CurtPalme.com Home Theater Forum

forin · Joined: 12 May 2008 Posts: 11 Location: Cleveland

Hello, Long time lurker here.

Long story short, college is over (for now) and I now find myself a few months away from being able to afford a projector. For the past year and a half I have been agonizing over which projector technology will fit my needs. My good friend bought a three LCD Sanyo last year. After we finished bolting everything to the ceiling and firing it up I knew that I needed a projector. A few months before this I had bought a Sony Xbr970 CRT TV. I agonized for months over which TV technology to purchase and finally decided that I would rather spend my limited college fund on a high end CRT, than a cheap LCD. To this day I still fall in love with that set every time I fire it up for movies or games. After having it calibrated last September I have yet to find a better looking picture.

Before setting up my friends LCD projector I knew very little about projectors as a whole. After perusing through AVS forum I saw the CRT Projector section. After spending a few minutes I found a link to the CRT primer. Since then I have checked in here a few times a week to try and get a better handle on which technology is a better fit for my lifestyle.

Why am I not hell bent on picking up a CRT projector you ask?
1. At the moment my current living arrangements can allow for a floor mounted crt projector. The house that I have been living in for college has a halfway finished 20x13 basement room. Between the low ceiling (6 feet 10 inches) and at the landlords request I would be unable to put it anywhere other than the floor. Well the room is perfect otherwise with; concrete walls, complete light control, and purple walls (I am allowed to repaint the room). Sadly I will be moving from here sometime next summer (2009) when the landlord sells the house.

2. I want a long term projector. For optimal use I would want five years out of whatever I buy. In two years I will be starting a graduate program that requires three years of full time study. I do not know where I will end up, most likely the east coast. Coming from Cleveland where little money will net you a generous amount of living space, New York or D.C. will probably come as a shock. Where I will go is still undecided but I do know that I will not have the same amount of space available to me as I do now.

3. While working I will not have a problem funding bulb replacements. For all intents and purposes I am assuming that whichever projector I buy will have 20-30 hours a week of use. The use will of course vary but the source material will be either games (console, PC, old school, new school) or movies ( blue-ray DVD).

4. I am concerned about the noise a CRT projector outputs. I have never seen or head one before but everyone agrees that they are quite loud. If someone could throw me a few examples of how loud a CRT projector is that would be much appreciated.

5. I do not mind tweaking or playing around with settings from time to time. The gentleman who calibrated my CRT TV (Chad B) did an exceptional job and was highly recommended by the people at AVS forums. His work was flawless and he mentioned that I should get a CRT projector which he would be able to properly calibrate and setup. As mentioned before floor mount will probably be my only option for now and in the future.

What do I like in a picture? (In order)
Sharpness
Contrast
Punch
Rich Accurate Colors

Other technology and Problems (Not sure how well these translate to projectors)
LCD- Motion blur (I have an three year old 20 inch wide screen Dell LCD monitor and the motion blur is very annoying for games) Also the colors seem mute at least on the LCD's that I have seen and my pc monitor.
DLP- I have never seen a properly setup DLP set but the ones at BB and CC seem to cause eyes strain and produce mild rainbow effects. Everyone raves about how real the picture looks but the floor models seem unnatural to me.
CRT- Causes eyestrain to me after a few hours of use. Playing late night games or watching movies at night with dimmed lights the problems are very much accentuated.
LCOS- I have never seen one outside of BB and CC. The picture seemed a little flat color wise but seemed very comfortable to my eyes like LCDs i.e. no eyestrain.

In the end here is what I want out of a projector. A sharp, rich picture that will hold me over until I finish graduate school. I want to be able to use it frequently for gaming and movies, buying bulbs is not a problem now but I am more concerned about having a stable picture that does not require a lot of touch ups from dimming. As a bachelor for the foreseeable future size is not a problem but fan noise is. At the moment I have the physical space for one but that could change within 1 year. If a CRT projector is anything like my little XBR970 then that is the picture I want. Honestly if digital can come close to that than great. If not, with the information provided will a CRT projector be a decent match?

I will post a similar article on AVS's high end digital projector section sometime tonight. This way I can get opinions from both sides of the fence. I appreciate and welcome any advice given.

Person99 · Joined: 09 Mar 2006 Posts: 4899 Location: Flower Mound, TX

You covered many things except one of the most important ones: $$$$$

forin · Joined: 12 May 2008 Posts: 11 Location: Cleveland

I did not want to place a dollar figure just yet. At the moment I am still browsing in the technology isle. I am quite frugal and my conscious will not let me spend a great deal. Perhaps 3k for the projector but that number is a bit flexible. That of course does not include screen, calibration and cables.

Forin

Person99 · Joined: 09 Mar 2006 Posts: 4899 Location: Flower Mound, TX

XANATOS · Joined: 22 Mar 2006 Posts: 130

Sir it sounds like a crt projector will be right for you

i recomend you flex your budget a bit and buy a low hour barco 1209 from curt a quiet very sound projector
from a proven seller

and remember most home theaters are not built overnight they grow over time
a mighty barco 1209 from curt will be a great start

XANATOS

forin · Joined: 12 May 2008 Posts: 11 Location: Cleveland

Heres the issue about the budget. As a college student for 8 years 3k seems to be a lot of money to spend. When I start work this summer and the full time checks begin to flow my budget will ultimetly change. Will I spend 6k on a projector? Probably not. Now lets say I find a High end 9 inch or a Rs2 or VPW 60 for a really good price, there is a good chance I would pull the trigger even if it is over my budget. I guess the best answer is I dont really know what my top end budget is but for the moment 3k is the safest bet with the overall range being 2-4k. I hope this answers some questions, I appreciate all the help given so far.

