[Ajit Anand]

Hi All,

First of all thanks for sharing so much info out here.

Maestro's like Benchun/Jonjandran/SupraGuy - you guys are amazing! What amazing quality you have achieved!!

And Elken! I read several of your experiments and I was left with only LOTS OF WOWISMMM,,,

So I will start my PLOG here, begining with the Parts list.

There we go!

This post has been edited by Ajit Anand: 25 September 2007 - 06:09 PM

[Ajit Anand]

So the Parts list:

- 14.1 INCH WXGA LCD Monitor from Intex [16ms response time + 350:1 Contrast]

- Pro 100mm Diameter / 500mm FL Triplet from Optolife [Never knew it will weigh like a brick]

- 550mm FL Fresnel + 220mm FL Fresnel from 3DLens.com

- 7inch x 4 inch FS Mirror from eBay (vette4jj)

- UV/IR Filter Glass [4x3.5 inch 2mm thick sheet, big enough to window the light box]

- Havells 150W 6500K, 14000 Lumens, Short Arc Lamp. With matching coil Ballast from Havells [Thats so heavy, and happens to be the 2nd brick in my PJ box]

- 2 CPU Cabinet Cooling fans [some chinese make, not the best ones at 12V, but ok for my super efficient 150 watter for now]

- 2 AMP - 12V AC-DC Adapter for powering the Fans [courtesy, my old scanner, which I dont use anymore]

- Lots of Plywood, Sunmica sheet, Wood Spacers, Wires, Screws

- My Friendly Carpenter Who does not understand mm/cm, only talks in inches, difficult... but a good wood-hacker!

- Lots of weekends

- HTPC + Laptop to fire up the LCD...


------------------------------------------------

Fortunately the Projection area will be totally light controlled. The constraint I had was that the most comfortable place for my PJ (my bedroom), can provide only 10feet of throw distance, and the max flat projection wall can be around 70-80 inches diagonal [curtains/furniture/switchboard/window/AirCon/Wall Paintings etc have all eaten up bigger areas of my room].

So I could not go with Standard Triplet. I needed to reduce the projection size, I opted for the Pro Setup. Never knew earlier that I will have to make a massive box in which I my self can fit in [may be if I dont eat anything for few days ]

Budget was around 500-700 dollars max. Which I think I have already touched up thanks to the painful shipping charges by UPS/EMS

For most of the things, the shipping charge was more than the actual cost. (we all know this)

--------------------------------------------------

I have done around 90% of my PJ building. THANKS to the enormous information out here!

I will post more about how things are and were in coming days, and then jump to the problems that I am facing... may be all of you can help me out

--------------------------------------------------

Modified the Lumens for the Lamp from 20K to 14k, it was by mistake.

This post has been edited by Ajit Anand: 06 September 2007 - 05:31 AM

[Ajit Anand]

OK. Dont know why but I am unable to attach pics here... any help? I will have to upload somewhere else and link it out here later then... problems...

[Ajit Anand]

The Stripped LCD in its wooden frame along with the tiny Controller and OSD...

 DSC00758.jpg (85.99K)
Number of downloads: 33

[Ajit Anand]

One of the FANs and the Tiny Lamp
 DSC00762.jpg (75.94K)
Number of downloads: 33


The UV/IR FIlter glass, TINY and THIN!
 DSC00761.jpg (30.26K)
Number of downloads: 26

This post has been edited by Ajit Anand: 22 August 2007 - 06:16 AM

[Ajit Anand]

The HUGE Box (I know it looks real bad, but its got so bad since I did wrong measurements earlier, and it had to be rebuilt, thrice...)

 DSC00743.jpg (73.91K)
Number of downloads: 34

Above it is another HUGE Item, thats the MASSIVE Triplet.

I had this lying on the floor for a while, to put in the LCD and fire up the test projection... could not wait further

The Triplet is just lying there, not fixed... Test Projection will be on the white ceiling... Distance from PJ Surface to ceiling is 9.5 feet, that is fortunately similar to what I will have when I place it at the final destination (my room).

[Ajit Anand]

Now something about interiors of this PJ Warehouse...

 DSC00756.jpg (31.52K)
Number of downloads: 28

 DSC00745.jpg (40.61K)
Number of downloads: 21

 DSC00752.jpg (33.59K)
Number of downloads: 19

[Ajit Anand]

Now some Test Projections:

(The barrelling is becoz of the camera, I dont know how to focus it correctly in dark mode)

Picture was a bit brighter than what we see here in this pic...

