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Satchmo
Joined: 09 Sep 2008
Posts: 20
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| Posted: Fri Oct 17, 2008 9:57 pm Post subject: How harmful is it to crank the contrast way up? |
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So I got a coupla 1292's for dirt cheap, and right now I have one set up in a spare bedroom, projecting onto a tan wall, so I'm hardly in the hi-quality picture arena here. I'm mostly using it for xbox and watching movies from a laptop. Now, due to the darkish wall, and the fact that I'm making a 9 foot screen with what I've read is a fairly dim projector, I've found that the default brightness and contrast settings on the projector just aren't cutting it.
It's pretty acceptable when I have brightness up to 70 or so, and contrast I've been boosting into the 90's. Yeah the blacks are a little grey, but at least I can see it! I know that higher contrast will cause quicker wear on the tubes, but I couldn't find anything that would tell HOW much more quickly this will kill the tubes. Is it in the neighborhood of 1 hour at 95 contrast : 2 hours at 70? 1:5? 1:20? (I know it's impossible to get any sort of accurate number, I just want to make sure I'm not going to kill the tubes in a couple of months or something..
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stuffandpuff
Joined: 30 Jul 2008
Posts: 69
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| Posted: Fri Oct 17, 2008 10:29 pm Post subject: |
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It's impossible to know. It's dependent on the source material, the amount of time you are using it , the condition of the tubes and how high contrast is really set in relation to G2 etc. The actual numbers are arbitrary- if that's the right word. What you should look at is blooming.
Contrast set too high causes blooming and brightness set too high results in gray blacks and a washed out image. If the tubes are in decent shape, You should get a calibration DVD and set brightness and contrast. Also if your Gamma is way off, you'll never get it right. The tan wall isn't helping anything and don't calibrate to that. If you don't have a white wall or screen, hang a white sheet. That's a better option than a tan wall. It will be brighter, look much better and you likely will not feel the need to raise the brightness and contrast so high.
If you use a white sheet and scale the image to 7' that right there will increase your brightness and image quality significantly.
9' is definitely too big for any single CRT IMO but others will disagree. I don't really go over 7' with any 8" machine or 8' with a 9" machine. I did blow up a 1030 to about 10' for a week when I first become interested in CRT but as you progress, image quality replaces sheer size as your motivation. I eventually used the 1030 on a 6" screen and loved it.
Last edited by stuffandpuff on Fri Oct 17, 2008 10:40 pm; edited 2 times in total
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draganm
Joined: 08 Mar 2006
Posts: 8990
Location: Colorado
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| Posted: Fri Oct 17, 2008 10:35 pm Post subject: Re: How harmful is it to crank the contrast way up? |
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| Satchmo wrote: | | HOW much more quickly this will kill the tubes. Is it in the neighborhood of 1 hour at 95 contrast : 2 hours at 70? 1:5? 1:20? (I know it's impossible to get any sort of accurate number, I just want to make sure I'm not going to kill the tubes in a couple of months or something.. |
A gallon of Behr Ultra white paint is $25., do yourself, your tubes, and your eyeballs a favor and simply paint the wall the right color. 
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XANATOS
Joined: 22 Mar 2006
Posts: 130
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| Posted: Sat Oct 18, 2008 12:16 am Post subject: |
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sir just buy a sub 1,000$$$ dlp at best buy
your going to cook the tubes in under 1000 hours video games are very high contrast
A BROWN 9 FOOT WALL FOR A SCREEN  AND YOU BLAME
THE PROJECTOR FOR NOT BEING BRIGHT ENOUGH 
XANATOS
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IN THE LAND OF HOME THEATER
THE THREE EYED MONSTER IS
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deronmoped
Joined: 03 Nov 2006
Posts: 1154
Location: San Diego
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| Posted: Sat Oct 18, 2008 3:27 am Post subject: |
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Hell
You'll never know the tubes are burnt with a brown wall 
Deron.
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Satchmo
Joined: 09 Sep 2008
Posts: 20
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| Posted: Sun Oct 19, 2008 7:40 am Post subject: |
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Hahaha, okay okay! I'm going to Lowe's tomorrow to get stuff I need to build a black out cloth screen.
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Zebu Fellenz
Joined: 21 Dec 2006
Posts: 2567
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| Posted: Sun Oct 19, 2008 12:40 pm Post subject: |
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| Satchmo wrote: | | Hahaha, okay okay! I'm going to Lowe's tomorrow to get stuff I need to build a black out cloth screen. |
I wouldn't waste time on a BOC screen unless the wall is uneven or you can't paint it, painting is much easier IMO and I feel the results of a painted wall screen are usually better that a bare BOC screen.
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jkruger
Joined: 24 Oct 2007
Posts: 2435
Location: Carlsbad, CA
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| Posted: Sun Oct 19, 2008 4:13 pm Post subject: |
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You can make an inexpensive screen very quickly with a sheet of Parkland plastic, a couple of 1x4's, some two-sided tape and some flat black to paint the frame with. Done correctly you can build one that is full 4' x 8' for less than $40.00. I made mine 48" x 85".
Last edited by jkruger on Sun Oct 19, 2008 4:41 pm; edited 1 time in total
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perisoft
Joined: 29 Aug 2007
Posts: 2920
Location: Ithaca, NY
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| Posted: Sun Oct 19, 2008 4:30 pm Post subject: |
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| XANATOS wrote: | sir just buy a sub 1,000$$$ dlp at best buy
your going to cook the tubes in under 1000 hours video games are very high contrast
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sir learn a little bit about imaging. Playing video games isn't going to cook the tubes any faster than watching movies, unless he's got bright white status bars or other static elements - and even then, you're talking pattern wear, not overall wear.
Full white is full white, whether it's coming from a video game or a movie, and games don't tend to be any brighter overall than movies - hell, if you're playing iD games, you could have the contrast at 100 and not wear the tubes out after 15,000 hours.
In short, check your own facts before you jump down somebody's throat.
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Satchmo
Joined: 09 Sep 2008
Posts: 20
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| Posted: Sun Oct 19, 2008 10:20 pm Post subject: |
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Unfortunately painting the wall isn't an option. The parkland plastic screen sounds like a good option though. Which parkland product did you use, jkruger?
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jkruger
Joined: 24 Oct 2007
Posts: 2435
Location: Carlsbad, CA
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| Posted: Mon Oct 20, 2008 4:06 am Post subject: |
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I used the Parkland Plas-Tex wall panel, bright white, .060" thk 4 x 8 sheet. Bar code # is: 37553 00001. I got it from a neighbor that was throwing it away, but it is the right stuff to use. I hung it from the wooden joists in my room with two screws, one at each upper corner and two small braces at the bottom corners to keep it from swaying in the breeze when the wind comes thru the loft. Made those from some small sheet metal straps bought at home depot in the building materials section for $1.39 each.
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