Doom 3 on 110" Screen with 7.1 audio

Since everyone else is posting pictures of their setups I may as well join in.

HTPC system specs:
pic1.jpg

Lian-Li PC-9300 case with Chaintech 7NIL1 motherboard running a Barton 2500+, 512mb of ram and a 128mb FX5200 video card.

The FX5200 is hooked into the JVC AV-48WP30 via DVI.

The desktop is only 720x480(set with powerstrip), as I get overscan or underscan with all other video modes.

This setup plays Doom 3 just fine at 720x480 though, check out this site for a few more pictures taken with my crappy camera.

For those of you who are having trouble with overscan in Doom 3 with widescreen video modes, the setting 'seta r_customaspect "1"' made it work for me.
 
Hey guy just to let you all know the time the bulbs last for projector is sort of like a "high-life". If a bulb has a life-span of 3000 hrs that mean it will last 3000 hrs until it loses some quality/brightness. The bulb would probable as long as 6000 hrs but you definitely notice the difference
 
alrox said:
Since everyone else is posting pictures of their setups I may as well join in.

HTPC system specs:
<snip>
Lian-Li PC-9300 case with Chaintech 7NIL1 motherboard running a Barton 2500+, 512mb of ram and a 128mb FX5200 video card.

The FX5200 is hooked into the JVC AV-48WP30 via DVI.

The desktop is only 720x480(set with powerstrip), as I get overscan or underscan with all other video modes.

This setup plays Doom 3 just fine at 720x480 though, check out this site for a few more pictures taken with my crappy camera.

For those of you who are having trouble with overscan in Doom 3 with widescreen video modes, the setting 'seta r_customaspect "1"' made it work for me.
Click to expand...
Ewwww...5200? That setup screams "Get me a better video card!" To quote someone from some forum I read once (really can't remember the name or I would put it :p ) "Imagine a retarded person, and remove half his brain. What you get is a FX5200" :p

Otherwise sweet though. :) (Really, not dissing your setup. It's really nice.)
 
All of you noobs bow down before my Dream system! Someday... oh yes.. it will be mine.

Reciever- Denon 170 watts x 7 channels THX Ultra II
5803_FR%2021302.jpg



Speakers-Atlantic Technology 450 THX Ultra 2 certified.
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Video-
hdr_DLP_vx1000ci.gif
Has the new HD-2 chip
img_OP_DLP_vx1000ci.jpg

which improves black levels to near crt quality.

This can ll be yours for the low price of about 25k.
 
Ok, I think this thread has pushed me over the edge.

Playing doom3 on a samsung 171T wasn't enough.
Playing doom3 on an HP L2335 wasn't enough.
Playing doom3 on a 42" panny plasma wasn't enough.

I'm picking up a Sony HS20 on Monday or Tuesday, maybe that will be enough.

Will have to rearrange my entire tiny studio apartment, might even have to downsize the bed.

:eek:
 
The only problem I have with the Sony HS20 is that it seems like a weird native resolution to work with.
 
Hey plink, fellow projector buddy :D

I''m typing on my Panasonic PT-L500u at 96" right now (a very worthy competitor to the Z2), and I must say that PC games, especially Doom 3, are super fantastic.

If I had my own house I would upgrade my cheap blackout screen to a 120"+ gray/silver screen and go drop about 2 grand on a 7.1 setup, but right now it would be a waste since I would just piss off my neighbors so 5.1 computer speakers will have to do for now.

Anyway, Nice setup man, mine is pretty ghetto or I would've made this thread already. As soon as I get my own house I'll be building a complete theater room built for acoustics and completely blackened to control spilled light, then I'll post some pics :)
 
touchless21 said:
Hey guy just to let you all know the time the bulbs last for projector is sort of like a "high-life". If a bulb has a life-span of 3000 hrs that mean it will last 3000 hrs until it loses some quality/brightness. The bulb would probable as long as 6000 hrs but you definitely notice the difference
Click to expand...

