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Displays

Projector Torture Test: LCD versus DLP 247

Posted by CmdrTaco from the putting-it-to-the-test dept.
An anonymous reader writes "A ten month torture test of five LCD and two DLP projectors shows LCD images deteriorate during extended use." Not surprisingly, if you run an LCD projector for 4000 hours, it deteriorates... of course, if you're staring at a projecter 8 hours a day, for 500 straight days, maybe you should go outside ;)
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Projector Torture Test: LCD versus DLP More

Projector Torture Test: LCD versus DLP

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  • Projector (Score:3, Funny)

    by Anonymous Coward on Thursday May 01, 2003 @06:11PM (#5857203)
    In other news...

    most materials react in unplesant ways when exposed to 4000 hours of consistant bright light.

    -----------
    From Ape to Man: Evolution [turnpike.net]

  • Here's a crazy idea... (Score:5, Funny)

    by bluesoul88 ( 609555 ) <bluesoul@@@thelegendofmax...com> on Thursday May 01, 2003 @06:12PM (#5857210) Homepage
    The LCD isn't deteriorating after 4000 hours, your eyes are.

  • Extended use (Score:2, Informative)

    by jargoone ( 166102 )
    I go outside plenty. Just because a projector is run 8 hours a day doesn't mean I don't. The pool hall I hang out at has gone through dozens of projectors in the couple years I've been going there. It doesn't take long before a new one starts looking like crap.

    • Re:Extended use (Score:3, Insightful)

      by Anonymous Coward
      That is because the owners don't care for the projectors correctly. Also if pool hall allows people to smoke that is dramatically reduce the life of any projector.

  • Monitors? (Score:4, Interesting)

    by metalix ( 259636 ) on Thursday May 01, 2003 @06:12PM (#5857213)
    Does this happen with LCD monitors as well?

    • Re:Monitors? (Score:4, Insightful)

      by apraetor ( 248989 ) on Thursday May 01, 2003 @06:15PM (#5857254)
      The article mentions that TI believes the degradation is due to the intensity of the heat and light used in projectors. After all, a projector requires many many many times the candlepower of an LCD display's backlight. So I think we're safe :)

      --matt
    • Actually, I can see a tiny bit of desktop icon burn-in on my otherwise-awesome Samsung 170T under certain, very obscure conditions.

      This monitor is about 8 months old.

      The burn-in effect is barely visible when I pick up the invisibility ring in Quake 1, of all things. It's completely unnoticeable under any other conditions.

      So, presumably the FETs in an LCD are subject to uneven aging effects. Unlike the effects mentioned in the article, this definitely isn't a backlighting issue.

  • The real world (Score:5, Funny)

    by b.foster ( 543648 ) on Thursday May 01, 2003 @06:12PM (#5857218)
    of course, if you're staring at a projecter 8 hours a day, for 500 straight days, maybe you should go outside
    This may come as somewhat of a surprise, but not everybody has a cushy job that lets them get away with working 5 hours a day [slashdot.org].
    • The way I get to see the room with the blue ceiling is to have my projector show it on the wall. So of *course* it's burning 18 hours a day :-)

      .

      .

      (Are we supposed to add "you insensitive clod" now that somebody else is running the polls?)

  • So after 4000 hours per projector, and seven projectors, was it the actual image or the researcher's eyes that deteriorated?
    You know, if I ran a research company, this would be the kind of thing I gave to interns.
    "Don't worry, interns don't have feelings, they're made of rubber!"
  • "...if you're staring at a projecter 8 hours a day, for 500 straight days, maybe you should go outside ;)"

    Dude! That's why they call it a "torture" test!

    --------------------

    • "...if you're staring at a projecter 8 hours a day, for 500 straight days, maybe you should go outside ;)"

      What if the projecter is displaying a picture of a sun?

