[tzucc]

in my half finished cave. No paint yet, just finished drywall. Mounted the SX-21 (actually MAX1400) with the Peerless mount in the eqpt closet, got it wrong, measured again, got it right. Mounted Panamorph, rehearsed how to fit Panamorph through the projector hole while mounting to the Peerless quick disconnect mount. Hooked hp the wifes laptop with Shrek in the DVD drive, RGB out to the SX-21.


Powered up, flipped horizontal, vertical, everything looks right, against a white fabric screen that I made just to test the max/min picture width.

When I did the math, my projector looked too far away (i.e. picture too big), but my HT designers said the math was right.


Too bad I was right. The native panel res w or w/o panamorph is the same size, and it's too big at about 121-122". The stock Stewart screen is about 118". Now what? I can't move the screen up... it's just right for the front row... don't want to move it closer to audience. Projector can't move closer since a wall is in the way. Don't know what to do at this point. Any (serious) ideas?


Also, even given that my walls are still that drywall gray, I was amazed at how the SX lit up the room. I don't need any dimmed sconces ... there is plenty of light reflecting off the screen it looks like. Maybe this white fabric I was using reflects the light all over the place, but nonetheless, I was quite impressed by how bright that projector is in a 20x30 room.

 

[Free]

If you can't move the screen or the projector you are SOL unless you want to get a bigger screen?


If it is just a couple of inches bigger than the screen you could shrink it down with the HTPC or mask off the edges with the HTPC electronically (the Holo3Dgraph does this very well). Of course you would be sacrificing part of the panel or the image this way.


I love the brightness of the SX21. Even in a dark room I prefer to have a bright punchy picture. Sure beats the hell out of my HT300

 

[Mark Hunter]

Maybe trade the Panamorph with an ISCO II owner. The Panamorph compresses the image vertically. The ISCO II expands it horizontally, enlarging the image, of course.

 

[tzucc]

bigger screens cost big bux. Mark, I need the image shrunk horizontally, not enlarged horizontally.

Time to ask Stewart for a qoute on a larger screen. Ouch.


BTW, the dreaded light spill doesn't seem to be an issue for me at all. I have to look hard to see it. It's there, but it's hardly noticeable.

 

[Free]

I think the lens helps with the light spill. Also, when mounting the projector upside down the worst part of the spill will probably be on the floor and not as noticeable.

 

[Mark Hunter]

Yikes! Sorry. My mistake.

 

[toddalin]

If you're only about 3" too big, can't you just build a 6" protrusion from the wall on which to mount the screen (assumes 2:1 throw)? Do it right, and it could even be dramatic with surround bias lighting. This would also help bring the center channel more into the focal plane of the screen. (And, the $$$ you're gonna save, you could splurge for a really nice center channel speaker.)

 

[steve_fye]

Quote:

Originally posted by tzucc bigger screens cost big bux. Mark, I need the image shrunk horizontally, not enlarged horizontally. Time to ask Stewart for a qoute on a larger screen. Ouch. BTW, the dreaded light spill doesn't seem to be an issue for me at all. I have to look hard to see it. It's there, but it's hardly noticeable.

Isn't there HTPC software that will do this? Are you saying that the image looks correct (sized) vertically? Is there an overscan option on the SX21 that might be turned "off"?

 

[Huey]

Zoomplayer, Theatertek, or YxY will shrink image for you but it defeats the purpose if you can't use the entire panel. I'd move the screen closer to PJ and float it in front of the wall.

 

[thebland]

Regarding the ISCO, doesn't it cut the throw 25%?


If you have to splurge on a screen, go bigger! Maybe a 130" would be sweet! Try and make a positive out of it. Price doesn't increase much after the 120".

 

[tzucc]

I think Jeff you have it. The screen prices are ridiculous high, and it's just one more horse pill of cost to swallow hard on... I can move the screen closer, but it's already too cozy with the front row. I don't like the idea of chopping off pixels with scalers... might be perfectly adequate pq-wise, but I can't get comfy with wasting pixels.

 

[steve_fye]

Quote:

Originally posted by tzucc Projector can't move closer since a wall is in the way. Don't know what to do at this point. Any (serious) ideas?