I've heard the opposite, but I'm sure it depends on the type of bulb and a number of other variables. I was under the impression that the 3000hr figure meant that under perfect conditions, the bulb could last 3000hrs. I've heard of peoples l500u bulbs go out after 500 hours, and the l500u claims 5000 hours IF used in "low" mode which reduces brightness slightly, personally I can't justify the high mode with my setup, its not a big difference at all. But would probably need it if I moved much past 120"

I'm currently at 620 hours... and I haven't had it that long. I use it too faaar too much, its so sweet :(

I even surf forums on it, god what a waste of bulb life.
 
Im curious is there a wall surface you should place on your wall to get a better display ?
 
Shane said:
Im curious is there a wall surface you should place on your wall to get a better display ?
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Best thing to do is get one of those white projecter display roll up things. Or a clean white wall will do. Thats what my school does in some of our labs.
 
ComputerBox34 said:
Best thing to do is get one of those white projecter display roll up things. Or a clean white wall will do. Thats what my school does in some of our labs.
Click to expand...

I actually use a piece of "parkland plastic" that you can buy at any home depot or home base or lowes ro somthing. I then converged my projector and built a black frame around it. To the untrained eye, when people walk in the room they think its a plasma.

Monitor2.JPG
 
neokeelo said:
All of you noobs bow down before my Dream system! Someday... oh yes.. it will be mine.

Reciever- Denon 170 watts x 7 channels THX Ultra II
5803_FR%2021302.jpg



I have the receiver so bow down before me.....hehe... :D ....You'll love it ...I do.....my speakers aren't no where near that pricey but they sound really awesome....I think the speakers are the most expensive thing out of the pics....correct me if I'm wrong....not sure what the projector cost. You can see a list of my setup a few pages back.....will have pics up real soon. :)
Click to expand...
 
Hey, first of all , nice setup plnk lol. Some day i will get a great paying job, but until then i can only stare in awe. (I run a 17inch view sonic RoFl and a 1.7 celeron vaio and crappy 5 speaker audio w/ no sound card)

Anyways, i was curious if anyone knows any websites on how to overclock cpu's? I'm not even sure if i can but i can't afford a new computer atm and would like to overclock mine a bit. Thanks, any help appreciated. Btw, i couldn't find the part in this thread where you said what you do for a living? Mind filling me in?
 
He's a network administrator ....just like me :) ....and yes you can do A OK in the field.....just look at both of our setups :D
 
disegard the part about overclocking...i found what i was looking for i think, unless others know some really good sites.
 
(did not read through all 15 pages heh)

What i have at home is my PC hooked up to my 32" tv (its digital picture, but not HDTV)

i have it coming out of the svideo from my g4 ti4400 into the inputs in the back of the tv...and as you probably all know, its blurry looking and isnt used for much more than watching dvd's.

How can i get a crisp clean picture of my desktop / games like you guys have it? Do i need a new vid card with a special out video adapter, and an hdtv TV? or is it more complicated than that.

I want to setup a similar home theater setup, but at a cheaper budget than you guys have here, but i need some help in first figuring out what ineed for a crisp clean desktop picture on the tv from my pc.

If it helps much in helping me decided what i need, i would use this tv as my primary monitor, and i do alot of gaming and PC stuff...so it will be on alot...so the picture is very important.

Thanks for any help :)

n0id
 
n0id said:
(did not read through all 15 pages heh)

What i have at home is my PC hooked up to my 32" tv (its digital picture, but not HDTV)

i have it coming out of the svideo from my g4 ti4400 into the inputs in the back of the tv...and as you probably all know, its blurry looking and isnt used for much more than watching dvd's.

How can i get a crisp clean picture of my desktop / games like you guys have it? Do i need a new vid card with a special out video adapter, and an hdtv TV? or is it more complicated than that.

I want to setup a similar home theater setup, but at a cheaper budget than you guys have here, but i need some help in first figuring out what ineed for a crisp clean desktop picture on the tv from my pc.

If it helps much in helping me decided what i need, i would use this tv as my primary monitor, and i do alot of gaming and PC stuff...so it will be on alot...so the picture is very important.

Thanks for any help :)

n0id
Click to expand...

The reason the picture is blurry is probably because your resolution on the computer is higher than the TV supports. PAL TVs for example support up to 768x576 pixels.
If you're in the states you probably have a NTSC TV. Search on the net to find out what the resolution is for NTSC. Then use a program called PowerStrip to set a custom resolution on your computer, matching the maximum resolution on your TV.
 
