Path: utzoo!utgpu!news-server.csri.toronto.edu!rutgers!cs.utexas.edu!uunet!pmafire!tuv
From: tuv@pmafire.UUCP (Mark Tovey)
Newsgroups: sci.electronics
Subject: Re: Big Screen Projector from tiny LCD TV ?
Message-ID: <1990Aug17.162643.5579@pmafire.UUCP>
Date: 17 Aug 90 16:26:43 GMT
References: <32906@cup.portal.com>
Reply-To: tuv@pmafire.UUCP (Mark Tovey)
Distribution: usa
Organization: WINCO
Lines: 33

In article <32906@cup.portal.com> silver@cup.portal.com (Jim B Howard) writes:
>
> 
>I wonder if it would be possible to take one of the better made pocket
>LCD TV's , such as the Sony Watchman, and remove the LCD element far
>enough away to allow the insertion of a really bright backlight, such
>as a small quartz lamp or something, and then focus the light with a 
>few simple lenses to give you a large projected color image.
> 
>(quite a long sentence, eh?)
> 
>I've experimented with taking cheap calculators apart, and removing the
>foil backing from the LCD element, shiing a flashlight through it,
>and using an overhead projector lens assembly to put the image on the wall.
>It works fine, very readable.  I've even done this with my old Casio 
>7000 graphing calculator.   The question is, do they attach the 
>LCD elements of those little TV's so strangely that there is no chance
>of relocating it enough to do what I propose?  I don't want to spend 
>299$ to get one of those things and find out they've welded the element
>in place. 
> 
>This is a very simplified method of achieving what those expensive TV
>projectors (such as the Sharp one ~ 5000$) do.  I think.
> 

    Sharp makes just such a unit (~ $3000 to $4000). It is a very nice
system, designed to be portable and set in seconds. There is no
convergence involved, just point and focus. The resolution is still
somewhat low so it doesn't work to well with computer graphics but is
just fine for normal video applications.
   There are other manufacturers currently making similar systems (I
believe Kodak is one of them) but the Sharp is considered to be the
best one on the market today.