Here's the deal: I love my Barco Data 701s, it produces an awesome image that blows away most digital projectors and any and every direct-view LCD on the market. Problem is as college draws nearer and nearer I grow worried if my plan of being able to set this up properly in my dorm will work. I want a 60" image (small I know but that's really being realistic) and my dorm is 15'7" by 11'7" furnished with two beds, two bookcases, two desks, and two bureaus. Do you think I can pull it off? I thought maybe I could project towards the window (which would be the 15"7' part of the room) onto a piece of Wilsonart Designer White Laminate that should do a proper job of covering the window and if used in the daytime block out any light.

I'm concerned that it's just going to be too impractical though or just flat out not work because of some variable I haven't thought of, not to mention when my roommate is there he most likely will not want it on so it will put a damper on when I'll be able to play games and I'm a rather social person so I can't forsee my self being around a lot at night. I'd wait till September to see if it will work or not but I have two excellent opportunities to procure either a Sony KV-34HS420 direct-view CRT or for slightly more a KD-36XS955 and I dunno how long those offers will last.

The more I think about it the more impractical it gets but I don't wanna go back to gaming on a 34" screen after this and it will really crush my dream of having a little theater set up in the room where me and my friends could just come chill and watch a movie or something (and so I could show them the beauty of Blu-Ray). O and one more concern now that I think about it, if the pj gets nudged or something or if I have to put it away I'm gonna have to perfectly reposition it again and reconverge everything aren't I?

I'm so confused can someone please gimme some words of faith or crush my spirit please?

Edit: Almost forgot, if I do sell it how much do you think I could get for it? It's in mint condition with no area wear on the tubes and probably 8k hours left in the tubes before the green or blue goes to hell. I paid $375 plus $50 for shipping and would like to get as much of that back as possible, it also has HD-145 lenses but I don't believe they're tinted.

You know what...Just try it! If it doesnt work take it home on Christmass break. and keep it for the summer when your home ,set it up so even your parents can enjoy it !

ps where are you going to school?

Athanasios

Well thats the thing, I'd love to give it a shot but I'm worried it may not work or be practical and by that time I'll have missed out on the opportunity to buy one of those direct-view CRTs. New England School of Communications.

I agree with nachou66. Try it out if it doesnt workout you can use it later at home. I am sure you will be able to find other direct views later. With flat panels & plasma prices falling larger direct view CRT's are going to be a dime a dozen. Those things are pretty darn big & heavy for a dorm room too.

Mike

Alright, guess I'll take it to college and give it a shot thanks guys. Now lets just hope this works =)

BTW you won't be out socializing, everyone will be in your room watching movies.

You are correct the hardest part will be keeping it stable. But it seems like you have a well thought out plan.

Do be careful with playing games, you don't want to burn the minty tubes with static images.

Good Luck!

BTW you won't be out socializing, everyone will be in your room watching movies.

You are correct the hardest part will be keeping it stable. But it seems like you have a well thought out plan.

Do be careful with playing games, you don't want to burn the minty tubes with static images.

Good Luck!

I figure it takes a good deal of time to burn in a tube so I doubt I'll ever have a gaming session long enough to do that without a movie in between to prevent burning in.

I figure it takes a good deal of time to burn in a tube so I doubt I'll ever have a gaming session long enough to do that without a movie in between to prevent burning in.

HA! Burn in is a myth in my opinion unless you crank the living bejesus out of the tubes and run a static image for 100 hours straight.

I've fallen asleep in my theater a couple of times and woke up in the morning with the HD DVD/BD menu static on the screen. No worries, no issues, no burn in. I've been gaming on CRT projectors for years and never had a single hint of an issue with burn in.

Here is a bit of advice:

Put the CRT under your bed and project it from there. This way you dont have to move it and no one will bump into it unless your bumping uglies! ;) :eek:

You might have to raise your bed up to get it under there, but at least it will be out of the way.

60 inches by the way will throw some SERIOUS light!

Cliff

HA! Burn in is a myth in my opinion unless you crank the living bejesus out of the tubes and run a static image for 100 hours straight.



