CurtPalme.com Home Theater Forum

[Huntington]

I've had a 1271 in my house for almost two years now. I'm looking to maybe set it up and use my HTPC with a ATI card to run it. My question is, What is the maximum practical screen size i can achieve and can i get 16:9 out of this projector? Also, will the 5 BNC to VGA plug that will then have a adapter to DVI work to run 1080i well via PowerStrip?

I've been reading the forum for about a week now and have came crossed lots of helpful info and it seems like maybe i might be wasting my time with this 1271. Is this a crap shoot or should i pursue this? Keep in mind i got the PJ for free(well not free, cost me my time) and the tubes appear to be in great shape, no burn in and bright.

Brandon H

[ecrabb]

Hi Brandon,

The 1271 is a very competent, reliable beginner machine. It will make a decent 720p image on roughly a 96x54 screen if you have a little gain, like a Wilsonart Designer White screen. If your gain is a bit lower - 1.0 or 1.1, I'd recommend not going much larger than a 7-foot wide screen. Some people go larger than those two recommendations, but you sacrifice color and contrast - or "pop".

Yes, you can run 1080i if you like... I found 1080i very nice on my 1271, but only for program material. For the desktop, the projector is too soft at that res, so menus and icons can be hard to read. I'd recommend running 720p with an HTPC, and yes - the VGA-5BNC with DVI-VGA adapter should work fine.

What I'd do is set it up and use it, and if you enjoy CRT and want to stick with CRT, keep your eyes peeled for a machine that would be a big upgrade, like a Sony G70 or NEC XG. Those machines are electromagnetic focus, liquid coupled, and have Sheimpflug (lens flapping) and up to five years newer than the 1271, so are much sharper. 3 or 4 years ago, those two machines were a couple grand used. Those machines are now typically selling for $300-400 in excellent condition - sometimes even less. They're easier to find if you're in a big metro area, and you're not, but you're also not that far from Chicago. Just a thought.

Cheers,
SC

[AnalogRocks]

Set it up and use it. It's a FREE projector.

Go no more than 7 feet wide or the picture gets a little washed out IMO. 1080i looks good on the 12xx series projectors.
Yes a VGA to 5 BNC cable will work off a DVI to VGA adaptor. What ATi card? Some don't play nice with powerstrip.

You could even try a simple setup before playing with power strip. I used my 1252 at 1024x768@72Hz for a while before I tried 720p or 1080i.
720p didn't look great on mine but mine was a recovering smoke-a-holic X-bar projector with a billion hours. Your desktop will probably be unreadable at that resolution. I use to switch between 1024 and 1080i. I also used odd resolutions like 1422x800 and 1440x960i@72Hz for 4:3 DVD ( 2x 720x480 NTSC interlaced).
Experiment and have fun. Stay away from 1080p it'll just look like a soft focused mess and stress the old boy in the process.

[AnalogRocks]

Set it up and use it. It's a FREE projector.

Go no more than 7 feet wide or the picture gets a little washed out IMO. 1080i looks good on the 12xx series projectors.
Yes a VGA to 5 BNC cable will work off a DVI to VGA adaptor. What ATi card? Some don't play nice with powerstrip.

You could even try a simple setup before playing with power strip. I used my 1252 at 1024x768@72Hz for a while before I tried 720p or 1080i.
720p didn't look great on mine but mine was a recovering smoke-a-holic X-bar projector with a billion hours. Your desktop will probably be unreadable at that resolution. I use to switch between 1024 and 1080i. I also used odd resolutions like 1422x800 and 1440x960i@72Hz for 4:3 DVD ( 2x 720x480 NTSC interlaced).
Experiment and have fun. Stay away from 1080p it'll just look like a soft focused mess and stress the old boy in the process.

[Huntington]

Thank you all for the replies.

Thank you ecrabb, you hooked me up with a ceiling mount about a year ago.

So about 110 horizontal screen with no problems in a 16:9 format? I had read in some other post that some people were have a issue with getting it to that ratio, but i didn't really understand the vocabulary being used. Porch settings and over-scan didn't really make sense.

I have a Powercolor HD 5870 PCS+ card in my computer.

What screen gain would you recommend in a ideal situation.

[ecrabb]

Oh, its you! Hey, Brandon!

