' is just around the corner. The Experience It's freakin awesome. POV games, of course, tend to offer the best use of 3D, but simply playing with life-sized characters is mind blowing and is a very different experience from watching a small display. Talk about "immersive" ... you have no idea! And when it comes to movies, 3D is just plain fun. There isn't a huge supply of titles as of yet, but I have a friend who works in the 3D conversion industry and he says that eventually pretty much every movie ever made will be converted to 3D. Doing 3D with a computer used to be a pain in the butt to get configured, but with Windows 7, it all just plugged in and worked first time. The only setup issues were that I had to make the video projector my primary display to get the video card to do its 3D setup correctly. So that's how I did 3D and I absolutely love it. If you've been thinking of 3D, I say go for it!!

 

[Adam Gregorich]

Thanks for sharing Dean. Considering that you are in an apartment how have you mounted the projector and screen?

 

[DeanRichards]

I mounted the screen on standard dry-wall ceiling hooks, as it only weighs a few pounds. It sits just in front of the back wall (where I have lots of pictures in frames) and pulls down to bed level. The wall above the bed was my only available space. The projector sits across the room on top of my computer desk. I have to raise the back of the projector slightly to get the right angle. It's a small room, so my girlfriend and I sit just in front of the desk with the projector beam between us and behind us. At about nine feet away, I can easily adjust the projector to give me a 4:3 image at 6ft wide by 4.5 feet tall for the equivalent of a 90 inch television. At 16:9 the height drops down to a little over three feet and so you wind up with about an 82 in widescreen. If you want to go really "big" on a budget, this is definitely the way to go and the 3D simply has to be experienced to be appreciated. Once you see it like this, you'll immediately understand what all the buzz is about. I was decidedly underwhelmed by the 46" 3D Sony Bravia test setup at the store, but by doubling the size of the screen for slightly less than the same money you'd pay for the TV alone, I got a viewing experience that is orders of magnitude more engaging.