Any Beamers Out There ?

[DickB 6]

I've been reading the various FS Forums for quite a while. and I don't recall anyone using FSX with a large screen front projection system (aka Beamer in the US I believe), though I'm sure there must be a few.I run with an InFocus 7210 DLP Projector and a 7ft screen. And it is awesome ! Beats TH2G by a mile.Course, there are some downsides. Microstutters become macrostutters for starters. And you need some room. But the sense of immersion and realism is unbeatable. And the cost of projectors is coming down all the time.Anyone else gone down this route ?

[Silverbird 115]

I've been reading the various FS Forums for quite a while. and I don't recall anyone using FSX with a large screen front projection system (aka Beamer in the US I believe), though I'm sure there must be a few.I run with an InFocus 7210 DLP Projector and a 7ft screen. And it is awesome ! Beats TH2G by a mile.Course, there are some downsides. Microstutters become macrostutters for starters. And you need some room. But the sense of immersion and realism is unbeatable. And the cost of projectors is coming down all the time.Anyone else gone down this route ?

I would love to try out the only thing that keeps me from projection systems is that cost of the bulbs are still high.

[Twitchstick 0]

I've got a Panasonic AX-200u. Just don't have the time or the energy to lug my pc down stairs to hook it up. I'm sure it would look cool though.

[DickB 6]

I've got a Panasonic AX-200u. Just don't have the time or the energy to lug my pc down stairs to hook it up. I'm sure it would look cool though.

It took me a while to make the jump as well. I was using the InFocus for Home Cinema (Theater) for months before I got round to hooking up the PC. No going back now.Silverbird has a point about the cost of the bulbs. I may have been lucky - I've had the InFocus a couple years now on the same bulb. It would be a different story if I found myself replacing bulbs more frequently. But they reckon they're good for 3000 hours these days. It'll be a while before I have that many hours in my logbook !

[january 19]

I've been reading the various FS Forums for quite a while. and I don't recall anyone using FSX with a large screen front projection system (aka Beamer in the US I believe), though I'm sure there must be a few.I run with an InFocus 7210 DLP Projector and a 7ft screen. And it is awesome ! Beats TH2G by a mile.Course, there are some downsides. Microstutters become macrostutters for starters. And you need some room. But the sense of immersion and realism is unbeatable. And the cost of projectors is coming down all the time.Anyone else gone down this route ?

Dick- Have you tried setting up multiple views on your projector? Awhile back I experimented with Views LFwd,Fwd,RFwd all on one screen plus displaying as many popups as practical. Since I don't have either a projector nor large HDTV, I simply packed everything onto a 19" CRT. To my pleasant surprise it worked nicely- other than everything was too small to be readable and the frame rates on my 6 year old computer were a bit slower than desirable! But smooth!Here is a screenshot showing what's possible. (PMDG 747 FS9) Note that in addition to triple views, I was able to display BOTH Captain & First Officer 2D panels neatly mated together- except for the dual center windscreen posts.I would be really curious to see how this works on your 7 ft projection screen!Alex ReidPMDG 747 aloft near Vancouver. Triple views- 135

[Guest jshyluk]

I've seen folks who build wooden cockpits and then use a projection screen to provide the view out the window. Then they use smaller displays to fill in the guages for the cockpit. In some cases, it's "just" a screen or two that uses the 2-D views to provide the panel view, whereas in other cases, folks have been able to split up the gauges so that each has its own display! My monitor is 17"... I am in screen envy.Jeff ShylukSenior Staff ReviewerAVSIM

[january 19]

I've seen folks who build wooden cockpits and then use a projection screen to provide the view out the window. Then they use smaller displays to fill in the guages for the cockpit. In some cases, it's "just" a screen or two that uses the 2-D views to provide the panel view, whereas in other cases, folks have been able to split up the gauges so that each has its own display! My monitor is 17"... I am in screen envy.Jeff ShylukSenior Staff ReviewerAVSIM