 DSC00726.jpg (33.29K)
Number of downloads: 27
Note that till this point everything was temporary, so many electric tapes, foam used as spacers, to hold things up... This was a fantastic moment for me! My first DIY Projection

My Bad choice, I have chosen this dark scene from a Pioneer HD Test Movie... But WTH, my PJ worked atleast!

I noticed one major thing here though, that I will explain through my next pic...

 DSC00741.jpg (72.69K)
Number of downloads: 25
Worms 3D!

I tried to see how gaming would look like, and then I realized the image is horizontally flipped!

I had this in my mind when I was fixing the LCD Frame, but then I thought in worst case CTRL+ALT+ARROWKEYS can help me out in fixing this.

But I was wrong!

It can only Rotate, cant do a Mirror Display!

Time to rework on the LCD placement now, which was going to be difficult...

Anyways, colors were OK...

[x_25]

That looks good. And getting the LCD in backwards is a common mistake when someone builds a folded projector.

[HDTVaddict]

Looking good, I also got my LCD backwards the first time, where in India do you live?

[Ajit Anand]

x_25, on Aug 22 2007, 09:18 PM, said:

That looks good. And getting the LCD in backwards is a common mistake when someone builds a folded projector.

HDTVaddict, on Aug 23 2007, 01:18 AM, said:

Looking good, I also got my LCD backwards the first time, where in India do you live?

Thanks for looking My PLOG's got her first guests!

I stay in New Delhi in India

Now when I am planning to put in the LCD reversed, compulsory distance with the fresnels due to the L shape orientation of the LCD FFC is another issue, that I am now trying to solve out... I gave a try by placing fresnels around 5 cm from the LCD, but pics are a bit darker and out of focus.

Shall be posting few more pics in here... stay tuned

[Ajit Anand]

Some bad news and some good news...

Bad news first:

While reversing my LCD (triplet Vs lamp) to try out split setup and lesser distance between rear fresnel and lcd, I think I know I messed up, I was a bit harsh on it.

The connecters between LCD and LCD Glass are not friends anymore...

When I switched on, all I could see is thousands of coloured lines... I did not want to believe I killed the LCD, but it was true... I did it...

Now the big question - Should I go ahead with a new LCD? the 10.6 incher?

No.

Then some good news:

Then as (I think) Jonzo / Jonjandran once mentioned I tried pressing the connector firmly with my finger with LCD plugged in, and there was one position where I could get it working back again

Tapes, clips did not help at all, so I fitted in the LCD at its position in the PJ box, and putted in a tick Thermacol piece that keeps on some pressure at the right place, and LCD is back in action!

[Ajit Anand]

And yes, I forgot to add: The picture is in correct orientation now

Shall post some more pics later, did not get good ones till now dont know how to setup camera for PJ Snaps.

Light options: Daylight/Cloudy/Sunlight/Incandecent?
Flash: Off for sure
Focus: Multiple Objects
Focus Distance: 3 meters
Colors: Natural
Exposure Time: 80 / or some larger values? 200/400/800/1000?

The barrelling effect by the camera is most annoying. Also finding a nice place to keep it to use the timer mode for jerk-free pics...

I will post new pics in a day or so, so suggest something please for this.

[ratnapk]

Dear Mr. Ajit Anand,

How much did you pay for the Pro Lens, and shipping? I am looking for one. Did you pay any
customs duty?

Also I would like to know the overall quality of intex 14.1 LCD, say compared to samsung 540N.

I would like to point out that ceramic metal halide lamps are supposed to be used in closed Luminare
because of UV radiation etc in case of breakage of outer glass case. Osram has one which can be used
in openluminaire, called HCI E/P NDL (150 watt, 14,200 lumens, 4200 Kelvin).

Does the coil type ballast make noise? I was hesitant to buy coil ballast because of this. Did you get
FS mirror from ebay India?

RatnaPK

[quote name='Ajit Anand' date='Aug 21 2007, 09:59 AM' post='248006']
So the Parts list:

- 14.1 INCH WXGA LCD Monitor from Intex [16ms response time + 350:1 Contrast]

- Pro 100mm Diameter / 500mm FL Triplet from Optolife [Never knew it will weigh like a brick]

- 550mm FL Fresnel + 220mm FL Fresnel from 3DLens.com

- 7inch x 4 inch FS Mirror from eBay (vette4jj)

- UV/IR Filter Glass [4x3.5 inch 2mm thick sheet, big enough to window the light box]

- Havells 150W 6500K, 20000 Lumens, Short Arc Lamp. With matching coil Ballast from Havells [Thats so heavy, and happens to be the 2nd brick in my PJ box]

This post has been edited by ratnapk: 28 August 2007 - 02:03 PM

[Ajit Anand]

ratnapk,

- Pro Lens I got from China [OptoLife]. Costed me around 120$ including shipping. No duty, was I lucky?

