Decision time at last! (long)

[tryingtimes]

Right, I have the permission, the cash and most of the facts needed to start the ball rolling.

I just would like a sanity check on all of the below

Budget = £3500 (allowing £300 more than this for when things go wrong!)

I would like Home Cinema that will look incredible, last for 5 years (without too much temptation to upgrade), be stable and not offer any visable distractions to my guests while watching a movie.
The screen wall has a chimney breast therefore I need a pulldown screen

I have a fairly old Pioneer 606 dvd player + ok DD5.1.

To look incredible I would need a CRT, everything else doesn't pull me into the movie in the same way.
To last 5 years it would be best if the CRT had 3,000 hours on or less.

I was gobsmacked with the cine 7 line trippled at The Event. (I may have been gobsmacked on line doubling but I now can't be sure)

I am starting by breaking my budget up like this (all prices approximate)

HCPC £600 (mid range from the xcel 'best in class' avs post)
Screen £400 (draper/owl/screensuk)
Cables £100
Installation £500 (don't trust myself with structural house bits or with calibration)

This (unless anyone can justify changing any of the above) leaves me with approx £1900 to spend on the projector.

I haven't seen a <3000 hour 708s/708mm or Cine 7 (I wish!) within this price bracket from any of the people I have contacted (Roland, Atul, Gordon, Hardware Developments, Curt Palme {american}). This is a shame as I would like to keep the size down if poss. Ah well!

This leaves one of the many 8xx series Barcos to choose from.
As far as I can tell I would be able to Line triple at 72/75 Hz with any of the BarcoGraphics models

Scanning around the current second hand market there are a few fairly used 801s models to choose from.
I prefer the slightly more rounded looks of the 808's though. There are a couple within my price range that say they are in decent condition.

<now the questions!>

Does all of this seem ok - have I lost it!? (I know my brain hurts :)
Has anyone got anything to add that I may have left out?
Does anyone have any advice on how to choose between a low hours 801s and a mid hours 808/808s?
Can this system actually be stable enough to not distract me or my guests?
(last one) Do I need the HCPC fully working before getting the crt installed?

Phew! - nice to get all that off my chest

Thanks in advance
Alex

[ 11-10-2001: Message edited by: Alex Simon ]

[Stuart Wright]

Originally posted by Alex Simon:
<STRONG>To last 5 years it would be best if the CRT had 3,000 hours on or less.
</STRONG>

Not so. Mine has 9,500 hours on it and it's fine. Last week we saw another with 20,000 and again it was perfectly watchable.

Couple of other points. Depends on what size you want, but £400 is a bit low for the screen. Screens UK put their screen prices up recently.
If that £500 may be plus VAT depending on who you are asking.
Definately get that HCPC set up exactly right before the projector is set up.
Otherwise the installer won't be able to set up the RGB source. And if you so much as change refresh rate a bit, or swap video cards while keeping the exact same settings, the projector will need adjusting for that source. You'll be able to do that adjustment yourself, but best to get it right beforehand.

[ 11-10-2001: Message edited by: Spectre ]

[Phil Hinton]

Welcome to the addictive Cult of CRT.

As you can see from my photo link below I have recently Installed a Used Barco 800,screen,used my existing sound system and used my large bedroom in he flat as a dedicated room(moved into the small bedroom)

Total cost of PJ,Screen and install costs was £1,300.

I dont have the means to linedouble the image at the moment, and use a standalone DVD player vis s-video. I get Chroma delay and other artifacts but the image is still watchable with upgrade paths already sussed.

I have also set up for HTPC use but i am having problems with dvd playback.

Your headache has only just began but it is all worth it.

My advice would be to try and find a 708mm or 800 or 801s for about £1,500. Check it out for tube aging and check all the electronics as best you can. There are bargains out there, and you already seem to know who to ask.

Best of luck to you, it is possible to get an outstanding set up for little outlay.

[tryingtimes]

Mine has 9,500 hours on it and it's fine. Last week we saw another with 20,000 and again it was perfectly watchable.
Is this because the tube clocks still tick when the unit is in standby mode?

I guess the important thing is to look at the tubes in person - Thanks to Curt Palme over on the AVS forums I've now seen what worn tubes look like (although they were removed from the chasis).

Do you think I can get a 8xx with zero visable tube wear within my budget?

Thanks
Alex

[NickBull]

I am buying the high hours CRT that Spectre is talking about. Roland reckons it's got a good 5 years use left in it, and that's at very high useage. (I think he mentioned about 1000 hours a year). Working out what I'd use I can see me watching more that 400 hours a year, a couple of films and a footie or Rugby match a week.

Roland pointed out the wear on the tubes but there was no burn which is the most important thing. Even this projector produced a stunning image at 1280x720 in wide screen, blacks were very black, shadows held their detail even better than my Philips 32 inch. Colours were vibrant and the whole image was very film like.

My budget is around yours, I got a PC from CCL in Bradford, althought they deleiver country wide, for £600 with a Radeon 32 DDR card. I'll be spending anouther £50 on it to get a quiet PSU.

My budget is about the same as yours and I should come easilly under it if no complications.

Finally, go for an 808 rather than a 801, Both projectors use 8" tubes but the 808
uses a series of coils rather than fixed magnets to focus the spot of
electrons. This means a much sharper beam can be written and allows for
higher resolutions to be displayed.

Dont forget they are massive, seeing one in the flesh certainly sends a slight niggle of doubt through you, but the picture quality stamps out this niggle imediately. Just make sure your partner is out before you bolt it up, then it's too late to go back!!!!!

[tryingtimes]

Dont forget they are massive, seeing one in the flesh certainly sends a slight niggle of doubt through you, but the picture quality stamps out this niggle imediately. Just make sure your partner is out before you bolt it up, then it's too late to go back!!!!!

I actually went to the trouble of building a full size cardboard model of the 7 and 8" barcos!
The 7" was fine but I have to admit even I (let alone Sara) was a bit disturbed by the size of the thing. It's no bigger than the tv it will be replacing but there's something different about haveing it above your head!

It looks as though my contingency fund has already been used up - the screen from screensUK has indeed gone up in price and I also forgot the ceiling bracket off my original plan. :(

I don't really care for motorised screens I wonder if there's a better (cheaper :) ) solution.