Problem with Projector

Hey folks,

I've had a HP DLP projector sitting around for a few months now, and I decided I would hook it up and play some dreamcast on it. It works fine, but for some reason there is a line that runs across the screen that is darker then the rest of the screen. It moves every time I turn the projector on.. and I have no clue as to what is doing it. I have tried cleaning the lens and nothing changes.

If anyone has any idea what this would be, let me know as I would love to get this thing up and running %100 percent and add this to the game room.


thanks

-Gordon

It's on the LCD so cleaning the lens won't do anything. Are you using VGA?

Start by trying another video cable. Could be interference, bad cable

I am a filmmaker, and the first thing I try when video issues crop up is another set of cables / inputs

Using vga. Tried a few different cables and different sources and im getting the same thing.

Sounds like the either the LCD is going or you have a dirty sync.

ok...shaking it makes it get betteror worse depending on if i shake it to the left or the right.

It almost looks like something is sliding across the bulb or something.

Definitely sounds like something in the optics or the bulb housing. Try using some canned air to get it out. (Probably not while it's ON though, I think that stuff is flammable.)

It's unlikely to be a problem with the DMD. The mirrors will either work or not. And having a whole line of them go out is HIGHLY unlikely.or

DecepticonZero said:

ok...shaking it makes it get betteror worse depending on if i shake it to the left or the right.

It almost looks like something is sliding across the bulb or something.

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You shouldn't be shaking a projector while it's on. The bulb gets almost molten and soft and you can warp the bulb by shaking it while it's running.

It sounds like a loose connection but if the line moves then it just could be something between the bulb and LCD. You should open it up to check.

Just sayin', DLPs don't have LCDs. They have digital micromirror devices (DMDs) and a color filter.

Quite true about the bulb though, really don't want to be shaking the thing while it's on (Or really, at all.) I probably should have said that as well, lol.

DLP is an example of what I call 'Ridiculous Technology'. Ever see an anime where the characters lampshade the ridiculousness of the existence of giant robots and stuff? That's how I feel about DLP.

Two million tiny articulated mirrors in a chip smaller than 1" square, being manipulated by electrostatic charge up to hundreds of thousands of times a second to reflect light into the projection optics through a segmented color wheel spinning more than twice as fast as your hard drive.

Ridiculous Technology.

Xian Xi said:

Sounds like the either the LCD is going or you have a dirty sync.

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Being a DLP it wont have any LCD panel in it.

awbacon said:

Start by trying another video cable. Could be interference, bad cable

I am a filmmaker, and the first thing I try when video issues crop up is another set of cables / inputs

Click to expand...

I was going to say the same thing when i started reading, but you beat me to it, and he's allready done it

I had a Mitsubishi LCD that did a simular thing, dark line that would move when it was switched off and back on, it was dead straight, and never the same size or location, so it was nothign at all to do with optics. The fact yours is DLP wont change anything if its the same issue i had, and it was as simple as aged capacitors in the video processing circuit. Easy to fix if you can find which caps are dying, as long as they can be replaced equitably.

TheBakachan said:

Just sayin', DLPs don't have LCDs. They have digital micromirror devices (DMDs) and a color filter.

Quite true about the bulb though, really don't want to be shaking the thing while it's on (Or really, at all.) I probably should have said that as well, lol.

DLP is an example of what I call 'Ridiculous Technology'. Ever see an anime where the characters lampshade the ridiculousness of the existence of giant robots and stuff? That's how I feel about DLP.

Two million tiny articulated mirrors in a chip smaller than 1" square, being manipulated by electrostatic charge up to hundreds of thousands of times a second to reflect light into the projection optics through a segmented color wheel spinning more than twice as fast as your hard drive.

Ridiculous Technology.

Click to expand...

I agree with that totally, we may or may not share the same ideals on what projection SHOULD be....


So next step is get a real projector and throw the technicolour digital flashlight in the bin and get a real projector







When youre starting your picture on a surface about 3/4 of an inch diagonally, you cant expect to get what you will starting with an 8 inch CRT.

Haha. I don't know why I keep saying LCD even when my projector is DLP as well. I guess because you can see the pixels up close.

Simple mistake mate, easy enough to do.