  • Long life is often needed. (Score:5, Insightful)

    by sbaker ( 47485 ) on Thursday May 01, 2003 @06:16PM (#5857271) Homepage
    > if you run an LCD projector for 4000 hours, it deteriorates... of course, if you're staring at a projecter 8 hours a day, for 500 straight days, maybe you should go outside ;)

    But there are plenty of applications for these things where the display is permenantly turned on - think of a store display - or an airport information system - or high end adverts. In those cases, running 24 hours a day is very likely - and having the damned thing fail after a mere 166 days would suck badly!

    It would have been nice to see the lifetime of large plasma panels in the survey too.
    • But there are plenty of applications for these things where the display is permenantly turned on...or high end adverts.
      ...
      having the damned thing fail after a mere 166 days would suck badly!

      Well, it might not suck so badly. At least this may curb the intrusion of certain types [slashdot.org] of advertisements into real-life.
    • Plasma's are good for about 10000 hours. But then again they get screen burn like a traditional CRT does. Also, if you put it at more than a 30 degree angle, or hit the screen oh not so hard at all the thing's a total loss.
      • Plasmas have actually come a long way since introduction and the lifespan is 25,000 to 50,000 (according to manufacturer studies) to the half-brightness point, which still isn't the end of the display's lifetime. Burn-in isn't really an issue if you take a reasonable amount of care with it (don't max out the contrast and if the station you're watching has bright static logos use the picture orbiter) and the off-axis viewing angle is 160 degrees. You still would not want to hit the screen though.
      • > Plasma's are good for about 10000 hours. But then again they get screen burn like a traditional CRT does

        Oh please, stop with the outdated facts. They [Plasmas] are rated for 30,000 till half brightness.

        Burn-in is *OVER-RATED* on a plasma. Check avsforums. Out of the 60,000 people posting there, only *1* had serious burn-in, and that's because his wife left the Plasma on for a *week*.

        If you don't know jack about a technology, don't comment on it, especially if you don't own one.
    • Our Net Ops Center used to have a projector displaying OpenView. After a while, we were replacing a $200 bulb every week. We finally went out and bought two BIG flat panel LCD monitors. These things can only do 800x600, but they are like 52" or better.

      Now the LCD is only used on weekends to display the most important thing in a NOC...movies!

  • Schools (Score:2, Insightful)

    by DaLiNKz ( 557579 )
    then again if you think about it, most educational places (schools, colleges, uni's) usually use projectors alot.. So.. figure that projector is in use for 8 hours a day for a year its going to die off pretty fast..

    Then again, anything that displays gets a bit.. dirty after a few years of use..
  • How did they fair in the "drag them behind the truck, and dip them in raw sewage" test?

    My old goldstar has yet to be beaten, but the MAGs have generally held a strong 2nd place.

    -If you would like to report a giant panda sighting, press 9, and give the name of the laundromat
    • How did they fair in the "drag them behind the truck, and dip them in raw sewage" test?

      Dude, after it's been dipped in raw sewage, I don't freakin' CARE if it still works or not...

  • LCD is still better (Score:5, Interesting)

    by rufusdufus ( 450462 ) on Thursday May 01, 2003 @06:17PM (#5857281)
    If I leave one image sitting on my LCD projector too long, yes, it will burn in a bit. But the burn in goes away after other images are shown. Typical desktop use gets no burn-in, while long bouts of Shadowbane will leave little yellow pock-marks when the fixed menus are. This goes away after browsing the web a while.

    The problem with DLP projectors like the one my roomate bought is the "screendoor" effect that makes it look like you are viewing the image through a screendoor: little black boxes around every single pixel. This is an effect that is there from day-one and never goes away!

    Will my LCD eventually get permanent burn-in? Perhaps. Still it's better than the screendoor.

    • Re:LCD is still better (Score:5, Interesting)

      by Daleks ( 226923 ) on Thursday May 01, 2003 @06:37PM (#5857470)
      The problem with DLP projectors like the one my roomate bought is the "screendoor" effect that makes it look like you are viewing the image through a screendoor: little black boxes around every single pixel. This is an effect that is there from day-one and never goes away!

