Homemade Super Projector

This project is currently in progress.  More and more details will be added to this site as time passes.  I have wanted a home theater projector for the past 15 years.  Until recently, these projectors were way overpriced.  In addition, the cost of the replacement bulbs were ridiculous.  You can now get a decent projector for about $1,200.  However, I an not interested in spending $1,200 on a "decent" projector.  Those projectors have poor contrast ratios, low lumens, and are basically designed for presentations.  There is a new one on the market with a 4000:1 contrast ratio, but it still has low lumens.  I want a super powerful, cost efficient, "GREAT" projector.  The ones that would be acceptable to me are still in the $5,000 - $15,000 price range.  Waiting another 5 years for the $5,000 models to drop to $2,500 isn't very exciting.  Of course, the homemade projector will be much LARGER and may not have all of the extra features of a store bought projector, but it will have greater quality.  These extra feature limitations can be overcome using computer software.  In addition, it will be around $400 and replacement bulbs will only cost about $30!!!

A group of my friends got together and built a prototype of one of these projectors.  I am going to study their design and try and improve on it.  They already have a lot of suggestions from their learning experience.  Documentation and pictures of the process will be posted here.  The first set of information will be from their project, followed by information from my project when I have completed it.  Before we go any further, I want to show some pictures to demonstrate the quality that one of these projectors is capable of producing.  Try and look for the people in the pictures next to the screen to get an idea of how big the projected image is.