I dont think ive ever seen a digital projector yet that you couldnt see the pixels up close.

NEO-GEO man said:

I agree with that totally, we may or may not share the same ideals on what projection SHOULD be....

When youre starting your picture on a surface about 3/4 of an inch diagonally, you cant expect to get what you will starting with an 8 inch CRT.

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Don't get me wrong, I love DLP (Have one myself) but it's still ridiculous technology, lol. I just think we should have perfected electric automobiles or something before we made a microchip with two million microscopic articulated aluminum mirrors that are manipulated by the on/off state of bits in the SRAM it's built on top of.

Too bad all the new high-def DLP projectors cost too damn much if you want any sort of brightness. (My old projector was only $1300 for 2200 lumens!) I'm thinking my next upgrade will be to a 73" DLP TV and not a DLP projector. Less hassle.

NEO-GEO man said:

Simple mistake mate, easy enough to do.

I dont think ive ever seen a digital projector yet that you couldnt see the pixels up close.

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'cept when they're out of focus. ;3

HAHAHA!! Yes well its hard to see anything if they are out of focus!!

Ive had 3 different LCD projectors, i never liked DLP at all cause most of them would rainbow like mad fast paced games on them.

If you think a DLP projector is any hassle at all, you must be doing something wrong!! Attach it to the ceiling, focus it, and youre done!!

When it comes to first rate smoothness in picture, CRT is it. 3 seperate pictures, and substantially better lenses ( 3 of them to boot ) Ill be suffering the setup of CRT for as long as i can ( which should be years yet, i just put new tubes in my Sony, the old ones were burned to shit, but they had done almost 60,000 hours in a pub before i got it, so i should easily get a very good 25,000 hours from it before those tubes are starting to get too bad to watch )

Lumen output level is not the be all and end all of picture level though, it comes down alot more to contrast ratio more so that lumens, unless you like to watch it with the lights up high or outside in your backyard!!

NEO-GEO man said:

HAHAHA!! Yes well its hard to see anything if they are out of focus!!

Ive had 3 different LCD projectors, i never liked DLP at all cause most of them would rainbow like mad fast paced games on them.

If you think a DLP projector is any hassle at all, you must be doing something wrong!! Attach it to the ceiling, focus it, and youre done!!

When it comes to first rate smoothness in picture, CRT is it. 3 seperate pictures, and substantially better lenses ( 3 of them to boot ) Ill be suffering the setup of CRT for as long as i can ( which should be years yet, i just put new tubes in my Sony, the old ones were burned to shit, but they had done almost 60,000 hours in a pub before i got it, so i should easily get a very good 25,000 hours from it before those tubes are starting to get too bad to watch )

Lumen output level is not the be all and end all of picture level though, it comes down alot more to contrast ratio more so that lumens, unless you like to watch it with the lights up high or outside in your backyard!!

Click to expand...

After the first couple weeks I didn't notice the rainbows anymore unless I was doing something to get them to show up on purpose (Waving my arms infront of it, etc)

Mostly the hassle I was talking about is having to black-out my livingroom to get the most out of the projector. (Usually not a problem for me, my livingspaces have often been referred to as 'cave-like') but my new apartment has a lot more light. :P I love my projector, even though it only does 1024x768. But being faced with wanting a new HD projector and finding out the affordable ones are like half the brightness of my current projector, I settled on a DLP TV since it will fare better in my current residence. (Not as cool as turning the whole wall into a TV...but hey.)

Projectors are hella awesome though. I actually hope I come across something that gets me leaning towards projection again. :3

Yeah i can see it badly on them when i see something fast moving. Im quite picky about these sort of things.

My Sony CRT only does 480i in NTSC or 576i in PAL. The NEC CRT on the other hand is an 8 inch projector and will do anything up to 1600x1200p in 4:3 format, and 1920x1080p in 16:9. The Sony is only a 7 inch projector, so resolution isnt what its good at, but its still got a 20,000:1 static contrast ratio.

Just remember when you look at projectors, brightness is not that important, so dont buy based on lumen rating. My CRTs are only 700 lumens for the Sony and 800 lumens for the NEC, yet they are still very bright due to the HUGE contrast ratio they have. Digitals rate some pretty large contrast ratios these days, but they are dynamic numbers, not static.