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TheyDroppedMe
Joined: 25 Oct 2009
Posts: 28
Location: Atlanta, GA
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| Posted: Sun Oct 25, 2009 10:34 pm Post subject: My first CRT projector |
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Well, I've decided I'm going to go with a CRT for this Theater. I've had several digital projectors in the past, but I've just never been happy with the black levels. Because I'm pouring all my money into my business, I'm working with a limited budget, lets say around $700 to my house.
I'll be using either a 92" or a 106" screen and all of my sources are set to output 1080i, although I'd like the ability to do 720p for some movies on my HTPC.
I was thinking about a 12xx projector, but will I be unhappy with ES focus? A 12xx projector would probably leave me under budget by a couple hundred bucks, so is there any projector I should be looking at? I'm not looking for digital-like 1080p sharpness, but I'd like 1080i to look pretty good.
Thanks in advance,
Greg
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wallace123456
Joined: 14 Aug 2006
Posts: 2236
Location: Northwest VA area
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| Posted: Sun Oct 25, 2009 11:06 pm Post subject: |
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Sony 1272 (es) was a good first projector for me. I also had lots of spare parts, so messing around with it was less stress. But, once I got an nec 6pg xtra (em), I'll never go back.
You should get a very decent picture from the 12xx projectors with decent tubes.
Be forewarned: you'll get the "CRT" bug! 
wallace
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Curt Palme
CRT Tech
Joined: 08 Mar 2006
Posts: 24396
Location: Langley, BC
TV/Projector: All of them!
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| Posted: Sun Oct 25, 2009 11:14 pm Post subject: |
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I could get you into an NEC PG delivered for about $800 or so. Something like a 6 PG that will do 1080i/720p better than the 12XX. I know that's a bit above your budget, but if you can squeeze it, you'll get a really nice set that will last quite some time, that's above the 12XX.
Otherwise I can get you the 12XX under $700, say about $600 delivered with nice tubes.
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draganm
Joined: 08 Mar 2006
Posts: 8990
Location: Colorado
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| Posted: Sun Oct 25, 2009 11:15 pm Post subject: |
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going from digital's, which always appear sharp due to the pixel structure, to an ES focus might be a problem. I think the softness of the picture will bother you and distract from whatever your trying to watch.
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TheyDroppedMe
Joined: 25 Oct 2009
Posts: 28
Location: Atlanta, GA
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| Posted: Sun Oct 25, 2009 11:24 pm Post subject: |
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Curt, I might have to get some more information on that PG projector... What kind of wear on the tubes?
OTOH, i just found a guy that is selling a G70 in craigslist for $650 with "little to no" wear, but thinks one of the boards has gone bad. I have no idea if this is worth it, as I don't know the first thing about diagnosing CRT's, and I don't know if the board(s) needed to fix it would push me over my budget.
That being said, what do you guys think I should do? I can go look at the G70 on tuesday, he thinks it's the convergence board, as they can't get it to converge correctly... What should I look for on the G70? I would feel more comfortable buying something from Curt knowing that it has come from a true professional and is in good working order. Would a G70 even be THAT much better than the PG?
Too many options...
Greg
P.s. I can't wait to get the CRT bug - I'm a tweaker at heart
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Nashou66
Joined: 12 Jan 2007
Posts: 16171
Location: West Seneca NY
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| Posted: Sun Oct 25, 2009 11:30 pm Post subject: |
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A g70 would be much better since its LC and a better set electronically and ease of set up from what i have read. But id offer him 300 for a non working set, see if he takes it then the rest of your budget you can spend on having Curt fix it. 
But then again My preference would be for you to fine a Marquee, I bet if you look one would show up.
Nashou
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TheyDroppedMe
Joined: 25 Oct 2009
Posts: 28
Location: Atlanta, GA
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| Posted: Mon Oct 26, 2009 3:47 am Post subject: |
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well oddly enough, one of the guys that my business works with is selling a NEC 9PG Xtra he removed from a client's theater for $350 with the mount and all of the manuals. What should I look for when I go inspect the projector? Is it easy to take the lenses off to check out the tubes?
Other than the tubes, what else should I look for? I'm guessing leaky capacitors and oxidation on circuit boards, but what would someone who knows what he's doing (read: Curt) look for?
Oh, and I started a thread about what to do with my ceiling fan, so please take a look at it too and give me some help too.
I really appreciate the help with everything guys, if any of you live in the Metro Atlanta area and need some custom electronics work (home automation, whole house audio, networking, etc) I'd be more than happy to give y'all some discounts on stuff.
