benja22

I built a nice little home theater system in my basement for around three hundred dollars.

Originally we thought we could build one with an lcd display that was yanked out of an old laptop computer. After playing around with that we decided the concept was correct but the lcd panel itself did not fit our needs. After searching the internet we came upon the SHARP Video Projection Panel QA-1650. This neat little thing came in a solid package and had S-Video connectors. We picked ours up for about $75.00 on ebay (search; lcd projection panel).

I just checked. I see one on ebay for $99.00. There are even better ones out there but they range in the $350.00 range at this time.

We also bought a standard overhead projector. The kind your teacher used to put transparencies on to show stuff on the wall. You can get a brand new one for less than a hundred dollars. Be careful of the lumens. You want many of them. An 1100 lumen projector will work but you won’t be happy with it. I see you can get a 3000 lumen projector on ebay (search; overhead projector) today for $79.95 or better. If they have one with a dimmer control that would be awesome.

We also bought a brand new projection screen for one hundred dollars. Ours is a nice glass beaded one. Internet arguments are aplenty on what type of screen is best. Use a wall for all I care.

We also bought a switch box because we wanted to be able to switch from t.v. to DVD player with out any fuss.

We are very happy with the result. We watch  many of our favorite movies and the occasional sporting event on it quite often.

I’m not a good photographer but here are some pictures taken with a point & click camera in a dark basement.

Sharp QA-1650 placed on top of overhead projector. S-Vid and power connectors are on the side of the box.

I’m not a good photographer even in the best conditions but here is a pic of the screen during recent Grammy Awards show.

(my photography skills do not do justice to the picture quality)

Five foot seven inch fat man standing next to screen. Screen was 88 inches diagonal when picture was taken.