      I think you're just looking at a DLP projector that has a very low resolution, or you're projecting it onto an area larger than it is designed for. We have one of these [dwin.com] and it looks beautiful. No "screendoor" effect at all.
    • "The problem with DLP projectors like the one my roomate bought is the "screendoor" effect that makes it look like you are viewing the image through a screendoor"

      This is odd, since one of the sellings points of DLP is that it has far less of a 'screen door' effect than LCD.

      Of course if you blow up the image large enough, you'll always have some of this - but it's less with DLP than it is with LCD.

      A.
      (who owns a DLP projector)

    • Re:LCD is still better (Score:5, Informative)

      by Jeff DeMaagd ( 2015 ) on Thursday May 01, 2003 @07:04PM (#5857687) Homepage Journal
      Your impression is odd, I've never seen burn-in on any LCD type of display.

      DLP usually has as good or better fill ratio than LCD, where the average DLP is about 85% fill ratio, LCD is typically around 60%. Go ask AVS Forum. If you see bigger "screen door" on a DLP, check to make sure that you are comparing the same resolution on the same projected area. When people complain about screen door, it is usually from the LCD crowd.

      Now, DLPs do have a "rainbow" effect because all units below $10,000 new are single-chip and operate under the principle of flashing an entire screen full of one color before flashing the next screen full of the next color. In short, it is a very, very fast RGB strobe sequence that has no equivalent that I know of in any other display technology. DLPs also have some sort of flutter noise because the micromirrors flash on and off sequences to imitate brightnesses in between. But the thing is, not very many people really notice or complain about either problem.

      • In short, it is a very, very fast RGB strobe sequence that has no equivalent that I know of in any other display technology.

        Some early color movies (filmed with the Kinemacolor system [widescreenmuseum.com], before the Technicolor sandwich approach became feasible) had the same sort of strobe effect, except it was RG not RGB.

  • Bulb costs? (Score:3, Insightful)

    by jeorgen ( 84395 ) on Thursday May 01, 2003 @06:18PM (#5857284)
    Since the cost of light bulbs in projectors is really high, it would be interesting to know how many bulbs they burned through in the test for each projector.

    Ink jet printers have very different running costs due to different costs for replacement ink cartridges. Does anyone know of a breakdown of running costs for different projectors or at least can share some experiences?

    /jeorgen

    • Re:Bulb costs? (Score:4, Informative)

      by NexusTw1n ( 580394 ) on Thursday May 01, 2003 @06:55PM (#5857617) Journal
      Bulbs last around 2000 hours. In a way they are similar to inkjet printers because they have a "REPLACE BULB" feature built in to the projector.

      After 2000 hours your projector tells you to replace the bulb, you can still use it, but run the theoretical risk of damaging the projector when the bulb blows.

      Bulbs in the UK cost £2-300 approx to replace, which is one years use at 8 hours a day 5 days a week.

      So while they are a cool toy, you could buy 2 CRTs or one large LCD a year, or a wide screen TV every couple of years for the cost of one bulb.

      Plasma screens are interesting, but in my experience you need graphics cards with plasma screen modes otherwise they are unviewable other than in 800x600 large icon and super large text mode.

  • Hmm this is actually very interesting (Score:5, Interesting)

    by tokaok ( 623635 ) on Thursday May 01, 2003 @06:18PM (#5857291)
    I work as a projectionist at a theathre. we have 19 cinemas, lately we change all of our slides projector to lcd projectors(pre show adds).

    we also have a DLP project or aswell.

    the company, actually the whole industry would like to switch from film to digital projection to save cost.

    Guess who is pretty much the only player in HIGH powere digital technology, you guessed it TI. TI makes the DLP projectors we all enjoyed watching StarWars/Disney animation on. Now you say that some project running for more than 5000 hrs is never going to happen at your housse, or maybe at your office but consider this.

    our current project with bulbs, can go for about 8000-10,000 hours before the bulbs needs replacement. so we got through about 2/3 bulb a years per projector.

    but only switch the bulb.

    now the problem is that if after 8000 hours we have to switch more than just the bulb

    (which is the case when a digital project goes bad if you ever owned one)

    then this could really hurt TI in getting the theathres to switch over.

