CurtPalme.com Home Theater Forum

[lyd]

The Marquee 8500 is finally in the US, and as soon as I get the customs clearing straightened out I will be going to pick it up and haul it home.

Could I please get some tips on what to do to it, in what order?

I have read and re-read numerous setup guides and the manual, and no doubt will be reading all of these several times again as it all is a bit overwhelming. I'm sure I'll muddle through it, though, and the unit just came out of a working installation before shipping so it shouldn't be too bad.

Any suggestions about general setup are welcome, but I am mostly asking here about standard practice after shipping. Do I want to be opening it up to re-seat everything? Bleed the tubes as a matter of course or just check for bubbles? Like that.

Thank you very much.

lyd

[Zebu Fellenz]

Let the projector sit for 24 hours after you get it to allow it to acclimate. I would check for bubbles, but only bleed the tubes if they really need it.

Setting up a Marquee is easy, although you should set it up a few times on the floor to get used to it before you mount it.

Erik

[draganm]

you can't bleed the tubes on a marquee 8500AC without disassembling them. You don't need to anyway, the marquee's don't have the cracking tube glass problem. The very first thing you need to do is check the P14 filament voltage to insure your tubes are safe.
http://www.etechvideo.com/techtip1.htm

[Curt Palme]

No, the first thing you do is CHECK the projector for damage BEFORE you take it away. I've had Pilot Air nuke the corner of a chassis, smash a lens, then tape up the bubble wrap with Pilot Air tape to hide the damage. WHile it was only a lens, it's almost impossible to claim for damage after you sign for the unit.

Take a knife/screw gun with you and check the set before you take it away. If you see damage, punch the nearest freight handler in the face..

[Curt Palme]

No, the first thing you do is CHECK the projector for damage BEFORE you take it away. I've had Pilot Air nuke the corner of a chassis, smash a lens, then tape up the bubble wrap with Pilot Air tape to hide the damage. WHile it was only a lens, it's almost impossible to claim for damage after you sign for the unit.

Take a knife/screw gun with you and check the set before you take it away. If you see damage, punch the nearest freight handler in the face..

[JustGreg]

What he said ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^

If DHL shipped it skip all the above advice and just ask for the DBR (damaged beyond repair) claim form. (It's a long story)

At home (while waiting for it to acclimate unplugged) I'd remove the front panel from the power supply bay and reseat the two PS's (HVPS on the right, LVPS on the left). I'd also remove the large top access cover (remove the lens cover, set it aside, and loosen, not remove, the 3 Phillips screws you can now see and slide the cover to the rear and little to lift it up and remove it) and check to make sure everything is connected.
While in there, take the covers off the HDM and FCM and pull them up a little, then chunk them back down and replace the covers. While there, make sure everything is connected to somewhere. Vague I know but the literature on this site will provide you with info on where everything is supposed to be connected. All cables connect somewhere. (more vaguery)

If you're up to it, remove the two screws on the burnished colored metal covers at the rear of each tube (one screw on each will be attaching a braided ground lead), and remove the covers, or swing them toward you enough to get your fingers in there. Make sure the neck boards are pressed onto the pins of the tube as far as they'll go. Neck boards always feel wobbly so don't expect a "bolted down" firm feeling. You can remove these covers for a better look but they require a bit of patience getting the metal tabs on the bottoms into the slots on the cover so you can swing it forward and reinstall the screws. Not bad...just sometimes annoying.

Then you can move down to the back of the pj and loosen the thumbscrews on the CLM (board on the bottom left), pull it out a little, and chunk it back in and resecure. Moving to the right bottom board, remove the one little phillips on the right side of the board, loosen the thumbscrew on the right, and do the same thing. Pull it out a couple inches and chunk it back it in and replace the screws. This board won't just pull all the way out like the CLM because it has the 75ohm coax red, blue, and green leads connected to it and routed through the frame where they end up at each corresponding tube. Just letting you know that in case you want to remove it.

From here follow draganm's link to the P14 heater procedure. You'll need a halfway decent DMM with pinch attachments for each lead. You can just use the regular test leads but the pj will be energized for this test and it's too easy to slip and short it out.
If you're handy with a soldering iron you can perform the mod yourself with a couple bucks worth of parts. It really should be done regardless of whether you're reading 6.35V or not. (Unless it's already been done of course).

That's my contribution. I know just enough to get a halfway decent image and enough not to have blown it up in over a year. So many movies and games, so little time to tweek. Oh, the flapping adjustments??? Don't remove the red bolt covers and make adjustments to the ones not referenced in the onboard setup guide...not a good idea. Been there...frigged that up.

Greg

[lyd]

[perisoft]

Once you get it home and working, my advice would be to set it up six ways from sunday, floor mounted. Figure on spending every evening for a month, and then you'll get pretty good at setting it up... I've ended up spending huge amounts of time tweaking while I clear out the HT room, both on the real PJ and on a 1272, and the time spent just learning about the lenses, light, etc, is *invaluable*.

It helps if you find it all fun and relaxing, too, but even if it's not I'd suggest you spend as much time as possible setting up - do it all, reset everything to zero, do it again. Do that again. Then do it again, and do it again - then do it again. After you've done all that again - and again - you'll be getting pretty good.

I figure that there are levels to the Zen of Projector Convergence:

Level 1: Set up geometry but not zone, because you don't understand zone.
Level 2: Set up geometry and zone.
Level 3: Set up geometry and zone. Know by heart the order - backwards and forwards - of the 56-point zone convergence.
Level 4: Set up geometry. Don't need the zone.

This, of course, does not include focus, flapping, astig, etc.

It sounds horrifically complicated but it's like anything else - you learn as you go. And it's fun. The fun's in the process, in getting it set up better and going, "woot!" as you see a really nice improvement, and in knowing that you can keep playing with it and learning more. It's particularly fun when your buddies come over and say, "Hey, what did you do?!"

Above all, enjoy it - and don't wait until it's perfect to start watching some movies!

[jask]

[lyd]

[lyd]

[Joust]

Daddy looks mighty mighty proud

Take the lenses off to mount it, saves you 30 pounds or so.

[JustGreg]

Is it just me or is the foam the wrong one for that machine. Are the lenses for a 9500 a larger diameter than the HD8's on an 8500? Are those HD8 lenses?
I've just never seen the foam so loose around the lenses unless the foam is wrong or the lenses are non OEM.
Just curious.

From crate to ceiling huh? Line up a good chiropractor now.

Working overhead especially sucks if you wear glasses...for me anyway. I couldn't see up close for sh*t when I had bifocals and I still can't see good up close with new single visions. I ended up taking them off and getting my nose right into things. It's a vision to behold ( ) when I work overhead on mine with my glasses off; my face smashed inside the thing, and wearing a dual LED headlight band.
My wife came into the HT to tell me something one time and when she saw me with the above geek gear on just said, "Oh my Gawdddd", and turned around and left without telling me what it is she came to tell me. Yeah...she still wants me.

What kind of window treatments are you going for? I got some great (x-lation cheap) black velvet BOC curtains from Wal-Mart on sale. Also bought about 6 black king sized bed sheets for the ceiling. I had raw joists in the basement to work with and drywall wasn't feasible due to the lack of foresight by the builders what with all the junction boxes and plumbing to contend with. Worked great. I covered the seams with 4" wide black velvet banding I bought on fleabay (credit to Clarence for the idea).

Have fun man!

Greg

[Joust]

[Joust]

[JustGreg]

[Joust]

[JustGreg]

[lyd]

[lyd]

[lyd]