[Ryan23]

Greetings all,

Well, I just picked up my NEC XG-110 at BWI Yesterday, all I can say is... WOW!!! What a Beast! I had no idea it was THAT large. So with some help, I got it back to my new apartment and it's sitting in the living room. Fired it up, tubes come on, and we get an image from the S-video in jack. Pulled the lenses off (HD-144?) and looked at the tubes. Compared to the chart HERE , The face of the green tube looks like a "3", Red a "2" and Blue a "2". Not too bad, I guess. It has an extra RGB card installed and came with only the user remote. I haven't been able to check the hours yet, however the seller told me it has 3050 on the counter. Given he has been totally honest with me up to this point, I don't see why I shouldn't trust that. I'll find out when I finaggle a setup remote or jack in through the option port. Anyway, on to my request...

Does anyone know of any capable CRT installers in the Laurel, MD area? I would like to mount it from the ceiling and I don't trust myself to secure it Any help would be greatly appreciated. TIA!


Ryan

 

[scottatl]

check out this thread

http://www.avsforum.com/avs-vb/showt...threadid=99418

 

[ChrisH]

Ryan -


As you can see from that really valuable list, Chuck Williams and Mike Parker are close by. I know Mike and have gotten pointers from Chuck.....and I fully recommend you contact them.


However, I'm not sure if they'll want to undertake the carpentry aspects involved in safely securing your projector to the ceiling. I may be wrong, but my impression is that their typical onsite work is with projectors that have already been mounted, or has been temporarily removed from its mount for repair.


So, if that's the case (call them and ask first), then I may be able to help you with at least the initial installation. I've done so with various models from NEC, Barco, Electrohome and Sony. Since many units do not come complete with all mounting brackets and hardware, I have had to design and build whatever was needed.


You mentioned that you are in an apartment. Do you have permission to mount something that heavy to the ceiling? If it's a non-issue (I won't tell), then do you know how your ceiling is constructed? Concrete ceilings, for example, can be tough....but nothing is impossible


Though not hands-on familiar with the XG series, I could very likely help you with more than just mounting....like mechanical and electronic convergence, etc., but you'll have to get ahold of a setup remote. Mike or Chuck might have a spare you could borrow until you buy one. So, I can help you with the first part, then you might want one of these guys to perform a true calibration to bring out the best the unit has.


Chris

email: [email protected]

 

[Ryan23]

Scott - Thanks for the thread. Before I posted I did a search in the CRT forum, not all forums and missed that one....


Chris - I appreciate the offer, I may take you up on it if getting someone out here is going to be prohibitively expensive. My ceiling is your "typical" drywall with studs arrangement (The apartment itself is only 16 months old). There are actually two rooms that I call my living room. The larger portion has a vaulted celing which goes from where the screen will be out 12 feet. Then it meets a lower ceiling (Where I want to hang the PJ) which is 9 ft high and extends back another 10 ft to the kitchen entrance. To put it in perspective, my living room (both rooms) measures 13.5' X 22'. Right on the border of the vaulted/9ft ceiling, mounted on the 9ft part, looks to be a stud which measures 5" x 5" and hangs down 5" lower than the 9ft ceiling. If I could mount it there, that would give me right in the neighborhood of a 120" (diag) screen size. Let's see how my ascii skills are..


Side Profile view, S=Screen, X= Projector, Above "X" is a 5"w by 5"h stud
Code:

______________________
                      |
   Vaulted            |
                      |
                      |  ____________________
                      ---
S                     X
S                                            ___
S                                9 Ft      |     | Kitchen
___________________________________________|     |______ 
Floor

By the way, my apartment management said I could do whatever I wanted as long as it's on the inside of the apartment and it's returned to normal upon moving out (in three years).


Thanks in advance!