Move the projector closer, remove the offending part of the wall. Seriously. Of course, make sure it's not a load-bearing wall. A little drywall, spackle, and paint and voila! Problem solved!


Steve

 

[Free]

Just Brainstorming here


There must be some sort of lens that you could put in front of the projector that could shrink the image a bit. I am no expert on optics but maybe someone who is could suggest something.


Hey, how about a pair of binoculars reversed in front of the projector

 

[mark haflich]

Steve. You are just another dumb engineer like me. Learn to think outside of the box!


Seriously, we have mounted the screen away from but attached to the wall in several installations we have done. The wall does not have to be moved. The screens are relatively light, load is not a problem. Depending on the amount the screen has to be moved closer, we have shimmed up to 10 inches. We did this by attaching 2 x 10s to the wall vertically at the same points the screen attaches to the wall without the shims. The 2 x 10s are cut shorter than the screen height so that you do not see them when the screen is attached. It looks great and makes the screen look like it is floating. Great place now for the center channel and sub. For a couple of inch move, you can uses washers or short pieces of cut pipe. In the old days where the lenses were fixed, there was no zoom range. The projector had to be mounted exactly so we often shimmed the screen just a little to get everything on the money (when say a steel beam prevented getting the projector where it had to be).

 

[steve_fye]

I'm from the "whatever works" school of engineering, so sometimes I'm forced to think outside the box!


I was actually being half-serious with my suggestion. If the wall (in front of the projector) is only interferring by a small amount, it may not be that difficult to do a bit of "modification" to make it work. Not knowing anything about the construction involved, I figured it's worth a try.


How about a quick digital picture of the projector as it's mounted? The screen also? I have to agree with you Mark in that the best suggestion will be moving the screen out a bit.


Steve

 

[tzucc]

I am probably just doing to get a bit wider screen. Simple solution. Wish JVC would check their specs on these things more carefully. It definitely is not 2.6 on the the min throw.


I am not too familiar with projectors in small rooms like mine (20x30). Does this so called light spill affect the whole room or does it refer only to the piece of the screen next to the image itself. Reason I ask is that the whole room is lit up by the projector. Can't figure out if it's reflections from the screen or some massive light spill from the lens itself.

 

[steve_fye]

The term "light spill" is used pretty loosely here, but it generally means one of 2 things:


1. Light that is emitted from the projector that falls outside the ultimate projected area. This is what most folks here regard "light spill" to be. It is extraneous light that is not "blocked" by the internal workings of the projector, and thus, makes its way out of the lens and onto your wall.


2. Light that is emitted from the projector that falls within the projected area, but is supposed to be black because of a difference in aspect ratio between your projector's default and the source material. For example, the SX21 has a 4:3 aspect ratio default - playing a 16:9 DVD means you are only using the middle part of the display. The "black bars" above and below the image are not entirely black - they will be a very dark shade of grey. This is not really "light spill" in my opinion, but some here refer to it this way.



I'm 99% sure your room is getting lighted from the reflected light from your screen.


Steve

 

[Free]

If you mask the front of the projector (place a piece of cardboard with a small hole cut just the size of the projected image) you will see an improvement. This indicates, to me, that some of the room light is spill comes from outside of the image area. Try it and you will see what I mean.

 

[tzucc]

Update: I carefully measured the picture width, and indeed it is 118" just like the 2.6:1 throw calculation would have it. I don't know what happened the other nite, but now it looks like the problem is no more. I can use the std 135" diag screen from Stewart.


Picture quality on this cheap fabric was nice. But not quite the sharpness I saw at CEDIA. I was feeding Monsters Inc from a DVD over component video. On my Sony tube TV, that DVD player/comp cable looks significantly more detailed, e.g. the monsters fuzzy hair. I suppose alot of this is plain old picture size... my TV is 35" diagonal, the SX-21 pic is 135" diagonal.


Color seems really swell... I think I am going to be really happy when I can drive some HD 1080i over DVI pics.

 

[maxleung]

tzucc, your Sony tv is probably applying a bit of edge enhancement to the image. Well, unless you turned off the sharpness on it and disabled SVM.


Conversely, the SX-21's sharpness setting may not be as high. There are a lot of factors to consider.


Personally, I prefer a smoother, more-film-like look. Although, using an HTPC with ffdshow and sharpening filter tricks does look damn nice.