So I know there are a couple forum members in San Diego, and I've been thinking it would be fun to actaully meet. Maybe the first or second weekend in November?

Im game

I'm in South O.C. and game. Send me a PM if you decide to get together.

Ed

Sony 1292
120" screen
Blu-ray
HD-DVD
HDTV Cox and OTA
Integra DTR 8.8
Reon VX Scaler
Shackers in all nine chairs (for the kids)

Holy Moly! A California CRT meet? I'm way up in the Bay... but I may just have to attend to represent. Westsieeeeeede!

-Mark

Wish I was closer as the host is kick ass and would love to get some "secrets" from him. :^)

Cliffy

Yeah he is a Rock Star....

I'm in L.A. ... count me in!

Dave

Yeah he is a Rock Star....

:D;):D;)

Sounds like fun.

Where?

Deron.

Awesome, there seems like a good bit of interest! It should be fun to meet some of the local folk!

I'm happy to host it at my place in Pacific Beach.

Our theater is pretty much complete at this point (I dont think it will ever be 'finished', but things have sort of stabilized for now). And please keep in mind that my setup so far has been completely amateur. I'm not one of the big dogs with a stack/blend or anything that would qualify for the best picture in this hemisphere or whatever. :-) And I know I've made some decisions as far as placement and screen size that many will disagree with. But I've done my best to do right by G90 and have put a lot of effort into getting it setup and happy. I'm kind of hoping the other forum members might have some pointers or insight into some of the remaining flaws.

But for me the interest is more in meeting other enthusiasts and not trying to show off or get all pompous.

I'm thinking either Saturday November 3rd or the 10th would be good. For those of you who have voiced interest, is there a day that works best for you?

Kris,
Either date works for me.

Jim

Cool. My wife is telling me that the 3rd would be better and since nobody has voiced an objection lets plan on doing it then. I'll send out PMs to the people who have indicated interest with my address and stuff.

Saturday November 3rd.
My house in PB.
5:30pm ?

I anticipate spending some time just playing around with the projector and stuff, I've got most of the standard things for demo material. But then maybe we could actually watch a movie. Looking at the upcoming HD/Blu-Ray release dates these seem like good candidates:

2001: A Space Odyssey (Warner) - probably my top choice, good movie haven't seen it for a long time.
Transformers (DreamWorks) - not such a good movie, but awesome visuals
Meet the Robinsons (Walt Disney) - never saw it, but Disney cg stuff often looks good and its ratings dont look that bad.
The Shining (1980) (Warner) - havent seen it since I was probably too young
A Clockwork Orange (Warner) - ditto

What do you guys think?

Coming in from Carlsbad ....can't wait to see a G90 in the flesh

sounds great! good agenda. How about we toss in batman begins...I would love to see how the black level looks on a G90

I would love to attend, and any movie I can watch on a G90 sounds great to me.

Oooo..... I'll have to see if I can make that one. I can bring my color analyzers. :D

Marc

A CRT meet in SD? I should attend if only in hopes of meeting a Barco guru. Does that match anyone reading/posting?

Sounds like a good time. As for movies - how can you beat 2001: A Space Odyssey? Besides, if my wife sees that movie playing one more time she is likely to leave me. Hey - wait a minute, that gives me an idea;).

Ed

Thanks to everyone who has responded! I sent PMs with my address and stuff, and will probably send reminders near the end of the week.

I'm excited, Jim just got a G90 - and it will be cool to have another one near by for comparison and support.

There is a little bit of anxiety as far as being exposed before my peers. I like my setup but I'm not a pro and there are some flaws, so hopefully getting to know more of the local crt folk will help get input and advice on things I havent been able to solve on my own.

Should be a good time. Does anyone else have movie selection input?

Kris

I'm into concerts myself, the latest I got is "Jethro Tull Live At the Montreux 2003". Concerts are a hit and miss sorta thing when it comes to picture quality, but they are getting a lot better. Seems like most are using HD cameras now in a 16X9 format. The audio quality is getting up there too. Now, of course I search out the better quality material, so there is still plenty of junk out there if you do not do your home work.

Sometimes I will show a few songs before a movie, sorta like how they always had cartoons before the flicks when I was growing up. Now they just have commercials:(

Deron.

I've had a couple PMs from people asking if the meet is still on.

YES, THE MEET IS STILL ON! :)

This coming Saturday at my house in Pacific Beach at 5:30pm.

I did sent out PMs to everyone who had indicated interest with my address and stuff. I'll send out another set today or tomorrow, if you would like to come, but havent had a message from me, send me a PM and I'll get you the information.

A couple people have also asked some questions about my setup. Our theater is in a second story addition that was built on top of the original house some time in the 90s. Its one large room with high wood ceilings. The north wall has a protrusion that comes out from the rest of the wall to follow the architecture from the downstairs. It makes a great natural projection surface. Its 142" wide and the 16:9 image I project on it is 168" on the diagonal. When we had the room painted, everything but the screen wall is a dark blue/grey and the screen was smoothed and painted with behr ultra pure white with the matte clear coat as suggested by the DIY screen guys. I know its too big for a single G90, but it makes me happy.