- Samung is the best LCD, cant compare. But I wanted a widescreen with max resolution and small size, so 14.1 inch was the best option. Could not find anything better here than this one at this price (150$). And it is quite satisfactory.

- 4200K is too low, go for 6500K. Mine has a very short arc. And it will be running in a closed luminaire - my PJ I also have a UV/IR Filter in front of the lamp.

- My coil ballast is totally silent. Only when it starts, I can hear a 5-7 second noise like somthing sparking, which I think is the noise from BULB, not coil.

- yes, FS Mirror from eBay.

Did I answer all your questions?

[Ajit Anand]

Madagascar (trailer) at 720p!

And guys the PJ not 100% tweaked, projected amazing screens!

The Title (did not pause it before taking the pic)
 DSC00881.jpg (15.48K)
Number of downloads: 26


When Paused:
 DSC00893.jpg (67.59K)
Number of downloads: 23

It was spectacular in person, but camera did not do justice with the capture

Excellent Colors!

I am thinking if my corner focus problem gets resolved, it will do wonders

PS: I could notice that something was coming in between my LCD and Fresnels at the top left corner. But in Widescreen, this was not noticeable (black bars up and down).

Later today I will take pics of my wall, you will see it is not even painted well as of now (in progress). Doing a Plaster of Paris job on this wall for ultra smooth surface for my screen. Projection will get much better then.

[ratnapk]

Ajit,

The clarity and colours in your projector are excellent !

Regarding the corner problem, I think it is not about focussing, but lighting.
As you know already, rear freshnel of 220f should be exactly 22cm from the
light source and the f550 freshnel should be exactly 55cm from the centre
of the triplet.

You have to keep f550 exactly 55cm from the triplet to make all parallel light
beams converge to the triplet without much loss. As a consequence unless you
want larger than, or equal to 10 times magnification, you are forced to put f550
freshnel lens after the LCD! (This can be easliy derived from the lens equations
1/u + 1/v = 1/f , v/u =m, the magnification. u=distance from Triplet to LCD,
v= dist from Triplet to screen.) Remember m = 10 or larger, means v = 5.5
metre or more!

So try putting LCD between the two freshnels, suitable distance apart (the distance
between freshnels you can change). I am sure it will sort out your problem.

Best of luck.
Ratnapk

[Madagascar (trailer) at 720p!

And guys the PJ not 100% tweaked, projected amazing screens!

Excellent Colors!

I am thinking if my corner focus problem gets resolved, it will do wonders

This post has been edited by ratnapk: 30 August 2007 - 12:41 PM

[Aerosoul22]

Wow! Madagascar looks NICE! Good job

[Ajit Anand]

ratnapk, on Aug 30 2007, 06:00 PM, said:

Ajit,

The clarity and colours in your projector are excellent !

Aerosoul22, on Aug 30 2007, 10:31 PM, said:

Wow! Madagascar looks NICE! Good job

Thanks guys!

I am testing few more things right now. Actually modding my Triplet. Shall post my results, as what elken suggested in his Tripley Mod topic did not help me. I am trying other options. Shall be posting new screens with my results soooooooooooon...

[matcauth0n]

Hi Ajit,

I've always been at the border wanting to jump into the PJ making arena. But somehow have been discouraged because of limited lenses options available in india and the heavy duty for imports. But what you have achieved there has got me all pumped up . Rest assured I m gonna kill my friend if he returns from california without the lumenlab pro lenses kit. God i hope i dont have to start ordering from here.

I am just wondering which would be the best option for lighting. Have been through couple of forums and found people recommending Osram a lot of times. Any specific reasons for chosing havells ( m not very techie in this ) ?

Btw how much time did it take to ship this things to ur place. Might take me about the same time as i m in Noida.

Keep up the good work. waiting for more screenshots.

Cheers

[ndnjoeh]

Glad to see another 14.1 build, that controller of yours is identical to mine and I have always wondered about its responce time my digipix said that it was a 25ms but yours says 16ms. Makes me wonder how they do ratings. I use my PJ with my 360 and do not run a PC with it One of these days I'll hook up one just to see how it does with a dvd on the computer. I am impressed with the way you made yours with a long throw triplet and folded it I tried to fold mine but I am using a 320mm field fresnel and did not have a large enough FS mirror. If you decide to use a TV box make sure it does 1280:800 to get the best picture, 720 and 768 will stretch.


