Time to plan the next Austin meet (September 2002) (1 Viewer)

[Frederick_Falk]

Hey Nils,

If you need someone to crawl through an attic and drop your cable, I can be available most evenings or weekends. Drop me an email and we can get together and finish off that little project for you. One of my hobbies is spelunking so I don't mind at all crawling through dark tight places.

Guys,

I would love to do a movie night but I also really enjoy the technical side of the stuff too. I was hoping that at the last meet everyone could have stayed longer to just watch a flick but most had other things to do so everyone was gone by 7 PM. Since several made it there at lunch that did make for a long day, so I would suggest that if we do try to do a combi party that we make the comparason stuff last no longer than 3 to 4 hours and then watch a flick.

I would also like to see a HTPC workshop/comparason done in the future. Does anyone have one of those large, widescreen PC displays hooked up to a HTPC. Now that would be too cool!

 

[Jonathan DA]

Nils, Hank, Scott, Mark, Frederick,
What are you guys doing this weekend? Want to hang a 165 lbs. projector from my ceiling?
Frederick, would you be willing to look at my attic and tell me if you think you could manuever around up there? I took a look at it and said, "No way I can crawl around up there, I'll fall through the ceiling!" Mounting the projector from the attic solves all my problems, I just didn't think I'd be able to do it.

 

[Hank Frankenberg]

With a work "committee" like that, we can turn this job into half a day (with beer). I assume you have a wide assortment of tools, including a heavy-duty battery or AC powered drill and bits. What does the footprint of the mounting plate look like (hole size also)? I've got one of those high tech multiple folding ladders that converts to a mini scaffold if that would help.
Remember your assignment: http://www.tiffany.com Just click on "shopping"

 

[Frederick_Falk]

Jonathan and all,
I am available to run cable through anyone's attic or crawlspace. However, I am going to be in San Antonio all day Friday and Saturday until lunch (16th and 17th of August) at a convention. I should be home sometime Saturday afternoon. I will be available that evening or Sunday afternoon.
Every Monday and Wednesday night and the second Tuesday of each month I have meetings and those nights are not available. Other than that I am free from 5 PM the rest of the week.
If anyone is interested in taking me up on this offer, please send me an email.
Invite to all:
Speaking of schedules, since Lake Travis was flooded on the fourth of July, Lago Vista was unable to have its fire works show. On Saturday, August 31st, as part of the Labor Day weekend festivities, Lago Vista will have its fire works show that evening at around 9:30 PM. I am the Operations Commander for the Lago Vista Fire & Rescue department for the fire works show so I will be at ground zero with fire suppression equipment and medical gear in case of an emergency.
However, anyone that would like to come over and watch them from the upper deck of my house is welcome to come join the festivities. Just email me an RSVP so I will know how many to expect.

 

[Jonathan DA]

How about this Sunday at my place? That way I'm not interfering with Nils Game Night and Frederick will be back in town.
Anyone who is into building stuff is welcome to come by. I'll probably be painting on Saturday, and then Sunday will be projector mounting, and screen building if time permits. Please RSVP here or send me an email to [email protected] so I'll know how much and what kind of beer to buy.

 

[Nils Luehrmann]

I am RSVPing for Sunday's "Raise the Roof" gig at Jonathan's (send me details when they come @ Nils Luehrmann )

 

[Colin Dunn]

Jonathan -
I can pop by Sunday, but as you saw at the meet at Hank's, I'm worse than worthless at DIY stuff ... but I can bring beer...

 

[Greg Risley]

Hey Jonathan

A real easy way to mount that projector and not have to worry if the joist will hold, is to make a T out of three 12" or 18" metal pipes and connect with a a union. These screw together by hand and and are very strong. All you do is figure out where your going to mount the projector and drill 1 hole for one end of the pipe to stick through. The T sits across the joist secure in place with metal straps. This is how I mounted that old Zenith of mine here at my house and then at the brother in-laws house. Also you can then run the cables down the pipe.

Just an idea but it sure was easy to only drill one hole.

Greg

 

[Frederick_Falk]

Hey Jonathan,
Greg's idea sounds great and it would be very easy to implement. I will be at church on Sunday morning, but I can be at your place after lunch. What time is everyone else coming over. I assume you will want to have everything done by that evening so you can watch a flick.
Besides running the cable, I will be happy to also install the pipe "T" in the attic as well once you have decided where you want to drill the hole. It shouldn't take more than an hour to mount the "T" and run the cable. Hank can then terminate the end and we will be set.
One question though. How are you planning on getting power to the projector? Do you already have an outlet in the ceiling and/or attic that you can tie to? If not, do we have any electricians that could drop a circuit and box over to where the projector will be (Colin keep your hand down )?

