Digital Video Projectors

[Chris L. Gray]

<<<-- Originally posted by Christopher Go :
Chris, show us pictures of your setup!
-->>>

Chris,

I had some up, but had to move content to a different host. Let me see what I can find in the next few days, then post.

[Chris L. Gray]

Chris,

Found some pics that I hosted on geocities. Here are a few shots, but you can't really see the side velvet panels that well. The bookcases shot with the projector was taken a few weeks/months before the other pics.

Since I want the place to be as minimal looking as Chrisly-possible, I've hidden the rear channel and sub behind the sofa and in the window bays.

You might be able to see the front speakers in some shots, but they're not mounted the way that I want them to eventually be. (You know, that long list of 'to dos').

Anyway, enjoy.


http://host212.ipowerweb.com/~chicagoh/condo/

[Boyd Ostroff]

Arrgh! Do you stretch 4:3 TV programs to fit on the 16:9 screen? That drives me nuts ;-) http://host212.ipowerweb.com/~chicag.../theatretv.jpg

[Chris L. Gray]

Come on! It was the superbowl! :]

I mostly watch dvds in there, though.

[Chris L. Gray]

BTW,

Today is "Frankie Knuckles Day" here in Chicago. He's a pioneering house music dj and producer. The city is dedicating a street name to him. I hope that I can run back home, grab my dvx100a, run back downtown and shoot some of it for later use. Wish me luck!

[Christopher Go]

Hey Mike, congratulations on your daughter's wedding. To tell you the truth, anywhere you shoot here is gorgeous - I would say this even if I didn't live here - especially at around 10:00AM or later towards sunset for that golden sun.

If you can, do a drive through Waikiki beach from Kalakaua Avenue facing the ocean, then on pass Diamond Head. Another great area is in East Honolulu, starting near Hanauma Bay and around Koko Head, well on to Sea Life Park in Makapu'u. This is the same stretch of beach and cliffs that is in almost every Hawaii television show and movie, including 50 First Dates.

There is of course, the North Shore, Waimea Beach, and Sunset Beach. Finally, if you want to balance this scenery with some shots of the city, head up Tantalus for a 180 degree view of Honolulu. The view from up there is great.

All of these places are accesible with a short drive. From East Honolulu to the North Shore, it's about an hour, so with careful planning, you could do all this in one day depending on how much footage you want and if you do a lot of stops. Probably best to do Waikiki, Hanauma Bay, and Tantalus one day, North Shore another - you must enjoy yourself too!

Should make for a wonderful backdrop for your daughter's reception. Let us know what projector you decide on (to get back on topic, sorry about that)

Chris, I think your setup is better than mine, at least you have a dedicated room for the theater. Do you have your computer connected? How do you like the image from the PC? I was thinking of having an entertainment PC connected to the projector, but I have yet to do this. Hope your Chicago shoot went well.

[Chris L. Gray]

Chris,

I used to have my dining room as my theatre in the apt I rented because of it's length. So naturally it was a requirement that I have a room long enough, wide enough to throw a decent image in my condo. The room is about 22x12ft.

I tried to connect my powerbook to the projector when I first got it and did it the wrong way, had the wrong impression.

I didn't pay attention the the supplied cable from Sony, which includes an S-VHS plug.

I'll likely try it at some point in the future, but at this point, there's no porn.. um..I mean point. :]

I barely made it to the street name dedication ceremony on time... but even lunchtime traffic in Chicago is unbearable. I hopped right out of the taxi with cam in hand running toward the crowd.

Needless to say, I didn't have any time to properly white balance, etc. before shooting. Added, the weather was inclement and lighting flutuated just to toy with me.

Here's one clip near the end before we were drenched with some of the chubbiest rain I've seen all year. It didn't help that the subject(s) were very dark-skinned and under black umbrellas. Hah, notice that some guy had to use his boompole in an unusual way. :]

Which brings me to saying that I just received my JTL Everlight TL-1500 softbox kit today and IT WON'T BE TRAVELLING. It's like carrying my exbf around in a duffle bag. No thanks, studio shooting for me.

http://host212.ipowerweb.com/~chicagoh/frankie/frankieknucklesway2-082504.mov

[Mike Butler]

Many thanks, Chris Go. I'm gonna print it out and bring with me. I'm sure to get some good stuff. Plus we will be taking a side trip to the Big Island. I want to put lots of water (beaches, bays and harbors) because the reception will be in a yacht club.

Chris Gray, that's cool that they named a street after the Godfather of House. It's kind of ironic, most folks think of NYC as the birthplace of disco in the US, but Frankie had to move from NY to Chi to make his mark...and he has influenced pretty much all of recorded dance music since then. Funny, back in the day I didn't think that was his real name but a sortof "Mafia name" like Paulie Walnuts or Jake the Weasel...like maybe he got it cuz of his fistic prowess etc. :-)

No word yet on projector selection...if I had to buy today I'd get the X2, but let's see what comes out between now and next July.

[Chris L. Gray]

Mike, that's hilarious.. Knuckles does sound like some mafia brute..but I guess you could sorta consider Frankie a godfather in the way he had to help sheppard house music in..hahah.