Jeff- Yes, a separate projection screen for the views and a smaller HDTV (27-32"?) for the panel(s) & popups!! I've seen specs for a projector with a focal length of 6' giving a 4:3 ratio, 100" diag screen that looks promising for home simming.One of the optical quirks of multiple views display, is that each view must be seen square to the pilot's eyes- that's why multiple monitors need to be arranged in an arc. If the views are seen as all in a flat line, the horizon(s) will bend as the plane rolls or pitches. Monitors placed in an arc maintain a straight horizon in roll- but I have yet to find a vertically concave monitor to keep the 3 horizons straight in pitch up/down!Which leads to an interesting possibility with a projector displaying triple views- LFwd,Fwd,RFwd. Just suppose one was to build a slightly concave viewing screen for the projector. Having worked with fibreglas a fair bit on backyard sailboat projects, I see no great problem in building a simple 8' concave mould and laying up a fibreglas screen. (Actually the mould would be convex to produce a concave screen.) The math for this seems pretty simple- the essential requirement being that every point on the screen is equidistant from one's eyes.Now we are getting close to the display system in commercial simulators- and we're only using one projector!!!! No frustration trying to align triple views from 3 separate projectors- to say nothing about cost.Alex Reid

[Guest jshyluk]

I've seen curved personal projection screens as well, but they were heavily curved, and stuff at the periphery was terribly distorted. They were not primarily intended for flight sim, though. Curved LCD screens are on the way, although really big ones will be difficult to come by for several years from now. Still, maybe in our lifetimes...?Jeff ShylukSenior Staff ReviewerAVSIM

[january 19]

I've seen curved personal projection screens as well, but they were heavily curved, and stuff at the periphery was terribly distorted. They were not primarily intended for flight sim, though. Curved LCD screens are on the way, although really big ones will be difficult to come by for several years from now. Still, maybe in our lifetimes...?Jeff ShylukSenior Staff ReviewerAVSIM

Jeff- some fast doodling on a scratch pad gives me the following dimensions for a compound curvature projection screen.This is for a 6' focal length projector yielding a 100" (diagonal) image at a 4:3 ratio.Screen height 60"Screen width 80" (This is the arc chord)Screen curvature depth 12" at centerYour comments re peripheral distortion are interesting. How did the curvature depth on the screens you have seen, compare with my calc of 12" in an 80" width?From my experience with triple monitor placement (angling outer 17" mons at about 40

[DickB 6]

I seem to have set a few hares running ! Excellent. To pick up on some of the points in the previous posts

[jb747 10]

Hi,Several folks are using beamers, particularly the "pit" builder looking for realistic out of cockpit scenery. Attached is a quick pic of a 3-projector system using a Matrox Triple Head 2 Go system and the Immersiview Sol7 geometric correction software to fit the image to a curved screen.As you can see if you look closely in the upper left hand corner, KJFK with the enhanced airport scenery and UT2 with 80% Airline traffic takes its toll. There is also still a bit of work to do on the edge butting where the three projector images align (or don't).CheersImage deleted, over the 200K file size limit, attachements must comply with Avsim posting rules

[Guest dougwells]

Attached is a quick pic of a 3-projector system using a Matrox Triple Head 2 Go system and the Immersiview Sol7 geometric correction software to fit the image to a curved screen.Image deleted, over the 200K file size limit, attachements must comply with Avsim posting rules

Would you be willing to repost the photo with 200k size or less. I'm interested in curved screens and the Immersiview software.Thanks

[january 19]

I seem to have set a few hares running ! Excellent. To pick up on some of the points in the previous posts

[january 19]

Hi,Several folks are using beamers, particularly the "pit" builder looking for realistic out of cockpit scenery. Attached is a quick pic of a 3-projector system using a Matrox Triple Head 2 Go system and the Immersiview Sol7 geometric correction software to fit the image to a curved screen.As you can see if you look closely in the upper left hand corner, KJFK with the enhanced airport scenery and UT2 with 80% Airline traffic takes its toll. There is also still a bit of work to do on the edge butting where the three projector images align (or don't).CheersImage deleted, over the 200K file size limit, attachements must comply with Avsim posting rules

jb747- I did have a chance to study your pic before it was deleted. Very nice, thank you.If this pic is in your "MyPictures" file, I have a handy method to reduce it to AVSIM limits. Takes all of 10 seconds!I'll post it here if anyone is interested.Alex Reid

[jb747 10]

Sorry about that. It's been awhile since I posted anything and was distracted by the note on the attachement page that limited upload size to 1.8 Mb.Anyway, here it is again, reduced below 200 kb.