CurtPalme.com Home Theater Forum

[WanMan]

I cannot afford a 1920x1080P capable CRT projector. A G90 is running $7-8K and Electrohome 9500L are running even higher. While I love the colors of NEC, I can tolerate the colors of a Sony--I have not seen an Electrohome yet.

I do own an NEC XG135LC that I bought from a good friend with a new NEC green and blue tube set. Its never been used, but I'm told the sweet spot pixel resolution is 1440x960 and anything higher, progressively, softens the image.

My thoughts are I could trade this in and within a budget 'might' be able to find something, but I am a doubting thomas. The bigger concern for me is that sitting at the sweet spot often defines boundaries in screen size, and requires scaling.

If I keep the XG to use at 1440x960 I would need to take the 1080i/P sources and deinterlace and or scale them to 960P. While pixel resolution is not the end-all, be-all, it plays a big factor in my personal desires along with contrast ratio, black level, color resolution and correction, etc.

What would you do? Now let's say the budget is XG & $3-4K.

[ecrabb]

First of all, what's your desired screen size and what will be your seating distance?

SC

[jantje112]

The 135lc will probably do the 1080p quite well.. It's one of the best designed crt's

[Zebu Fellenz]

I would try 1080p 60 on the XG, I run it on my G70 and it looks good to me.

[draganm]

[Curt Palme]

The problem that I've run into for years is the expected value of trade in of sets. At this point, sales are pretty much dead except for 9" sets, and even a mint XG with no wear is worth well under $1K as trade in. Add $300 approx for shipping and duty and customs to get the set to me, then 4 hours of inspection/chip changing/etc, and the fact that a used tube XG _might_ sell for $2500 with a full warranty on it, 1/2 that from a private owner with no warranty, and there you have it.

I still get the 'hey, what do you mean you don't want it on trade, I paid $2K for this 1252 from PSI back in 2002' calls almost weekly.

I'm better off selling the MArquee or other 9" sets to some 3D or flight simulator place that will pay full retail for it, even if it sits here for 3-4 more months.

You might get more for the set parting it out. That's what I'm even doing with 8" EM focusing sets.

[Curt Palme]

The problem that I've run into for years is the expected value of trade in of sets. At this point, sales are pretty much dead except for 9" sets, and even a mint XG with no wear is worth well under $1K as trade in. Add $300 approx for shipping and duty and customs to get the set to me, then 4 hours of inspection/chip changing/etc, and the fact that a used tube XG _might_ sell for $2500 with a full warranty on it, 1/2 that from a private owner with no warranty, and there you have it.

I still get the 'hey, what do you mean you don't want it on trade, I paid $2K for this 1252 from PSI back in 2002' calls almost weekly.

I'm better off selling the MArquee or other 9" sets to some 3D or flight simulator place that will pay full retail for it, even if it sits here for 3-4 more months.

You might get more for the set parting it out. That's what I'm even doing with 8" EM focusing sets.

[WanMan]

Drag, I stated exactly what you repeated. I am saying that to get into something reasonable, the $7K offerings are where the basement is, but was above my means. This, I had to look at options.

I guess my point was that 1080P CRT is still above the entry level point for many--including myself. I wasn't looking to put anyone on the spot, here, but weighing in on my options.

Who has run a clean image on an XG135LC at 1080P? As I said, I was told that this was not the sweet spot. I had hoped to run a curved screen around 120".

[Nashou66]

This could take a long time but find a 8500LC i bet near 1000-2000, get Mike parker Mods tot he VIM and VNB's and you'll have an 1080p@72 HZ machine
for about 3000-4000 depending on how much you get the 8500LC for. 9" machine are really not the absolute for 1080p anymore, just look at curts adds on E-bay even he says an 8 inch can do 1080p, unmoded they will be a bit soft but that give the film like image we all really want, with the MP mods you get a sharper and better color and blacks.

Athanasios

[Mark_A_W]

I think you're mad.

Run 1080i 96hz on it and leave the pissing contest for others.

I'm pretty familiar with a G90, and the difference for HD material is pretty small. Resolution is not *that* important, but a well set up XG will show 1:1 lines at 1920x1080...just.


You already own a sh*t hot projector, but you're agonising about trading up, AND YOU'VE NEVER TRIED THE XG???

Don't run 1080p 60hz. It judders (are you guys blind?).

And BTW, the colours of a G70 are identical to a XG LC.

[Zebu Fellenz]

[Brooklyn]

Try the XG before you consider selling it off already! I bet the XG 135lc is a great set. I don't see why it wouldn't do 1080p, I think a lot of guys with those nice XG's run that.

[ecrabb]

[MikeEby]

[AnalogRocks]

[AnalogRocks]

[Elaine Benes]

[dropzone7]

Dude! Get that XG hung and setup and you won't look back. Get Ken, Terry, or Doug to come calibrate it to perfection and you will still save a bundle of money based on what you budgeted.

[Axatax]

[WanMan]

Ok, so the next question is ... if I try the XG what would I need in preparation, hardware wise, for taking the DirecTV HR21's and PS3 a source feeds to get the best results. I guess this is a question for either the HTPC forum or the video processor forum. Can a all-in-one processor be had for $2-3K that will bring the most out of the XG?

I am pretty sure I know who'll set the thing up (not me, but probably Terry).

[CIR Engineering]

Well, the Lumagen HDP can be had for $1199.00 and it can do every thing you want and do it extremely well. It only has two DVI inputs though so you might need a switch.

craigr

[garyfritz]

Being a cheap bastage, I never went the VP route. All I've got is a Moome EXT-HD to convert the PS3's HDMI to RGBHV. I'm not running at 72Hz, since the PS3 only outputs 60Hz, but it looks good to me.