CurtPalme.com Home Theater Forum

nidi · Joined: 17 Aug 2008 Posts: 305 Location: Switzerland

just found this commercial for Eidophor:

http://datenbanksammlungen.mfk.ch/eMP/eMuseumPlus?service=ExternalInterface&module=collection&objectId=169555&viewType=detailView

download the 146305 file, give it a .mp4 tag and play it.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eidophor

Spectacular Swiss Technology !

nidi · Joined: 17 Aug 2008 Posts: 305 Location: Switzerland

how this technology worked, more info:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3-BvMcqEc98

**Curt Palme** · Posted: Sat Apr 13, 2019 7:11 pm Post subject:

I saw the Eidophor in the 11th row of the Michael Jackson Victory tour in 1986. Best and largest video picture I ever saw.

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

Yup

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eidophor

I'll bet the lenses were $15K...........each. The chassis looks very well made, aerospace grade.

Mike Harrison.......his website has ALL my favorite stuff on it.

http://www.electricstuff.co.uk

HaydnG90 · Joined: 22 May 2006 Posts: 1356

An oil vacuum pump. The lumen output must be off the charts. If I had that in my HT it'd probably melt the screen.

garyfritz · Joined: 08 Apr 2006 Posts: 12088 Location: Fort Collins, CO

The docs claim the Eidophor was 80x brighter than CRTs of the day. Other docs claim 10,000 lumens, and I assume that would be ANSI lumens -- I doubt it was current-limited like CRTs are. A 9500LC puts out about 260 ANSI lumens, so 10,000 / 260 = 38x; a G90 at 60Hz is rated 280 lumens, 10000/280 = 35.7. So the Eidophor had roughly 35-40x the lumens of the best CRTs.

They claimed screens up to 18 metres = 59' in width. Assuming a 4x3 aspect ratio, that's 59 * 59/1.33 = 2611 sq ft -- call it 2500 sq ft. So that enormous screen would only have 10000 / 2500 = 4 ft-candles -- unwatchably dim in my opinion. Cut the screen size in half (9 metres = 30' wide) and you'd have a nice bright 16 ftC image. It could probably do an acceptable image 35 or even 40' wide.

Your HT screen is probably about 7-8' wide. Mine is 7.1' x 4', which is 28.4 sq ft. But the Eidophor probably had a 4x3 panel image, and my screen wouldn't use all of the height. A 16x9 screen would only use 9/12 = 75% of the 4x3 = 16x12 panel image. So it would only see 75% of the 10,000 lumens, or 7500 lumens. Which would be really bright, but your screen shouldn't catch fire. 7500 lumens is "only" 5.8x more than the 1300 ANSI lumens put out by my RS-45. My ftC calculations aren't working right -- I'm getting crazy-high ftC for both my RS-45 and the Eidophor -- but it should be about 5.8x brighter than my RS-45, or about 90-100 ftC. I think you could almost watch that in full sun. Smile

zaphod · Joined: 16 Jun 2006 Posts: 2002 Location: Cloverdale

and I bet Jeremy has two stashed away in the back room...

**AnalogRocks** · Posted: Tue Apr 16, 2019 4:38 am Post subject:

garyfritz · Joined: 08 Apr 2006 Posts: 12088 Location: Fort Collins, CO

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

**AnalogRocks** · Posted: Wed Apr 17, 2019 3:18 am Post subject:

Tinman · Posted: Sun Apr 21, 2019 8:18 pm Post subject:

I had an Eidophor projector for a while.
The problem with it was it's (for a house) enormous power consumption. And at 240V no less.

It was interesting, and very large.

**AnalogRocks** · Posted: Sun Apr 21, 2019 8:45 pm Post subject:

What signal did you feed into it ?

tschaeikaei · Joined: 08 Apr 2013 Posts: 490 Location: Germany/Saarland

I had some email conversation with a guy in Berlin who used to be one of the last techs that worked with Eidophor projectors
and saved two from scrapping.
The main thing with these projectors is that they don't do anything beyond 800x600.
There were "HD- mods" (by the factory) on one of the last models, but i think they were about XGA resolution.
So: no 1080p/i here.
It should be possible to experiment with different oil mixtures, temperatures and so on, but that's far beyond
of what i would try in me apartment. If anyone is interested, here is his website.
German language only, ask me if google can't translate Smile

https://eidophorblog.wordpress.com/

Regards, Julian

A word about mikes electric stuff: There are some mistakes in his TED talk about Eidophor, i assume because he didn't find enough material.

**Curt Palme** · Posted: Sat May 04, 2019 2:34 pm Post subject:

I've still got a GE Talaria here. 240 volts, in a road case. WOuld sell it cheaply if someone wants it. Have a bunch of spare bulbs for it, too.

tschaeikaei · Joined: 08 Apr 2013 Posts: 490 Location: Germany/Saarland

Curt: Do you have some screenshots and specs?

**Curt Palme** · Posted: Sat May 04, 2019 9:00 pm Post subject:

I don't sorry, it's buried.

donaldk · Joined: 17 Jun 2008 Posts: 308

donaldk · Joined: 17 Jun 2008 Posts: 308

**Curt Palme** · Posted: Tue Dec 29, 2020 2:01 am Post subject:

Not sure, but I've got 6 spare bulbs as well. Apparently they are under high pressure, you need to wear safety glasses at minimum when changing them. Mine are in a plastic housing, with a big shorting bar across them. Someone local knew more about them than I did, so I was glad he told me..

One day I'll dig it out.