[roni44]

First, I would like to say thanks to the members who have enlighten me on FP. I've decided to jump on the LT150. Should I get 4x3 or 16x9 screen? I'm on the budget and would like to spend less than 400.00 if it's possible. 80% dvd viewing, and would like to get the 16x9 screen, but I know LT150 is 4x3, how does that work??? I'll be hooking LT 150 to a progressive scan dvd player though component, what cable do I need?

Any input would be great . Thanks again

 

[Huey]

 www.a2zcables.com has 20 foot component (nice quality) for $40. You can get a 25 foot VGA-->5 BNC breakout at www.pccables.com for slightly cheaper ($30) but won't look as nice with 2 extra wires dangling and you'd need BNC-->RCA adaptors ($5) which may degrade signals a tad.


Screen wise, some recommends gray screens and most recommends high power. Dalite Model B 72"X96" manual pulldown 4:3 aspect can be had for $262 from www.cousinsvideo.com or from Jason Turk of AVS via price matching. Advantage of 4:3 is you can watch 4:3 and 16:9. You can vary a manual pulldown to 16:9 by not pulling down as far making it 54"X96" and then tilting PJ upward or if using HTPC, you can move image upward with PJ menu or via YxY. If you leave it down then movable masking with black cloth can essentially change your screen to 16:9 also without moving PJ. The cloth can be stretched across and attached via black clothes pin or similar metal paper clips.


If the screen is to be permanently mounted, 16:9 is cooler looking as you watch mostly 16:9 DVD's. Then 16:9 screen makes more sense. 4:3 titles can be shrunken via native mode of PJ (not available in RGB mode unless you use serial control via HTPC) or by moving PJ closer to screen (manually or on glides if installed on glide drawer). Of course this will leave vertical bars on the 2 sides of the 4:3 image which can be masked off if you choose. If you get anamorphic lens then moving lens out of the way can let you watch 4:3 on 16:9 screen. I personally just stretch my 4:3 image by choosing cinema mode of PJ as I like bigger image (short and fat people are OK with me ) and I don't want to mess with masking, moving PJ, etc.

 

[ckolchak]

if you really want to stay on a tight budget i'd suggest making your own screen.

you'll need a stapler and a drill and by projecting the images onto you wall first, you can take measurments and make the screen to the exact size you will be using, fairly easily.

i have one and it seems to work very well and seems to be quite close in gain to the 1.3 da-lites i've seen.

total cost was about $40 and it took about an hour to put together.

just a suggestion...

 

[Fiddler]

ckolchak - can u elaborate on how u made your screen? what material did u use? how do u keep it pefectly flat? etc

thanks

 

[ckolchak]

Fiddler:

i used Blackout fabric from Joanns and several pieces of 1" x 2"s.

to be as simple as possible

looking at the screen as a rectangle


1) staple the fabric to the wood at the top and bottom...about every 6" or so for the eight feet or how ever wide your screen is


2) roll the wood in one or two turns, making sure both 2" sides face each other on the interior of the screen.


3) measure this distance and cut several more pieces of 1x2, AN INCH OR INCH AND 1/2 GREATER than the measurement you took.


4) work these in between the top and bottom pieces of wood. when it is perfectly verticle. dill a small pilot hole into this verticle piece from the ouside edge of the screen and secure it with a 2 1/2-3" screw.


5) once you have that middle brace in, do the same on each side working out. 5 verticle posts inside an 8 foot wide screen should be more than enough. cutting these longer forces the material to stretch taught ( and it will!) so it doen't take a lot of work to get a nice, drum tight screen you can hang on the wall with just a couple of nails.


using a Lt150 you will find you HAVE to make some kind of masking system for the light spill around it.

but thats another thread...

 

[srauly]

Huey, I just lost a little respect for you (with all the help you've provided to me and others, I can't lose too much respect for you). But, come on, stretching a 4:3 image to fit a 16:9 screen? Call me a purist, but that just seems awful to me.


Scott

 

[Huey]

I like my image like my women: short and fat


I just like my image large and wide instead of pure image but smaller


To each his own

 

[roni44]

Thanks again for the tips guys. I have decided to get 16x9 screen. But what size should I get? and too hook up a progressive scan dvd player all I need is a component cable? what is a breakout cable? let say the projector is going to be away from the wall around 16 to 18 feet, what size should I get?

 

[ckolchak]

Dude,

with a 150 atthat distance your going to have a HUGE picture. i have mine about 12-13' away and have about a 7 1/2' wide 2.35 image.

with just the ps player for right now, i really don't think i can get much bigger without there being drawbacks. in fact, it seemed like the general trend from people with experience with these was to actually go a little smaller.

the best thing to do in any case is to get a sheet and project the image on that first. play around with that and then you'll be sure you order just the right size . i know its nice to have everything ready to go at once, but hey, anticipating all the little additions is half the fun

 

[Jason Turk]

Generally my pricing is acutally better than anywhere else. I do carry all of the major screen companies and their respective models, so it can be hard to keep track. But as Huey said, I do match and sometimes beat others prices if mine happens to be higher.


Thanks!

