Cheap coating opportunity for USA prisms - Page 4

man, those are some nice pictures
I cant wait to get mine.

Well done, and thanks for sharing.

I finally got a chance to try my prisms. I set the prisms on a table in front of my projector. The Crystal Factory prisms have a greater angle than the prisms from Massillon Plaque. Because of this I needed to set the new prisms at less of an angle to the light path. This will make my new housing 1" shorter and 1/2" wider than my old housing. I have a projector that has a recessed lens and the geometry of the new prisms make it easier to get the prisms slightly closer to the lens. Every little bit helps in this situation.

I did this experiment during the day, in a room with lots of light. I was just trying to figure out the angle of the prisms so I can build the housing. I did notice that the coated prisms seem to have reduced the reflections. In fact I didn't see any reflections on the walls. With my uncoated Massillon Plaque prisms, under the same condition, I saw some strong reflections on the walls.

My old housing was fully adjustable. This time I'm going to make a simple housing that isn't adjustable. I'm just going to set the prisms at the angles that I determined during my experiment and I expect the new lens will work perfectly.

Randy

I built a prototype case yesterday... I'm not very handy with tools and it shows. I still have everything down off the ceiling on a table as I design and build my final case.



Jaws is on this weekend on Universal HD. I can't wait to watch my favorite movie with the prisms!

I love this setup! (well not my crappy case design but the potential)

Some shots from the HD-DVD King Kong disc. I need to get better at taking screen shots because I did have to do some color correcting this time because my camera didn't white balance properly... but that is close to what I see.

Cool How did you "scale" the images when using HD DVD as a source?

Mark

My Sanyo Z4 scales all resolutions on Component, HDMI, and VGA. Those shots are from my XBOX 360 HD-DVD drive hooked up via VGA.

Hi

You might have seen this before: this guy has a nice DIY housing with rail system:

http://www.zuggsoft.com/theater/prism.htm

Thanks

That is MikeP's set up. He was a real good contributor to the cause at diyaudio where he did heaps to investigate the stray light problems those with non coated prisms were having. His site should be added to the sticky thread for equipment that works with CIH...

Mark

Has it been established that the coating does a good job on the "stray light problems?"

Based on my experience with both coated and non-coated prisms I would say YES.

And I second that

Mark

Are your sure the Sanyo scales on all inputs and resolutions? From what I read and was told the Z4 only scaled SD material. That information made me pass up a great deal on a used Z4. Don't get me wrong, I love my Panny PT-AX100U (waiting on lens) but it would have been nice to spend half as much money

Anyway, nice pics. Can wait to get my lens!

Yep, it scales HD as well. From what understand, your Panasonic is much better than the Z4 anyway. Enjoy your setup! You'll love it when the lens arrives!

very valuable piece of info. Thanks
I am glad I returned the massillon plaque prisms. They
were pretty much like mirrors!
and yes I had to tilt those prisms a lot to get the stretch as
the angles were small. This made the beam on the second
prism way too big, falling very close to the top edge, which could
cause more reflections.

Mupi/Randy,

I am considering to try Massilion Plaue prisms in 4set lens configuration. But what I hear about reflection problem I am kinda pausing the thought.

However, if you place the prisms in a housing and mask it around properly (as in http://www.zuggsoft.com/theater/prism.htm) you think you can reduce the reflection issues?

Anyone has a thought if anti-glare/reflection films can be used on these prisms? You may need to paste this film on one side of each prism.

One such product is 3M HF300L Anti-Glare/Radiation Computer Filter. But it is a panel, not a film.

This is a cheap LCD screen protection film - anti-glare: (but may not be useful because of small size)

http://www.pdaextreme.com/product_in...products_id=55

I have the Massilion Plaque prisms in a hosing and don't have major problems with reflections. There are some off to the side and behind my PJ, but I don't notice them when watching films.

I did also have some off to the left that were bothering me because they hit the entrance to my HT room and that hallway is painted white. So I solved that problem by hanging a nice black curtain across the entrance.

JDLIVE,

Thanks for sharing the info.

I am also thinking to get computer monitor anti-glare filter (extras lying at my work) and use it whenever I build MP prism lens. If a piece of such filter can be placed at the entrance of the housing, it may reduce the reflection off the prism towards the projector.

Currently I have a prismasonic H700 lens in a housing and I may try this anti-glare filter, although the prismasonic prisms are AR coated.

Yes, I tried these. They did not work at all. You have to use these for a system where the film is placed immediately on the display source (like on a monitor screen). Once you put these on the face of the prisms, you completely mess up the image--it's like smearing vaseline on the face of the prisms.

I have 4 of those prism and yes, you get wicked reflections...I think I posted on the DIY forum, pictures of the CARS credits....NASTY. Have a set of 4 CF prisms waiting for me at my inlaws in Virginia. Pick em up in July, then I'll post pics of the new VS the old.
Bud

Well, it appears I am late to this party, but is it too late to get involved in a purchase from Crystal Factory? I keep hearing how these are so much better than the Massillon plaque prisms (and thicker), and wanted to toy with them a bit. How do I get the cheapest price for these prisms (and what is the cheapest price?)

Also, is it too late to get these coated as well?

I built a new case today. Sorry no photos yet. My kids are on vacation with the camera. I thought I would share some ideas...

I'm not very handy with tools and building things (unless it is with LEGOS). I was having a difficult time working with MDF... splitting wood, the dust is horrible, doing multiple cuts, etc.

I went to Lowes today and bought some 1"x10" A-stock pine boards. They were already very close to the proper width I wanted (9 1/2") so all I had to do was cut the other sizes (2- 5 1/4" and 2- 8 1/2") and nail/screw everything together. It really turned out nice. I don't think I'll do the fancy angled cut on the front that others have done. I also bought a 1"x4" board to work on the mounting bracket. The cost was about $15.

I'll post some photos late Saturday or Sunday.

I have to say again that these prisms are great! There is some light loss using the prisms... probably about the same as when i zoomed the image before. But the prisms are way cooler and easier to use than zooming and positioning the image on the screen plus the image doesn't get softer as it does when zooming. The AR coating is amazing. I have yet to see any stray reflections on the screen. Yea, I have some geometry issues at the edges of the screen and a little CA, but you really don't notice those issues when watching a movie.

Later!

Richard, did you get the feeling that the optics coating guy had to charge extra up front for lower volume because he had to make a mold or incurred some setup costs? If so, I wonder if he would help out individuals as opposed to dealing in volume at this point.

If not, I wonder if there would be enough interest for another round?

This thread needs to be moved into the DIY section now...

Mark

Steve,

You can call Crystal Factory and order the prisms. They gave us the regular price. The item no you are looking for CWD57 and make sure to tell them "No engravings" on the prisms.

About coating, not sure. Call L&L if they would do the coating for you.

Well I'm up for starting a new group order, anyone else?

BTW does anyone know what happened with the French guys, I can't find any reference of the posts here on AVS. I recall they may be taking orders for a second group buy in July or something like that?

I found the web site but given I don't speak french it doesn't really work for me...

That thread was removed due to it being considered an unathorized power buy. As I understood it, there wasn't enough interest for an additional group order so instead additional units were purchased with some being taken by some late comers but at the time there should have been about 7 pairs available. Put a message on the site you found in english and I believe they will respond to you. Good luck.

oman321,
thanks for the info, I'll see if they have any more.