The sound system is all Vandersteen. 2Ce Sig II mains, VCC-2 center and two VSM wall mounts for the surrounds. I recently purchased a subwoofer via auction and was hoping it would arrive before the meet, but that is looking unlikely now. But the mains do a pretty darn good job with low bass so even though it doesnt shake the house its still sounds pretty darn good. I'm using an old Harmon Kardon AVR-325 as the receiver and it drives everything but the mains, which are on a Behringer A500 amp.

Video sources come from a bunch of computers (several PCs, a Mac and even an old SGI) on RGB-HV through a matrix vga switch. The main PC I use for HTPC stuff has a DVI connection that goes directly into one of JohnHWMan's DVI IFB cards for HTPC stuff. A PS3 and an Xbox360 Elite provide Blu-Ray and HD-DVD respectively via HDMI through a little switch and into a Moome HDMI IFB input card.

All the computers and electronics are in a separate room with conducting running the cables into the theater so I dont have to listen to them and they can make as much heat/noise as they like.

Comfy seating is available for 7 in powered Palliser leather recliners.

There are many windows in the room, but light control is reasonable even when its bright and sunny outside. We have opaque cell shades and I've built sills around the windows to sort of enclose them. There is still light that gets through, so I'm not going to be developing film or anything in the daytime. But no light leaks directly on to the screen, and what ambient light gets created is pretty low. I find it satisfactory for watching movies and stuff, but it is better for complete blackout once the sun has gone down (obviously).

All in all, its come together pretty well. I still have some convergence/geometry issues where the size of the raster/image is drastically different between the internal test patterns and the actual video sources at 1080p. And my color calibration has been amateur with HCFR and a SpyderII meter (I got an Eye-One as well, but didnt get consistent results with it). So we'll see if people have input on solving those and a couple other of my outstanding issues. Or we'll just play with stuff and have a good time... :p

The meet is still on for tomorrow. If there are any people who haven't responded but would like to come, send me a PM and I'll give you the address and details.

:)

Thanks for coming guys! I had a great time, and it was good to meet the local folk. CMRA took a few pictures, hopefully he'll be able to post some of them. But here are a couple diagrams with the dimensions and stuff for a general sense of the space.

http://vidya.com/G90/Kris_Theater_02.jpg

http://vidya.com/G90/Kris_Theater_01.jpg

Small in numbers but BIG in Quality, SoCal members unite for Dinner and a SHOW.

In attendance, left to right members JBrown, JKruger, Jim Parys, host KrisRoberts, and deronmoped. Ed Suski, not shown, late for dinner.

Meet the 'star' of the show...a three eyed monster.

And, from the rear, if you please.

What a nice clean install. RF to the rescue.
No exposed equipment racks in this theater. No IR either. Just a handful of 'wireless' controls do the chores.

I want mine this BIG.

From left to right, Jim, Kris, Deron, Ed (shown this time) and John. Notice Kris is on his tip-toes and still can't reach the top.

Stay tuned for parts 2 and 3. Gotta go now.

More about the screen.

Can you say UPW? You don't have to get fancy to enjoy a GREAT screen.
At 12 feet wide all you need is a UPW drywall and a potent PJ like the G90. I gotta hand it to Kris, the biggest brightest CRT image I have seen to date. No need to stack or blend here.

In SoCal we enjoy alot of sunshine. No doubt a major reason why FP is not more popular out here. Kris came through with a custom 'fitting' solution:
Cell Blinds

Have a look-see. John performs his personal inspection also.

Ian, (hope I spelled that right), the only nonmember in attendance, shows off the comfy seating. Betcha don't get these at your multiplex.:D

Members quickly take advantage and not a single complaint. (you know who they are by now)

G90 from the side.
It really doesn't seem so big in this photo, but this is one BIG arse machine. It must border on 300 lbs with lenses. Kris obviously has the WAF well in hand.

John and Jim do a little finger pokin' of their own. Let's face how often do you get to do this? With a G90 no less?

Deron knows better but I guess he just had to look.:eek: Careful good buddy.:)

A special thanks to Kris and his wife. His set up is absolutely amazing. Now I know what all the fuss about the G90 is about.

Thanks again Kris. And Ian - you are the man!

Ed

"We don't need no stinkin' ......video processors"

No offense to those that do. Kris lets his PS3 and XBox 360s do all the non-HTPC video chores. Yep, all it takes nowadays is a couple of these, a Moome card, and a G90 (or other favorite CRT PJ).
For those out of the loop, a seamless video combination, even when upscaling 480i DVDs.

Of course, what is a theater without sound? Kris's trusty HK was up to task.

We here in California are known for innovation and multitasking. Here's one the ages.

