FPTV is in the house...

[P-Dub]

...well just for the day.

I was able to borrow the work projector over the weekend to see what it would look like at home.

First I had to position it, right in the middle of our fold down tray on our LazyBoy couch. Propped it up with 3 small plasitc storage containers. The unit ended up being about eye level when finally positioned.

I had no screen, so I projected the image against the back wall. It was setup so that the actual movie image was just under the ceiling. The surface was poor! A yellow colour and it was a stucco type finish, not the pointy stucco, but the flat type with valleys.

For the source I used our laptop, through the vga cable, the audio was a coax digital to my eceiver.

Ended up watching Maverick and Shanghai Noon. Was on a western kick.

Firstly, light conrol is very important. However, I just had the living room lights off, but the kitchen lights on, the picture was passable. The bonus was my wife could watch the movie while in the kithen. I took a look and it was actually better than I had expected.

When all the lights were off, the picture was even better. Not eye popping, but impressive. I measured the picture, and it was about 56" wide and 23.8" tall for close to a 61" diagonal picture. And the viewing angle was not bad. With ourselves reclined, there was no strain on the neck. It was actually very comfortable.

The downsides:

Exhaust fan and noise. The exhaust fan is off to the right side, so I was sitting right next to it, and there's this green light coming out of it as well. It was bothersome, but I'm sure I could rig up something to block the light and redirect the fan.

Location. Well, right in the middle of the couch is not the best place. I might be able to place it on a book shelf behind us, but that would make the picture bigger. Usually a bigger picture is better.

Picture size. At the current picture size, that's about as big as I can realistically have it. I don't know what a 1.85 movie would look like, as it would increase the picture height from 23.8" to 30.3" That could possibly put the picture onto the center speaker. We shall see.

Final thoughts:

I knew I wanted a FPTV as my next upgrade. This just solidified my desire and the practical nature of having such a unit. Even with the downsides. Watching a movie on the back wall was quite the thrill. If I could put a white backing something to smooth out those ridges, and I think I've got something that might do the trick, I expect the picture quality to improve substantially.

Next plans:

I've got a portable screen that I want to setup. The problem with that is it would block out the center speaker, and that wouldn't be acceptable. I'm really looking forward to my vacation.

Specs:

Projector: Sanyo PLCS-SW10
Brigthness: 700 ANSI
Contrast ratio: 250:1
Display: Type: 0.7" PolySi LCD (3)
Native: 800x600 Pixels
Maximum: 1024x768 Pixels
Aspect Ratio: 4:3 (SVGA)

Original cost: C$3,950

Laptop was a Dell Inspiron 8000 using a Celeron 600 cpu, 256M ram, 32M ATI video card.




Paul

There are three kinds of people in this world; those that can count, and those that can't.

[John Holmes]

Sounds like it was a fun time for sure.

I have always wanted to get into FPTV. Hopefully when my funds are right.

It seems to be a lot to learn about them before owning one to get the most out of them.




"I came here, to chew bubble gum and kickass. And I'm all out of bubble gum!!!" My DVD's

[George Bellefontaine]

Fellas, one thing I can assure you, once you go to Front Projection you will never be able to go back to small screen tv viewing of movies.




My Homepage!

[Markj]

Paul sounds like you got some valuable info on your test drive. FP will be my next upgrade and I am saving up the pennies.

[JonMarsh]

Sounds like you had an interesting time- realize that with a more HT optimized projector, and a "real" screen, you'll enjoy the experience even more. My ex never really understood what I saw in the whole thing, but our daughter does, as well as my longstanding ladyfriend. I wish I could afford a good CRT rig at this point, but I'll probably be going with another digital projector.

BTW, my first was an early Heathkit FPTV, based on the Kloss design, with the curved metalized screen- my best friends Dad had put it together, and his assembly skills were less than stellar, so after several repair trips, I bought it from him for a relative song- spent two days tearing it apart and rebuilding it. That was 15 years ago- haven't owned a direct view TV since. Like George says, once you've had one, you won't want to go back.

Best regards,

Jon




Earth First!
_______________________________
We'll screw up the other planets later....

[P-Dub]

Jon: That is totally what I am hoping/expecting. I expect to see even better improvements with a better projector and with a nice dedicated screen. But the fact that this projector on a poor surface produced a passable picture, didn't matter once I got into the movie. There can only be improvement with better projectors and better screens. Once I figure out some of the logistics, I'll be mucho happy. I'll have to try something like Toy Story 2 or Final Fantasy and see how it looks.

Mark and John: Keep saving those pennies, the upgrade is well worth it. I think part of the fun is getting the most out of any projector, or display. After mounting the projector, I think the next challenge is figuring out how best to get the signal from your DVD player to the projector and the receiver. In my case I used a very long VGA cable to connect the projector and a shorter coax cable for audio. The laptop was sitting ontop of my entertainment unit. So no remote control, no mouse control.

George: Yeah, going back to my 27" is going to be painful.