Playing with my new toy. XG-110

Just getting around to trying this thing out. I'm using a Wilsonart Designer White screen to test with. Here are a few shots with a rough setup. Picture settings were 35 for contrast and 60 for brightness when I turned it on and have not changed those settings.

The screen is 100" wide by 56" high. I tried bumping up the contrast and while it looked better in some cases, I kind of preferred the overall look the way it is. Shadow detail was better and looked more film-like. Once I get the projector mounted and converged correctly I may play around with the picture settings more. I might also need to try a different transcoder as I think the one I have is crushing blacks a bit.

Thanks! I'm not the best at taking screenshots by any means and I have a long way to go in setting up this projector. However, I could see an instant improvement with this Wilsonart fomica screen over the plain blackout cloth screen I was using before.

Well, I was content with the cloth until I saw some shots of the Wilsonart in the DIY thread. It's a nice material and fairly inexpensive for the size. I just have it tacked to the wall with velcro right now. I plan to cut it down to size and mount it on a rigid backing.

I tried that for a bit last night and while it did have more punch I felt like it was washing the picture out. What size screen are you using?

I did the following things over the weekend:
-Cleaned lenses using solution recommended in a document by Guy Kuo.
-Did physical alignment again.
-Did convergence again (this time using an external test pattern).
-Made measurements and marked exact location for ceiling mount.
-Bought 5/16" threaded rod and square steel channel with holes to attach mount to ceiling.

The biggest improvement to my picture so far has been doing convergence using an external pattern. I swapped out my cable box from my plasma because it had the INHD test pattern on it's DVR. Using this pattern resulted in a much improved image over 1080i which will be my resolution of choice 90% of the time.

I also finally ordered one of Kim's transcoder's which I hope will arrive by the weekend. The one with gamma correction. I'm hoping that a bump in gamma will help my black crush problem.

My throw distance ended up being exactly 132" from screen center to the front center of the green lens. My screen is 108" wide by 61" high. This is a 16:9 aspect ratio and the same screen size used by Clarence with his G90. I'm also using a Wilsonart Designer White formica screen and I already knew what this material could look like with a CRT so decided to give it a try. Aside from some minor hotspotting at the screen center I am pleased with this material. The size is probably pushing things a bit for an 8" machine but I really don't want to go smaller at this point.

I will try to get some new screenshots posted tonight.

Just a quick update. I got a Crescendo Systems RTC2200 reverse transcoder with gamma the other day. This has done great things for my display and while I'm still tweaking, I really like what I see! More details can be found at the main thread for this device. Last night I had a bit of a scare with some scrolling lines I was seeing. I know about ground loop problems as I have seen them on other displays but never on my CRT until now. I tried plugging the cable box (which is my only source right now) into a two prong plug adapter. This helped a bit but I could still see the lines. I tried different outlets as well as other configurations of arranging my power cables, etc. The only thing that worked was plugging the projector itself into the two prong adapter. Scrolling lines are now gone. I also added a 1000 watt UPS unit to the mix for some added protection. I'm really hoping to get the projector mounted this weekend but it depends on how hot it is and what it feels like in the attic. My dad and I put plywood down in the attic last Saturday so we would have a place to stand and walk around. This not only will help in getting the projector mounted and cabling run but also gives me more storage so I was glad to get that done. We started at 7:30 in the morning and by noon it was just too hot to continue. When my dad started hitting his thumb with the hammer I knew we needed to get out of there! So, hopefully we get an early start again and will get the beast up to it's proper resting spot.