Ryan

 

[ChrisH]

Ryan-


Drywall & studs will make it easy. As far as a setup remote, there is a software program available that will allow everything to be set up and controlled via RS232 and a computer. See SNAGGS website. I just downloaded and took a quick peek at the manual for this program....very nice.


What were you planning on driving this projector with? I think most would recommend a HTPC to get the most out of it, and is by far biggest bang for the buck. If not, you'll want a really good scaler for such a high performance projector. If you're shopping for a screen, COUSIN'S has some decent sales running on some of their manual pulldowns.


- Chris

 

[Ryan23]

Chris -

Argh....I tried to prove NEC wrong but to no avail. My PJ is in the serial # range in that service bulletin which says which one's work with the software and which ones don't. Mine falls into the latter. I did make a cable and I actually just got done trying...No luck. Oh well, I'm going to check out Remote central and see if I can find a remote emulator I could use with my laptop and Guy's .ccf file. My PDA is *supposed* to be here tomorrow which will allow me to do the same thing. I'll check out Cousin's website, I am in the market for a screen. The PJ itself will be fed by an HTPC eventually, I'm still ironing out the specifics on Hardware (I posted a thread on it last week, Here ) . For now, I have my Panny RP-91 DVD player I can feed it for testing purposes.


Ryan


Quote:

Originally posted by ChrisH Ryan- Drywall & studs will make it easy. As far as a setup remote, there is a software program available that will allow everything to be set up and controlled via RS232 and a computer. See SNAGGS website. I just downloaded and took a quick peek at the manual for this program....very nice. What were you planning on driving this projector with? I think most would recommend a HTPC to get the most out of it, and is by far biggest bang for the buck. If not, you'll want a really good scaler for such a high performance projector. If you're shopping for a screen, COUSIN'S has some decent sales running on some of their manual pulldowns. - Chris

 

[HTbuph]

Ryan,


Seriously, check with your apartment management before proceeding with a ceiling install. I used five 8" lag bolts to secure two peices of unistrut to the ceiling, and then secured the mounting hardware to the unistrut. The lag bolts are screwed into 2X12 ceiling joists, which can handle the load. Do you know what the support framework is in your ceiling?


You can get mounting hardware on ebay. Just search for nec crt. You can get a learning remote from Curt Palme. What about a manual, did you get one with it? That can be downloaded, but I don't have the website. Do a search on this forum for that and you'll find the link.


Unless you intend to stay in your apartment for a long time and you have permission, I would suggest leaving your XG on the floor. Many pjs are left on the floor with good results.


I set up my NEC 6pg+ myself with lots of help from this forum. Chuck Williams knows the NECs and is the guy in this area. He checked out my pj when I first got it. Mike Parker has been kind enough to give me advice on some things, including how he has secured CRTs to the ceiling. Others in the area, like ChrisH and myself, would be willing to help where we can.


Good luck!

Tim

 

[ChrisH]

Ryan-


If Curt doesn't have the remote, try Doug Baisey.


Manuals for the XG 85 / 110 /135:

Installation

Operation

Setup

Supplement


They are in Adobe Acrobat format (.pdf).


-Chris

 

[Ryan23]

Thanks for the advice, guys. Yes, my apartment management said it was OK for ceiling mount (although they have no idea how big it really is). I'm not sure of the exact layout of the ceiling underneath the drywall, I really didn't want to install it myself. As far as a floor mount goes, it would really intrude on what space I do have in the living room, ceiling mount would be preferred. I've had the manuals for a couple weeks now, I have been pouring through them although I must admit the learning curve is kinda steep as I'm new to this. I'm going to start a new thread regarding some of my setup questions. I've spent countless hours digging through the search feature and have absorbed quite a bit although there are a couple things not clear yet. By the way, I downloaded Guy's .CCF file for the Pocket PC (PDA) remote control and it's working like a charm. I can get to all the adjust menus, service codes, ETC now. Most of the time I just use the user remote to do the actual navigation as the range is a little better. OK, new thread time


Ryan