CurtPalme.com Home Theater Forum

Nitmoe · Joined: 10 Jan 2008 Posts: 60 Location: Iowa, USA

Are there any ways to shorten throw distance and still maintain 10 foot widescreen other than a mirror?

Also, has anyone here used a mirror, like with a vertical mounted PJ? Curious, if I were to try this, what the best ratio is for distance between PJ and mirror, then mirror and screen. What would be the cheapest type of mirror that would have high enough reflectiveness to pull this off? Anyone know of a good place to find one on a budget?

**AnalogRocks** · Posted: Mon Jan 28, 2008 5:59 am Post subject:

Find an old RPTV and steal the mirror out of it. These can ususally be found on the curb on trash day.

Dave Lister · Posted: Mon Jan 28, 2008 9:20 am Post subject:

The distance from the mirror to the PJ will be the normal projection distance for the PJ minus the distance from the mirror to the screen.

So the total distance from PJ to mirror to screen is the original projection distance you started with before turning the PJ vertical and adding a mirror. Wink

If you want the picture bigger as you have planned you need to work out how far back the mirror will be and then determine how far from the PJ the mirror needs to be to get the total projection distance needed for the screen size you want.

Nitmoe · Joined: 10 Jan 2008 Posts: 60 Location: Iowa, USA

Thanks for the replies, although they are in no way helpful. I live in a small town, not likely to find anything on trash day, and we have alley pick up, nothing will be on the curb. I know the total throw distance will be the same when adding the distances between the pj to mirror and wiiror to screen. My question was where is the best placement for the mirror? Is it better to have it close to the pj, or farther away? Obviously, the farther the mirror is mounted from the lenses, the larger it will need to be, as the image will be larger. So really my question is, is there a noticeable difference in reflection properties of a mirror depending intensity of light? Also, I am not going for a larger screen size, just a new mounting arrangement.

**AnalogRocks** · Posted: Wed Jan 30, 2008 6:03 am Post subject:

Well let's say you put a wanted add on craigslist, OLD rear projection TV's broken or not. Willing to pick up. Please call.

You'll probably have a few in no time.

I'd put the mirro where ever it works best. In my case if I were to stand up the projector I'd need the mirror aobut the 4 foot off the floor level to project the image over the tops of the heads of the people seated in front of it.

ThomasW · Joined: 22 Jan 2008 Posts: 16 Location: Uppsala, Sweden

ThomasW · Joined: 22 Jan 2008 Posts: 16 Location: Uppsala, Sweden

Just to make clear: I never did try a mirror setup. I looked at a ready made stand f mirror and projector from Draper, but those are definitely NOT budget...

ecrabb · Posted: Fri Feb 01, 2008 8:35 am Post subject:

I was thinking about a vertical mount, too until I realized it would shorten the throw way too much in the room I wanted to use in my old house.

Nitmoe, no difference whatsoever in the reflective properties with respect to brightness or proximity to the projector. As you and Thomas have pointed out, the biggest concern would be the size as the mirror moves along the throw. From a pragmatic standpoint, unless you're doing a rear-projection setup, I'd say the most likely usable configuration would be having the mirror mounted as close to the projector as possible.

I can't find the post, but somebody here has a Sony 12xx on a custom-fabbed steel vertical mount with a first-surface mirror, all behind the sofa. There's a thread with pics if you can find it.

Hey, where in IA are ya?

SC

jkruger · Joined: 24 Oct 2007 Posts: 2435 Location: Carlsbad, CA

I think this is the mount he refers to:
https://www.curtpalme.com/forum_archived/viewtopic.php@t=8149.html
As I recall he was having some fits about focus and convergence, I suspect his troubles were related to mirror alignment:
https://www.curtpalme.com/forum_archived/viewtopic.php@t=8240.html

I thought about this for a while, thinking it would be cool to mount mine with it shining down into the mirror so I could get it up out of the room more, (cathedral ceiling) I decided it was way more work to get it set up correctly than I wanted to try.

Nitmoe · Joined: 10 Jan 2008 Posts: 60 Location: Iowa, USA

I am currently just west of Des Moines in Adel, but I live in Creston which is where my main screen is. I have been in Adel for almost two years, goin home every two to four weeks, but I haven't been home since October.`