CurtPalme.com Home Theater Forum

jrodefeld · Joined: 19 Mar 2012 Posts: 18

I'm a complete newbie at home theater stuff, and I've never owned a projector of any kind.

However, I've recently developed an appreciation for CRT technology. I'm actually currently using a Sony GDM-FW900 monitor on my computer and I prefer it to any LCD I've ever used. There are just certain things that CRT does that newer technologies can't quite match.

I've kinda had an idea of one day building a dedicated home theater room with a projector. I've recently been seeing Sony G90 projectors showing up in my area for reasonable prices (under $1000) and I'm wondering whether to grab one at some point.

So, speaking to me like I'm a total idiot, could someone explain to me exactly what I'd need to set up a home theater room with a G90 projector? Specifically, I'm talking about what hardware I'd need to buy not how to install it all or calibrate it (I'll figure that out later).

1. What type of screen should I use?

2. Exactly how difficult is it to calibrate a CRT projector? And how often does it need to be tweaked? This is the thing I dread the most about building a CRT-based home theater.

3. Has anybody figured out a way to get 4k out of a CRT projector? What if you create a blend? If I understand correctly, blending seems superior to stacking.

Is it technically possible to blend more than two projectors?

**kal** · Posted: Tue Jun 12, 2018 2:28 pm Post subject:

Start here!:

http://www.curtpalme.com/CRTPrimer.shtm

Kal

Audio_Geek_00 · Joined: 07 Aug 2014 Posts: 82 Location: SF Bay Area

Welcome to the forum! There are lots of folks here that wouldn't watch through anything else than CRT. The learning curve is a bit steep but there is lots of how-to's and people that can answer your questions. My experience has been that if you are persistent and patient you can enjoy some pretty remarkable viewing experiences. The G90 is close to the pinnacle of this technology and a good place to start if you can find a good unit with little to no burn-in on the tubes.

Because these units were setup for broadcast standard interfaces you would need a Moome HDMI card to talk to your Blu-ray/DVD player or receiver or a scalar/video processor with the requisite BNC RBGHV outputs. The Moome card works really well and is relatively inexpensive ($200-300).

There are lots of screen options. The better the screen the better the image. You'll find that there are various screen types to chose from. These are usually differentiated by gain and material type. Gain for a G90 could be 1:1 to 1:3 (it slightly amplifies the light). I use a Stewart Filmscreen Studiotek 130 (1:3 gain) currently. There are cheaper brands available that do a descent job, even screen paints are available but I have no experience with them.

Setting up a CRT projector can be a bit tedious. Once you have it mounted at the correct distance (the manual for the G90 has that information and is also available on this site) to your relative screen size (a bit of a challenge to make sure it is square and level to your screen location) then you embark on the focusing and convergence. The link Kal provided gives you the details of that. Calibration can be done by you but it really helps to have someone with the knowledge and the equipment to get the best image possible. Having said that I have replaced the tubes in my Sony and was successful getting the unit up and running with the help of the good people here.

All of this really relies upon the ability to find a good unit that has a low hour chassis and good tubes. Unfortunately you have come into the hobby in its twilight years. Parts are harder to come by. Finding people to service them is almost impossible so if you can't diagnose the problem or if you can then finding the parts is getting harder. The hardcore folks here have a cache of parts to maintain their gear in order to keep going down the road. Curt has helped me many times in the past with diagnosis and spare parts.

The prerequisite to CRT projection is you have to love it enough that you are willing to put in the work. Once setup they typically will be stable where only small tweaking is required occasionally. They are well built and last quite a long time.

The G90 is 2500 x 2000 line resolution so true 4k isn't possible but depending on screen size 1080p looks outstanding. You can ask Curt about blending. Personally I wouldn't try it but it has been done.

Tim

jmetal88 · Joined: 06 Apr 2017 Posts: 108

**Curt Palme** · Posted: Wed Jun 13, 2018 4:12 pm Post subject:

Beware of cheap Chinese HDMI to analog (VGA) converters. While some work, most won't be able to deal with the HDCP copyright protection, and you'll get no picture.

jmetal88 · Joined: 06 Apr 2017 Posts: 108

**kal** · Posted: Wed Jun 13, 2018 5:30 pm Post subject:

jmetal88 · Joined: 06 Apr 2017 Posts: 108

**kal** · Posted: Wed Jun 13, 2018 6:17 pm Post subject:

jmetal88 · Joined: 06 Apr 2017 Posts: 108

**kal** · Posted: Wed Jun 13, 2018 7:02 pm Post subject:

My experience has been that gamma boost is one of those things where you don't realize what you're missing, unless you no longer have it. For anyone that calibrates their display, the results are obvious on their resulting graphs that show a poor gamma curve (not coming out of black fast enough) but seeing it is obvious. End result is a dull/lifeless image and the most obvious is missing low light detail - per the screenshots from the first of my previous links:

(Though looking at those today they're somewhat exaggerated I think, but you get the idea) .

Kal

jmetal88 · Joined: 06 Apr 2017 Posts: 108

**kal** · Posted: Wed Jun 13, 2018 7:28 pm Post subject:

sure - that's a good way to try.

Kal