CurtPalme.com Home Theater Forum

[UncleWill]

Did this question up on the CRT Home Theater Club on Facebook, which is here if you want to join:
https://www.facebook.com/groups/492913890547/?ref=ts&fref=ts


My first projector was a very mediocre LCD WONDERWALL from the Discovery Channel. I watched a few CED films on this pointed directly at the ceiling, notably Star Wars and Cabaret. We later took it back to college and used to play Nintendo on it. As bad as it was, the WONDERWALL really did get me thinking about projection technology and eventually led me into CRT land, so all is well that ends well. Huzzah.

and some great WONDERWALL VIDZ

The guys on the home shopping network trying to sell this thing look like they're almost laughing at how bad it is:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uyZE-AObiZE

And a completely misleading commercial to boot. Check the other one just to appreciate this:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gsQhFAU4Q7U
[/img]

[fuchs]

hehe... my first one (somewhere in the '90s, when I was a teenager) was a wooden case with an ordinary small colour TV in it, and a large lens to project on a silver curved screen. The image was absolutely craptastic! I think the resolution was less than 200 lines. I projected overhead from my bed and watched MTV music videos on it. It did, however, get me hooked on the "big screen" projection-thing.
Sadly, I don't have any pictures of the thing.

[AnalogRocks]

First projector was a fisher price 8mm film projector in 1977. Made me want to own a movie theater.

http://www.retroland.com/fisher-price-movie-viewer/#.UX23rqJO_ao

[AnalogRocks]

First projector was a fisher price 8mm film projector in 1977. Made me want to own a movie theater.

http://www.retroland.com/fisher-price-movie-viewer/#.UX23rqJO_ao

[CasetheCorvetteman]

I had a Mitsubishi SEU-1 LCD projector, and it was quite good for a portable machine. Made in Japan too. From there moved to an Epson EMP-S5, which i still have, its much brighter than the Mitsubishi but contrast ratio isnt as good, and focusing ability on the Mitsubishi was also quite abit better.

First CRT ( not counting rear projection, had 2x Panasonic GAOO CRTs ) was a Sony 1001QM, followed by 9PG, then RUNCO DTV991 and a second Sony 1001QM. All still work

[mc86]

Anyone else here have digital first (in 1999, for me) and switch to CRT? I think it'd be hilarious if the guy on here who is one of the last active members to use to a 7"ES machine was one of the first to have digital. Here's the story:

In early 1999 my wife and I were at a home and garden show. I'd been trying to convince her we needed a PJ for a BIG picture to go with the big surround sound, but she was having none of it. We stumbled into a local HT company's demo room there. After ~10mins, we came out and she said "Oh yeah, I get it now." On 3/4/1999 I spent $2K on a used Sharpvision XV-S80U...that was our first PJ (via fleabay even). About 15months later, I scored a free, low-hour ECP3500 and got it setup well-enough that I sold the Sharpvision. The ECP kicked the snot out of that little machine - it was plain as day even when poorly setup (as I am sure now it was).

Our situation changed in 2002, so I sold the ECP for a few hundred bucks. It got destroyed in shipping. Until ~2011 we had only a 19" SD TV. Somewhere around 2010(?) I spent ~$300 on my current ECP4500+.

If I can get the two ECP blend running this year, I'll be happy enough. I've seen a bomb setup now in person (Cliffy's) and would truly enjoy having something like that, but I don't have the money or time. And actually I'm sort of content to get a good chunk of the IQ for maybe 5% of the price/effort. Plus, tinkering around and learning a bit is its own payment and there is the pleasure of this forum, to boot.

We just watched The God Must Be Crazy with the kids this evening with homemade pizza and kettle corn. I spent more on the gaggenau convection oven with electric pizza stone than I did almost my entire HT...priorities, fellas! The time spent enjoying stories together is a lot of the point...the ECP delivers 1080i really well. I hope to be using these things for a long time to come...when they die, I dare say something better than the current digital light cannons with eShift, etc. will be $2K. Maybe this is akin to wondering back in 1998 who'd ever need a more than 100MB, but I honestly can't see desiring better than Scott or Kal's current machines in my house. Well, at least wrt resolution...I could see wanting frame rate choices and maybe 3D, but not smellovision or URDMI (Ultra Real Definition Mind Interface) or whatever is next.

cheers!
Matt

[mc86]

Regarding that wonderwall, check out that video at 32sec and at 1:20...yowza. The put a hold in a piece of cardboard to eliminate the out 1/2 of the annular space of the lens...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=a__PykOGNG0

Matt

[garyfritz]

Wow, that must be one crap lens in that thing...

[scir16v]

In the mid 80's my dad put together a heathkit crt projector. I watch that thing for a multitude of hours. Of course not knowing any better about crt, I played super mario on it and burn a spot in the tubes. Everybody looked like they had a booger coming out of their nose.

The 2nd one that dad got was a zenith. Early zenith. Looked just like the heathkit.

