do it yourself lcd projector

Posted Feb 6th 2005 2:56AM by Jason Striegel
Filed under: home entertainment hacks, pcs hacks

do your friends really want to watch the game on that puny tv of yours? wouldn't they rather spend the afternoon helping you make a 6 foot xga projection system? i figured so, and so did sine~language, who sent us this link last night to a tom's hardware article on building a sweet video system out of an lcd monitor and an overhead projector.

more recently, tom's posted a follow-up with recommendations on flat panel monitors to use for such a project. also worth checking out is an alternative lcd projector design we talked about earlier.

these projectors seemed really large to me at first glance, but they take up much less space than a normal 32 inch tube. that, and you can't easily roll a tv of reasonable size into a closet and reclaim your room. i guess you know what i'll be doing instead of watching the super bowl.

Reader Comments

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1. either way its old news, it was on /. months ago.

Posted at 3:35PM on Sep 3rd 2006 by drlzrdmn

2. uh, nope, this isn't a repost. the other article discusses a different design (and i mentioned it in this post btw). not that it isn't worth checking out as well. the follow up on choosing an lcd monitor is also really worth reading if you want to do something similar. does anyone know, off-hand, if there are LEDs suitable for this application? it would be really nifty to make a quieter, cooler, more energy efficient projector.

Posted at 3:35PM on Sep 3rd 2006 by jason striegel

3. yeah what #5 said. this place used to be good dudes!

Posted at 3:35PM on Sep 3rd 2006 by dnotes

4. wot a great hack, shame we havnt had a how-to this week tho, spose this makes up for it :)

Posted at 3:35PM on Sep 3rd 2006 by maurik

5. dupe! http://www.hackaday.com/entry/1234000150020903/

Posted at 3:35PM on Sep 3rd 2006 by drlzrdmn

6. I've been researching this for awhile, and there are several good resources around the net that try to improve on the original design (i.e. not just slapping a monitor atop a projector). The one I know off the top of my head: http://www.diyaudio.com/forums/forumdisplay.php?forumid=12

Posted at 3:35PM on Sep 3rd 2006 by tremblay

7. If that ain't the durndest thing! Wow that's cool! I can see this project being duplicated alot! I can also see that one guy sitting on 18 old overhead projectors cranking up Ebay right about now... Well done!

Posted at 3:35PM on Sep 3rd 2006 by strider_mt2k

8. all in box has a shit ton of DIY projector projects http://www.allinbox.com/allinbox.htm my own http://machs-fuel.tk IMO you don't need to buy the lumenlab guide... just spend some time reseaching the theory and parts

Posted at 3:35PM on Sep 3rd 2006 by machs_fuel

9. Actually machs_fuel you couldn't be more wrong, the $20 is more then worth it. I defy you to find a place with more info on DIY projectors then the protected forums at lumenlab (which is what you are mainly paying for). There simply is no better place to learn how to build projectors then lumenlab, any DIY projector builder who knows what they're talking about will tell you this.

Posted at 3:35PM on Sep 3rd 2006 by Blake

10. if the cheap shop ligt is too yellow or something, a 20-dollar 1000-watt movie light bulb would do. I believe the hours are alot longer than projecter bulbs

Posted at 3:35PM on Sep 3rd 2006 by Angelo

11. hello.im 16 male in world.catch me if u can .

Posted at 3:35PM on Sep 3rd 2006 by kim

12. I know a girl who's job it is to go into internet message boards and chat rooms and poses as a teenie boper. She then makes friends and starts conversations for the sole purpose of marketing to them. She's like "omg, lol, I found this really cool thing...". When hackers do it to get info for a hacking job it is called social engineering. Republicans are using similar tactics to get cantidates elected. Simply vile.

Posted at 3:35PM on Sep 3rd 2006 by Angelo

13. YES I WANTED TO KNOW IF THERES A WAY TO HOOK UP MY LAPTOP SCREEN FOR VIDEO OUT PUT FOR XBOX,PS2,DVD,TV I HAVE 2 SCREENS I TOOK APART FROM THE 4 YEAR OLD LAPTOPS ANY HELP APPRECIATED

Posted at 3:35PM on Sep 3rd 2006 by chicago_103rdst

14. My 57 inch Big-Screen! A place that I used to work was an industrial complex that had a few buildings surrounded by a fence, it also had dumpsters. Dumpster diving was an everyday adventure during break-time. One day I noticed 5 overhead projectors, cool. A few weeks later the best find so far, a cardboard box with a ViewFrameTFT inside, still new looking with cables and the remote. I guess it was tossed because someone couldn't get it to work. The reason for this was that the remote slid into a pocket and didn't look like a remote. Reason for not working was that the batteries in the remote leaked, easy fix, and all for free. Connect the ViewFrame to the computer, place the ViewFrame on the overhaed and switch on power. Insert favorite DVD or some downloaded .avi movie and sit back and enjoy. Remember :) Dumpsters are your friends.

Posted at 3:35PM on Sep 3rd 2006 by nohto

15. you can get half of the parts for free if you do some advertising work goto http://www.FreeFlatScreens.com/?r=8451568

Posted at 3:35PM on Sep 3rd 2006 by djrazz

16. My 57 inch Big-Screen! A place that I used to work was an industrial complex that had a few buildings surrounded by a fence, it also had dumpsters. Dumpster diving was an everyday adventure during break-time. One day I noticed 5 overhead projectors, cool. A few weeks later the best find so far, a cardboard box with a ViewFrameTFT inside, still new looking with cables and the remote. I guess it was tossed because someone couldn't get it to work. The reason for this was that the remote slid into a pocket and didn't look like a remote. Reason for not working was that the batteries in the remote leaked, easy fix, and all for free. Connect the ViewFrame to the computer, place the ViewFrame on the overhaed and switch on power. Insert favorite DVD or some downloaded .avi movie and sit back and enjoy. Remember :) Dumpsters are your friends.

Posted at 3:35PM on Sep 3rd 2006 by nohto

17. first off anyone who has built a lumenlab projector would know it blows a OHP out of the water....also if you advertise for diyaudio thats ok cause it is sponsored by lumenlab anyways...I dont work for Lumenlab just this is too good to miss out on

Posted at 3:35PM on Sep 3rd 2006 by JMS

18. hey #12 (notthisguy), a transparent LCD??? dude, that great!!! what brand and size?

Posted at 3:35PM on Sep 3rd 2006 by tovaness

19. Gonna have to vouch for this-is-me as he isn't the owner or a marketer for Lumenlab.com. He's just giving a friendly heads up on a simple but superior DIY projector design (especially compared to Tom's method). Their private forums are highly organized and active. Piece of cake finding a solution to problems there. Don't let the $20 membership fee deter you, It pays itself back in spades when issues arise. You also save money by buying the correct products the first time, (Many have purchased the wrong optics, lcds & electronics when first starting out btw). just my 3c

Posted at 3:35PM on Sep 3rd 2006 by sjetski

20. This works well as long as you have a good wall. University of Michigan had a very successful driving simulator with this arrangement for years (link below, Legacy Simulator). It was easy to maintain and a lot cheaper than the other options at the time. The square in the middle of the screen was a glued on patch that had been sprayed with photo matte to kill off the bulb hotspot (as seen from the driver's seat). http://www.umich.edu/~driving/sim.html

Posted at 3:35PM on Sep 3rd 2006 by null

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