Standard TV's are a low resolution medium. Even if you set the res to 720x480 for NTSC. You never get a clear picture like a computer monitor.
 
Ok ive done some research,and found out that to get a PC hooked up to a TV and have it look identical to a CRT monitor is to have the tv be HDTV and have an svga input.

So im searching around for one.....is there anything specific i should be looking for before i buy one? Like ratio of the TV (found some that were very cheap...1800$ with a 4:3 ratio)

Any tips on what i should be looking for in a TV that will be primarily used for PC use (mostly online gaming) and TV would be appreciated so i dont buy a TV that im not happy with.


Thanks!
 
n0id said:
Ok ive done some research,and found out that to get a PC hooked up to a TV and have it look identical to a CRT monitor is to have the tv be HDTV and have an svga input.

So im searching around for one.....is there anything specific i should be looking for before i buy one? Like ratio of the TV (found some that were very cheap...1800$ with a 4:3 ratio)

Any tips on what i should be looking for in a TV that will be primarily used for PC use (mostly online gaming) and TV would be appreciated so i dont buy a TV that im not happy with.


Thanks!
Click to expand...

what size? tube or projection?
 
that projector I posted had a retial value of 16,000 dollars.

In most systems the projector will be the highest cost then speakers, then seprates.
 
plink said:
Jake,

Yup the screen is on the way... Looking at a grey screen for higher contrast and such. (like the Stewart Filmscreen Firehawk) Though I will probably go with something cheaper from Da-Lite.
Click to expand...

Check out www.hometheaterforum.com. They have a great way of making a really good screen for very cheap. Something about HomeDepot paint and some kind of fabric. The people over there are nuts about home theater, just like we are nuts about our computers. If they like the canvas and paint setup then I know it's got to be good.
 
plink,

When you run Doom 3 and using that projector, does the fps cap to something low like 25 or 30? I can't tell how smooth it moves from a still photo, but would be interested to know.

Thanks.
 
ilkvest said:
plink,

When you run Doom 3 and using that projector, does the fps cap to something low like 25 or 30? I can't tell how smooth it moves from a still photo, but would be interested to know.

Thanks.
Click to expand...


I have an X800XT so it caps it at 60 fps, with V-Sync on. Very rarely does it do a drop to 30 fps. As the x800XT can easily handle the 1280x720 with full everything in Doom3. On a side note, I was playing some Quake 3 on my projector over the weekend, at a lan party I hosted. Total blast. Looks awsome, (because of the 1280x720 res) and of course runs amazingly smooth at the 400 fps or whatever it does. We also played some old classics like Total Annihilation which I am surprised to say actually supports true 1280x720. Very cool. (I forgot how fun that game can be)

Anyways, thanks for all the great comments guys. There is a website out there called www.avsforum.com (I think it was also mentioned earlier in this thread) that has tonnes and tonnes of info on this stuff. The guys in this forum know all when it comes to home theatre. They've definetely helped me out in the past.

Cheers.
 
After seeing this thread I decided to give it a try on my 57in widescreen. Hooked the DVI up to my tv, then to my 6800gt. But no matter what resolutions I tried (using the nvidia control panel to add custom resolutions) I couldn't actually get the whole desktop to fit on the tv. Any suggestions? I never tried powerstrip as I didn't think it would make a difference, but if anyone thinks it would I'll be downloading it today.

Thanks
 
On my Hitachi 57" I had to set the res slightly below 1280X720 - the perfect ratio was a pick from the settings tab 1153X around 700

Completely awsome, with pip I can watch the olympics in HD plus play UT2K4 (which supports non-standard resolutions.

My logitec MX duo make sitting on my couch playing games awesome... I just wish the rest of the family would stay on vacation for more than one week, but I will enjoy it while I can - back to the 19" monitor next week :(
 
Mookers said:
Ok I didnt feel like reading all the posts on this one, way too many, lol so im just gonna post :D

Man that's a nice setup!!! Seeing this makes me want to move from Ontario to Alberta, lol. Alberta is the richest provience and im willin g to bet that if you can drop that kind of money on this hardware and a WRX your prolly either in the oil bizz somehow or you rolled over a bank :p Great Stuff man!!!!
Click to expand...


so when you gonna move?? More then enuf jobs in the patch currently that are vacant!
 
