CurtPalme.com Home Theater Forum

Bodi79 · Joined: 08 Oct 2011 Posts: 130 Location: Austria

Hey there !

I am new here Wink

Been reading a lot the last months and decided to jump in the CRT Camp.
At the moment i have offers for a Barco 808s or an NEC XG110LC.

The Question is which ones the better fit for me.

Both have less than 1200hours on it, no shading or burn-ins visible.
The Nec has the Moome HDMI Card in it aswell

Pricing is about 650 Euros for the Barco 808s and 1300 Euros for the XG110LC.
I wan't to use it for my HomeCinema i am currently building.

Already have an DVDO VP20 Scaler aswell which i guess helps.

Wan´t to use it for Bluray and Gaming watching TV from my XBMC Ion based Systems.

I know the NEC has the Higher Native Res, and the Moome Card.
But is it worth double the price?

Thanx in Advance for the help.

Bodi79

**kal** · Posted: Sat Oct 08, 2011 1:51 pm Post subject:

The LC on the NEC will throw a better image (higher contrast ratio).

The Barco is a lot easier to set up for someone new to CRT projectors.

The NEC is considerably louder and (IMHO) absolutely must be hush-boxed if you care at all about movie sound quality too. You can't just 'turn up the volume' as some may suggest.

I've owned both.

Kal

Bodi79 · Joined: 08 Oct 2011 Posts: 130 Location: Austria

@kal

Thanx for the reply !

I read the Barco is easier to setup , but i am prepared to dig into the NEC.
The NEC would strike me more because of the HDMI Card, which should make things simpler ?

Maybe Mod the NEC to get a quieter.. Wink

Even than i guess it is pretty hard to choose between the two.

Thanx
Bodi79

**kal** · Posted: Sat Oct 08, 2011 6:57 pm Post subject:

You can't mod the NEC to make it quieter without affecting airflow in a bad way. You need to hushbox it.

A projector like the Barco had airflow in mind when it was designed: One in the front convergence tray to pull in some air, and then 3 larger ones in the back to pull air across the boards.

The NEC is more like a PC (computer) with cards in slots. It's like they designed it all and then after the fact figure out how to get it to stay cool by adding 11-13 fans all over the place somewhat randomly all over the place blowing in all sorts of different directions.

Kal

incova · Joined: 27 Nov 2006 Posts: 789 Location: london

650 Euros for the Barco 808s and 1300 Euros for the xg?

based on those figures go with the 808s and mod it, I am sure Andy in the UK had some LC's for the barco which you could add then put some coloured lenses once you are done, that should sharpen the picture and get your colours right, the 144's are meant to be better lenses than the 8's if I remember the discussions. I suppose it would depend on what you could get the parts for and if you are willing to play around a bit.

here the lens adapter kit link

http://www.curtpalme.com/JoustModsAdapters.shtm

heres a link on it all.

http://www.avsforum.com/avs-vb/showthread.php?t=497648

You will need to find some hdd 144 lenses and lc chambers, check with Curt he should have some.

The total price will add up obviously but I think you could save a bit and you have a quieter machine to boot, which is really important according to my ears, my two pence, good luck.

Bodi79 · Joined: 08 Oct 2011 Posts: 130 Location: Austria

@kal

I already read your threads on not modding the XG because of the bad Airflow design in the XG's.

On the other hand , i have been reading the whole day on other CRT Projectors.

And may have found an Marquee 9500 LC for a couple hundred Euros more..

May the Marquee be the better one for me?

Mostly i will be feeding it with my HTPC , but thinking about getting a VP50 Scaler (cause i could get one cheap)
for the Rest of my Hardware (HD-DVD Player, Bluray Player, Retro Consoles etc.)

Sorry for the maybe silly questions.. i read up as much as i can.

Thanx again
Bodi79

incova · Joined: 27 Nov 2006 Posts: 789 Location: london

Marquee 9500 LC, ok thats a new ballgame, whats the state of the tubes and does it have clear c elements or a green or red or both coloured c elements. Tube state is critical and those coloured c elements are like gold dust now. The Marquee is one of the top rated pjs it will be easier to do 1080p on the 9 tubes than the 8s if you can do it at all on the 8s, but you better ask some of the others as I have only seen a Barco 1209s and Ampros amongst the 9s. Mike Parker said the 9500 has the highest bandwidth of all the pjs if I remember right.

