DIY Big Screen TV

[Bill Archer]

I thought I'd pass along some info on a project finished. I'm indebted to BS poster TEConnor for much help and advice.

I scoured eBay and such and came up with a "Factory Reconditioned" signal projector, like the ones people hook up to laptops when they do presentations.

Some of them are quite versatile, and can do HiDef in 16:9 (not just an emulation but the real thing) as well as 4:3 analog and 2.43:1 widescreen, like movies.

I found an InFocus for about $400. 90 day warranty from the manufacturer.

Then I built a 16:9 screen. I screwed up and used a vinyl panel, and I'm correcting that in the next few days, but the screen - which is four feet tall and over seven feet wide - cost me under 20 bucks, including the nice black painted frame. Looks very professional, really. I'm going to be making one with a super-white-over-silver-metallic glaze one which might hit 50 bucks but which they say is incredible. If you're rich you can do a siilar deal with Plexiglas or Lexan and they say it has a "glow" like plasma.

But even with the stupid screen mistake I made, the picture (if you can cut down on ambient light) is nothing short of amazing.

Lefty uses it mostly for movies, and the widescreen, at over seven feet, is really wide. Just hooked up the projector to the DVD player and presto: instant home theater. I moved the Time-Warner HD box down there and the MLS games ore phenominal.

Just thought I'd pass it along.

[DRWCrew]

Well done Bill. I am quite the videophile myself and helped a friend with a similiar project. I have a media room now for 5 (with a 65" projection TV I have had for a while) but I have wanted to make it bigger and add a screen and projector instead so it feels more like a theatre.

[DRWCrew]

I forgot to ask if you mounted the screen on the wall or if it hangs down from the ceiling. I am looking for ideas.

[Bill Archer]

Well, it's in the basement, which has one of those horrid Armstrong "suspended ceilings". The previous owner went with the "Economy" panels, too. What a cheap bastard. I've spent a small fortune replacing the dime store crap he did everything with.

Anyway, so the easiest way to do it was to hang it, but that was just experimental. When I do the new one in the next week or so I'm going to mount it on the wall.

Actually, a lot of people simply paint a screen directly on drywall, and then buold a frame (1X3 is typical) around the paainted area. I can't do that because Mr Jackwad put cheezy paneling up down there.

[DRWCrew]

For the home theatre that I helped my buddy with we did the frame on the wall directly but we then put fabric on the walls to give it even more of a theatre feel. It turned out really well and I got to test out some things I want to do, plus I learned from our mistakes. If you don't mind me asking what kind of sound system do you have?

[Bill Archer]

Well part of the idea is to come up with something that kills stray reflected light. A lot of people use black velvet, and cover the frame with it. It's very expensive, however.

Keep in mind too that you're going to be dealing with three different picture sizes: 4:3. 16:9 and 2.35:1 for widescreen movies. So there's sometimes considerable dead space, or gray space as it usually projects.

So some people use adjustable "drapes" (often velvet, which seem to just kill light dead) to "re-size" their screen to accomodate what they're watching at a given time. It makes it look more "polished" or "professional" or whatever. Some guys create elaborate pulley systems and such. I haven't bothered yet, but might in the future.

As for sound, I have an Onkyo Home Theater setup: woofer, center speaker (voices) with two side speakers up front and two "fill in" speakers behind the seating. I really like it a lot, but I haven't had much experience with anything else.

I will tell you something I learned though: when you're listening at the store (Best Buy, CIrcuit City, etc.) they bowl you over with "big" sound. A LOT of places put the Apollo 13 dvd in and crank up tje volume on the launch scene, for example. It shakes the windows and rattles your bones and you can't get the checkbook out fast enough.

But that's bunk; firstly because anything with a big woofer will do the same thing and second because you're mostly NOT gonna be watching rocket launches. Like with any system, you need to hear it with stuff that YOU are likely to be listening to. Actually, the tough part is stuff like quiet dialogue with street noises in the background. Are the voices distinct, and do the car wounds sound like they're behind you or next to you as opposed to blaring out the voices or being too faint. Home Theater sound, to me, is about the ability to be SUBTLE. Anybody can shake your fillings.