  • This article is a content-free rehash of marketing material from Texas Instruments, the makers of DLP coponents and systems. There may be a slight bias.

  • From the article (Score:3, Insightful)

    by Rosco P. Coltrane ( 209368 ) on Thursday May 01, 2003 @06:20PM (#5857320)
    [Epson's Jim Hall] questioned TI's business motives for bringing such a study to light (pardon the pun) at this time, especially now that the low-cost projector market segment is burgeoning


    Annoying eh Jimbo ? whatever TI's motives, maybe you expected to grab marketshare with slightly crummy cheap projectors, not telling anyone about the flaws, then sell everybody new projectors after the old ones have become obviously tainted, pretending you didn't know about the defects in the first generation ?


    It almost sounds like what a certain OS manufacturer has done years back.

    • As much as I loved your hi-jinks with the speed limit signs in Hazzard County, I have to disagree.


      I think that there is propably no cover-up of known flaws on Epson's part. They're just annoyed that the maker of DLPs is using the results as a marketing tool. That said, it is probably completely ethical on TI's part (assuming they didn't fund the study) to point out the supposed advantages of DLP, although I wouldn't personally switch based on the results mentioned.

  • Definition (Score:2, Funny)

    by yellowstone ( 62484 )
    outside n. that big room with the high gray ceiling (some also report a big room with a high blue ceiling and a bright yellow light, but these remain unconfirmed).

  • 'Nuff said (Score:3, Interesting)

    by PCM2 ( 4486 ) on Thursday May 01, 2003 @06:27PM (#5857387) Homepage
    According to the article:
    Our Take: The TI/Munsell is anecdotal, and cannot predict with any certainty that your particular usage scenario or LCD projector model will be problematic over time.

  • More a stress-test than longevity-test (Score:5, Insightful)

    by Ra5pu7in ( 603513 ) <ra5pu7in&gmail,com> on Thursday May 01, 2003 @06:33PM (#5857431) Journal

    According the to article, "TI and Munsell ran the projectors continuously 24/7, replacing bulbs as needed. Each projector was stressed continuously for thousands of hours."

    There really wasn't much information provided on the methodology in this article. Did they leave just the one image or did it shift thru? Were any of the projectors shut off at any point (besides changing bulbs)? What were the conditions of the room/area in which the projectors were stored - ventilation, sunlight, etc.?

    How many purchasers of projectors are going to use them non-stop? Just imagine such a stress-test of your Intel or AMD processor - 8000 straight hours of 100% CPU activity. I'm sure that could burn out a processor that would survive 8000 hours of activity without a hitch. The longevity of the LCD monitors may be much better than this implies -- which could be better tested under "normal" conditions.

    My last thought is that I don't completely trust a "scientific" test done by a company to show the advantages of their own system.

    • "I'm sure that could burn out a processor that would survive 8000 hours of activity without a hitch.

      Never mind the processor - you find me an OS that will run for 8000 hours at 100% CPU utilisation!

      Bugger - I've just remembered - Netware 3.12.

      Oh well...

    • "I'm sure that could burn out a processor that would survive 8000 hours of activity without a hitch."

      Actually, nearly every CPU would either fail within the first few days or not fail for years, so long as it has decent cooling.
    • How many purchasers of projectors are going to use them non-stop? Just imagine such a stress-test of your Intel or AMD processor - 8000 straight hours of 100% CPU activity. I

      Before windows 2000, almost everyone ran windows 98, which didn't halt the processor during the idle loop. It literally just sat and executed one loop over and over again. Obviously it wasn't a problem. CPUs are designed to run continuously forever.

    • There really wasn't much information provided on the methodology in this article. Did they leave just the one image or did it shift thru? Were any of the projectors shut off at any point (besides changing bulbs)? What were the conditions of the room/area in which the projectors were stored - ventilation, sunlight, etc.?

      Good point! A DLP chip is basically just a bunch of reflectors on swivels. On a still image, the reflectors never swivel, thus theoretically the DLP chip will last 'forever.'

