CurtPalme.com Home Theater Forum

[zaphod]

... with my wife. regarding the home theater... it went something like this ...

what do you mean you're not going to put a media room in the basement? i miss watching movies on the big screen

you gotta love those reverse WAF problems, doncha?


so i've been told - in a good way - and i'm dusting off the plans from last year.

one of the big design factors is whether or not to get a new PJ as a part of this because that will affect placement of the hush box and associated venting.

i currently have a NEC XGLC throwing onto a 72" wide tab tensioned screen but if i go to acoustical transparent material i can grow that to 92" or perhaps 96" wide. That's just over max as the room is 156" wide with a 22" bulkhead. (156 - 44 = 112 and the 96" wide TT screen has a 113" long case which is just a smidge long).

So... the question becomes - do i keep the XGLC on a 92" screen or do i take the opportunity to make the jump to something else? here are the options.

1. keep the XGLC, get an HDMI input for it
2. double up the XGLC with a side by side stack (Cliffy says it can be done, although harder than a top bottom stack)
3. make the jump to a 9" (marquee or barco) with associated HDMI input

my goals are to end up with a machine that

1. can be serviced for the long term - i think that any barco/XG/marquee will meet that
2. is not an ampro
3. will pop on the screen
4. can handle 1080p over HDMI

i've also considered the NEC 10PG, because it will have the same colour tones that I like on my current XG, but it's pretty rare (raising parts and support concerns) and it's not as configurable as the XG controls. basically other than brighter tubes, the 10PG is probably a step sideways.

I have a fury, and a scaler so i could do away with HDMI input, but it's pretty much the defacto std so what can you do?

in the last house i was running 1080i onto 70" and it was nice, but i can't get this XG to show 1080p.

what would you do?

[Zebu Fellenz]

I would run two blended XGLC's on a 96" wide 2.40:1 screen at 1920x800p...

But that's only if I'm spending YOUR money!

If it were my money I'd keep the XGLC and get the HDMI card, it probably won't fully resolve 1080p but it should still look good and from a price/performance standpoint I think it's the sweet spot.

[Curt Palme]

I'll leave the projector debate for others, but... forget about the 10PG I would say. A nice set, but they are pretty problematic now due to age.

Benareeno has a near mint set of tubes for an XGLC that he was giving me a really good deal on, but I passed as I had no buyers for any LCs here. Now, I owe you for website work anyways, and there's more of that to come shortly, I'll email you.

My offer to you for the XGLC is that I can give you a working one, you buy the tubes off Benareeno, and I'll install them and give you the chassis and ceiling bracket at no charge. I'll help hang and tweak the thing too.

Remember that Art had a side by side NEC PG Xtra stack for years, and if the Xtra can do it, the XG will do it better.

[Curt Palme]

I'll leave the projector debate for others, but... forget about the 10PG I would say. A nice set, but they are pretty problematic now due to age.

Benareeno has a near mint set of tubes for an XGLC that he was giving me a really good deal on, but I passed as I had no buyers for any LCs here. Now, I owe you for website work anyways, and there's more of that to come shortly, I'll email you.

My offer to you for the XGLC is that I can give you a working one, you buy the tubes off Benareeno, and I'll install them and give you the chassis and ceiling bracket at no charge. I'll help hang and tweak the thing too.

Remember that Art had a side by side NEC PG Xtra stack for years, and if the Xtra can do it, the XG will do it better.

[Curt Palme]

Oh yeah... then BLEND, not stack!

[Curt Palme]

Oh yeah... then BLEND, not stack!

[cmjohnson]

The Marquee is by far the best choice from the standpoint of reliability and supportability, as it's the only PJ still in production. Parts availability is unlimited and it is one of, if not THE, most reliable chassis you can get.

Get an upgraded, refurbished, freshly retubed 9500LC with a Moome HDMI input card and be done with it. Lenses: At least HD-10GT17s.
HD-10E or Fs are viable lens upgrade choices. Or HFQ900s, which are the same as the Es.

Also, Marquees are so quiet to start with that a hush box may not be necessary. I never bothered with a hush box around mine, and I
never notice it running. I've added some foam damping inside the side covers to quiet it down a little bit. The Papst fan upgrade with Tim's LVPS mod apparently reduces acoustic noise even further.




CJ

[zaphod]

wow - thanks! Curt that is way way tempting. and yeah, that's what i suspected about the 10PG.

i don't think that i can do a blend - that is still 10K or more in a blend box - right? i've saved up some, but not 10K. a stack would be cheaper.

so it comes down to a choice between an XG stack and a 9" marquee. i just don't know what would give the better picture.

[dturco]

[JamesAB]

I saw this on eBay for $700. I thought I read it would work for a blend setup.

http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=260739241692

Maybe I misunderstood...

EDIT: I just re-read your first post and I don't think you have the width for a blend setup. I'll leave it to experts to give advice.

[Curt Palme]

HE does have the width for a blend. All he needs to do is knock down a wall or two..

[Curt Palme]

HE does have the width for a blend. All he needs to do is knock down a wall or two..

[Zebu Fellenz]

[zaphod]

yeah i'm leaning that way too. of course a blend vs a stack are different screen distances, which means a ceiling pull when i do it, unless i put in the ducting before i close in the ceiling.

the other big advantage to a stack is that if one unit goes out of commision, i still have a picture to watch.

however i think that while i slept Ben sold his nearlynew tubes and lens to Aussie. sigh. shark attack.

[zaphod]

[Curt Palme]

Chances are I have good enough tubes to use with whatever format you want to use. I do have some greens here with light wear, but I think Ben's were a touch nicer..

[Curt Palme]

Chances are I have good enough tubes to use with whatever format you want to use. I do have some greens here with light wear, but I think Ben's were a touch nicer..

[zaphod]

[zaphod]

[draganm]

I'm always impressed when someone deciedes to try something no one else has done before. I'm sure this will be a very long and intersting thread as this project progresses.

[zaphod]

oh i don't think that i'm doing anything that innovative. maybe that's an indication i don't know what i'm getting into

but my big question is "have i overlooked anything?"

[Boilermaker]

Her is what I would do: The cheapest way, but definately expandable and gets you started on blending.

Oppo = HDMI Splitter = (2) TVOne C2-2450A's = (2) XGLC's with Moome cards. Splitters are cheap and you can probably get a pair of the TVOne's for about $2,500.

You need to move the XG's as close as they will focus (don't remember what that distance is) so you can get in the 15-20% blend range

You would have to be able to do a perfect job of calibrating the XG's without any full cms such as the Lumagen or Dou.

Your picture would be so bright that you would easily be able to handle 3D if you ever wanted to (need to call TVOne to see when they will upgrade to 3D).

Where do you live - If close enough, I'll help you set-up.

[Nashou66]

Bob is the NEC blend expert But your 1250's will work in how you have it listed. I would rather use the moome External HDMI over the fury.

Sorry i didnt reply to your PM, I have not had time lately to give detailed responses that i'd feel worthy to post.

So I think what you have is a start, but it be better if you had some sort of CMS control for both PJ's.


Athanasios

[zaphod]

CMS control? maybe my brain is stuck at work, but "CMS" means "content management system"

thanks Nash - i figured you were busy, no worries about the PM