Projector troubles.

kathos

So I'm using an overhead projector with an LCD panel for my gaming needs, it's actually really decent with screen and brightness and such, and as a poor university student the $10 bulbs are awesome.

But I've been shining it on a drywall for a while and I can't see shit. It has to be completely dark with absolutely no ambient light, some DIY forums say getting some white curtain blackout cloth. Which I can do at the local Home Depot.

Any other tips? Some comments say that reflection is important, and I don't know what the hell they're talkin' about.

Improvolone

If you can paint the wall, painting the spot you project onto a flat white, and all other surfaces black will help.

Basicly, anything that will remove excess light.

meeker

Ebay screen material. For probably $60 I built a screen with good quality screen material, some lumber and black felting material. Look very professional and picture is awesome.

blincoln

Yeah, the reflection is important because you want as much of the light as possible to bounce off the wall and into your eyes.
Movie screen material is one way (if you remember the glowing clothes Superman's parents had in the first film, that was movie screen material with lights being pointed at it). You can get the material like meeker suggested, or go to a thrift store and find an old home movie screen with tripod. You can also paint the wall or a panel placed in front of the wall with special home theatre screen paint.
You're still not going to get the most amazing picture ever, because the projection system isn't very bright, has a lot of light leakage, the bulb is not the best colour temperature, etc. But a better projection surface will definitely help.

Rotting Meat

Using blackout cloth will be the easiest/cheapest, and should have fairly dramatic results. I picked some up from a fabric store for a total of $9 or so and rigged up a ghetto frame for it.

Obviously making the picture smaller (moving the projector closer to the screen) will make it considerably brighter as well, but I'll assume that's not an option.

My projector was a DIY following some plans (www.lumenlab.com) By building a proper enclosure you can maximize the light that you get from the bulb. This option can be expensive if you're buying new materials, and it takes tools and time. I built an *adequate* enclosure with zero woodworking skills, so it's not too bad. But if you are going this route, you'd probably want to throw in a proper lighting system as well which will be another $200 (MH bulbs though, so one bulb will last you forever). Lumenlab has an excellent forum community as well which would be able to help you.

However, all that said, a DIY projector will require no ambient light no matter what. If you can't control the light exposure you will never get good results without very pricey equipment. It sucks, but there is a reason good components are expensive.

kathos

Thanks a lot guys! I decided to try out a cheap alternative (poor uni student! XD) and get some blackout curtain material at the Home Depot today and try that out (if not screen material would be the next step).

But another thing, is there a way to convert a coaxial cable (from the cable box on my wall) to a monitor plug? Or even component (white/red/yellow)? 'Cause I'd rather watch tv on the projector and play games on the tube (Still testing stuff out and seeing what I like best).

DrFrylock

kathos wrote: »

But another thing, is there a way to convert a coaxial cable (from the cable box on my wall) to a monitor plug? Or even component (white/red/yellow)? 'Cause I'd rather watch tv on the projector and play games on the tube (Still testing stuff out and seeing what I like best).

OK, terminology:

1. The coaxial cable is not coming out of a box on your wall, likely it's coming out of an outlet. A cable box is a set-top box that takes cable in and lets you select an (analog or digital) channel and then outputs that on coaxial, composite, s-video, component, VGA, DVI, HDMI, or some other format.

2. A monitor plug is either VGA or DVI.

3. Yellow/red/white isn't component, although the connectors are the same. It's composite. Actually the yellow is composite video, the red and white are just RCA stereo connectors for audio.

No, you cannot (generally) run a coaxial cable directly from the wall into a projector, since the projector doesn't have a tuner in it. How would you change the channel? You need to run the coax from the wall into something like a cable box, which will have a variety of outputs (for analog cable, maybe RF Coax, Composite, and S-Video). For a digital cable box, you may also get component and VGA, DVI, or HDMI (which is really DVI digital with a different plug that can also carry sound).

Rotting Meat

Typically the best solution is to setup a HTPC (home theatre pc). Windows Media Centre is the easiest way, but there are many options (MythTV, BeyondTV, I'm sure others will throw in their favorites). TV tuner cards are pretty cheap, so if you have a computer you can spare then it's amazing to have all of your media at the ready, plus a full TV guide. Just a note: if you are going this route, make sure to check compatible TV tuner cards with your software before you purchase.

And just in case you haven't tried it out at all so far, TV looks pretty terrible on a projector. It's watchable, and Colbert Report at 10' across is pretty cool, but it's a low resolution and will not be as awesome as you might dream. Just have realistic expectations.

kathos

I decided the best course of action for my projector is to watch movies and such, play games on my tube TV and just buy an LCD for TV. 'Cause I have enough cables and stuff plugged in (it's a warzone in there, there's two 5.1 systems, a few consoles, etc).

Do I need a really nice tv for watching regular TV? 'Cause I was just thinking of getting those crappy Insignia TVs they sell at Best Buy/Futureshop (an "exclusive" "brand").

Improvolone

Need? No.

But seriously, if you're a "poor uni student", you really might want to reconsider some shit.