110"-diagonal (or 96" wide) is the max I'd run a 1271. And that's if you have a screen with a little gain. If you're going to use blackout fabric or white paint that's close to 1.0 gain, then I'd stick with Jeremy's recommendation and stay closer to 84" wide. You can go larger, but you start losing contrast, pop, and sharpness. It's a balancing game. I like a big screen too, but there's a point where it just ruins the image quality, and that point is 7-8' wide on a 12xx.

1.3 gain is about ideal. High enough to get a bit more pop with a slightly larger screen, but low enough to still look good off-axis. One of the best DIY screens is Wilsonart Designer White... It's countertop laminate, and it'll run you $150-200 to scratch build if you're hand with tools and such. There isn't anything commercial that will get you a true 1.3 gain without spending a LOT more money, unless you can find something cheap used. There are several different threads on building a Wilsonart "Designer White" screen here and over at AVS.

Hmm... I've been kicking around a scope screen. Do you ever get over to Des Moines? I'd consider selling you my screen cheap. But, it might not be worth moving it... It's 96x54, so you'd need a pickup, and it's pretty heavy. Probably more work than it's worth I suppose.

You should have no problem getting 16:9 on a 1271. Run a 16:9 resolution like 1280x720p or some of the oddballs that Jeremy recommended, and you'll be fine. Real resolving power on the 12xx is closer to 960x540, so 720p is actually a pretty good match - a little high, but I consider that like "oversampling". 1080i looked great with program material and made for a very film-like - I watched one that way for years. But, it's way too high res for desktop - icons and text are too small. I found 1280x720p was much better in that regard.

Oh, and you may not need PowerStrip at all if you just want to run a "standard" res like 720p... Depends on the video card and monitor driver and Windows and a bunch of other crap I don't care to worry about.

Cheers,
SC

[Huntington]

uh... i'm not sure what a scope screen is. but i'm always up for a road trip. PM with a price and maybe a picture and we can see if it something we can work out.

[Huntington]

oh and thanks again for all your help guys. I did look through that PowerStrip and it looks super advanced. maybe ill just stick to the standard res like analog suggests.
I also wonder how you would calculate the throw for that size screen? Is there a distance that you recommend.

[Huntington]

Sorry to keep posting. I've just got so many questions.

I was also wondering that if you could run at a Res of like 1600x900. That's a weird resolution, but you would use all of the horizontal pixels and the most possible in vertical while keeping a 16:9 ratio. I realize this may be a dumb question. And if so feel free to inform me.

[Phoenixed]

A scope screen is a 2.35:1 screen aka cineascope. Its what most movies are filmed in. You'll have black bars on the top and bottom of the screen when viewing 2.35:1 material on a 16x9 screen.
To find the throw distance maximize the image on the tube face and put the PJ on something moveable then simply move the PJ till she fills the screen.

[fuchs]

[Curt Palme]

What everyone has said so far is valid, and I'll add this: A few of the questions you ask are what I'd consider 'advanced' questions regarding resolution, powerstrip, etc.

Let me simplify it for you:

SET THE DAMN THING UP ALREADY!

Use some low resolution, 800 X 600 for now. It will take you a few hours to understand and to get used to the manual. Once you get a watchable image, then by all means play with resolutions, tweaking etc. And by all means, keep us posted as to your progress.

[Curt Palme]

What everyone has said so far is valid, and I'll add this: A few of the questions you ask are what I'd consider 'advanced' questions regarding resolution, powerstrip, etc.

Let me simplify it for you:

SET THE DAMN THING UP ALREADY!

Use some low resolution, 800 X 600 for now. It will take you a few hours to understand and to get used to the manual. Once you get a watchable image, then by all means play with resolutions, tweaking etc. And by all means, keep us posted as to your progress.

[Huntington]

OK so i finally got her set up and calibrated last night,12 pack later. I bought a electric 16:9 screen off eBay with 1.3 gain and set it all up, needless to say I'm very excited. It has a good picture at 1080i. I will post some screen caps for your judgment later,still tweaking things.

One question, is there anyway to upgrade the lenses on this thing. The face of the tubes look very good, like #2 of the tube wear scale from this site. But i wonder if i had a little better focus if the picture would be sharper. I could get the center very nice but one corner would be just a little blurry on the red and blue tubes. this may also be caused by the fact that I'm about an inch lower mounted then i should be and I may just be nit picking at this point.

[rosenbush]

You can use HD-145 lenses:

https://www.curtpalme.com/forum_archived/viewtopic.php@t=32474.html

Read what ecrabb mention about it there

[Phoenixed]