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Curt Palme CRT Tech
Joined: 08 Mar 2006 Posts: 24301 Location: Langley, BC
TV/Projector: All of them!
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Link Posted: Tue Apr 29, 2014 1:51 pm Post subject: Need info on high end Barco digitals |
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Got an email from a company that has 'a bunch of' these:
http://www.alcstore.com/barco-overview-dr-pu-and-d-iu-120w-dlp-projector-r764582-r7646525/
They also have Barco 871234 and 765961
All are 'lightly used' and with original boxes.
Other than the link above, that's about all the info I can find on these units. Relatively late manufacturing dates, Feb 2008.
trying to find out some specs, and to see if they could be used in an HT application. I'm pretty sure I can get them for significantly less than the $6500 the link above is trying to get for them.
Any info would be helpful.
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Nashou66
Joined: 12 Jan 2007 Posts: 16171 Location: West Seneca NY
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HogPilot
Joined: 21 Jan 2010 Posts: 2383
TV/Projector: Vizio P702ui-B3, Pioneer Elite Pro-151FD & 111FD
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Link Posted: Wed Apr 30, 2014 1:09 pm Post subject: |
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Yep - it looks like the DR+ models were only SXGA, but the PU model was UXGA. The units themselves seem to be designed for situation-type rooms where many of these displays could be daisy-chained. It looks like they had dual-lamp light engines, and on 80" screens (the largest I could find for these displays) Barco claimed up to 29ftL on a normal model, and up to 112ftL on their XB model. They also claim that this is at 6500K, but this was probably with 2 brand new lamps running simultaneously. Of course achieving 29ftL on an 80" unity gain screen is not at all difficult with even a modestly-priced HT projector these days, and I guarantee that the contrast ratio on these units is low by HT standards and not appropriate for critical viewing in a theater. They would also have to have very short-throw lenses, which probably wouldn't work in most people's existing theaters. Definitely not ideal for HT use individually.
FWIW, a 2008 mfr date on a digital projector in terms of overall performance is somewhat old. Yes, these probably are built to last a long time, but that's about all they have going for them. I'd guess they're probably worth $500 in the consumer HT market as stand-alone projectors.
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ecrabb wrote: | Curt Palme wrote: | Interesting, Mac isn't returning my emails. Go figure. |
He's mad at us for making Hog a moderator. He took his ball and went home.
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Curt Palme CRT Tech
Joined: 08 Mar 2006 Posts: 24301 Location: Langley, BC
TV/Projector: All of them!
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Link Posted: Wed Apr 30, 2014 2:08 pm Post subject: |
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Makes sense. The seller offered to send me one at no charge if I cover shipping to assess it. Still up in the air if I want to do that..
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HogPilot
Joined: 21 Jan 2010 Posts: 2383
TV/Projector: Vizio P702ui-B3, Pioneer Elite Pro-151FD & 111FD
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Link Posted: Wed Apr 30, 2014 2:22 pm Post subject: |
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Curt Palme wrote: | Makes sense. The seller offered to send me one at no charge if I cover shipping to assess it. Still up in the air if I want to do that.. |
If you did get your hand on some, would you just sell them as regular projector units or do you already have a specific application in mind?
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ecrabb wrote: | Curt Palme wrote: | Interesting, Mac isn't returning my emails. Go figure. |
He's mad at us for making Hog a moderator. He took his ball and went home.
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Curt Palme CRT Tech
Joined: 08 Mar 2006 Posts: 24301 Location: Langley, BC
TV/Projector: All of them!
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Link Posted: Wed Apr 30, 2014 2:41 pm Post subject: |
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No application in mind, I'd need to play with it to see if anything could be done with regards to HT use. I've also got a couple of emails out to military flight sim customers to see if they can use them. I have no idea if they are worth shipping, all I know is that they are not worth $6500 on the used market.
My guess is that if they are designed for RP cube use, they will be useless for FP, larger screen use. I'm not sure if they even have image flipping capabilities, which would be mandatory for any FP use...
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HogPilot
Joined: 21 Jan 2010 Posts: 2383
TV/Projector: Vizio P702ui-B3, Pioneer Elite Pro-151FD & 111FD
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Link Posted: Wed Apr 30, 2014 4:18 pm Post subject: |
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Curt Palme wrote: | No application in mind, I'd need to play with it to see if anything could be done with regards to HT use. I've also got a couple of emails out to military flight sim customers to see if they can use them. I have no idea if they are worth shipping, all I know is that they are not worth $6500 on the used market.
My guess is that if they are designed for RP cube use, they will be useless for FP, larger screen use. I'm not sure if they even have image flipping capabilities, which would be mandatory for any FP use... |
Yeah all great questions.
With respect to your question about flight simulators (military and civilian), most I've experienced use either CRTs or LCoS projectors. The two big concerns for any flight simulator (at least the full-motion military and civilian ones I've used) are resolution and black levels. Unfortunately I think these Barco DR+ units don't come close to the latest and greatest on either front by a long shot. Most LCoS sims use an array of 5 blended 1080p projectors turned sideways (so the 1920 lines of resolution are running vertically), and although that lends itself to some pretty impressive visuals, it still can't properly replicate far off objects (runway markings/signage/lighting or other parts of the airfield environment that we'd expect to see and utilizie from miles out) with the fidelity that you get in real life. Is it good enough? Sure. Could it be better? Absolutely. I think the SXGA+ projectors you are being offered would be a major step back from that, and I can't see it making sense for anyone to pay for a step back in resolution.
As far as black levels go, I don't think there's a DLP-based projector out there that has the contrast available to give realistic night-time visuals, which is why most who have upgraded from CRT only looked at LCoS. You rarely ever experience absolute pitch black when flying, but the 4-digit CRs of DLP PJs just doesn't cut it for those applications.
That's my $0.02 as someone who has been using a variety of these things for the last 10+ years.
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ecrabb wrote: | Curt Palme wrote: | Interesting, Mac isn't returning my emails. Go figure. |
He's mad at us for making Hog a moderator. He took his ball and went home.
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Curt Palme CRT Tech
Joined: 08 Mar 2006 Posts: 24301 Location: Langley, BC
TV/Projector: All of them!
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Link Posted: Wed Apr 30, 2014 4:21 pm Post subject: |
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Good points, you've seen a bunch. I have seen the ones at Camp Pendleton, they let me fly their BArco 909 setup a few years ago, and 2 years ago I saw the latest Christie units there.
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HogPilot
Joined: 21 Jan 2010 Posts: 2383
TV/Projector: Vizio P702ui-B3, Pioneer Elite Pro-151FD & 111FD
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Link Posted: Thu May 01, 2014 2:41 pm Post subject: |
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Curt Palme wrote: | Good points, you've seen a bunch. I have seen the ones at Camp Pendleton, they let me fly their BArco 909 setup a few years ago, and 2 years ago I saw the latest Christie units there. |
I'm assuming the Christies were DLPs? If so, I'm curious how they did with night time material, if you had the chance to see any.
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ecrabb wrote: | Curt Palme wrote: | Interesting, Mac isn't returning my emails. Go figure. |
He's mad at us for making Hog a moderator. He took his ball and went home.
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Curt Palme CRT Tech
Joined: 08 Mar 2006 Posts: 24301 Location: Langley, BC
TV/Projector: All of them!
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Link Posted: Thu May 01, 2014 5:42 pm Post subject: |
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It was somewhat light in the room, so I didn't see perfect blacks, but I have to say, given that you don't need to fight with convergence issues, they looked really good. If you stared at them, you could see the blending zones, but you really have to know what to look for.
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