I wasn't quite sure where to post this, but as I now only use FSX, I thought this would be the best place. The following idea can of course be implemented for FS9 or indeed any other PC based game. The following idea is for those of you who are using a Monitor for 'playing' FSX etc. Dosn't everyone?, well no, I started building my own 737-800 simulator five years ago, and use a short range projector. The projector is only 30 inches from my screen, but the picture is nearly 7'6" square in front of me. I then decided to place Acylic mirrors on either side of the screen, which are set at 90' and run back down either side of the cockpit. The idea of this is to give wrap-around vision. Those on the ball reading this will now be saying 'but hang on a minute, the reflection in the mirrors is now in reverse', and you would be quite right, except that when flying at X000 feet, it really dosn't matter, and the effect is very good.One of the problems using a projector is the resolution. My projector has a native resolution of 1024X768. I can go above this, but this simply makes my 'picture' smaller, and does not really make the picture any sharper. We are all familiar that when going to the Cinema, sitting close to the screen will often give a 'fuzzy' picture, and when sitting say at least half way back, the picture is sharp. In the simulator my eyes are about 6/7 feet from the screen, and although the picture is pretty good, one can see the individual pixels, because the screen/picture size is so large. If I stand back say 10/12 ft from the screen, everything appears much sharper, but this is not practical, and would defeat the wrap-around effect if the Sim. was moved back.So, for some time I have been looking for a possible answer to this particular problem, and based on those findings has prompted me to write this post. Firstly, when I look in the mirrors on either side of the screen, it is quite obvious that the reflected picture is much sharper, and there is little or no sign anymore of the pixels seen on the main screen. Also, if you take any single item being displayed on the main screen, and then look at that same item reflected in one of the mirrors, one can see that the size of that item has been reduced by about 1/3 (one third). This really is not very obvious, but what seems to be happening is that by reducing the size of all items (the picture) the resolution has been increased. Coupled with the fact that when I look into the mirror my eye line has now been increased from 6/7ft to 12/14ft. i.e. the distance from my eye to the mirror, and then the distance from the mirror to the center of the screen added together.I now got to think how I might be able to place this mirrored image in front of me. Well, the simple answer is with difficulty. I have not yet started the necessary work, but I will explain my intentions, and then why I am writing this post for the benefit perhaps of many of you flight simmers out there. Please imagine my projector is sitting on the floor 30 inches from my screen. Now imagine that the wall behind the screen is the floor, and by fixing the projector on this back wall I can project the same picture on to the ceiling having first created a screen on the ceiling using the correct type of screen paints. Now imagine a large mirror, some 8ft X 3'6" placed in front of my Cockpit Window, but angled backwards @ 45' (45 degrees). The image I now see in the mirror is the image projected on to the ceiling. Again, for those keeping up with this, you are saying the image will be reversed in the mirror, and again, yes you are quite right, but my particular projector allows me to project the image in reverse!, so what I now see will be the right way round. One interesting point here is that although the mirror in front of the Sim. will be tilted back at 45', because I will not be able to see the bottom or top of the mirror (simply hidden by the interior of the cockpit windows), you do not realise this at all, and the picture appears to be vertical in front of you.O.K., now to the real point of writing all this. In order to understand how I could implement the above, I played around with a number of small mirrors, here in my study, where I have 'this' P.C., and it got me thinking. Many of us will be familiar with using a Periscope to look over the heads of others in a crowd. As you will know, this item is simply a box section with two mirros set @ 45' top and bottom. Looking through the apperature, you will simply see the image coming into the other apperature which as been reflected twice to reach your eyes. All very simple. Now, I am not going to start teaching anyone how to build a Periscope, and indeed for this experiment you don't need to build anything. Just get hold of a couple of small mirrors. Either raise your Monitor to roughly your eye line, probably about 18 inches higher than it presently is, or simply bend down in front of it. Now hold your two mirrors, with the two mirrored sides facing each other, now pull apart, with the bottom one @ 45' facing up and the top one @ 45' facing down. With a little ajustment of hand movement, you should now see your monitor reflected in the lower mirror, and that imagine should be much much sharper than the one on the monitor itself.As stated I am not going to tell anyone how to build such an item, but a fairly simple 'cradle' should do it. Just make sure each mirror can be moved forward and backwards, and that each mirror can be rotated slightly to help with linnig up. Might all seem a bit 'Heath Robinson', but there are those of you who will love to experiment with this idea, and I am sure will prove worth the effort.Happy Simming

