wide screen CRT help

[cinema bob]

i think that i have made a choice of projectors for my upcoming Home theater project. i have seen several good projectors that have been well setup but CRT IMO blows the rest out of the water. after reading quite a bit i think i have settled on a barco 1208.
here come the questions, i have seen reference to making CRT projectors into widescreen i.e. 16x9, is this possible? if so can it be done to the barcos? is it correct that this model is capable of 1080i? and lastly is a dvdo iscan HD+ a good video processor for CRT's or is their a better (or more inexpensive) model?

thanks in advance.

[Dean McManis]

Bob,

The Barco 1208 is a very nice CRT projector, once it's set up right. :T
CRT projectors are natively 4:3 format, but it's a simple prospect to reduce the vertical picture height adjustment to change the projected format to 16:9.
And just save that projector setting into memory.

This will work fine for 16:9 enhanced DVDs and HDTV material, and you can then reduce the projected image width to fit 4:3 material onto a 16:9 screen.

Not using all of the raster area does slightly reduce the light output and can cause burn-in, but if your contrast settings are not maxxed out, it should be fine. :wink:

Here is a FAQ on Barco CRT FPTVs:

http://www.crtprojectors.co.uk/barco_faq.htm

As far as being capable of displaying 1080i, it's a tricky question.

Will it display 1080i so that it looks fantastic?
Yes.

Can it display a 1080i, 720p (or even 1080p) signal?
Yes.

Can it fully resolve 1920 X 1080 resolution?
From my perspective, no.

The 1208 will display an addressable input resolution up to 2500 X 2000.
But from my experience, it's maximum resolvable resolution is around 1280 X 1024. Provided that you don't have to crank the contrast and brightness to support a really big screen.
From what I've seen, the 1208 looks best with 1280 X 720p HD input resolution. :B
And when it's well setup the 1208 is one of the better CRT projectors. 8)

For the 1208's specs, see:

http://www.crtprojectors.co.uk/specs.htm

The dvdo iscan HD+ is a very nice scaler, and would be a good match for the Barco 1208. But you have to think about what kind of video material that you are going to watch.

If perhaps you have a big VHS tape and LD collection, in addition to DVDs, then a good external scaler makes sense. But if you mostly watch DVDs, DSS, and HD material, then I'd spend the $1400 on buying a HD-PVR and a scaling DVD player instead, getting more for your money.

-Dean.

[cinema bob]

thank you very much for the info! yes this will be used for alot of DVD and laserdisc and i still have some vhs tapes i like to watch, and the occasional rental.
you say that i shouldn't have too big of a screen, what size do you recommend as maximum, 96" wide seems like it would be more than wide enough and maybe smaller than that would be more than acceptable.

[Kevin P]

96" wide is fine. You'll want total light control in the room, meaning that you can make the room pitch black for viewing movies.

[cinema bob]

yeah that wont be a problem it will be in a basement with no windows! thanks for the help guys.

[Dean McManis]

Yep, with full light control and a 1.3 gain screen a 96" wide screen is a bit on the big side, but it should be fine.

[cinema bob]

is that 96" wide diagonal or 110" diagonal which equals 96" in actual width?

[Dean McManis]

I had a 120" 2.5 gain draper screen that I used with an older Electrohome projector and later with a much brighter Sony CRT FPTV with 9" CRTs and it looked pretty good in total darkness, but it was pushing it (especially with the Electrohome) with the larger screen size and high gain screen, as high gain screens have some issues with hotspotting and color shifting with CRT projectors.

If you chose a standard 1.3 gain screen, you would probably want to keep the size under 96" diagonal. Something like a 16:9, 45" X 80" ((92" diag) 1.3 gain screen would work well. :T

[JonMarsh]

Great inputs from the other guys, here.

I use my NEC 9PG+ in a "constant height" mode with 16X9 screen; I'm not pushing the contrast or brightness, but I'm only using a 72" diagonal screen- then again, just 7" CRTs.

I have ThomasW's setup for 16X9 on his NEC XG with 1080i for HD; it's a 4:3 tab tensioned Stewart, but he's using a smaller part for HD viewing.

Once you've seen a good CRT with the dimensionality and freedome from subtle or not so subtle artifacts, it's hard to go to digital unless you've got a really nice LCOS available, IMO.

~Jon

[cinema bob]

jon forgive me i am new to projectors what do you mean by "constant height"?
i believe i understand it, no matter what you project 4:3, 16:9, 2.35:1 all the same height, but how do you do this?

[JonMarsh]

All material, whether 16:9, 4:3, 1.85:1, etc, is viewed at the same height; I have a DVD player with DVI ouput that in addition to automatic pillar boxing has some variable zoom modes, so depending on my preferences I can expand to the full screen height.

Many with CRT projectors use a 4:3 screen and scaler or different resolution setups instead.

~Jon