Hi folks -

I just added a Lumagen HDP to the Barco, and clearly, once again, I've done something horribly wrong.

I had started on the Barco with a fairly nice setup for OTA HD at 720p. I then got the Lumagen, and an Oppo 970, and decided to do a 720p/60 setup for it, for simplicity's sake. I realize now that I had to use the Lumagen's controls to increase the size of the image quite a bit, but it didn't seem to be a problem and this was to be temporary, anyway.

So last weekend, I decided to really use the Lumagen to its max, or close to, considering that this is an 8" PJ. I cranked up the Oppo, turned on the Lumagen, and started changing things. First, I entered 960p for the vertical, and, having chosen 16:9 AR, was pleasantly surprised to see that the horizontal was displayed as 1707. The bad news was that the image was very narrow, and to get it to fill the screen I had to dramatically increase the size using the Lumagen, and I mean dramatically.

Something didn't seem completely right, so I have since checked my timings and sizes and I have an on-screen indication of 960 by something in the area of 2100, active, and 2500 or so, total, horizontal. Yipes, I recall saying to myself, this has to be wrong.

My question is this: Where do I start the setup with the Lumagen in the chain? The PJ itself is just about maxed out in terms of width, at about 97, and I'm having trouble getting my head around how to make the projected image at 960p fill the screen, without using just the size control on the Lumagen, which I now assume is wrong.

Any help would be appreciated. I've searched on most of terms that I thought would help, including "dimwit" but haven't found anything like a primer on integrating a processor and a CRT PJ. Thanks - Pat

On the Lumagen are you only using the SIZE control or are you also using BTML ,TOPR contols as well.(It might be BTMR, TOPL control can't remember).
I used the Size on the Lumagen & matched it to the exact size of the CRT.Then I used the BTML,TOPR control to get to the aspect ratio that I wanted.
Be aware though that I am far from being a Lumagen expert.I was able to get the picture the way that I wanted it ,& therefore stopped fooling around with the Lumagen because I figured if it ain't broke don't fix it.
Also remember that Lumagen bring updates for their products all the time.Sometimes these updates can have dramatic picture quality enhancements,so check for them often.They are on the Lumagen website.They also have a very good Lumagen forum too.

Scott - I just used size to increase the width, since the height of the image that was projected was the same as the height of the screen. So I just stretched what was a horizontally compressed image. When you say you matched to the exact size of the CRT, do you mean the width?

Yup, Lumagen really seems to be a great company for product support. What I have is actually a Crystal View processor, which uses an HDP board. When I do the upgrade, it autodetects as an HDP and updates to the latest version. Very cool ebay find, for something like $450. Thanks - Pat

When you say you matched to the exact size of the CRT, do you mean the width?




With nothing feeding into the crt you can throw up the CRT's internal test patterns.This will show you where you have set the image from the CRT.If you want a wider screen size ,then you could try making it wider with the remote of the CRT.
If it is already as wide as it will go then you will probably have to pull your CRT back a little bit.
I just matched my Lumagen to the same size as my CRT's internal test patterns.
I had Curt Palme set my M8110 up ( I purchased the unit from him) because I am not even close to being fully knowledgable to do it myself, so you should get opinions from some of the other guys here as well.

If it is already as wide as it will go then you will probably have to pull your CRT back a little bit.


Oops.I meant you will have to pull the CRT back a little bit if you want the image to be wider still.
I think you understood what I was trying to say though.

Thanks Scott, but I think we're talking about two different things. The PJ"s mechanical setup is okay, and the internal pattern is projected fine, and fills the screen. The problem is that the image coming from the Lumagen fills only a portion of the raster, and is quite compressed horizontally. I need to stretch that image out and fill the screen. I'm convinced that I'm doing it incorrectly by just using the size control.

Maybe this is not specific to CRTs. I'll try posting on the actual Lumagen forum. Appreciate the suggestions - Pat

If I undersand you issue correctly, you appear to havea width issue.

Width issues appear to be a common problem with Barco 1208s/2(s), maybe all Barco "s" model 120x series. I have had several Barco 808s (both s and non-s), a 1208/2 and a 1208s/2. Only the Barco 1208s/2 gave me all kinds of width problems. The higher the scan rate (a combination of resolution, and refresh rate) the worse the problem got. On my set I cold get 1080i to work no problem, 768p, 720p, 960p and 1080p were all challenges to varying extends. I have a HTPC and my tweeking the porch settings I eventually got the width ok on the lower scan rate stuff never did on the higher stuff. You an tweek the width pot on the SMPS but that can lead to other issues. For higher frequencies you can adjust the low/high scan cut over which helps. In the end my solution was to go back to an 808s (the 1208s/2 sits in a corner now, too bad the fans are bit quieter than the 808).

OK Thank You for that Secstate.When Pat mentioned his problem I never thought different brands of CRT would be so different in there setup.I have never had the problem described with my M8110.
But in the last 2 days I have setup a Barco with the Lumagen & now understand the problem Pat was talking about exactly.
I will try different scan rates & see how that works out.

Crap. So excellent PJ, but crazy problems actually displaying movies, or downgrade to an arguably lesser PJ and no probs. Maybe those digital guys have the right idea. :-(

By the way, absolutely no problems at 720p via port 3 from an OTA HD tuner. Oh, well, thanks for the input, guys - Pat

I got 960P and 1080P nearly ok by cranking down the cut over to the high scan mode (Barco 120x series projectors can dramatically reduce the retrace time). You can tell your projector has gone into high scan mode because you will hear a loud click when it happens. The pot to adjust the cut over is on the vertical sync board as I recall. For some reason high scan mode helps the width issue a bit the normal cutover is 75KHz but you can crank it down to 60 KHz.

I ended up stealing all the good bits form the 1208s/2 (higher res tubes, schiempflug blocks and higher bandwidth neckboards) and dropped them into an 808. Other than a bit more fan noise it is the equal of the 1208s/2 in every respect. Some people seem to have no width problems with the 120xs and others do, not sure why (maybe they don't maximize the phosphor usage). If you search the archives though you will see plenty of questions on issues with the 120xs series but none for the 808.