Forin

**Curt Palme** · Posted: Tue May 13, 2008 3:13 am Post subject:

At this point you can get into a really good tube (not new, but in very good shape, minimal wear) for under $2K. I'v run across some low hour tubes recently, something that isn't too common on the used market. So figure on $2K tops for an 8500 that's been fully gone through, I even sell them for $1500 with a bit more tube wear. That leaves you a lot of room for add-ons like a Fury or Moome card.

forin · Joined: 12 May 2008 Posts: 11 Location: Cleveland

After reading about the MP mods my interest in a 8500 was perked. I figure it would be better to worry about modifications after I decided on a projector technology. Though I guess it is time to ask how far mods and extras can take a 8500. Does LC make a large difference over AC lenses? How much noise does a 8500 produce? Is stock sharp enough to surf the internet from my couch? Can stock produce 1080p? Can I keep it floor mounted with a table over it?

Forin

Mark_A_W · Posted: Tue May 13, 2008 1:39 pm Post subject:

Put a $100 bluray drive in your PC, run VGA and save yourself the hassle of HDMI/DVI. Learn to remux the bluray to MKV and you won't need to buy any playback software. You won't need a video processor either.

Pick up a 8" ES focus machine for $150 and see if it's for you.

If you like it then get yourself an 8" EM LC machine.

Floor mounted sucks, but it does work.

ecrabb · Posted: Tue May 13, 2008 3:09 pm Post subject:

Person99 · Joined: 09 Mar 2006 Posts: 4899 Location: Flower Mound, TX

**kal** · Posted: Tue May 13, 2008 8:47 pm Post subject:

I used to be an HTPC guy back when equivalent scalers cost $10,000. Today it makes zero sense to me to own an HTPC for something like Blu-ray playback. If you want the multimedia features, get a PS3.

Kal

Mark_A_W · Posted: Tue May 13, 2008 9:39 pm Post subject:

Blah blah blah.

60hz judder or hundreds on a scaler. Great. DVHS tapes??? LOL. Cable is an issue, but here we have DVB-T HD and tuner cards work fine - you can record/timeshift like a Tivo.

For him to get going on the cheap, as a student, just buy a drive. No mention of kids or a wife.

If it proves to be a PITA, nothing is lost, as the drive will be useful in the PC anyway.

But you guys let your kids or wife play with the CRT?? Mine is deliberately complicated enough that she'll get me to get it going - much safer that way. And the CRT is not a TV - it's special, like going to the movies - the HT uses an awful lot of electricity - it's a luxury. We use it maybe once a fortnight.
It doesn't matter that I rip the discs first (I don't have to BTW), it's not that hard, it's a two stage process.

HD-DVD still has a better range of films that BD anyway, IMO.

forin · Joined: 12 May 2008 Posts: 11 Location: Cleveland

Sorry about the delay in posting, 13 hour night shfits can really screw with your availibility.

Thanks for all of the suggestions so far. Currently I only have three housemates to contend with and yes sometimes its as if I have children. HTPC seems to be to much of a hassle. I fully intend to buy a PS3 in the next month for games and blue ray. If I do decide to go the CRT route and because they are not plug and play I would rather have the rest of the system as user friendly as possible.

Mark_A_W- your suggestions for buying a 8 inch EM focus machine for cheap seems like a good idea. With a little more thought I might just go ahead and try that option. This would give me something to play with during the summer and see if I can handle a crt. With regards to the floor mount, why does it suck? Other than having a large block sitting in the living room does it degrade the picture quality?

So far I greatly appreciate everyones contributions, all of the input has been very helpful.

Forin

Person99 · Joined: 09 Mar 2006 Posts: 4899 Location: Flower Mound, TX

drice1234 · Joined: 07 Oct 2006 Posts: 1309 Location: Allen, Texas

Person99 · Joined: 09 Mar 2006 Posts: 4899 Location: Flower Mound, TX

Person99 · Joined: 09 Mar 2006 Posts: 4899 Location: Flower Mound, TX

**kal** · Posted: Wed May 14, 2008 5:19 pm Post subject:

What Dave said.

Drinks go in the cupholders. Smile

Kal

forin · Joined: 12 May 2008 Posts: 11 Location: Cleveland

Well the problem with floor mounting a projector is that the ceiling is only 6 feet 8 inches tall. On top of that I am 6 foot 4 inches and the landlord does not want anything bolted onto the walls or ceiling. At the moment floor mounted is my only option be it digital or crt. For a retro reflective screen, would a Da-lite high power be ok? I thought I read somewhere that high power and crt do not mix well. Another potential problem that I might have with owning a projector is the crappy old wiring in my house. We blow through light bulbs all of the time, at least 1 a week. Would faulty wiring like this potentially damage a projector? The tv and audio equipment run fine and we have never had a problem with anything electronic other other than the light bulbs.

Forin