My friend has a Nintendo Wii on a 19" TV and we played for a while today for the first time. I could hardly see my character. I personally have a 27" but have always thought it would be the coolest thing to own a projector for movies and video games. Well, I just spent a few hours looking at various projectors on ebay and other web sites... and came across a Barco 800 for $100. I searched google, and there is a website dedicated to this particular model. It has some HD screenshots that look really nice. It made sense that old, ugly, and heavy CRT projectors would be a good find for someone like me. Anyway, after looking around some more, I came across this forum. It seems like a good place for good information.

It's almost 2:30 in the morning now, so I don't have time to do much reading, but I browsed through one of your screenshot posts. AMAZING screenshots guys... I just wanted to introduce myself, say hello ("hello"), and I guess ask one question to get me started. Are there really lots of old 1920x1080 capable projectors out there that can be picked up for little investment or am I going to have to spend some cash to get a good movie/gaming display? I just got so excited when I found a supposedly 1080 projector for supposedly $100, I guess I'm naturally a bit skeptical, so just looking for some kind of confirmation.

Well, must sleep now, hope to talk to everyone in the near future. Good night...

Welcome.

The Wii is only 480P, so a $100 Barco 800 seems like a good match.

More Barco info:
http://www.curtpalme.com/Barco500.shtm
http://www.curtpalme.com/PJSpecs_Barco.shtm

Welcome to the big show...

1080i

Ahhhhh, the Barco 800. My first CRT projector. :)

Cliff

Ahhhhh, the Barco 800. My first CRT projector. :)

Cliff


It was mine too. Great 720p & 1080i image. Really easy to setup.

Just a warning about an Ebay purchase. Shipping on that big boy will likely cost more then the price of the projector.:(

Mike

Me three...what a great starter machine that Barco was.

It was mine too. Great 720p & 1080i image. Really easy to setup.

Just a warning about an Ebay purchase. Shipping on that big boy will likely cost more then the price of the projector.:(

Mike

Thanks for the greetings, and thanks to those of you who pointed me to curtpalme.com. Their projector rankings page is very very helpful. I found a Barco 1208, but have 2 questions. 1) It has 18K hours on it; will it still work for a long time? and 2) The adjustments are apparently password protected; would there be a way to reset that?

18k hours for a chasis is nothing they can go for 100k, now the tubes if not retubed before most likely will be shot. But if they have not much wear it should be fine.

Athanasios

how much do tubes cost to replace?

depends on what kind they are and what condition you get if you find used ones, VDC in florida can rebuild tubes cheaper than new ones. not sure how much though rebuild at least 500 each.

Athanasios

Me three...what a great starter machine that Barco was.

Me four,

Well mine was an 801s but same idea ;)

what about the password protection? can that be reset?

I don't remember how it was on my Barco but it may be a standard across the board service code?

what about the password protection? can that be reset?

For the BG800 read page 36 of the Installation Manual on the link I gave you above.

http://www.curtpalme.com/docs/BarcoGraphics800_Install.pdf

I'm sure the BG1208 manual has a similar page:
http://www.curtpalme.com/Barco1208_Downloads.shtm

Page 44, "Password Mode":
http://www.curtpalme.com/docs/BarcoGraphics1208_Install.pdf

what about the password protection? can that be reset?
There is a DIP switch under the cover you can flip off and the password feature is disabled.

Mark

Me Five,

I have one in a shipping crate in the garage. I have a friend that wants it. But I'm sure it will become a "Hey Buddy what about this" thing.

You have to start somewhere.

Good Luck, MIKE


Ahhhhh, the Barco 800. My first CRT projector. :)

Cliff