CurtPalme.com Home Theater Forum

[budk]

I have a few nagging questions that I would like to resolve before I finish my room and possibly limit my chance to make significant changes.

I've got the theater mostly built, the riser is built and I'm finishing my drywall and painting next week. After that comes comes building the stage and false front wall then I will be at the point of hanging the projector.

I have 3 questions.

1. I still have some doubt about how to hook this up. I have a Barco 1208s/e+ projector. I'm planning on getting a good receiver like the Denon AVR-3108CI which evidently has a very good video processor built in. I've read the faq on hooking it up but my question remains. Do I come out of the receiver with hdmi then into something like the HDFury2 and then use a vga to 5-BNC cable to the projector? What I'm unsure about is do I need something between the receiver and the projector to do some scaling/processing? I assume I will feed the receiver with mostly blu-ray or HDTV signals or a progressive DVD signal at worst case.

2. Let's say that I set the projector to do 16:9 and position it so that the image fills the screen. Now what happens when
I play 4:3 material? I'm thinking that I rely on my receiver to upconvert it to widescreen.... is that true ? If not, what will the picture look like on a widescreen.... will all of the image be on the screen or ??

3. Finally, look at the attached photo that I took whenever I was testing the projector to see if it worked. I didn't spend
much time working on the convergence because I don't know what I doing yet and because the projector was
only mounted temporarily... however, is this much mis-alignment correctable during setup or does it indicate a problem.

Thanks!

Bud

[drice1234]

1. I have an HDMI cable that goes to the projector to an HDFury at the projector and then a 5 BNC connector from the Fury to the PJ. I did connect it up originally with the Fury at the receiver and then sent the video over a 30' 5 BNC connector cable and that seemed to work but I decided to run an HDMI cable out to the PJ to eliminate any future issues.

2. I would not "stretch" the 4x3 image to fit the 16x9 screen. This distorts the picture. The 4x3 image will be displayed within the 16x9 screen and you will have black bars on the sides to fill in the empty space.

[budk]

Thanks for the reply. Running the hdmi cable makes sense I suppose. I already have a long rgbhv cable but of course, it's not quite long enough for how I have my conduit run.

So, the 4:3 image will end up being the same height as the 16:9 ? I didn't think that was the case but it is good news..... I want to build a masking system and I would like to only have to mask one direction or the other.

What happens if I feed it a 2:35 image? will it fill the screen in width and have bars at the top and bottom?

Thanks!

Bud

[Nashou66]

[budk]

Thanks. I looked at the link and it seems to make sense, however it brings into play the mysterious world of scalers and processors. So, I guess I am more confused than ever. Rats......

[Nashou66]

[draganm]

[Brooklyn]

Since no one answered #3 yet, yes that looks normal for a crt that is not set up. I also agreed with what draganm said. I highly suggest reading the CRT set procedures on this site and know them well when it comes time to set up your Barco. Don't skip out on anything, be sure to do it right and you won't be disappointed.

[budk]

Thanks... I've been sitting on this projector for a couple of years while I got around to building the room. Well, it looks like I'm within a couple of months of getting to the point of positioning the projector and figuring out how I want to hang it... (see my previous threads looking for a mounting bracket!).

Anyway, it's starting to get to the exciting part that I wanted to get some reassurances that I have the source chain correct and that I am not omitting something important. I suppose I guess I could always add a scaler or htpc later correct? I assume they just drop in the middle of the source chain?

thanks to all.

[Nashou66]

[budk]

I bought it a few years ago but I did hook it up about 9 months to take the picture that is in my original post.

It has been sitting in a dry, cool place so I'm fairly confident it will work.

Thanks!

[budk]

Okay, not to beat a dead horse but this whole 4:3 image on a 16:9 screen still confounds me, and here is why.

drice1234 and others have stated that the 4:3 image would be shown within a 16:9 screen.

In round numbers, the LENS program from Barco suggests 134" from the front mounting hole to the screen for a 16:9 screen that is 54" high (96"w = 110" diag). But, if I plug in a 4:3 format, 54" high screen (72"w = 90" diag) I get a mounting dimension of 105".

So, I'm thinking that if I project a 4:3 image with the projector mounted at 134" for a 16:9 image, then my 4:3 image will be larger than it should be and therefore off the top and bottom of the screen.