Bodi79 · Joined: 08 Oct 2011 Posts: 130 Location: Austria

Hey incova !

Thanx for youre replies !

There a two 9500 LC available i would get one that has 9,9,9 on the tubes nothing visible on hires photos i seen. But thats rougly 1000 Euros more

The other 9500 LC has tubes 7,7,7 this one would be only a few hundred more.

Sorry for the edit, but i read the offer from the seller wrong !

Cheers
Bodi79

P.S.: Both have clear c elements

incova · Joined: 27 Nov 2006 Posts: 789 Location: london

Are you sure about the tubes? if you are go for it, thats a 9500LC not going to be around long especially around the Austria Germany area if its there, just make sure the tubes and the pj are good.

Bodi79 · Joined: 08 Oct 2011 Posts: 130 Location: Austria

@incova

In the pictures the tubes of the 9,9,9 unit are really fine !

The other one with the 7,7,7 rating.. not sure if i should take that one.

The expensive one is over my budget.. will see if i can manage some deal.

Cause i have currently one DLP / LCOS Projector laying around maybe i can make some sort of trade in.

Thanx again
Bodi79

incova · Joined: 27 Nov 2006 Posts: 789 Location: london

Not sure about 7,7,7 tubes, I think others may be better suited for a answer, if it were me I would go for the Barco 808s as I have one and mod it, it has clear tubes you said and I love how quiet my 808s is even quieter then my 4600. Just my opinion.

Decibel · Joined: 31 May 2007 Posts: 904 Location: Roma - Italia

incova · Joined: 27 Nov 2006 Posts: 789 Location: london

good thing theres a lot of smarter people on this site!

Nashou66 · Joined: 12 Jan 2007 Posts: 16171 Location: West Seneca NY

Don't forget to check the LC Bellows for sweating or leaking on the Marquee. But the 9 inch Marquee is the way to go.

Athanasios

**kal** · Posted: Sat Oct 08, 2011 11:55 pm Post subject:

zGman · Joined: 22 May 2006 Posts: 599

Tube condition is everything - but as others have pointed out, with the 9500 you also need to consider
bellows condition. Leaking glycol can ruin the machine. Easy answer - with perfect tubes an 808S is
hard to beat for ease of setup and quiet trouble free operation. Depends on how far you want to
jump in, there are a lot of other costs to building a nice HT, and the PJ can always be upgraded
down the road. Acoustics and carpet and seating and speakers are worth doing right the first time.
G

jask · Joined: 17 Mar 2006 Posts: 10187 Location: kamloops BC

so the 9500 is 1000 Euro more than the XG? I would not pay that kind of money for a Marquee. The Xg is substantially more involved to set up than the Barco but it is a VERY good projector, have you ever set up a projector? do you know anyone that can help you ( other than us Thumbs Up

) ? is putting the projector in a hushbox even an option for you?

Decibel · Joined: 31 May 2007 Posts: 904 Location: Roma - Italia

incova · Joined: 27 Nov 2006 Posts: 789 Location: london

Hi Decibel, no I am not mocking you at all, I mant what I said when it comes to projectors theres a lot of people smarter than me, I listen to them. You correctly pointed out that the lenses I thought could be used with LC could not so credit to you. I have read a lot about crt pjs over the years but its hard to remember it all, to be clear, I was not mocking you at all and I liked what you did with your projector, very impressive.

Bodi79 · Joined: 08 Oct 2011 Posts: 130 Location: Austria

Hey Guys !

Thanx for all your replies !

I actually calculated my home cinema already so a restbudget about 1300 Euros would fit perfectly for me.
Spent weeks only calculating everything.

So i think i will go the Route with the XG110.

The Barco i don´t know the Specs are worse than the XG110 and i am willing to pay the premium for the XG110.

And yes, i can build a hushbox no Problem.

Setting up maybe harder, but i am willing to do my best even if it takes me months to perfect it Wink

The Marquee is to expensive for my budget anyway.....

Cheers
Bodi79

P.S.: @kal The scaler was only thought as a solution for my older gear. Maybe I don´t need it at the start but might add it later cause must of my stuff runs on my HTPC anyway Wink