[the big E]

my first projector was a digital (mitsubishi pk20) it was small and dim but did great for a 60 inch 4:3 screen
over time i had three of the portable pico led projectors

currently use a h27 for my home theater(getting a elctrohome ecp from curt soon)

i have a vivatek for 3d(provided the darn thing don't crap out) but don't use it much

i have owned many projection tvs over the years(latest is a samsung crt as a fixer upper)mostly crt i have one dlp set currently

list
mitsubihi pk20(first ever dlp projector i owned)
optoma pk301(dead dmd chip)
optoma ep317(needs new color wheel)
optoma h27(current ht machine though needs new lamp)
vivatek qumi q2 for 3d(rarely use it though)
first crt will be a elctrohome ecp 4100(can't wait to see what i have been missing)
not sure what the next one will be if i upgrade later on(but it will be a crt)

i just hope it will work with my 10 foot diagonal screen(living large)

[the big E]

[CasetheCorvetteman]

[jaz50y]

I had a Zenith which must have been a Pro 840, cause I got it used around 1987. It was awesome. Somewhere in the mid-90's I sold it (!) and got a Barco Graphics 808 from a crazy Canadian who had started collecting these things from boardrooms and refurbishing them. That guy is now the world's analog projector guru and is advising me on replacement of the HV quadrupler which just gave out. Also, about 5 years ago I had Greg Eisemann do his magic to the boards to give the 808 1080p capability, and that has been a fantastic elective surgery.

[Jeremy112]

My first projector was actually a JVC 13 inch CRT TV that my dad gave me when I was about 10 years old. I took a magnifying glass, cardboard, and black paint for the cardboard, and made one of those "DIY" projectors.

Aside from the image being flipped 180 degrees upside down, I was actually quite impressed. It was my first time seeing something on the wall in my house. Since that moment I was determined to have a home theater.

My first actual projector came very shortly after that DIY projector, it was the 2nd thing I bought with my 2nd paycheck from my first job. At $185 I managed to snag a Proxima DP5800 800x600 LCD projector. When I got it I was so excited, I popped it in its place and made the screen as big as the wall.

I put about 300 hours on it then upgraded to an inFocus SP4805, from there I went to a Sony VPL-AW15, then to a VPL-VW50, and finally, I landed on the king of home theater display; CRT.

First CRT was actually a friends we got for a buck off ebay, $21 with gas. A Sony 1272Q that needed some TLC. My own first CRT projector was a NEC 9PG Plain (still have about half of it left), and my current and most favorite projector I have owned, the NEC XG1100 projector. Aside from it not being a 9" and LC tubes, its to me the best damn display you can get

Future projector plans would be a G90, or a JVC or sony Dila/Lcos projector. Im really waiting for 4K to come down enough and get popular enough that I can snag a TOTL 1080P unit for next to nil.

And anyone that knows me, knows I ONLY get the next to nil deals

[Tinman]

My first projector was a Sony Vidimagic with the beta deck in the back, followed by a kloss novabeam, a sony 1031, then a GP3000, PG9, PG9plus and later a Runco990 (PG10) that I modded into a PG10 "plus". Finally, due to practical reasons and enough advancements in technology I sold the Runco last year and went digital to an Epson 8700UB. It's been a fun journey, but in the end the CRT just could not keep up with what I asked of it.

The best part of owning CRT projectors was, as you all know, having the finest display you could own for little money. Digital at the time was a novelty and abysmal at best, so the venerable old CRT held it's own for a very long time.

BUT!!.... Time marches on.....

[Zolzar]

1st. ECP3100
2nd. ECP4500
2.5 (cheap digital)
3rd. M8500
Current. NEC PG10

[ecrabb]

My dad brought home an Advent Videobeam around '79 I think. He added one of the first Pioneer Laserdisc players, a VHS deck, and we poured the concrete pad and installed the Channel Master BUD (big ugly dish) in the back yard ourselves. From watching The Jerk movies on Laserdisc, to NBC Sunday Night Movie, to "Home Box Office", to watching a few concerts off the satellite with simulcast in stereo off FM radio... I was totally hooked.

So, I knew that once I was out of college, I wanted my own projector. Just so happened a year or two after I left college was when universities were in the midst of getting rid of all their CRTs to get digitals. So, I bought a university surplus Sony 1271 in 2002, and played with it for a few years off and on even though I didn't really have a good place for it. I used to have a friend help me bring it up the living room on Friday night, and we'd watch DVDs all weekend on a bed sheet, then I'd take it back downstairs on Monday, then do it all again a month or two later.

I built a new house in '04, and also collected a 1272 and a 1252. I built my dedicated theater in the basement of the new house in '06/'07 and installed the university surplus 1271. Used it for a few years, then bought a G70, and watched that for a couple of years.

When I got into CRT, it offered a PQ and bang-for-buck that was stunning and completely unparalleled. A sub-$1000 used CRT made an image that was far superior to digitals many times that price. All the disadvantages were easily worth it because of all advantages. The scales finally tipped the other direction last summer, and I sold the G70 and bought a JVC DLA-RS45. So, officially I was a CRT'er for ten years. I really enjoy the home theater hobby - it's a blast.

SC

[Tinman]

I actually still have my 10 foot BUD. Been running since 87, but now it's not worth the money for programming any more.
But man, WHAT a picture that thing put out on a CRT in the days!

[freidich]

My first projector was the NEC XG351LC that I got a few months ago, and now I have two! Still looking for more though, particularly something cheap in the Madison, WI area.

[overclkr]

My first projector was a LENS kit retrofitted on a 13" color tv. It was dim as hell but still cool for the time and cost

[RayN999]

Sony 1042Q that I picked up from a salvage place for $50. Built a 72" 4:3 screen for it with wood and a Parkland Plastics sheet from Home Depot. Was the impetus that got my wife hooked on 'big screen' viewing. Largest TV we had before that was a 27".

Used that for a year or two until "upgrading" (ugh) to a Infocus SP4800 digital. Went to a RPCRT setup after that & is where I'm still at for the time being. I have a Runco VX1C projector, but no room to set it up anywhere in the house.

Ray