Is this true? or do I somehow set up a different block in the projector that would use less of the raster and therefore display a smaller image to fit within the 54" height of the screen?

Thanks. Bud

[CRT_Ben]

[drice1234]

Your cable or satellite box will do the scaling for you to fit the 4x3 into the 16x9 screen.

[AnalogRocks]

What a waste of raster though.

[AnalogRocks]

What a waste of raster though.

[CIR Engineering]

[CIR Engineering]

Bud,

What I would do is set up the projector without a video processor first. Enjoy it for a spell, and then later add a VP when you understand how aspect rations work and how to set up new geometries faster

A VP makes everything better, but it is more work to get everything going and can be a little daunting at first.

craigr

[Nashou66]

[budk]

thanks for the info.... I'm just going to mount it at the distance for 16:9 and see what happens. My point about the 4:3 was that the LENS program specifies that you have to mount the projector closer to the screen to get a 54" image at 4:3. Since I am going to mount it at the 16:9 recommended distance (actually 5%-10% closer per recommendations on this forum) that will cause a 4:3 image to be larger than the screen.

Like Craig stated, I'll start at 16:9 and go from there.... maybe it will sink in by then. I'm still a couple of months away from getting to that point anyhow.

Thanks to all.

Bud

[tommo2]

Don't pay too much attention to recommended mounting distances. You need to temporarily mount the projector on sliding rails. Draw a line down the ceiling perpendicular to the screen and perfectly centered. Make sure it is centered and square to the screen. Also, mount it as close to the final mounted height of the projector as possible.
The are controls in the projector which can enlarge or shrink the image in the raster. You need to end up with as large an image on the tube face as possible. This ensures you use as much of the phosphor on the tube face as possible, and gives the brightest and sharpest image.
Do not use the internal test patterns. Supply a picture from your intended source at whatever resolution and aspect ratio you will be setting the screen to. Probably 16:9. You can now switch between the selected source and the genlocked pattern and the aspect ratio and resolution will be the same.
Mark out the final position and dimensions of your screen. Make sure it is a perfect 16:9 ratio.
Go into the service menu and reset all settings to midpoint. Then select delete all blocks from the memory.

Go into colour select menu and select green. This should project an image out of the green crt only.
You then need to remove the green lens and centre the raster on the tube face. Then increase H and V size to 90. This ensures you use as much as the tube face as possible. Adjust H shift until the image is centered within the raster. Refit the lens.
Now move the projector back or forward until the image fills the screen. Ensure the green tube is centered on the line you drew on the ceiling. Swing the projector left/right if necessary. Use V shift to lower/raise the image until it is centered on the screen vertically. You may have to tilt the projector to do this. It is best if the projector is not tilted, but may be necessary. Remember, using V shift in either extreme (ie close to 0 or 99) will put strain on the convergence and geometry circuits, and you may not be able to correct it, so be careful. The only values you want near the extreme are H and V sizes.
Do a quick geometry and focus on green. Use the genlocked pattern. You may have to adjust V size to get the aspect ratio correct (use the source picture to check this. Redo focus and geometry. Now increase H size to 95 and V size to suit. Ensure that both are close to 95 but not above this value. Decrease H or V size if necessary (ie H size at 95 and V size at 89, or V size at 95, H size at 92, for example). You get the picture.
Move the projector forward now until the image fits the screen. Redo focus and geometry. Remove the green lens and ensure the image is within the raster, and not too close to the edge of the phosphor on the tube face. Decrease size if this is an issue and redo above steps.
You now have the projector at the optimum distance, with the H and V sizes almost maxed out. The last few clicks on these settings are fine tuning when you mount it permanently. Always good to have a little play in either direction. Now measure the distance to screen. This is your recommended distance. I'll bet it is a good lot closer to the screen than stated in the manual.
Most manuals have the H and V size set at 50, so if you have a 9" projector you are probably using less phosphor on the tube face than a 8" or maybe even 7" tube.

Just before you take down the projector, use the guided installation on the barco to guide you through aiming the red and blue guns at the screen, and performing a quick geometry and focus and convergence, just to make sure everything is ok and you will be able to completely set up the projector when the time comes.