Thanks again,
Greg
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draganm
Joined: 08 Mar 2006
Posts: 8990
Location: Colorado
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| Posted: Mon Oct 26, 2009 6:03 am Post subject: |
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A broken G70 or a nice 9PGX from a private home theatre  IS that even a question?
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Zebu Fellenz
Joined: 21 Dec 2006
Posts: 2567
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| Posted: Mon Oct 26, 2009 10:37 am Post subject: |
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| draganm wrote: | | A broken G70 or a nice 9PGX from a private home theatre IS that even a question? |
Sure it's a question, and a good question to boot.
Tube condition was not mentioned on the NEC, I would take a G70 with clean tubes and a board problem over a roasted 9PGX any day, think of it this way, what would you rather have, a Marquee 8000 that spent a few thousand hours setup wrong in someone elses theater, and has a horrible little burn pattern, or a low hour Marquee 8500 LC Ultra with colored C-elements and all the whiz bang mods, but also has a board problem? 
Of course both machines could be pretty well worthless for one reason or another, if you want assurance you should just buy from Curt.
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ecrabb
Forum Moderator
Joined: 13 Mar 2006
Posts: 15909
Location: Utah
TV/Projector: JVC RS40, Epson 5010
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| Posted: Mon Oct 26, 2009 3:09 pm Post subject: |
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| Zebu Fellenz wrote: | | Tube condition was not mentioned on the NEC, I would take a G70 with clean tubes and a board problem over a roasted 9PGX any day |
Depending on the problem with the G70, it may or may not be a good option. $650 is a little much IMHO for a non-working machine. The tubes better be pristine at that price.
The 9PG Xtra... Again, totally depends on the tubes. Could be a great machine, or it could be a wast of time money for somebody on a tight budget.
It all depends on the tubes - on both machines.
SC
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TheyDroppedMe
Joined: 25 Oct 2009
Posts: 28
Location: Atlanta, GA
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| Posted: Mon Oct 26, 2009 3:24 pm Post subject: |
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well, before he took it down, he fired it up and said he didn't see any wear on it. It was ISF calibrated twice, so the brightness/contrast was hopefully kept reasonable. How do I get the lenses off to check the tubes (NEC 9PG Xtra)?
Also, is there any way for me in the future to swap out the lenses for LC? I was thinking that if there were no easy LC swaps, one of my old professors at Tech developed an anti-reflective polymer coating... maybe he would let me test it on some old lenses...
Thanks again,
Greg
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AnalogRocks
Forum Moderator
Joined: 08 Mar 2006
Posts: 26706
Location: Toronto, Ontario, Canada
TV/Projector: Sony 1252Q, AMPRO 4000G
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| Posted: Mon Oct 26, 2009 3:45 pm Post subject: |
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| TheyDroppedMe wrote: | well, before he took it down, he fired it up and said he didn't see any wear on it. It was ISF calibrated twice, so the brightness/contrast was hopefully kept reasonable. How do I get the lenses off to check the tubes (NEC 9PG Xtra)?
Also, is there any way for me in the future to swap out the lenses for LC? I was thinking that if there were no easy LC swaps, one of my old professors at Tech developed an anti-reflective polymer coating... maybe he would let me test it on some old lenses...
Thanks again,
Greg |
There's not an easy LC swap for these but you can upgrade to HD144's or HD145's ( if it doens't already have them ) IIRC some of those NEC's have HD6 lenses on them.
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emdawgz1
Joined: 14 Mar 2006
Posts: 7949
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| Posted: Mon Oct 26, 2009 3:49 pm Post subject: |
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| TheyDroppedMe wrote: | well, before he took it down, he fired it up and said he didn't see any wear on it. It was ISF calibrated twice, so the brightness/contrast was hopefully kept reasonable. How do I get the lenses off to check the tubes (NEC 9PG Xtra)?
Thanks again,
Greg |
Have you read the Curtpalme Primer on Tube wear???
http://www.curtpalme.com/TubeCondition.shtm
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draganm
Joined: 08 Mar 2006
Posts: 8990
Location: Colorado
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| Posted: Mon Oct 26, 2009 6:43 pm Post subject: |
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| ecrabb wrote: | | $650 is a little much IMHO for a non-working machine. SC |
a "little much". I wouldn't pay more than a hundred bucks for that thing but I'm biased. 
the 9PGX is the clear choice here,if the installer says it's in good shape with no burn then that's a hell of a lot better than some E-bay description. plus it's got the remote and mounting bracket, you can spend months just looking for those.
BTW, ALL CRT lenses that i know of have an anti-reflective coating. A bit of advice here, ask the guy how much he wants to set it up at your place. Even at $700 total for the PJ + install it's worth every penny IMO. You will learn more watching that guy for a few hours than you will reading the manual for the next 6 months.
