Advise on 2 old projectors

[nosecone]

Hi all

My simulator budget is very tight and I have been looking at cheap solutions for the out side visuals.
Projectors here in New Zealand are not cheap, and short throw ones are out of the question given they cost upwards of $5000.

So I have been trolling our auction sites for an affordable option and came across these two old models.





I have put a very low bid on the sharp projector given the bulb is about $350

The second projector is a bit of a mystery as there in no info on it. All I know is it is a Panasonic with what looks like three lenses but if anyone has any info on it I would love to know and any info on the sharp I would love to hear as well

Regards

Rhys

[Geremy Britton]

yep you said my only word of warning. Reasearch new bulb costs before buying an older projector.

Sorry i can't help you with regard to projector info all ik now is they make a big picture

[nosecone]

Thanks Geremy
I posted a couple of questions about the panasonic on the auction and waiting a reply

Rhys

[steveeverson]

Hi Rhys,
I used to be a video projection engineer many years ago- the panasonic projector is basically 3x Cathode ray tubes (red,green and blue) with lenses on the front of them. They require quite a lot of setup to make look good and need re-adjusting whenever you change the projectors throw distance- this is called the convergence adjustment.

In effect you adjust the angle of the 2 outer tubes (red and blue) to the green centre tube and then have to make tiny adjustments to the image in different areas using a grid test pattern- starting from the centre and working outwards to the corners to make sure that the red green and blue images are perfectly overlaid. There can be upwards of one hundred adjustments to make- on later projectors this is done using and infra red remote control but on earlier ones there may be a large 'convergence board' inside the projector with individual pots for each adjustment.

The setup can be done well with practice but does usually require a tweak now and again to keep the pictures looking good- im sure many of us have seen these in a pub or bar where the images have a red halo or tinge on one side!

The other thing to bear in mind is that the CRT tubes do wear out and it may be hard to source replacements, they can often have images burnt into them if they have been showing the same image for a while.

Another thing now I think about it is that older CRT projectors may have a limited resolution, although 1024*768 is probably ok for most of them- at the time making hi res tubes was quite expensive so many were produced that only had video/tv resolution..

My advice- go for an LCD or DLP projector , you pretty much have to point, focus and thats it. The bulbs may be a bit expensive to replace but they are readily available and last thousands of hours , and the images are generally a lot brighter than the old 3 tube CRT projectors.

Best place to look: ebay is pretty good and it may be worth considering getting something from abroad as there could still be considerable cost savings.

Hope that helps
Cheers

Steve

[nosecone]

Thanks for the heads up Steve
I will keep away from the panasonic one, looks like to much hassle if any thing goes wrong.

I have placed a bid on the sharp and at the moment looking for a price on bulbs, that will Determine whether or not it's worth getting.

While I would love to purchase a newer projector, the buget is tight and all I want is to at least get the sim up and running and get some enjoyment out of it.


Regards

Rhys

[Geremy Britton]

Steve, thanks for your informative post. I learnt a thing or two from that

[Matt Olieman]

I agree with Steve, Ebay is the place to buy inexpensive projectors. I couldn't believe my eyes when I saw my NEC $3300 projector (just 4 years old) now for $300 to $600 (depending on the bulb life).

[vybhav]

Thanks Steve, really informative. I would suggest to buy Benq 522ST, is a short throw projector for about USD 1000 and native resolution of 1024*768. Somehow in India I would never buy stuff from "ebay" may be that is not the case in Europe and America.

[BHawthorne]

Unless you can source the projector bulbs in your area I'd stay away from any projector buy. Projectors all have bulb consumables. If you can't get a bulb for whatever you buy it's going to be a paper weight in anywhere from 1 hour to 4000 hours from now depending upon how much bulb life is left in the projector. Seriously, unless you know where to get an affordable bulb, don't buy it.

[nosecone]

Thanks guys

unless you know where to get an affordable bulb, don't buy it.

Luckily for me someone has put a higher bid on the sharp projector which is just as well
Did some ring around and found out that a new buld for that model is $830.71 NZ dollars
I will take my time on this one, at the moment there's no hurry

Regards

Rhys