      Being a

    • Exactly. Add to that the fact that TI has an agenda (pushing their projectors) and the goal was to let LCDs look as bad as possible.

      Now I don't say they don't have a point, but unless we know the exact way this test was conducted, the results are not really useful.

  • Colleges? (Score:2, Interesting)

    by ForestGrump ( 644805 )
    I'm in college and I see projectors used in large lectures ALOT.

    So these projectors are used all the time. 4-5 days a week for a school day.

    Any ideas?
    -Grump
  • OT: did any subscribers see the "Microsoft DVD standard" article that was posted in TMF? It caught my eye and I refreshed the main page and it was gone, replaced by this article. Do the editors revoke certain articles before they go live? Was there a major factual error or something?
    • "OT: did any subscribers see the "Microsoft DVD standard" article that was posted in TMF? It caught my eye and I refreshed the main page and it was gone, replaced by this article. Do the editors revoke certain articles before they go live? Was there a major factual error or something? "

      OMG! Are you saying they actually took down a dupe?!
  • Does anyone know if there's a DLP system that'll display 1080 lines as it's native resolution? Most DLP systems I've seen have 720 lines as their native resolution. I'm holding off on an HDTV system until I can get the max resolution with the best picture technology.

  • Has anyone here used any of these high res projectors to put movies and TV in their homes?

    [I'm not talking about rear projection TV's, but rather where you hang one of these down from the ceiling, point it at the wall/screen, and get a big picture.]

    My brother had a friend that said it works great, but had two drawbacks: price was still kind of high, and you had to tolerate the low ambient lighting necessary for the projected image not to appear washed out.

    • Re:Home Use? (Score:3, Interesting)

      by Alrescha ( 50745 )
      "Has anyone here used any of these high res projectors to put movies and TV in their homes?"

      I do this. I have a DLP projector which has a resolution of 852 x 480 in 16:9 mode (using TI's original dual-mode chip). This happens to match the native resolution of DVDs (which are 720 x 480 - remember that DV to PC conversion factor).

      The recommended maximum screen size for the projector is 80" (diagonal). I therefore used a 100" screen. :-)

      This makes for an impressive image, with some caveats. The room mus
      • (replying to my own post - how tacky)

        I forgot to address the mounting issue the original poster mentioned.

        My projector and DVD player actually live under the couch. This requires a pretty clean room from couch to screen, as the image is about 2' off the floor at the screen.

        Why is the DVD player under there too? It enabled me to have the shortest possible video run. Audio to the A/V receiver is digital over coax, so it survives the long run much better than the analog video would.

        A.
        (who's trying to re
  • if you're staring at a projecter 8 hours a day, for 500 straight days, maybe you should go outside

    I'll go outside if you get a spellchecker.
  • I wonder what it'd take to use 3 lasers, a couple of oscillating mirrors, and a timing circuit to make a full color projector.
  • This kind of testing is important for facilities that use lots of these projectors every day, for many hours. Most lecture halls here at UT [utexas.edu] are equipped with at least 1 and often 2 LCD projectors that are in use for nearly the entire day, since most lectures are now conducted with powerpoint, or by drawing notes on the video cam platform which are then projected by the LCDs.

    There are probably a couple hundred or more of these projectors spread out over campus. The cost to replace these every year and a h

  • We used to have LCD projectors for big status displays in our network control center. Running 8 to 10 hours a day, they'd fail every three months or so. Without exception, the LCDs would crack or leak somehow, with huge colored bubbles covering the whole screen. I forget who made the projectors (Infocus, maybe?) but they sucked big time.

