CurtPalme.com Home Theater Forum

veelangs · Joined: 22 Oct 2014 Posts: 59 Location: Chicago

Hi y'all!

So this is my first post, but anyways I just stumbled across CRT projectors after about a 12 year hiatus and I just happened to be offered an ampro 2600, dreamvision scaler, remote, ceiling mount etc for about 40 bucks

I've owned a DWIN Transvision 3 since new and absolutely love it (10 years, about 10khours on the unit, new bulb around 6khours), but I moved to an apartment in chicago and was trying to figure out what to do for video. I have a 50inch Kuro 1080p, but I'm going to leave that in my bedroom, I miss the projo!

So I was going to just buy another dwin tv3 off ebay for 100 bucks, thinking if nothing else I can probably service it myself. But then a colleague of mine mentioned he was going to redo the hometheater that was installed in the home he just bought, I went over to see it and sure enough it was an Ampro 2600.

Now I know these aren't very top of the line, but then again this is the most "bootleg" of set ups I'm thinking of doing anyways, and it's really just for my DVI input for sports and the occasional TV show from my laptop. So my questions

1) should I even bother with a 2600, I mean I can afford something much more expensive, but I like reusing things, but I also don't want a paperweight.

2) I'm not going to ceiling mount it, it was gonna sit on my coffee table (I told you it was bootleg, but I live alone so what do I care?) is 8feet enough to make a decent size image on my wall? I'll build a screen at a later date.

3) my laptop has an hdmi out only, I obviously know that's not going to work without a new module, but I currently run it to my older Dell monitor for when I'm doing work using an hdmi to dvi adapter, would that hdmi to dvi cable plugged into a dvi to rgbhv cable work on the ampro? This is going to be my only input so it's pretty important haha

4) Is it bright enough to be used in a slightly lit room? I have room darkening blinds, but they still let some sun in during the day. I watch maybe 3 hours a night tops and am not worried about night time, but noon football games are my biggest concern.

Thanks y'all

**Curt Palme** · Posted: Wed Oct 22, 2014 8:04 pm Post subject:

DO NOT touch the DWIN TV3 or 4. VERY tough to work on. In fact, if yours works, sell it now. Smile

you've gotten your money out of it.

IF the 2600 works, and IF it has no tube wear, sure, play with it and get hooked on CRT!

Your signal method will NOT work though, as I doubt the computer puts out an analog signal. HDMI is digital only. you'd need an HDFury conversion box, usually someone here has a used one for sale, or get a computer with a VGA output, then get a VGA to 5 BNC cable.

veelangs · Joined: 22 Oct 2014 Posts: 59 Location: Chicago

haha well it's installed and it isn't going anywher! I have a white one on the ceiling and I remember the hurt it put on the bank account (12k!) it was actually my first major purchase out of school, my parents gave me their home and moved to florida so i wanted a theater, but they recently came back so I left haha. But I also have a fully functioning blue one in the closet, if the white one, ever conks out I'll pop the blue one up there.

But back to the ampro, I have no clue how to check for tube wear. I know it works because I watched it for a bit, it was sharp! I was impressed with it's 720/1080i abilities (for something from the 90s!) And yeah it's one of those fancy thinkpads that only has mini-hdmi now (grr) so I have to make due.

would one of these cables not work?
http://www.amazon.com/Cable-Matters-Gold-Plated-Active-Adapter/dp/B00879DM56/ref=sr_1_1?s=electronics&ie=UTF8&qid=1414008944&sr=1-1&keywords=hdmi+to+vga

Not opposed to buying an hdfury, but it's going to cost several times the cost of the projo so...well you know haha

veelangs · Joined: 22 Oct 2014 Posts: 59 Location: Chicago

or something like this

http://www.amazon.com/converter-3-5mm-Stereo-Audio-Converter/dp/B003O55U8K/ref=sr_1_13?s=electronics&ie=UTF8&qid=1414008944&sr=1-13&keywords=hdmi+to+vga

just trying to do this cheaply, mainly just want to play around with a CRT projector to be quite honest!

**Curt Palme** · Posted: Wed Oct 22, 2014 10:51 pm Post subject:

I have no idea if they will work or not. The www.moomecard.com and the HDFury are the only two reliable proven ones that work. The rest.. buy at your own risk.

As for the CRT questions, please do some reading on the main site. All good questions, but they're all covered on the main site..

(normally I'd link, but I'm balls to the wall busy right now, and for the next 10 days, sorry)

veelangs · Joined: 22 Oct 2014 Posts: 59 Location: Chicago

thanks for the response! I actually read all the links which is why I feel somewhat confident buying this thing!

I mean if nothing else it was just 40 bucks, no harm no foul!

veelangs · Joined: 22 Oct 2014 Posts: 59 Location: Chicago

So i got the beast, holy cow it's big! He gave it to me for free just to take it away so that was nice. But I couldn't get the bnc cable because it was in the walls. I ordered some cabling so I'll try it out tomorrow. Oh! And only 3600 hours on the device! It's pretty much in perfect condition.

I was just messing about with it a bit and looking at the alignment crosshairs and what not and when I turned it on I had a bright and sharp 3 color image, but when I went into the help section (which is blue and white) the red tube turned off and now the test crosshairs aren't showing any red. Should I be concerned? I have to thoroughly read the manual because I don't really know the controls but even when I'd press the red button on the remote there was no red line. But 30 seconds prior there was.

any advice?

veelangs · Joined: 22 Oct 2014 Posts: 59 Location: Chicago

3) An easy way to tell that the help screens are active is watch/listen for the red CRT to turn off.

well it'd seem reading would solve my own problems haha

thanks curt for this site