CurtPalme.com Home Theater Forum

[Mazdryk]

I wanted a few recommendations on a projector but first I had a few questions.


1. How would the picture quality of a barco Cine 9 or a Zenith pro 900X compare to an Acer H9500BD? http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16824009335

2. How large of a picture can I project with High quality with the above projectors.

3. Do you run into many problems with the old CRT projectors? I don't want to be working on them all the time maybe just once every 6 months.

4. Is a Zenith pro 900X worth $200 in good condition? What price should I expect to pay for a good barco cine 9 or high end sony CRT 90h?

[kabuby77]

[draganm]

[mc86]

Before I give you some thoughts, please read the CRT primer, review the rankings, skim setup tips, etc. There is SO much great information...after several hours reading and thinking, you'll have a much better feel for how to evaluate what you might want. I think you also need to specify what you want with respect to image quality and resolution.

Now, the two machines represent opposite ends of the capability spectrum.

That is, a Zenith Pro 900 that was in very nice condition and with very good tubes would be worth $200 to me, but will only do 1080i/720p and is not super bright. Many on here would say don't both with a 7"ES machine at all. However, properly setup, the image would be very respectable, for sure. For $250 and three hours of setup, you could likely have a Pro setup and looking very fine. I have an ECP4500, very similar in image quality to the Zenith you mention. I am thrilled with the 1080i image I get for the money I have invested. I spent 1/2 a day doing the initial setup a year ago and haven't touched it since (though I badly need to). I do let it warm up for ~15 minutes before watching and then spend ~3mins doing touch-up to the convergence as my particular type of CRT tends to lose convergence (I've never found why). Some people would find that simply unacceptable.

On the other extreme, a G90 in nice condition with very good tubes might fetch several thousand dollars and will do 1080p without effort and could even support 3D with modification. Properly setup, you would get a simply stunning image. If you want to spend maybe ~$5K Curt would sell you a fantastic machine and for a little more money he or others could professionally set it up for you. Depends on what you can spend. Or, if you are handy and patient, a G90 chassis with BAD tubes (green, mainly) can be had right now for around $500-$800 on ebay. For another >$1000 you could buy a green tube. With many hours of work, you could swap tubes, do a setup, and have a decent picture that required little tinkering.

Bottom line: know thyself. And to get meaningful recommendations, share with us your wants and constraints.

Obtaining parts and servicing these machines is also quite a bit different and what amount of service/setup you want to do matters as well. Curt probably still has some Zenith 900 parts, but the entry level (7"ElectroStatic focus, Air Coupled) machines are (I'm guessing) getting to be not worth his time. In fact, he just threw away hundreds of pounds of old boards for these machines! However, the 9"EM/LC (ElectroMagnetic focus, Liquid Coupled) are machine Curt still seeks out and maintains an active parts inventory for. This is not to say those machines don't also suffer from a dirth of parts -- these things aren't being made anymore and the YA board for G90s, for example, are sought after. A failure of a particular component on the YA board component is unrepairable, for example...but it may never fail!

Also, be aware you need to be able to feed a signal to the machine you purchase -- these machines were not originally designed to accept a HDMI cable. You will need to spend money, perhaps a significant amount, preparing your video stream to enter the machine. See the FAQ: hooking it all up at the top.

All of that said, this community and the quality of image that these machines can produce are equally amazing.

cheers,
Matt

[416ray4538]

There's also the pride of ownership using equipment that not everyone has, along with the added hobby of getting to know the machine. In the same way that riding a British bike will make a mechanic out of anyone, a crt projector will give you an education in setup ,repair and fine tuning. Setting up and running a crt projector would be impossible without the help of those on this forum who offer help freely so you get to make a few internet friends too.
Do want something disposable that you just take out of the box and plug in or do you want to have something worth keeping even if you have to get to know its insides.

[mc86]

Great points! Hmmm...volunteer to write the sister book to the ZMM? You know, the Zen and the Art of CRT Maintenance...?


Matt

[jeffslife]

Run ! run like hell ! Its electronic crack !

[cmjohnson]

FYI, the most common projector that's fully HD capable is a Marquee, and VDC Display Systems was making them from 2001 until literally just
a few months ago. If they got orders to build more today, they could do that. The Marquee chassis is the best choice from a support standpoint
and a later version is certainly a top tier unit even BEFORE modifying it for improved performance. Plus, Marquees are very common, and
generally very affordably priced, considering that this is NOT a throwaway digital projector with a realistic three to five year service life, but
a reliability engineered machine that is quite capable of giving more than 20 years of service. (But tubes won't last that long unless you're
an infrequent user.)

Their target market is military and commerical flight simulation use, where reliability and stability are of paramount importance.

One thing to consider when buying a CRT projector is its ability to support HD as it exists today. At this point, you may assume that HDMI is
the standard method of getting an HD signal from anything to anything. Fortunately, there are HDMI capable input cards available from
third party sources for all the best and most common CRT projectors. I would definitely recommend that you ensure that you can get the
appropriate HDMI card for that kind of projector before buying that projector.

I believe that every HDMI input card manufacturer known to us has an ad space and forum here on this forum. Look for it.

And if the card you would need is discontinued, keep a sharp eye out in the buy/sell forum or put up a wanted ad, and you may
soon find that you've found the card you're looking for.

As for picture quality, let's be honest here: A top tier CRT projector, equipped with an HDMI 1.3 or 1.4 video card, and in perfect alignment and
calibration, simply delivers the best image quality POSSIBLE out of ANY available display technology. The best digitals that are able to at least
say they can compete with the best CRT projectors are very expensive and still don't quite equal the almighty CRT. Nor do they have a particularly
long expected service life.


CJ

[nunziom]

HI,
I'm new to this CRT projector phenomenon but I've just installed a Barco 808s on a 90" screen and I love the image. I've still got a bit to go to finalize the setup but the warmth in the picture is spectacular..