Help on Davis DLP projector (Powerbeam V DLP)

A

Alien

Guest
Hi!

I would like som comments on the Davis Powerbeam V (5) DLP.
I might get one of those in the weekend, but before I tell the seller to ship it over to me, I'd like to know a bit more about it... (like the age of the construction, the image quality and pictureoptions, such as roofmounting and so on...)

I know that the best way to se if I'm gonna be satisfied is to see it my self, but hey, there's a 7 hour one way trip to see it in action - that's why I "lay my life in your hands!"

So if anyone could help me, I would be glad :)

And offcourse, sorry 'bout the bad english, but I just can't help I didn't listen to my teacher in school ;)

best regards
// a - so far - completly "alien" on both this forum, and on projectors...
 
Here's the spec from projector central:

http://www.projectorcentral.com/projector_details.cfm?part_id=402

The contrast ratio looks very low, so without seeing it I'd give it a miss, but if it's cheap, it'll do to get you going I would think.

I don't knoe how it compares to my Davis DLS8, but the DLS8 only really gives a good picture when being fed via an HTPC (a Radeon equipped pc basicaly).

Have you seen a DLP pj before? Some people suffer from the 'rainbow effect' which is an artefact of the way the pj produces an image - a rotating RGB(W) wheel and mirrors that flick on and off to switch light through the correct colour.

If you haven't seen one, you may get a picture that you find uncomfortable to watch.

HTH

Gary.
 
I am relocating my projector. It's hooked up to a pc, but the screen is blured. It's like the pc cable is not working? The help or assistance window pops up and I can change colors, do sound adjustments, focus etc... But all I get from my pc to the projector is a blurry bunch of lines? Any idea why this is happening? This was cabled differently and the projector has been relocated to another room that has just a pc monitor the plugs into a cable the plugs into the pc and the projector. The screen on the pc look's normal going thru this cable? nothing on the projector.

Any thoughts why?

thanks!
 
Have you tried just having the pc connected to the pj only? Or another vga cable going straight from pc to pj?

Gary.
 
Alien said:
Hi!

I would like som comments on the Davis Powerbeam V (5) DLP.
I might get one of those in the weekend, but before I tell the seller to ship it over to me, I'd like to know a bit more about it... (like the age of the construction, the image quality and pictureoptions, such as roofmounting and so on...)

Hi Alien, my very first projector was a clone of the Davis Powerbeam badged by a company called Anders + Kern.
I then got a Davis DLS8 which worked very well when coupled to a DVDO iscan pro, both projectors were the same resolution of 800 x 600 (4:3 aspect ratio).
The actual picture quality between the two projectors was very similar but the DLS8 was much brighter having an 800 lumen bulb as opposed to 500 lumen.
Because of the relatively low brightness a totally dark room is needed for best results with the powerbeam and especially so if the bulb is that old it's started to lose some of it's brightness.
The other main difference between the two projectors was size with the powerbeam being similar in footprint to the DLS8 but being nearly twice as high and three times as heavy, ceiling mounted it looks quite a lump.
Having said that it's a good starter projector and is capable of a very good picture if a PC or good external deinterlacer is used.
You do need to demo it though as the colourwheel is fairly slow and if you happen to be one of the few who are badly affected by rainbows it could be a problem.
The powerbeam has been out of production for a few years now so I wouldn't want to spend too much as bulbs could be expensive and difficult to obtain, spares could also be difficult to find now that Davis have gone out of business.
Personally I wouldn't want to pay more than £150 for an excellent working example.

Regards and good luck, MikeD
 
Hi, Thanks for the tips. I'm still not having success.

I tried using a cable from another unit - I wanted to rule out and ensure it was not a cable problem. So, I have a cable that goes from the RGB port on the projector to the Computer Monitor port on the cpu. I get the same rolling screen - but the menu overview still works and I can change picture, configure, etc. I have verified that computer button is selected on the powerbeam panel and assume this will tell it I'm using the RGB port?

Any other ideas? I did find a manual and it says it has several cables, remote control, batteries, etc... It also says diskettes? Do I need to load anything on the pc for this to work?

thanks for any help!

Jim
 
What frequency are you feeding it? Try 60hz from the pc and see what that looks like.

I used to use 75hz for PAL, and 72hz for NTSC, but 60hz should be a start for you.

Gary.
 
I never needed the installation discs when I connected my PC to my Powerbeam clone.
As the projector menu source comes directly from the projector and works OK but the PC source does'nt, could it be due to the resolution the PC is set to?
Try going into the PC control panel and set the resolution to 800 x 600 and see what happens, this is the native resolution for the projector so should work OK.
If it doesent work try hitting the projector sync button a few times and see if that works, I think it's a green button but I may be mistaken, it's been a long time.

Good luck, MikeD
 

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