Ultimate 3D Passive under $3000

I'm sort of in the same boat. I bought the filter kit, and will prob. just go with side by side rips of my bluerays to avoid the 3dxl cost, but I'm trying to find two projetors within a price of $2500 total to make this work with. Obv lens shift would be preferable but in this price range its pretty tough. Here is some of what I am considering.

2 x Refurbished Viewsonic Pro 8100 - $1800 total
Has motorized lens shift, 1000-1400 max lumens depending on throw.

2 x Refurbished or New Benq W6000 ($2500 refurb or $3000 new)
Has lens shift, 2000+ max lumens.

2 x Refurbished Epson 8100 - $1500 total
Has Lens Shift 1800 max lumens

2 x Panasonic PT-AR100U - $2400 Total
Lens Shift, 2500 max lumens.

Anyone else have any thoughts or ideas?

Great thread! I would like to do this too! I would like a silver screen though so I can use the RealD glasses. Basically need two affordable projectors and two optoma xl3d boxes. Just need to find those two affordable projectors.

Were is a good place to buy cheap but nice circular lenses/filters?
Also, do the projectors need to be 3D ready or not?

Any suggestions on specific projectors (obviously the more affordable the better)?

Passive on a white screen is the best. But what is the min native resolution you would feel is ok for the price ? The lowest 1080p native I can find is 900 or so.

Omega 3d kit...is this 3D basically the same as Dolbly 3D? And are these filters durable..are they made of glass..plastic? Not needing a silver screen is a big plus...

Hi It is not really the same as Dolby 3D, the only thing that is the same is that they are made with optical interference thin film coatings, other than that not the same as all.
the glasses are durable metal oxide thin film coatings on annealed high quality glass, the frames are nylon ( not pretty but were made for mass production cinema use )
one big advantage of the Omega 3d system is that there is no need to color process like Dolby requires. And you dont need a silver screen.

you actually can get it as a kit with the projection filters. im not sure where one would get Dolby projection filters, they are very different from the filters on the glasses. the Dolby cinema systems need to use a special color processor system to work that they lease in addition to the optics.

you know the Dolby is much lower in % efficiency than most others to the point where some instalations in cinemas use a silver screen to help the brightness and you get hot spotting.

the ar100u looks like a good deal even at $1000. a pair of these, a demux set or high end HTPC and the right optics and room and you have a system as good as the Runco high end home cinema imho.

Question; I have had requests for a larger filter in the Omega 3D kit. we were thinking of offering another kit with a 70x45mm filter and 10 pairs of glasses, the kit will cost more...$850 ? still the same high quality white light no silver screen system. i still have yet to design a mount or would the filters alone be ok for most wanting a kit ??? feedback would be great.

While two projectors would be cool, it would be a pain to keep them both calibrated. For "pure 3D", they both need to be setup the exactly the same (white point, brightness, etc.).

The lamp will dim at different rates between the two. The difference in time of the lamp dimming will also cause an uneven white point change (unless you keep up on making sure they are both 6500k). The iris's may behave slightly differenty, even in the same shots. In the LCDs, one of them might develop a color uniformity issue (very likely if epsons are used...I've had 5 of them). If there is no manual iris, you'll have a tough time getting the brightnesses matching. The key is to keep both EXACTLY the same - not an easy task.

Although, if you had 2 LED projectors, or two laser projectors, consistency should theoretically not be an issue, especially if using a manual iris to match the brightness.

I'm not trying to discourage - I've even thought about it myself. BUT, I then started to think about all the stuff I just mentioned, so I never personally did it.

i agree keeping two projectors exactly the same is hard but the single chip DLP's ive been using dont seem to have much issue in the dual stack 3D system.
ive used lots of LED based devices and made optics and filters for all types and i have to say they are no more stable than an LCD imaging system. in fact LED'd drift with age, lasers are a different story but they have to fix the metameric issues with them. not impossible but I have not seen the solution done well yet.

I agree. DLP would probably have a pretty stable uniformity. All you would need to do is keep the brightness in check.

yes the brightness balance would be an issue but with a good test pattern that could be done fairly straight forward. ive made some patters or altered ones ive found to make a good test of this. a gradient scale opposite pattern for each eye that will add together as even grey unless the two projectors are off.
ive noticed that the content you play sometimes is more of a differnace in each eye especially live footage

i think that deal is for the $300 rebate from Panasonic. If this is correct it's until 03/31/12.

Hi all,

Can someone know if projected light in Panasonic PT-AE7000 and Panasonic PT-AR100U is polarized or not?

I am considering using Panasonic PT-AR100U in dual passive 3D projection using SPAR filters and wanna know if SPAR filters can be used or not with AR100U/AE7000.

Thanks,

Thank you very much jmcguire525.

Omega kit would be my first choice, but as far as I know using Omega kit u have to use only PC as a source. That's a reason why I wanna use also SPAR filters in order to be able to use Bluray player and satellite receiver.

Thanks,

Thanks a lot man! I understand it now! And do you know the transmission rate of Omega filters?

Thanks,

Is there any alternative to having two optoma xl 3D units?

Has anyone done intensive comparisons to a single 3D projector like the Epson 5010 vs. these types of setups, I'm sure some did a couple years back, but wonder how it fairs from recent projectors.

I have a JVC RS-45 and a Viewsonic Pro8200, and I could easily do this since the JVC has a manual IRIS and full shift, but I doubt I will bother since the RS-45 already has 3D, and to be honest for me 3D is just not all that. It isn't bad and it can be cool but I only like it for certain things (mainly space shots, outdoor scenery, some animated), rarely do I like 3D on people or closeups or general viewing, it just doesn't add much and it takes away from the movie sometimes.

Also, I'd worry about uneven lamp aging between two projectors, as well as uneven gamma and stuff like that (and maybe even just getting it lined up perfectly could be tough, although that isn't a deal-breaker)...