Big 175" Screen for under 20 bucks?

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Elmntskater1588

Gawd
Joined
Jul 12, 2004
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While i was browsing the internet the other day i came upon this web site www.maxtheater.com. i ws wondering if anyone has/tried this system. if so how good is the quality? they do show some "Quality" pictures on the site but i know that really not the true picture. if anyone has this please tell me about it b/c its very temting to buy! Thanks [H]
 
I like how the website offers no information as to what you are actually ordering. ;) ;)
 
Ive ordered one of these out of curiosity before. They send you a lens, and a CD with some instructions on it.

The lens is crap too, you can pick one up at barns and noble for like $1.

heres a pic of me playing with the lens:

lollens.jpg
 
its a complete waste to almost a scam. Anyone who buys those things and expects to have a big screen tv is a fool. Basically it takes one pixel and stretches it to 20 for the effect of having a bigger screen... woohoo....
 
So, Taylor, how is it supposed to actually work?
 
You take 2 cardboard boxes, and attach the lens to one, the other box is attached to your TV and has a hole in it for the other box to fit in. You move the small box to focus. Unfortunately the image is mirrored unless you take apart your TV and switch 2 wires.

Heres a paint diagram

projector.jpg


for best results you should duct tape the edge to the TV, and paint the inside black.
 
Man, that cardboard box thing sounds utterly ghetto! :p

Did you actually try it and if so, how'd it work?
 
Lethal said:
Man, that cardboard box thing sounds utterly ghetto! :p

Did you actually try it and if so, how'd it work?
Click to expand...

well you could build it out of wood.

It worked, but it was like watching a big TV with a piece of wax paper over it. You cant get very good clarity, or high resolution out of a small TV. A monitor might work better, but you get what you pay for.

/edit: The only thing it was good for was watching cartoons. I set it up in my sisters room for a while untill the crappy TV i was using broke and i threw the whole thing away, except for the lens.
 
Lethal said:
Man, that cardboard box thing sounds utterly ghetto! :p

Did you actually try it and if so, how'd it work?
Click to expand...
they should call it, ghetto movie theater screen
 
Heh. The "demonstration pics" on that website are all of projection screens in rooms of houses whose owners can obviously afford MUCH more expensive "projectors."

This seems like it would classify as false advertising.

Oh, and their address is a fucking PO Box.
 
Taylor Ratliff said:
Ive ordered one of these out of curiosity before. They send you a lens, and a CD with some instructions on it.

The lens is crap too, you can pick one up at barns and noble for like $1.

heres a pic of me playing with the lens:

lollens.jpg
Click to expand...

is that just one of those page magnifier sheets? think you can take a pic of how the projection from it looks?
 
Yep I live in a 4 person suite dormatory. I have this 19" TV lying around so I am going to try to make this. I will go to Barnes and Nobles probably either tomorrow or Wednesday. Maybe Wal-Mart might have this as well?
 
damn this seems ghetto fantastic

it might look cool with milkdrop and winamp going, anybody know how many lumens a typical tv puts out, i doubt its anywhere near the intensity of a projector bulb
 
YES YES YES LOL....... :D Anyways I am going to get the supplies today and hopefully I can find a lens. I don't think that my roommate will let me experiment on his 19" so I have decided to pick up a cheap 13" today as well.
 
OMG the picture of the guy with his hand near his chin on the banner is priceless!!! hahah!!
 
Well all I need to do now is find a lens. I am going to barnes and noble after work ( which I get off at 8). I will try to find someone with a digital camera so that I can show you guys how well the picture looks. All I need is cardboard, black construction paper, Fresnal Lens, Knife, black electrical tape, and a ruler for this project. Yeah I am using balck construction paper so that I don't have to paint the cardboard black.
 
I did this with a magnifying glass lense and spray painted the cardboard. I'd say you get a sligtly clearer image with a real glass lense, preferably a LARGE one, but the spray paint flaked off REALLY fast. Mine didn't have the box-in-a-box version, theirs just had a flat piece of cardboard with the lense in it. The box would make life MUCH easier. I may just try this again. Remember, the better the lense, the better the picture...also, the darker the room the better. For under $10 in materials ($20 if you use wood), it works fairly well, IMO.
 
I believe I had a 13" screen about 8 feet away from the screen and got an approximately 6' across picture. I should mention the TV was OLD and very washed out looking, but I still got a decent image by cranking the brightness and contrast.
 
Blue Fox said:
A big lens?
Click to expand...
And Four..thats right..Four Pieces of Cardboard. :p

I remember this "device" from a Popular Science article in the 70's..it was a ripoff then and it is still now.
 
rip off??? Well I am about to find out i mean i cant loose for $5.00 all I can do is gain.
 
Well I went to wal-mart and constructed the box. Wal-mart only had a round 7 cm diameter magnifying lens so i bought it just to test out the picture. I can say that it works very well. I still need to get a 17 cm diameter fresnal lens. Hopefully when I go to barnes and noble tomorrow, they will have one. Does anyone else know where I can find one in a certain store? Oh also, I found matt black foam board that works very well and I used black electrical tape instead of duct tape.
 
Awesome, as i was sitting in school today, i started thinking about this project.

Frensel lenses are not very good quality, the only reason they are used is because they are big and let alot of light through. I believe a glass or plastic lens would work alot better, but it has to be big (and expensive).

Im not %100 sure that you can find the lens at barns and noble, it just seems like a good place since they are used for reading.

good luck, and post pics!
 
Perhaps i'm missing something but in the pictures they have on their website it shows a man standing in front of the screen and there complete black as his shadow. Meaning he's standing in front a front projector. These things extensions of the TV, not front projector correct?
 
No it is actually turning the TV into a front projector. Look at my link on the first page.
 
hmmm.... those links look interesting but $20 just for the PDA that tells you how to build it? Well I wish I knew the total cost and I wish that I would buy the entire kit from them.

EDIT: Ok I looked through there forums and looks like that projector would cost $500 basing off of one's guys parts. 500>10
 
Arkanian said:
rip off??? Well I am about to find out i mean i cant loose for $5.00 all I can do is gain.
Click to expand...
He is counting on thousands of $5.00 purchases. :eek:
 
Arkanian said:
hmmm.... those links look interesting but $20 just for the PDA that tells you how to build it? Well I wish I knew the total cost and I wish that I would buy the entire kit from them.

EDIT: Ok I looked through there forums and looks like that projector would cost $500 basing off of one's guys parts. 500>10
Click to expand...

Well if you buy from lumenlab then yeah it's $20, but you can find out all you need to know
from the diyaudio forums. And if you're resourceful you can build a very nice projector for
much less. The results are amazing. None of that build a box around your tv shit.

Frodo
 
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