NeonFlak said:
After seeing this thread I decided to give it a try on my 57in widescreen. Hooked the DVI up to my tv, then to my 6800gt. But no matter what resolutions I tried (using the nvidia control panel to add custom resolutions) I couldn't actually get the whole desktop to fit on the tv. Any suggestions? I never tried powerstrip as I didn't think it would make a difference, but if anyone thinks it would I'll be downloading it today.

Thanks
Click to expand...


Yes you will need powerstrip. The reason why I don't use it, is because my projector sends out a signal over dvi to the computer that tells it to run at 1280x720. Not all tvs and projectors do this though. And it doesn't always work. Sometimes when I boot up my computer it decides to use analog instead of digital. I have to keep rebooting until it uses the dvi digital signal. If anyone knows how to force an ati card to always boot in dvi let me know.
 
You have to "make" a vga plug if you use dvi on ati cards, they said the problem seem more prevalant on 9600s.. It was on the avsforum. I'll see if I can find the post again, if I do I'll throw the link here.
 
plink said:
I have an X800XT so it caps it at 60 fps, with V-Sync on. Very rarely does it do a drop to 30 fps. As the x800XT can easily handle the 1280x720 with full everything in Doom3. On a side note, I was playing some Quake 3 on my projector over the weekend, at a lan party I hosted. Total blast. Looks awsome, (because of the 1280x720 res) and of course runs amazingly smooth at the 400 fps or whatever it does. We also played some old classics like Total Annihilation which I am surprised to say actually supports true 1280x720. Very cool. (I forgot how fun that game can be)
Click to expand...
Thanks, I've been checking the spec and it says 50-100 Hz refresh so I guess that is what the projector caps your fps to (I think the 60 fps cap is the game itself capping, not the projector). Whether it is actually 50 or 100 probably depends on what resolution you select. In any case, if 50 Hz is the value at the max of 1280x720, that's still reasonable, although with stereovision shutter-glasses, which would be interesting to try out on that screen!, you'd get that halved to 25 Hz. Initially I was just asking because if you were to output to a NTSC TV through S-video (from your graphics card) I believe that would cap the fps to about 30, but that is not the same path as a DVI/VGA signal I guess (I'm not sure about this stuff since I've not set one up, nor do I fully understand it).

I am actually keen on buying the Sanyo but the scare stories about LCD degrading over time have been holding me back so far, while a projector of the same spec but DLP is a tad pricey, oh well.
 
ilkvest said:
I am actually keen on buying the Sanyo but the scare stories about LCD degrading over time have been holding me back so far, while a projector of the same spec but DLP is a tad pricey, oh well.
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Can you provide a link to those scare stories? The bulb will degrade over time, but that is just a matter of adjusting your brightness accordingly throughout the life of the bulb. The lcd panels in the players themselves, though, shouldn't appreciably degrade. They're not lit in the same way as a desktop/laptop lcd, if those are what your stories are about, fyi.

DLP has its own issues. If you do go DLP, make very sure you can watch the projector in question for a couple hours before buying it, either via a demo, or somebody who already owns one. There are a few people out there who get headaches from DLP. I don't think there are near as many as some concerns would have you believe, but you don't want to find out you're one after the fact.
 
im running on a Panasonic PTAE500 here (also a native 1280x720 res LCD projector, and the Z2s direct competitor), and we set it up last night, with 5.1 sound from an NForce 2 board with Sound Storm.


100inch screen

just wow.

ill post some pics later.

It is disappointing that id didnt think to include a widescreen mode, nothing worse than actually selecting 1280x720 res in doom3 via the console only to have the screen stretched sideways.

g_fov doesnt help either because it affects the whole of the image, both horizontal and vertical FoV, when a 16:9 screen really needs a wider horizontal FoV.

awesome stuff.

pez
 
alex pez said:
It is disappointing that id didnt think to include a widescreen mode, nothing worse than actually selecting 1280x720 res in doom3 via the console only to have the screen stretched sideways.

pez
Click to expand...

So true, but they are supposedly doing this in a patch. It's such an easy feature to add, and so is true 7.1 support! *nudge *nudge..... common id... hook a brotha up.
 
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