Some crazy people are making their own projectors from scrapped parts: modified 8" LCD screens from cheap DVD players, chunky power converters, circuitry salvaged from dead AV equipment and hundreds of LEDs put together to create powerful lamps. The result are high-definition ghetto machines capable of delivering good images out of, literally, trash. I discovered dozens of them thanks to the2jakes, the guy who made that amazing homemade head mounted display control for the PS2. Huge gallery and details after the jump:
Most of these projectors have two key components, LCD panels
from portable DVD or media players and optics from such devices as
old-style 3M overhead transparency projectors. It depends on the
resolution of the salvaged LCD panels, but some of these machines
are capable of displaying 720p content with no problems. Here's how
an LCD taken from a dead portable looks after you take out the
backlighting.
"http://gizmodo.com/assets/resources/2007/12/lcd-cleaned.JPG"
width="450" height="338">
And this is how those panels look when placed into one of the
most typical projector configurations:
"http://gizmodo.com/assets/resources/2007/12/stereobox-haut.jpg"
width="600" height="576">
"http://gizmodo.com/assets/resources/2007/12/projection-test2.jpg"
width="600" height="404">
For backlighting, these ghetto home cinemas mostly use a variety
of incandescent lamps. Some, however, are in theory more efficient
and powerful: this homemade board uses hundreds of soldered LEDs to
obtain a powerful light source, one that consumes less power than
comparable traditional bulbs.
"http://gizmodo.com/assets/resources/2007/12/led-panels.JPG" width=
"450" height="338">
The most shocking feature, however, is that some of the people
in this group not only create regular projectors, but also actual
3D projectors that work similarly to the 3D movies you see in IMAX
theaters. The machine projects two sightly different views of the
same frame simultaneously using orthogonal polarized filters.
Viewers get the illusion of three-dimensional images, but only if
they're wearing the requisite polarized eyeglasses.
"http://gizmodo.com/assets/resources/2007/12/schema-stereobox-web.jpg"
width="600" height="375">
Granted, there are not a lot of commercially available 3D movies
out there, so stereo projectors are limited to synthetic 3D images
(like those of CAD software or games) or homemade 3D movies. You
probably guessed how they make those, by combining a pair of cheap
webcams to form a stereo digital camcorders.
Prototype stereo camera
As you will see in the 60-pic gallery, some of them look
fugly, others look they were made in a real factory, and
some of them have a simply stunning design, like this old retro
model created from an old radio, my definitive favorite.
"http://gizmodo.com/assets/resources/2007/12/favorite.jpg" width=
"450" height="181">
Honestly, I wish my own Marantz looked like that, instead of a
laser turret from an Imperial Star Destroyer.
["http://forum.allinbox.com/aspectgeek/Projetsencours/3D-Stereoscopie/stereobox-projection-relief-sujet_3843_1.htm%3Cbr%20/%3E">Allinbox
and "http://www.allinbox.com/allinbox2007.htm">Allinbox- In
french]
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