Cliff I thought that to be true too. But my green tube has a very slight trace of 4/3 burn and it only had 50 hours on it when I got it. There was a chance it had the mileage turned back....I understand its easy to do that with a NEC. Perhaps the previous owner used it for a search light :) I left one of my rear projectors on MSNBC for about 3 days. Now it has the MSNBC logo on all the time. :)


Mike

HA! Burn in is a myth in my opinion unless you crank the living bejesus out of the tubes and run a static image for 100 hours straight.

I've fallen asleep in my theater a couple of times and woke up in the morning with the HD DVD/BD menu static on the screen. No worries, no issues, no burn in. I've been gaming on CRT projectors for years and never had a single hint of an issue with burn in.

Here is a bit of advice:

Put the CRT under your bed and project it from there. This way you dont have to move it and no one will bump into it unless your bumping uglies! ;) :eek:

You might have to raise your bed up to get it under there, but at least it will be out of the way.

60 inches by the way will throw some SERIOUS light!

Cliff

I'm actually counting on that light since there may be a little soft ambient light during daytime viewing. I dunno if it'll work under the bed though since I do believe that would point it towards my roommates bed, bet that would piss him off :cool:.

Cliff I thought that to be true too. But my green tube has a very slight trace of 4/3 burn and it only had 50 hours on it when I got it. There was a chance it had the mileage turned back....I understand its easy to do that with a NEC. Perhaps the previous owner used it for a search light :) I left one of my rear projectors on MSNBC for about 3 days. Now it has the MSNBC logo on all the time. :)


Mike

You must have been cranking the bejesus out of those tubes. :)

Cliffy

You must have been cranking the bejesus out of those tubes. :)

Cliffy
Yep...had her it set to "bejesus bright" the broke the damn remote pushing the brightness button so hard :)

There was another college crt'er a few years back who posted a picture of their setup. I seem to remember a lot of 2x4's involved, and the room-mates bed was turned into a bunk bed...

You can always ceiling mount it with a platform, chains and heavy duty eye bolts....when you go, you'll only have 4 3/8" holes to fill...being a 7xx, you're only supporting 65lbs, four good sized eye bolts can easily hold 16.25 lbs each...(just make sure they're going into wood, or you have the correct anchors for the type of ceiling...)

Look at a Sharp DT-500. That'll simplify things. Mine cost a bit over $700 with a new lamp and it's a $1400+ pj It's a superb projector. I just got one and it's awesome. DVDs look damn near HD on this thing. It must have great optics. HD is razor sharp, ansi contrast is fantastic, it's a light canon even with the iris activated, great dark detail and good blacks. Not CRT black, but 90% of the time it doesn't matter. The dark detail is awesome. I prefer my CRT in some ways and the DLP in others. Wish I could combine what I love about both of these projectors.

This is is with one usshaded light on about 8' from my Silver PVC torus:

http://img72.imageshack.us/img72/6810/ff4488yh9.gif

BK,
Chip (Stefuel) had the carcass of a Barco retroData 801 that I parted out. He indicated that he was going to trash it rather than retrofit in an available PJ from his collection...
The large front surface mirror could be cut to whatever size you need to fold a light path. Check PM him and see if the mirror is still around... if he's willing to give it up (and if it hasn't been trashed yet!) you could have it for the sake of picking it up, I'm sure.

Look at a Sharp DT-500. That'll simplify things. Mine cost a bit over $700 with a new lamp and it's a $1400+ pj It's a superb projector. I just got one and it's awesome. DVDs look damn near HD on this thing. It must have great optics. HD is razor sharp, ansi contrast is fantastic, it's a light canon even with the iris activated, great dark detail and good blacks. Not CRT black, but 90% of the time it doesn't matter. The dark detail is awesome. I prefer my CRT in some ways and the DLP in others. Wish I could combine what I love about both of these projectors.

This is is with one usshaded light on about 8' from my Silver PVC torus:

http://img72.imageshack.us/img72/6810/ff4488yh9.gif

Well I already have my projector and I really don't wanna sell it then try to find a new DLP on the cheap. And straight up buying a new projector and keeping the CRT isn't gonna happen.