 

[Hank Frankenberg]

We can do it all. Sunday afternoon sounds good. Send me a map.
Jonathan, are you going to do the PlasTex screen thing that Nils did? It worked great, BTW. We mounted his on a sheet of 1/2" MDF (3M spray contact cement, of course).
Frederick, I imagine Jonathan's got plenty of cable already, and I'm out of the big Canare V3-5CFB stuff.
Got anything to staple?

 

[Jonathan DA]

Greg, thanks for the tip! I had thought of using u-bolts to do the same thing but I couldn't find any that were long enough without special ordering so I abandonded the idea.

Hank, if you bring that possessed staple gun over I'm not letting you in the house! A cordless drill might be handy though, mine requires a cord.

I have a light fixture that I was going to rewire and use as a power outlet for the projector. The cables are ready and waiting, just need to be snaked through the attic. If Frederick decides the attic is too cramped it's no biggy, we can snake the cable through the crown molding. For the screen I am planning on using black out fabric, Mark found some black out fabric that has a white rubberized side instead of the yellowish color a lot of it has. Mark's screen looks great, but if it doesn't provide enough gain for the relatively low light output of the CRT I'll start experimenting with some ultra white paint and pearlesence.

How does 1PM sound for Sunday? I'll email a map.

 

[Mark Hayenga]

Correction, my screen LOOKED great, until I started toying around with Behr pastel base and (too much) lampblack pigment with the Home Depot paint guys
Oh well. At least my blacks are going to be kickass now.

 

[Scott Oliver]

Heres my RSVP.
Send me a map.

See you all Sunday.

Scott

 

[Mark Hayenga]

FYI you screenbuilders, here is the (much too dark) beginnings of my DIY screen - AKA the LiarHawk My projector is out on loan until next week, so I don't get to see how much good it does for the blacks (and how much damage it does to the whites) until then.
Link Removed

 

[Chris Keen]

Hello guys.

I've been reading on this forum and others for a while. I'm a relative newbie to all of this, but I get so much fun out of reading. I'd love to come by and learn. I'd even like to come out and help with your project. Unfortunately, right now I'm working on the weekends. I won't get a weekend off until a Aug 31st. If there was a get together in September on the weekend that would be shweeet for me, unless it was on that last weekend of the month.

I can't tell you how much I've learned just from reading. Actually being in an environment with you guys would be awesome to see what you've done, and how things can come together. I've read a lot about some front projector setups, HTPC, etc. Would be nice to see it actually used.

Hope you guys don't mind another person.

Chris

 

[Jonathan DA]

Hey Chris, welcome aboard! No worries, there will still be a meet later in September. The gathering at my house on Sunday is just a mini-meet for those of us crazies that like to build stuff. Truth be told I think they all want me to get the Miniplex finished so I'll shut up about it and we can start watcing some movies.

 

[Hank Frankenberg]

Send me a map please. I'll be there closer to 2:00 than 1:00.

 

[Frederick_Falk]

Ditto on the map for me, too! I am looking forward to crawling around in your attic on Sunday.

 

[Mark Hayenga]

I'm there on Sunday (and yes I'll actually manage to be there this time ).
BTW - does anyone here have a miter saw I could borrow for an afternoon? I need to cut some molding to trim the edges of my just-applied crushed black velvet front wall.
Also if anyone wants to be around for DIY grey screen testing, I will be doing that next week. Come catch a glimpse of the Hayenga theater before it's officially opened to the Austin HTF crowd

 

[Colin Dunn]

It appears someone associated with Austin HTF meets has been infected with the W32.Klez virus. I received about a dozen undeliverable reports in my inbox today, for messages I did not send. In addition, I got a report that said I had sent a mail to someone with the W32.Klez virus.
A thorough virus check on my system (done with Norton AntiVirus and the August 14, 2002 signature files, as well as a dedicated W32.Klez removal utility) found no viruses on my system.
The W32.Klez virus spoofs the "From:" address with people in your contact list ... so that means someone with my name on their contact list got hit with the virus. The virus then sent the infected mail on my "behalf." I also got messages with Austin HTF members' addresses spoofed in the "From:" field, indicating that they, too, reside on the contact list of the user with an infected system. The virus infection is likely on a system belonging to someone who is interested in Austin HTF meets.
If you haven't checked your system for viruses lately, PLEASE do so to cut off the (inadvertent) Klez-related spamming. See www.symantec.com for information on this virus, as well as a utility that will purge it from your system.