 

[srauly]

Jason, do you handle custom orders as well? I'll be interested in a Da-Lite Model B Hi-Power with extra black drop on the top, possibly on the bottom as well. For that matter, is it possible to get extra black on the sides as well? I might also want a non-standard size screen (I may end up with going with a 16:9 screen that is a bit smaller than the common 45x80 size). How much longer does it take for these types of special orders? Thanks,


Scott

 

[Huey]

Yeah with the short throw of LT150, 16-18 feet will give you too large of an image. At 14 feet, I get 100" wide. I'd try for 13-14 feet for 96-100" wide. Screen will be too expensive otherwise. If image is too large, you'd get whiplash following the scenes and rainbows are more likely if you have to move your head to follow the scenes. Plus screendoor and artifacts are more visible with larger image. Brightness will decrease with a larger image too.


As far as breakout vs. component. Breakout will "break" the VGA to its individual signals R, G, B H, V using red, green, blue, yellow, and black wires. Component will split VGA into just R, G, B and will be cleaner looking (otherwise you'd have 2 extra, dangling, unused wires). Component mostly terminates into RCA connectors and breakout usually terminates into BNC connectors which means you'd need RCA to BNC adaptors ($2/ea.). Price is about the same for both after you add the adaptors. www.a2zcables.com has 20 foot VGA-->component for $40 and it's pretty good quality. It's probably the best deal you'd get on this type of cabling.

 

[roni44]

I'll get component video cable. I'll put LT150 around 14ft with 96in widescreen. Is there anything else I need? I have Martinlogan Cinema center speaker, should I put it behind the screen or under the screen?

 

[xp800]

Quote:

Originally posted by roni44 I'll get component video cable. I'll put LT150 around 14ft with 96in widescreen. Is there anything else I need? I have Martinlogan Cinema center speaker, should I put it behind the screen or under the screen?

A 96" wide screen will put the projector just over 12' away. As for the breakout cable, I'd REALLY recommend going with a better quality cable if this is the only major one you will be buying. I recommend www.avcable.com. Give Jim a call to get an exact price for the component (3 RCA) to VGA breakout. My cable is 20' long and cost $70. It's made from Gepco bundled mini coax and uses Canare connectors. Not to knock a2zcables (I looked into them as well), but you get what you pay for.


Then all you have to do is set the DVD player to output to a 16:9 screen and put the LT150 in cinema mode in the aspect ratio control.


Enjoy!


- Dieter

 

[sinhas]

Huey & Xp800:


I saw comments above regarding cable quality, I just ordered mine from A2Z Cables for 40$, does it mean it will be inferior quality ... can it have much impact on the quality of image ?


With the entire setup running in a few thousands I wouldn't want to cut a few dollars on cable, but then I saw a note in one of the other posts that most of these cables are alike and don't vary that much ... I'm confused ???

 

[aviman33]

Basically its the law of diminishing returns. I found a S-Video cable 25' long for $8.99. Guess what, signal looked like crap. Now a good quality cable for $30 to $40 will look great. Will a $70 cable look better? It might spec better, it might look pretty and it might look fat & tough but I doubt you'll see a difference in a double blind test. The A2ZCable appear to be good studio quality cables, it's what I will be buying in a few days. But today I'm heading to Sears for a sale on RP56 players for $218.49.


Jon

 

[uncledeathmonkey]

Of course you could always build your own cables... inexpensive, good quality (ok can you solder?), and any length you need... see:
http://www.avsforum.com/avs-vb/showt...light=cat5+vga


I built my own htpc vga runs: a 24.5ft (lt150) and 49.5ft (dual head monitor) the signal looks great, the wire is superthin and you can't beat a single vga connection for simplicity! Beware however - soldering the sheilded cat 5 conductors to the vga pinouts is a pain, and requires a steady hand.


I too have gone the diy route for screens - and the blockout fabric does look good with an lt150, but I really would like my screen to roll up when not in use... soo looking for the 96"w X 72"h DaLite High Power mentioned above for $262 but could only find a 96X96 at cousinsvideo - anyone have a link for the 96X72s?


Extra black on the top and sides - eh? I wonder how much that would cost to add? Hmm...

 

[dhanson]

I've put up a web page describing my home-made screen for my LT-150. You can see it here:

http://members.home.net/danhanson/Th...eenproject.htm


For the LT-150, I'd recommend a 4:3 screen, with a homemade masking system. I built a 16:9 screen, and I regret it. I figured that since I don't watch anything but DVD's I wouldn't miss the 4:3 stuff.


Unfortunately, most of the special features on DVD, which I do watch, are shot in 4:3. And the menus are often 4:3, so sometimes menu options spill past the screen. And finally, quite a few movies are shot in 1.66:1, and on those, the top and bottom few inches of the image spill past the screen border.


I have my LT-150 ceiling mounted, and it has no zoom. So I'm pretty much out of luck when it comes to this stuff.

 

[uncledeathmonkey]

Dhanson,

Damn.. Nice job! That screen looks really professional!

 

[Mojodeli]

Quote:

Originally posted by xp800 exact price for the component (3 RCA) to VGA breakout. My cable is 20' long and cost $70. It's made from Gepco bundled mini coax and uses Canare connectors. Not to knock a2zcables (I looked into them as well), but you get what you pay for. - Dieter

I had a two component to vga cables - one from bettercables($200) and one from a2zcables ($40)


I and many others could not tell a difference with the $40 cable. My friend recently bought and LT150 based on my set up and I sold him the $200 cable for $217 - my cost with shipping. What he doesn't know won't hurt him


Just get the a2zcable and feel confident that you've made the right choice.



Chris