Beam Splitter?

[JERRY.FM.JR]

Hi folks...

Well my question will probably indicate how new I am to this hobby. I'm just now beginning to think through how I want to proceed, and in doing so I started to look into Collimated Displays... I'm wondering about this Beam Splitter thing. This is a 50% reflective mirror, right? Is there something I'm missing here? Isn't there something more reasonable out there than the 4,5 ... to $800 price tags I've been quoted on, say, a 30" pane?

[wledzian]

Nope, that's pretty much the going rate for a decent-quality beamsplitter.

It's easy to put a thick layer of aluminum on a pane of glass, spray on a protective layer of paint, and call it good. It's not quite as easy to get a perfectly even layer at just the right thickness to be exactly 50% transmissive.

[JERRY.FM.JR]

Nope, that's pretty much the going rate for a decent-quality beamsplitter.

It's easy to put a thick layer of aluminum on a pane of glass, spray on a protective layer of paint, and call it good. It's not quite as easy to get a perfectly even layer at just the right thickness to be exactly 50% transmissive.

That's a shame since that method seemed to be the easiest of the "better" display choices. I can't believe somebody hasn't come up with a film like window tinting that would do the same thing. Or at least with acceptable results...

[wledzian]

What were you thinking of doing with the beamsplitter? If you were thinking of building your own collimating window, you'll still need to get your hands on the mirror, and when you see the price tag on those, you'll forget about the price of the beamsplitter.