I am surprised at how great the colors came out every time I see one of the 14.1 it makes me glad I got one.

By the way your picture taking abilities are much better then mine, and I have yet to take a shot of my PJ that truely shows how nice this LCD is.

[Ajit Anand]

ndnjoeh

Regarding Response Time - I did not expericnce any ghosting at all in movies and Worms 3D

Actually, I am currently facing some serious corner focus issues (which is not so apparent when watching movies). I have achieved some success over this by modding my Triplet, but cant implement it immediately becoz it requires me to mod my box as well becoz of changes in lens's focal length.

I am also facing another problem - My desktop res is now giving me options to set 1280x600, 1280x768, 1280x720, 1280x900. But not 1280x800. Any idea on how I can get this resolution set? I get this res on my laptop, but not on my Desktop [intel chipset with integrated graphic card, Win XP OS on both]. Do I need some drivers for my LCD?

[Ajit Anand]

matcauth0n, on Sep 5 2007, 05:29 PM, said:

Hi Ajit,

I've always been at the border wanting to jump into the PJ making arena. But somehow have been discouraged because of limited lenses options available in india and the heavy duty for imports. But what you have achieved there has got me all pumped up . Rest assured I m gonna kill my friend if he returns from california without the lumenlab pro lenses kit. God i hope i dont have to start ordering from here.

I am just wondering which would be the best option for lighting. Have been through couple of forums and found people recommending Osram a lot of times. Any specific reasons for chosing havells ( m not very techie in this ) ?

Btw how much time did it take to ship this things to ur place. Might take me about the same time as i m in Noida.

Keep up the good work. waiting for more screenshots.

Cheers

Thanks matcauth0n,

Fortunately, I have not paid even a single penny on duties for these items

For lighting, I would say whatever lamp has the smallest size for same wattage + color (e.g. 6500K) + Lumens would be the best. I started with 150W havells since it was the only option I easily found, philips etc were not available for such a small size (since only 400W option was available in the market).

I will soon switch to 250 watt double ended lamp (either from Philips/Havells) as soon as I get one. Double Ended are smaller in size generally. Make sure it has UV guard on it. Havells say this on the brochure, but it was not on the lamp packing. But I am using a UV/IR Filter, so its ok. The Havells ballast is also noiseless.

Shipping Time - None of the items took me more than 4 days to reach me. 3d lens was fastest. It was at my place in just 2 working days!

Shall post more screenies this weekend. Since what I am seeing now is not much better than I have already posted. It would be better after making the Mods as I said in my above post.

[gurdip]

HDTVaddict, on Aug 23 2007, 01:18 AM, said:

Looking good, I also got my LCD backwards the first time, where in India do you live?

Hey Ajit,

how are you? nice to see your creation on the net....it look great. cud u pls tell me frm where did u get the Triplet lens...?

I hv a triplet but it is only 63 MM in DIA..and has a FL of 380 MM....pls guide.

thanks

[Ajit Anand]

gurdip, on Sep 6 2007, 02:59 PM, said:

Hey Ajit,

how are you? nice to see your creation on the net....it look great. cud u pls tell me frm where did u get the Triplet lens...?

I hv a triplet but it is only 63 MM in DIA..and has a FL of 380 MM....pls guide.

thanks

Hi Gurdip,

I got my Triplet from OptoLife (in China).

Actually for a smaller Focal Length, (as per my limited knowledge on this topic) you might not require a higher diameter.

The size of triplet is generally higher for Higher FL lenses, as well as for using large screen sizes (above 15 inches) to capture more and more light on the triplet.

The Standard Lenses (with short FL) that other ppl are using here have similar diameter as yours. Those are smaller. So nothing to worry about Diameter.

Focal Length: Actually the Focal Length guides the amount of magnification that you can achieve from a Lens.

If you try to project images from 2 lenses of different FL keeping the distance between lens and screen the same, you will get a bigger image from the lens having shorter FL.

Some people (including me) want to place PJ at a larger distance from the screen (say, at the end of room). If we use short FL lens, the projected image will be too big to be contained on the screen. To control that size from a larger distance, we use Higher FL lenses.


So only 2 reasons for Higher FL:
1. Big Screen Size
2. Long Throw Distance desired or Short Projection Size desired.

Also note that if you use a higher FL Lens, the distance between LCD/Fresnel and Triplet also increases. So PJ box will be much bigger.


Oops... I wrote so much...