  • I just happen to work on LCD and DLP..... (Score:5, Informative)

    by Mark19960 ( 539856 ) <Mark.lowcountrybilling@com> on Thursday May 01, 2003 @07:07PM (#5857728) Journal
    And, they are right.
    The lamps degrade over time, as well as the panels.
    I see so many projectors fail due to non-cleaning.
    panel overheats are an issue... because no end user really owns a projector, they usually use one at work and none of these people bother to clean the units filter.
    This just adds to the speed of the failure. most projectors I see have failures of the lamp and ballast units before the panels, probably because I get these downed projectors, find them filthy, clean and repair them before it kills the panels.
    I have seen many, many kinds of projectors in both LCD and DLP, and the ones that seem to last longer are DLP units.
    LCD units start biting the bullet after 3-4 years and usually after 2 years the image quality is starting to degrade.
    My recommendation to anyone that has ant of these projectors is to clean them regularly, allow them to cool properly (another BIG problem) and, replace the lamp after the recommended usage.
    some are 3,000 hours... some are 2,000...
    If you do not replace the lamp after the usage limit, you risk an exploding lamp, damaged ballast, or main power supply. if its a DLP unit the color wheel can be shattered by an exploding lamp. I have had to replace quite a few of these because of this.
    The projectors I find that fail the LEAST are made by Sharp and Toshiba. these are well made units that have lifespans of 10 years or more.
    I see 10 year old sharps all the time. altho, the panels are about wasted.
    Remember, keep the filters clean, allow the units to cool properly and change the lamps when recommended, and your unit should function for many years before needing service.

    I hope that someone finds this infoarmation informative and useful.

  • This is really not news - of course DLP is better! (Score:3, Informative)

    by @madeus ( 24818 ) <slashdot_24818@mac.com> on Thursday May 01, 2003 @07:13PM (#5857810)
    I hate to moan[0], but this is _really_ not news!

    My flatmate got a DLP projector on eBay.

    Before he bought it he did a little research on it, and I did too. We both came to the same conclusion - DLP is better than LCD.

    If you look this up on Google I expect you'll find what we did - every retailer I checked said DLP was better (and that what small shortcomings it does have in comparison to LCD are being rapildy overcome with some new 'magical' rev 2 chipset[1] which seems to eliminate them).

    I think that even after 5 min research on the web (or by asking your retailer) you'd know the answer to this question - and that all retailers and projectionists seem to be largely in complete agreement - so I don't think this article is newsworthy.

    [0] That's a lie - I like to moan.
    [1] The name of it escapes me.

  • many factors (Score:4, Insightful)

    by Lurking Grue ( 3963 ) on Thursday May 01, 2003 @07:18PM (#5857870)
    I've been researching projectors since last fall, and am still on the fence regarding lcd vs. dlp. As a matter of fact, I've run across some cheap crt's as well. Not sure which way I'll go yet, but there are many factors to weigh in addition to what Texas Instruments has pointed out. (Not that their ownership of DLP patents could provide any agenda for publishing their report.) I don't purport to be an expert, or much more than moderately informed. But I have spent some time agonizing over the variety of projector technologies out there.

    For some pretty honest feedback from projector owners and experts, check out avsforum [avsforum.com]. Check out comments from owners of dlp, crt, and lcd projectors. The folks in the forums are not afraid to either praise or pan a particular projector (or manufacturer or reseller), and they have been a great help to me in sorting out the various factors during my seemingly endless quest. (Actually, I'm just a bit too chicken to drop the $$$ right now.)

    And there are quite a few factors worth noting. For instance, some people may be bothered by the "rainbow effect" that is generated by dlp projectors. Others may not be affected by that, but may be bothered by the "screendoor effect" of lcd projectors. Still others may be affected by the "pocketbook effect" of purchasing these things. I may well end up purchasing an LCD for around $2000, and then throwing it away after 4000 hours. (Which for me would be many years, since I watch less than 10hrs of TV per week.) Or I may spend around $4000 on a DLP and plan on keeping it a bit longer. In any case, I don't think I can make a bad choice since South Park will be kick-ass on 100" screen.

    Something worth noting is that Sony does not produce any DLP projectors. They do produce CRTs and LCDs. While I'm not a huge fan of Sony, they do kinda have a decent reputation in the consumer electronics field. So to me, their presence in the LCD market lends a bit of credibility. (The HS-10 is getting killer reviews, and it's only around $2500.) Also worth mentioning is the fact that DLP projectors can suffer from image burn-in, while LCD projectors do not. It doesn't mean that LCD is better than DLP. But these are some of the differences worth knowing before dropping several thousand $$$ on a projector. Again, check out avsforum for lots of insight into the different technologies.

