CurtPalme.com Home Theater Forum

Runslikeapenguin · Joined: 11 Dec 2012 Posts: 9

Hello
I'm new here and i need some help.

I'm sure most of my questions could be answered from a search but I'm going to admit that I'm too lazy to do that much reading right now. My questions are concise and simple ones I'm sure you folks will have answers too.

So Basically I'm a photographer and i really wanted to use a projector in a project i have coming up and most of what i was finding was too expensive for my tastes. All the projectors i found on Craigslist were $100 or more and I'm a student who has other expensive hobbies to feed.

Any way i found a dude who had an old CRT projector for the tune of $20! perfect.
its a Panasonic PT-101, circa 1985

When i picked it up it wasn't projecting per say but i figured i would buy it anyway because of the size of the glass this beast has. Even if its a gonner the lenses on this beast have to be good for something.

the issues i have now are the following.

1. it dosen't project. The guy i bought it from theorized that it would only project if it had some kind of input. I'm not sure about this but I'm sure someone here would know. When i hit the on switch it powers up, makes a whining sound, the power light comes on and the fan turns on. But nothing projects. Is this thing toast or is this normal? However when i turn it off all three projectors, RGB, all turn on for a second and flash. So this is technically working i guess.

2. To do what i want to do i need to connect this beast to a lap top Will the following work for my needs?

http://www.amazon.com/RiteAV-BNC-Male-Female-Adapter/dp/B000V1R97U/ref=sr_1_1?s=electronics&ie=UTF8&qid=1355186383&sr=1-1&keywords=rca+to+bnc

http://www.amazon.com/Wired-Up-15m-Premium-Component-Cable/dp/B000RJLSZU

Any help would be much appreciated.

Runslikeapenguin · Joined: 11 Dec 2012 Posts: 9

Just an update with a picture.

Tim in Phoenix · Joined: 21 Oct 2006 Posts: 4409 Location: Phoenix

Hello

The 101 is 480i only, it will never run from a laptop.

.

Runslikeapenguin · Joined: 11 Dec 2012 Posts: 9

So you're telling me that i can't get any signal from a PC into this monster?

gjaky · Joined: 05 Jun 2010 Posts: 2802 Location: Budapest, Hungary

CasetheCorvetteman · Joined: 09 Nov 2008 Posts: 6326 Location: Australia

Yeah, provided you can put out 15.75kHz from the RGB or it has S-video.

480i isnt all itll do and isnt the highest itll do either, itll do 576i which is a higher resolution in both width and height.

This would be perfect for retro video game consoles, all of them put out RGB, almost all are 240p resolution.

**Curt Palme** · Posted: Tue Dec 11, 2012 1:27 pm Post subject:

THe guys are right, the high resolution RGB inputs on the front of this unit are useless. It's been years since I worked on a 101, but I think the last owner may be right, you may need a composite input into the beast before it even projects the test pattern. Feed the output of a VHS or DVD player into it, and see what happens. It's a good set to practice on if nothing else, but you want a data grade video projector for what you're trying to do.

CasetheCorvetteman · Joined: 09 Nov 2008 Posts: 6326 Location: Australia

Curt, they are FAR from useless!! Have you ever compared video game consoles on composite and RGB?

**Curt Palme** · Posted: Tue Dec 11, 2012 2:10 pm Post subject:

But how many people can find a video card that outputs 320 X 240? Well... apparently you did. Smile

No, actually I've never compared the two on a 480i/576i projector to be honest...

CasetheCorvetteman · Joined: 09 Nov 2008 Posts: 6326 Location: Australia

Game consoles are easy to come by! They all put out 240p over RGB Wink

CasetheCorvetteman · Joined: 09 Nov 2008 Posts: 6326 Location: Australia

And you know i have 2x Sony 1001QMs here.... Awesome machines fir 15.75kHz...

**Curt Palme** · Posted: Tue Dec 11, 2012 2:54 pm Post subject:

CasetheCorvetteman · Joined: 09 Nov 2008 Posts: 6326 Location: Australia

Well at least ive got something to compare with you then!!

ecrabb · Posted: Tue Dec 11, 2012 4:11 pm Post subject:

Unfortunately, none of the talk of vintage game consoles really helps the OP. He wants to get a computer displaying on the projector.

Penguinish, what you're going to need to get a PC to display on the older-than-dirt Panasonic projector is called a "scan converter". There are very good professional versions that still sell on ebay for 10 cents on the dollars, but that still means $50-100. There are also cheap, plastic, non-pro versions that sell for $20-30. One of those will work - physically - to get the signal from the laptop to the projector, assuming your laptop has an analog (DVI-I or VGA) output. A scan converter will typically take a VGA, SVGA, or XGA signal input from a computer and then convert it to plain old 480i SD analog video via s-video or composite. I even have one laying around I'd sell you for $20 or something, but I'm about 90% sure I'd never be able to find it.

The next problem could be the age of the laptop, though. If it's pretty new and running Vista or Windows 7, I'm not even sure those OS's will run OK on a VGA or SVGA display. XGA would probably be OK.

Assuming you've got a laptop with an analog output, and an OS that will display SVGA or XGA...

Here's a couple of the pro versions:
http://r.ebay.com/3PrxFf
http://r.ebay.com/mQlpNU

Here's one of the cheapies:
http://r.ebay.com/sb8byJ

OP, what's your time frame? How fast do you have to have everything working? Christmas, or do you have a couple of months?

SC

fuchs · Joined: 27 Jun 2012 Posts: 153 Location: the NL

HAHA! That's a great find!
If you can get it to work, you can have a whole lot of fun for $20!

Your first step would be to check if the projector still works.
Try connecting a cheap DVD player's composite-video-output (usually yellow RCA) to the VIDEO IN on the projector, and switch to that input.

I used to operate something like that years ago on alternative movie night.
I forgot the number, but it was in a wooden case and even had a TV tuner built in Smile

Tim in Phoenix · Joined: 21 Oct 2006 Posts: 4409 Location: Phoenix

Hello

My advice is watch some DVDs on this puppy for a while, and if you find front projection to be compelling, look for a nice 8" mag focus system, a Marquee 8500 for $500, something that does HDTV.

.

Runslikeapenguin · Joined: 11 Dec 2012 Posts: 9

Well heres the thing.
I don't really plan on using this thing as a viewing device, i need to project some images into a model and maybe again in the future. So I'm not concerned about image quality or hooking it up to a blueray player or anything.

The game console would be a great way to test this because i happen to have every game console ever made here in my house right now, going all the way back to an OG Nintendo, however none of them have BNC connectors. Only the OG Nintendo has a coax cable and thats not the same as BNC right? But if i get the BNC to RCA converters i could hook up one of the game systems.

So one of those scanners would get my laptop to show on this beast? given that my inputs are working.

Runslikeapenguin · Joined: 11 Dec 2012 Posts: 9

ohhh ohh

Will this work?

http://www.walmart.com/ip/Comprehensive-Comprehensive-36-HR-Pro-Series-S-Video-4-pin-plug-to-2-BNC-plugs-breakout-cable/21873556

gjaky · Joined: 05 Jun 2010 Posts: 2802 Location: Budapest, Hungary

Runslikeapenguin · Joined: 11 Dec 2012 Posts: 9

Well a trip to Radioshack, and a wallet rape (As usual) has yielded success!
BNC to RCA to S video
I was able to get the colors lined up somewhat, and some of the settings right, but this thing doesn't seem in focus. I tried holding up a piece of foam core to see if i was too close but it didn't seem in focus farther out either. Its not a huge deal, none of the images I'm going to be projecting need to be high res or anything.