As some may know, my theater is relatively near completion (2-3 mos).
I sold my 980 Ultra and am going digital - in particular a JVC G-15.
I'll add a scaler of course (Faroudja or Key Digital).
I also wanted to a dd a Panamorph. I read many of the older posts and followed along as things went from bad to worse.
Still the concept of the lens was quite intriguing since many of us use a PJ with a 4:3 chip and a 16:9 screen.
My throw is fixed at 27 ft. (behind the theater in a PJ room). Knowing that the Panamorph may drop the imagine rather precipitously as the throw increases, I was unsure if it'd fit my scenario. My PJ room has a limited height, thus the PJ can be raised only by a finite sum (~12").
Using the Panamorph website calculations, my screen would have to drop almost 24" reltive to the PJ height!
That wasn't gonna happen in my room.
So after asking around on-line, I decided to e-mail the guys who make the lens. It just so happened that the trio (Paul, Sean, & Tim) live 1/2 hour away.
They graciously invited me over to Paul's house to see the lens in action with a digital PJ. I mentioned my quandry with potential drop of the picture and though they didn't dispute the calculations for such, they didn't not dispute them.
The throw of their PJ was twelve feet. There appeared to be no drop at that distance. Sean says the drop is linear rather than logarythmic. The guys confirmed that at their distance ther was no drop of the image.
So much for the calculation at a short throw.
They mentioned flipping, etc. but, ultimately in my scenario, they recommended raising the PJ the 1 foot that I had and the picture should be O.K. with some tilting of the Panamorph. They did note that some distortion would be normal by doing this.
They demonstrated this by tilting the lens quite a bit. As I watched the image drop about a foot from the screen top, distortion appeared minimal. Mind you I was watching a DVD - not a test pattern. Bottom line, real world the keystoning seemed barely noticeable.
The three guys were quite hospitable, serving up a Bass ale. We chatted a while and looked over my construction prints.
The product seemed well built and absolutely did what it was designed to do. The past is the past. Alan Gouger is behind these guys and from my impressions (just impressions), they seem dedicated to their products and who knows what they'll do next.
It appears to me that they are but a fledgling company that experienced some growing pains, licked their wounds and have gone on. They are after a little good PR, and I can vouch taht they seemed like good guys who are on the up and up.
(BTW - no free or discounted Panamorph for the gracious post. I was referred to AVS!)
I sold my 980 Ultra and am going digital - in particular a JVC G-15.
I'll add a scaler of course (Faroudja or Key Digital).
I also wanted to a dd a Panamorph. I read many of the older posts and followed along as things went from bad to worse.
Still the concept of the lens was quite intriguing since many of us use a PJ with a 4:3 chip and a 16:9 screen.
My throw is fixed at 27 ft. (behind the theater in a PJ room). Knowing that the Panamorph may drop the imagine rather precipitously as the throw increases, I was unsure if it'd fit my scenario. My PJ room has a limited height, thus the PJ can be raised only by a finite sum (~12").
Using the Panamorph website calculations, my screen would have to drop almost 24" reltive to the PJ height!
That wasn't gonna happen in my room.
So after asking around on-line, I decided to e-mail the guys who make the lens. It just so happened that the trio (Paul, Sean, & Tim) live 1/2 hour away.
They graciously invited me over to Paul's house to see the lens in action with a digital PJ. I mentioned my quandry with potential drop of the picture and though they didn't dispute the calculations for such, they didn't not dispute them.
The throw of their PJ was twelve feet. There appeared to be no drop at that distance. Sean says the drop is linear rather than logarythmic. The guys confirmed that at their distance ther was no drop of the image.
So much for the calculation at a short throw.
They mentioned flipping, etc. but, ultimately in my scenario, they recommended raising the PJ the 1 foot that I had and the picture should be O.K. with some tilting of the Panamorph. They did note that some distortion would be normal by doing this.
They demonstrated this by tilting the lens quite a bit. As I watched the image drop about a foot from the screen top, distortion appeared minimal. Mind you I was watching a DVD - not a test pattern. Bottom line, real world the keystoning seemed barely noticeable.
The three guys were quite hospitable, serving up a Bass ale. We chatted a while and looked over my construction prints.
The product seemed well built and absolutely did what it was designed to do. The past is the past. Alan Gouger is behind these guys and from my impressions (just impressions), they seem dedicated to their products and who knows what they'll do next.
It appears to me that they are but a fledgling company that experienced some growing pains, licked their wounds and have gone on. They are after a little good PR, and I can vouch taht they seemed like good guys who are on the up and up.
(BTW - no free or discounted Panamorph for the gracious post. I was referred to AVS!)
at CES in Vegas last January and I concur, they are 100% dedicated to making the Panamorph a long and successful project.
