Fresh XG 110LC owner - 56k Beware!

Hi guys!

I've been in here a bit before, but considering the latest addition to my Home Cinema I reckon I'll be spending some more time here, since this machine seems most known and used in the US.

In the Dutch HT forums they love images, so hoping you think along similar lines here's a smack after unpacking and looking about a bit:

A slight wear on the green tube, but plenty of life left in the lot I reckon!

It came with HD-18 lenses, I guess those are the standard? Are they good or should I already start keeping my eye out for the HD-145 or something else for a future upgrade?

One thing I wanted to ask right off though: on powering up the unit for some quick testing all was in fine working order, I found that the fans are rather noisy. Is it possible, and doable, to replace these by quieter ones? Any suggestions and/or possible links to addresses where to purchase?

I'm quite into the PC world and know there's plenty of fans out there, but these probably are 230V whereas most PC fans are 12V or 5V.

The standby button is blinking when in standby mode, this is due to the fact that it's a US model but with a euro powersupply according to the seller. It doesn't bother me much and if it starts to I can easily simply blind it I reckon, but nonetheless - can something be done to make it work 'normally' ?

The unit powered up fine and a quick test with S-Video signal from my DVD gave me picture, albeit crap and non-converged, obviously. I assume the other inputs are ok as well so I'll transfer the 2nd half of the money to the seller tomorrow as well


I'm not in a hurry, we'll be celebrating X-mas at the gf's family, after which we travel to Holland to visit my family over newyear (we live in Sweden). I plan to do the tough work (ceiling mounting, converging, calibrating etc) after X-mas when I have plenty of time. I will read the manuals thoroughly, as I've read the NEC's aren't the easiest to configure. Hence I hope to not be bothering you guys with questions which I could've found the answer to by simply reading. Nonetheless I hope that when I do stumble upon things I can't figure out, some experts here can and are willing to assist.

Cheers,
Joris
Uppsala, Sweden

Thanks for the replies! I'll check out that topic as well.

As for the setup, I plan to start with the current configuration. The previous owner had the pj installed in a nice home cinema dedicated room, and - from what I could see on the tube - in 16:9, which I plan to use as well. The image filled the tubes horizontally with about a cm on each side, as you mentioned.

It's good to know to not fare blind on the NEC manual then, I've heard that from several owners now!

I plan to use a 16:9 screen which is 2.20m wide. I'm sorry, I don't know the vertical size from head (and if I did, it wouldn't be in ", but there's plenty conversions 'out there' to fix that ).

Hello again!
Now that X-mas is past, a trip to Netherlands (visiting my parents and friends) done and I've actually gotten around to hanging the projector and do some quick calibration, here's some pictures:














After calibration, starting with a picture of the desktop on my 22" Wide TFT:














I find that the text isn't crispy clear (+ that I really should get a pair of glasses, but my gf confirmed it wasn't completely sharp), but the overall image was quite satisfying and subtitles are easy to read and seem fine. Unfortunately all walls here are white, so I will never get a truly good contrast in here.

As for the sharpness... right now I'm using my PC as source, using the following:

DVI -> VGA converter
VGA <--> VGA 3m cable (LOWEST quality)
VGA -> 5x BNC breakout (LOW quality)

From what I've read the best idea for getting optimal image quality is getting a Moome box, or better yet, card (which can be installed directly into the NEC). I wonder if that would give sharper image?

I did the lens focus and EF using a test pattern from the pc (using Nokia tool), perhaps I could get sharper result using the in-built? In any case, I reckon the internal test patterns are 'as sharp as it gets'? As usual hard to focus on blue.


As for the entire converging procedure, I find the manual somewhat meager. And one thing I really didn't understand yet:

there's an ALIGNMENT menu, and there's a CONVERGENCE menu... but most of the items seem to be the same? And in the manual, things start by Electrical focus (page 39, then follow some steps, then on pages 48/49 there seems to be some kind of roundup. But then things start anew?! Page 50: static convergence, followed by dynamic convergence...

I reckon I am missing a point here...

Well I hope you guys can give me some pointers based on above pictures and questions!

One final thing:

I noticed that in a white screen, I get discoloration towards the side edges:





I'm using a wider image than the previous usage; is this simply the effect of wear, even though the tubes seemed in pretty good condition?

It's not disturbing me as it only shows in white screens and I don't want to decrease the projected area and be forced to re-hang the pj some cm backwards, so I'll have to live with it. I'm just wondering if that indead is due to wear.

One more thing:

in the above picture one can see that there's some kind of slightly discolored band at the bottom of the screen. Is this somehow due to the signal I'm feeding? I see it on all tubes and it's a very SHARP line, ie not like the discolorations at the side edges which are more diffuse. I wonder what is causing that; in vertical range I'm using a smaller tube surface than the previous owner (he projected 4:3), so it shouldn't be related to wear I guess.

I'm feeding 'standard' 720p at 60Hz refresh rate from my ATI card in the PC.

@Gary:

those are some awesome pictures m8! Although I'm aware such images are always 'changed' by camera and such, it looks great and probably even better in reality? I do reckon you have a completely dark room though, with dark walls and all? That I strife for when we buy a house, but for now I'll have to make do with the light here.

Thanks m8!

I'll restart the setup now, starting with all values at 0. Somehow they weren't when I first started, so I basically started off on the wrong foot already.

One question: should one do the convergence and all using a test pattern generated from the source, or should one just the internal ones?

Since each signal requires its own fine-tuning, I reckon it'd be best with a generated pattern? I'm feeding 720p from pc and use a Nokia tool right now.

For the mechanic setup I reckon the internal patterns can and should be used?

*edit*
Ah gotcha, now I know what you mean! I'll read through it and probably give it a go, as the first lines already state the cost is nihil and it's fairly easy.


Ok back on track:

So I've got some coloration at the side edges of the screen:




From what I was told probably wear; more light at the edges coming from the tubes with least wear?

Checking the individual colours, though, it seems there's most light in the middle. I tried to get it on picture, but the camera seems to overdo it a lot. Still I do feel with my eyes that the outer edges are actually slightly darker:












a bit from the side:





This effect seems independent of signal and resolution. Then there's the bar at the bottom showing, which I don't know what it is? But changing resolution does seem to make that disappear.

As said, right now I simply use 720p from the pc, using standard timings and all.


*edit*
actually looking at things a bit more closely, it seems that it indeed IS brighter in the middle of the screen. Is that some setting?


perhaps this is actually something that I shouldn't be addressing now, but rather do a full convergence following manual first?

Ok first things first...

I got referred to the description on Curt Palme for a PG projector PG Mechanical setup , by a PG owner. Ofcourse there are differences, but most likely there are a lot of similarities as well.

For the mechanical setup, the PG owners start by centering the raster on the screen, by actually rotating CRC magnets at the back of the tubes. Then there's a ASTI something, but that seems to be electronic in the XG (found ASTI and put it to 0 in the menu anyway).

Is this raster centering needed on the XG as well? For one, it's hard to actually determine properly with the LC tubes... but checking through the lenses it seems the raster actually IS pretty decently in the center.

What to do? Unfortunately I can't find a similar extensive setup description for the XG on Curt Palme.

Thanks. I'll add the location, but doubt it'll help much, as I'm located in Sweden


So basically no need whatsoever to do any mechanical adjustments inside the projector (as for the PG)?

The screen I have is a very basic 1.0 gain one, bought from a german company on a well-known auctioning site.