Hi Selkan,This was an interesting read and I hope that you report back as you continue your experiment but I keep thinking of the old saw, "There ain't no such thing as a free lunch." It seems to me that just as you say, ". . . look at that same item reflected in one of the mirrors, one can see that the size of that item has been reduced by about 1/3 (one third). . . ," then the very same thing will happen with your slanted object mirror; the entire reflected image will be considerably smaller than the 7'6" projected image. Therefore you will need to enlarge the projected image and after reflection is made 7'6", it will exhibit the exact same pixelation as a 7'6" projection. But go for it, it's a worthwhile project amd I never would have thought of the side mirrors.R-

Hi Selkan,This was an interesting read and I hope that you report back as you continue your experiment but I keep thinking of the old saw, "There ain't no such thing as a free lunch." It seems to me that just as you say, ". . . look at that same item reflected in one of the mirrors, one can see that the size of that item has been reduced by about 1/3 (one third). . . ," then the very same thing will happen with your slanted object mirror; the entire reflected image will be considerably smaller than the 7'6" projected image. Therefore you will need to enlarge the projected image and after reflection is made 7'6", it will exhibit the exact same pixelation as a 7'6" projection. But go for it, it's a worthwhile project amd I never would have thought of the side mirrors.R-

Hi RonB49, I will certainly try and do a further post to keep readers up to date, but it will be a little while yet. Still fiddling with mirrors and drawings to get things right. You are quite right, there is no such thing as a free lunch, and my concept does come at a price; that being that everything in front of me reflected in the mirror will appear a little smaller than the original projected picture. Having said that, I have tried taking off and landing etc, just looking into the mirrors to my right or left, (at an angle from my cockpit seat) and although everything is reduced in size, the increased sharpness etc outweighs any loss in general size. As mentioned, my projected picture is about 7'6" square, however, the actual area I can see from my seat is of course the full width of the screen, but only approx. 4'6" as a section in the center of the screen. (my cockpit interior limiting top and bottom of screen). This makes for the Sim. being that much more realistic, as not seeing the top and bottom of the picture, makes one feel more immersed in the scene. It is this section of course that interests me when trying to line up my mirror. As for the overall size of the projected picture, I am unable to make it any larger, as the projector is already a its distance limit from the screen. Go beyond this, and yes the picture would get bigger, but the loss of clarity would be very high.

How about some photos?

... As mentioned, my projected picture is about 7'6" square, however, the actual area I can see from my seat is of course the full width of the screen, but only approx. 4'6" as a section in the center of the screen. (my cockpit interior limiting top and bottom of screen). ...

Given what you say here, then I think that your idea may be a winner. Good luck, I think a lot of us will be tracking your progress. R-

Hi Bic, I could post some pictures of my present set up, and this is probably going to sound 'dim', but I have never posted any pics before, and am not quite sure how one does it! If you can give me a simple step by step, then I will gladly pop a few pictures here. As stated in a post above, I have not yet started the new mirror idea, as I am still at the planning stage, so any pictures would be of my present set up. Still looks good I think!

I have been trying to upload a few pictures. This one appears to have been uploaded O.K., so thought I would Post it, in the hope I can add some more relevant pictures. I just have to hope this works when I now hit the 'Add Reply' button!

It's interesting that mounting projection systems close to the screen has been an engineering issue with projection-style televisions. Instead of mounting 2 x 45' mirrors, projection TVs have a single 45' mirror mounted above a reverse projection. The image appears correctly on the screen and the image is greatly increased in size by only mounting the projector a short distance from the screen.

Still having problems trying to Post some pictures; see if this works

Thought viewers might like to see my Projector; as you can see the image is thrown forward by using a number of mirrors. This is an NEC WT600, and not I' am afraid not for the faint hearted; cost

:( Excellent!

No pictures to see !

Trying to Post some pictures, but doing something wrong! Can someone give me a step by step?Thanks

general view of screen and mirrorI think I may have this sorted now!, please read caption above regarding ProjectorMy ProjectorOpps two pictures of Projector; I'll get there in a while. You should now be looking at a picturetaken at Runway 4R Nice, South of France.O.K. this picture is looking into my right hand mirror from Pilots seat.This was the 737-800 I was flying todaySame shot taken in right had mirror.Last one, just to show the interior of part of my 737-800. You can however see the two vertical lines where the mirrors meet the screen.If you are having trouble seeing any of the pictures, don't forget to use the 'slider' t bottom of screen to move across. I believe there are three pictures in a row.

Trying to Post some pictures, but doing something wrong! Can someone give me a step by step?Thanks

You seem to be posting photos over the 200K file size limit and they are being rejected, keep them within the posting rules and you should be good.Also, be sure to arrange your shots in the text box one below the other so you do not make the page wider than 1024 at Avsim.