Part 3

A few screenies? Heck, we watched the movie!:rolleyes:

Frankly, there is no screenshot here that can do justice for what we all witnessed last night. Kris sets a very tall bar to beat. No local cinema could compete, that's for sure.

Anyway, just for the record, a few handhelds. These shots are ALL handheld at exposure times of 1/4 second and longer. First, for the techno guys:

Now something for the rest of us. (And you thought "Transformers" was just for little kids)

Summing up.

Kris's setup is nothing short of Top Flight. It can compete with the best of them.
The legendary G90 is just that. Sharp, clear, bold and BRIGHT with cinema color and depth to die for. Fact is, it's the brightest CRT I have ever seen. Usually when you come back from such a gathering you question what you'd do to improve the image. Not this time. (having a 1080p signal didn't hurt either)

Well done, Kris.

That is a definitely a sweet setup...So bummed I missed it....:mad:

AWESOME!!!!

I wish I could have been there..... :(

I'm glad you guys had such a good time. Hearing you talk about seeing a G90 for the first time brings back memories. ;):cool:

Cliff

Kris...thanks for hosting..WOW...and I always thought I had a big screen....If my G90 can put out light like yours...I will be saying bye to the RS-1 and the possibility of a stack..Now I am more motivated then ever to get my G90 up and running!

Anyone end up with a extra copy of Spidey 2?

I will host the next one...

Kris, Thanks for the great evening. Truly a top notch setup you have there.

Kris his wife and kids were great host's. Very friendly, had no problem welcoming a bunch of CRT'ers and one digital guy in their house. Dinner was real nice, the salad was very good with fresh herbs from the garden (tell your wife thanks Kris).

We talked a little about the usual stuff you see on the forums as we had dinner, Yo dude that's cool Scheimpflug, we had to use those sorta terms as we were in Pacific Beach, a well know surfing community:)

Next we went up to the theater. This was the whole top floor on the house. Perfect for hosting a large group of people for a movie. Kris's place is going to be where it's at for the kids birthday parties. Nice to have all that room, makes putting a theater together a lot easier when you have more flexibility.

The screen was a bright white painted wall, I was a little surprised about this seeing Kris had so much invested in other areas. I can imagine there would be a little to be gained in getting a factory screen, but the image was very bright at 12' wide and you can not beat the cost and up keep of a painted wall.

The G90 was killer, first time I had ever seen one in action. I have a 10PG and a similar size screen so that is what I have to compare it too. The first thing that jumps out at me, is how bright it is. I had to come home after seeing that G90 in action to see if my PJ was as bright. Well after I took a look at a few DVD's, all I can tell you is, if I did not have a HP screen, I would have been eating G90 dust. The G90 weights in at 350 lumen's and my 10PG is only 200 lumen's, peak lumen's are 1300 and 1000. There are up and downsides to both setups. The low gain screen gets you a huge viewing cone which works great with Kris's big theater room, but pumping out that many lumen's will use up the tubes faster. In my much smaller theater the HP works good with it's 25 degree viewing cone and not being able to drive the tubes hard should make them last longer. Of course we are talking about thousands of hours of usage here, so life of the tubes should really not be a issue, not unless you are watching two movies a night and the kids are playing video games on it when you are at work:)

The next thing that jumped out at me, was how desktop type things were so sharp, I do not know if this was because the graphics were from the Xbox or the PS3, but comparing it too my desktop coming off my PC, it was night and day difference. As for SD DVD, the G90 looked excellent, the SD DVD coming off my 10PG looks excellent too, I would have to do a side by side comparison to look for differences. As for HD, the G90 looks killer, a nice step up from SD material. I have been putting off getting into HD on my 10PG because of the cost, waiting for a good PC solution, not wanting to ruin my taste for SD DVD's... Well after seeing Kris's G90 in action and talking to Kris about him still being able to enjoy SD material, I will have to look into getting my feet wet. I did get a chance to see a buddies 10PG with HD material and it looked really good, much better then a regular old DVD. So for the 10PG owner's out there, no reason to put that old beast out at the curb with a free sign on it, just make sure your next door neighbor does not have a G90:)

Deron.

Can anyone recommend a suitable screen for my living room. The room is quite small (around 4m x 6m) and I wand to put the screen on the smaller end. ANy thoughts?
If you guys are kubrick fans you need to check out Dr Strangelove.

Can anyone recommend a suitable screen for my living room. The room is quite small (around 4m x 6m) and I wand to put the screen on the smaller end. ANy thoughts?
If you guys are kubrick fans you need to check out Dr Strangelove.

Sorry didn't mean to post it twice!

hannahflock

I suppose you have a CRT PJ?

Being new to all this stuff, I would recommend that you get a DIY solution. Go to the screen forum and look up the cheap 4'X8' materials that can be had. After spending your $20.00, install the screen and enjoy it for a while. You could be totally happy with it, then you are done, or you could get the up grade bug after a while and want something better, by then you will have a better idea of what you want.

Deron.