    If you are interested in purchasing a projector, do your research. You'll probably find that there isn't any one "best technology" to go with.

  • unless.. (Score:3, Funny)

    by jkeegan ( 35099 ) on Thursday May 01, 2003 @07:22PM (#5857913) Homepage Journal
    > of course, if you're staring at a projecter 8 hours a day, for 500 straight days, maybe you should go outside ;)

    Unless you're playing Halo on that projector, in case it's perfectly acceptable. :)
  • We've had a real problem with some brazen fsking thieves. They have pulled some shit right out of lame caper flicks. Property theft isn't a high police priority so we're pretty stuck. We SHOULD be crushing the perps under cement rollers, but instead we're just trying thicker cables to anchor.
  • Why are replacement lamps for these things so damn [ebay.com] expensive [boxlight.com]?

  • Ok, overclocking/cooling guys, do something useful (Score:5, Interesting)

    by Animats ( 122034 ) on Thursday May 01, 2003 @08:14PM (#5858391) Homepage
    LCD displays deteoriate because the heat dissipated in the LCD elements fades the dyes in the liquid crystals. It's a cooling problem. So there's an opportunity for the overclocking/cooling crowd to do something useful here. Figure out how to cool down those things.

    Big displays run continuously in control rooms and advertising applications. There's thus a market for long-life displays. Unlike home and conference room environments, silence isn't as critical. So aftermarket cooling solutions might actually sell.

    • You aren't going to see theatres with a staff of geeks, modding projectors. If you think there is a market for reliable projectors, you need to manufacture the projectors, feature-complete, and provide massive warranties. Companies don't pay several times as much money for some feature, they pay the money for the assurances of the reputable brand-name that this will do exactly what it claims.

      How many companies could easily use $200 walmart PCs, but instead, buy lower-end computers for $1000/piece from De
  • We have a few on our campus and quite a few of them are starting to wear out. I think this is mostly because people forget to turn them off and they end up running for a very long time.

    One thing I notice is that some of them get like pink spots on them when displaying white backgrounds. Although the most common problem is that the image just starts flickering like it can't sync to the laptops video signal. Anyone know what causes this?
  • I just purchased a dell 2100mp svga projector even though I need xga resolution. I just can't afford the extra $1000.

    The svga supposedly give a good compressed picture all the way to 1600x1200.

    I only need xga resolution. Anyone used this projector at xga resolution? It is a dlp model.

    Thank you for any info.
  • Does 10 months equal 500 days.
  • One way to get a stereoscopic 3d image is to use two projectors, both aimed to the same place on a silver (polarization-preserving) screen. Each projector has a polarizing filter in front of the lens. You send the left image to one and the right image to the other. The viewer has to wear glasses that have perpendicular polarizing filters so each image gets to the correct eye.

    If you want to experiment with using two projectors do this, you will have much better success with DLP.

    I played around with it and

  • DLP projector for movies (Score:3, Interesting)

    by mfh ( 56 ) on Thursday May 01, 2003 @10:26PM (#5859185) Homepage Journal
    I have a DLP projector - Infocus LP330 - that I use for movies. It only cost me $900 used, and I use it to project an image about 75" (or so) wide on my living room wall. Image quality is good, but not great, and there is a halo of light that surrounds the projected image. A cloth-bezeled screen setup would solve my problems; right now it's just on my wall.

    Any consumer who uses a projector to watch TV is, in my opinion, not focusing their monetary efforts in the right place. A substantially-sized HDTV these days is less than the cost of a projector, and will undoubtedly look better in the middle of the day.

    However, when it's dark out, your friends (or ... ahem ... friend) is over, nothing beats an entire living room wall worth of screen real estate. Toss in a decent surround sound system, and you've got yourself maybe $6 worth of the $10 a movie ticket costs. I haven't been to the theater in months.

    Using the XGA input is also great for parties and mp3 visualizations, displaying music videos, whatever.

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