[Gints Klimanis]

>Mike, if you go for the Infocus X1 I think you're going to be very >happy.

Christopher, a few of the on-line customer reviews of the X1 and X2 highlight their disappointment in the "rainbow" effect in which
one sees three images of the the components colors. Do you notice this effect on your X1 ?

Thanks,

Gints

[Rob Lohman]

I can join in! Yesterday I received an Infocus X2 which I have
for an extended loan. Watched some DVD's last night (no good
screen as of yet) and I could see the "rainbow" effect. I have
yet to watch a full movie on a screen so I don't know how much
of annoyance this will be, but from the test I don't think it will
be that bad. If you get soaked into a movie I highly doubt you
will see it and it was most prominent on white hot surfaces when
I blinked my eyes.

Otherwise this is a GREAT projector for the money. Very nice
picture and this was only with a composite connection. Going
to upgrade to s-video and perhaps component later.

[Christopher Go]

Hey Rob, how lucky! How long do you have the projector for? When I first received my projector, I also used a blank white wall once or twice and it suited me fine for the time being. I like how you can throw the image practically anywhere. Although hardly ideal, there are many uses: check out this link on Guerilla Drive-Ins. Sounds like this goes hand in hand with DV filmmaking!

Gints, yes I was well aware of the rainbow effect before I purchased the X1. I also visited several home theater forums on the matter to see whether this would prove to be a potential problem.

But now, with many hours of use on the projector, I've come to the same conclusion as many other (happy) X1 owners. If it weren't for this knowledge, many of us would have overlooked the rainbows altogether. There are only a few people who are very sensitive to it, and of course, if you're one of them, you'll know right away and can't stand it.

The truth is though, I kept an eye on my friends and family to see if they noticed anything awry but all they were focused on was the image and movie. I refrained from telling them about the rainbows and they noticed nothing wrong.

As for me, I did detect them here and there at first, very brief, fleeting rainbow hues in the peripheral of my vision. When there were distinct contrasts in the picture, and especially when I turned my head or blinked, as Rob noticed.

Also similar to Rob's experience, you stop noticing it quickly enough however. If you can, check out a projector in person and see if it bothers you. Otherwise, I doubt you'd even notice if it weren't for the reviews.

In fact, I predict having such a large image in your living room is what will be the most disconcerting aspect at first. I'm only now recovering from the spectacle of it all. I try to watch and study one movie every two days on it, and this has been the most enjoyable aspect of owning a projector.

[Christopher Go]

As a compliment to this thread, what is everyone using for a DVD/entertainment center and speakers?

I've been keeping an eye out for Region free DVD players - NOT for piracy reasons - but because many films I've been purchasing lately have been foreign films and sometimes it's difficult finding Region 1 DVDs from other countries. I recently purchased Hero and watched it on the projector (Hero's been out in China for two years now and was only released to American screens this week; they have the DVD for sale if you look around).

[Chris L. Gray]

Chris,

I grabbed an economical Zenith DVD216 system as a starter. To my surprise, it's been pretty good for only about $230 USD.

I was walking through a Best Buy here in Chicago one day and decided to upgrade to my first surround sound system after testing the home dvd player waters for a while. I was late to the DVD party but a friend of mine was annoyed with my simple stereo setup and suggested otherwise.

I was actually shopping for some DVDs to add to my quite limited selection at that time, but also wandered into the home theatre section. Before that day, I was thinking about buying a flat screen tv, but began checking out the home theatre systems on display. I couldn't believe that there were affordable systems, because the last time I kept track of home theatre equipment, everything was over $1,000. So I was pleasantly surprised to find simple home DVD players for $49! My Mintek dvd player was only $39 or so and it's been very reliable the last couple of years.

Anyway, I complained to several people at Best Buy that there was no way to really truly review the home theatre systems because they were only setup to test stereo material. So finally a manager agreed with me and ripped open a dvd copy of Gladiator. The difference between that and some bland, corporate soft rock sample cd they had was amazing! It brought the Zenith system to life and I bought it on the spot.

I know this isn't worthy of a pro, but it's a great starter system and has brought me hours of pleasurable movie watching.

That's my story.

http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/tg...13659?v=glance

[Rob Lohman]

Christopher: I have the projector for at least 6 months as it now
looks, perhaps longer. Time will tell!

As to the rest of my entertainment facility. I have an el cheapo
DVD player which has s-video connector on it's mainboard but
not on the outside casing so I'm gonna solder that in. Then I
will probably be looking for a DVI progressive DVD player in the
near future (X2 has progressive DVI in!).

The one thing I most like in my setup is my Yamaha RX-V620RDS
AV receiver. It has Dolby Digital and DTS decoding and offers a
slew of settings to setup your speakers. It supports video and
audio switching at the same time which is neat. Great receiver.

I have some older not too good Philips speakers, though. But
for now they will do. Can't really open the audio anyway since
I have 3 neighbours surrounding me who would probably not
like that too much, heh.

p.s. the Guerilla Drive-In sounds nice!