Thanks! I'm trying to make it better. HD-144's are lenses. Some come with HD-144's some with HD-145's and still others with HD6's or HD8's. From what I have read the 144's and 145's are more desirable and are an upgrade from the others. Regarding Marquee projectors, I have never owned one myself but they have a really loyal following. I'm sure that they are easier to setup than a NEC unit and depending on the model it's completely capable of throwing just as good a picture as any NEC model. It's kind of apples and oranges and you would have to compare a specific Marquee model to a specific NEC model to make an accurate assesment. I believe with the exception of the 10PG, all NEC models are 7" or 8" CRT projectors while there are Marquee units with 9" CRT's which would get you to the top of the line in CRT. I think the 9500LC is on par with the best CRT's out there. NEC units are known for there very accurate colors and smooth film like image in addition to the negative things you hear about the time involved in setup. With CRT, no matter what the make or model, the more time you spend with it the better it will look. That's assuming you start with a unit that is in relatively good shape and has decent tubes. If I had it to do over again I would have started with an NEC XG unit like I'm using now and just bypassed the PG models. While they are very nice when setup correctly, they have more manually adjustable controls like the raster centering magnets which require some skill to get right. On the XG the raster centering is done electronically. The astig magnets were pretty set when I got the unit so honestly I have not had my hand in this XG at all except to do mechanical setup and focus. Everything else has been done with the remote. My suggestion is to find something cheap and in decent shape and just play around with it. After that, if you don't have the bug then just sell it and get your money back but I bet you will be hooked and never be the same. I know I am and that's why I'm now on my third CRT and always looking for another one.

Well, the projector is now mounted and resting 7' above the floor. What a chore that was! Me, my dad and another guy got it lifted up and set on the bracket which is supported by two five foot pieces of Unistrut laying perpendicular to the rafters in the attic. Here are a few shots of what it looks like after having to do convergence over yet again.

Here is one before I figured out how to use my camera. As you can see, everything is over exposed so you can see the inside of the room. The tape on the screen show the borders of what the final screen will be (61x108). There will be black curtains covering all of the walls and that light fixture will come down and be replaced by recessed lighting. Still lots of work to do...

The beast on the ceiling.






The messy room with my makeshift screen masking falling off the wall. This area will get some much needed attention in the next week or so. I have a window behind the screen that I have to fill in with something to support the middle of the screen. I still may need to raise the screen up a bit more as well.

I guess you mean the projector. Yeah, it's showing all of it's juicy guts at the moment because I painted the case black. It was that ugly computer beige color and was just screaming for a paint job. I have more pictures to post of how this thing is mounted. I was making it out to be so much more complicated that it needed to be but in the end all it needed was brute force and some steel.

I was going to paint and then I remembered how much I suck at it! Plus it will take many coats to get it really dark and I want to sell this house one day and not have to worry about covering black down the road. My dad has offered to sew some curtains for me that I will hang wall to wall and ceiling to floor. Well, not totally to the floor but rather about 2-1/2 to 3' from the floor at which point I will have another fabric color covering insulated material to make a kind of wainscoting around the walls.

This is just an AC unit. I would love to find a nice LC down the road but until I figure out what I'm doing this AC will have to do.

Not much going on right now so I thought I would put the projector covers back on after my dad painted them. They have been sitting around for a few months and I figured it was time to see what they look like on. I noticed a while back that I forgot to take off the small louver piece near the front so that will be getting paint as well. We taped off the areas that have information about the projector so you can still see some of the old case color. I will remove the feet from the projector and may consider darkening the lens rings somehow. I think it came out pretty well. Much better than the ugly computer beige color.

Yeah, I guess it does create some contrast. Maybe I will leave those as is.

In other news...here is my Crescendo Systems transcoder with the HD Fury attached to it.


and my new Onkyo TX-SR705 receiver which does not want to play nice with the HD Fury.

I just checked the tag and it says it's an XG-1100 and was manufactured September 1996.

As for sources, right now I am just using my Scientific Atlanta HD-DVR cable box and a Toshiba HD-A2 HD-DVD player. I am running everything at 1080i because I find that is what looks best so far. I have wires running everywhere and I'm still setting it all up. Everything will be moved into the closet at the back of the room once I get an AC outlet and cable line pulled in there.

If I could just get this receiver to output the HDMI sources through the HD-Fury I would be set. I just ordered a Monoprice HDMI switcher to put between the receiver and the Fury because a few people have had success doing that. Fingers crossed.