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TheyDroppedMe
Joined: 25 Oct 2009
Posts: 28
Location: Atlanta, GA
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| Posted: Mon Oct 26, 2009 11:21 pm Post subject: |
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thanks for the help guys. I went to look at the NEC, and it had pretty bad wear/ a pretty good burn of the ESPN ticker, so I'm going to pass on that one.
Strangely enough, I found another NEC 9PG Xtra for sale by the user rtart on another forum, who originally bought it from Curt. It's about the same price, and comes with just about everything I would need, plus he has offered to help me set it up, so I'm going to look at that one and hopefully get it. Strange how things work out sometimes
About the AR coating, the coating I'm referring to is a brand new technique of self-depositing polymeric anti-reflective coating based on the structure of the moth's eyes. When I got to work with it in lab, the results were unbelievable - glass that had been coated with it was virtually invisible and COMPLETELY unreflective. We were testing the deposition method, and as a final test we would check the reflectivity with both a lamp and several lasers - if it weren't for the testing equipment, I honestly wouldn't have been able to see where the light was hitting it at all. Super cool stuff (the lab write up was a royal PITA though). Who knows, maybe he'll let me play with the stuff.
-Greg
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ronholm
Joined: 26 Jan 2007
Posts: 12111
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| Posted: Mon Oct 26, 2009 11:59 pm Post subject: |
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| Zebu Fellenz wrote: |
if you want assurance you should just buy from Curt. |
I will second that.. as I am sure many around here will do also...
My 808 is still humming right along... Haven't even had to touch up the convergence since the quick setup I did several months back... Gota love that...
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draganm
Joined: 08 Mar 2006
Posts: 8990
Location: Colorado
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| Posted: Tue Oct 27, 2009 12:50 am Post subject: |
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| TheyDroppedMe wrote: | | thanks for the help guys. I went to look at the NEC, and it had pretty bad wear/ a pretty good burn of the ESPN ticker, so I'm going to pass on that one. |
so it was owned by joe six-pack, that's too bad. sounds like you got a great opportunity to get a betetr one though
| TheyDroppedMe wrote: | | About the AR coating, the coating I'm referring to is a brand new technique of self-depositing polymeric anti-reflective coating based on the structure of the moth's eyes. When I got to work with it in lab, the results were unbelievable - glass that had been coated with it was virtually invisible and COMPLETELY unreflective. |
if you can get that to work and deposit it on Polycarbonate lenses Kal will set you up as a third party vendor in the Curt Palme marketplace
I can think of dozens of people who would love to eliminate Haloing on AC lenses without the enormous head-ache of LC chambers. hell,I'll be first in line............
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dturco
Joined: 06 Feb 2009
Posts: 3778
Location: Eastern Shore Maryland
TV/Projector: Runco DLP VX-3000i Marquee 9500 parts doner
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| Posted: Tue Oct 27, 2009 12:55 am Post subject: |
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| Curt Palme wrote: | I could get you into an NEC PG delivered for about $800 or so. Something like a 6 PG that will do 1080i/720p better than the 12XX. I know that's a bit above your budget, but if you can squeeze it, you'll get a really nice set that will last quite some time, that's above the 12XX.
Otherwise I can get you the 12XX under $700, say about $600 delivered with nice tubes. |
Yep just buy it from Curt . If not you'll spend a ton of time here asking How do I.. Ohh wait that's me.
Seriously I spent a lot of time after buying my machine lovingly called GOZER tracking down problems that Curt would have weeded out. For a few dollars more buy it from Curt and watch movies instead of trying to figure out How do I, it'll be worth every penny.
Of course you can still come here and post for fun 900+ post later you'll even learn something. I even started to learn how to type while I was/am here.
Edit: This was post 1001  Am I now the new raster?   
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AnalogRocks
Forum Moderator
Joined: 08 Mar 2006
Posts: 26706
Location: Toronto, Ontario, Canada
TV/Projector: Sony 1252Q, AMPRO 4000G
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| Posted: Tue Oct 27, 2009 2:17 am Post subject: |
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| dturco wrote: |
Edit: This was post 1001 Am I now the new raster? |
ROOKIE 
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dturco
Joined: 06 Feb 2009
Posts: 3778
Location: Eastern Shore Maryland
TV/Projector: Runco DLP VX-3000i Marquee 9500 parts doner
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| Posted: Tue Oct 27, 2009 3:02 am Post subject: |
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[/quote]ROOKIE
We can't all post 10 a day
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