Widescreen Gaming Forum

Not sure of how this all works... but here goes

My system is as follows:

Asus M/B P5N32-E SLI

Intel Core 2 Duo CPU @ 3.33MHz / 3.83MHz

8 GB Ram

2 x Asus 8800 GTX GPU (needs upgrading)

Antec 850w P/S

Windows 7 Home Premium

Dual Hot Swappable 500 GB Hard Drives, each have dual boot

FS 9 & FSX + Expansion Pack on one

X-Plane & Black Shark on the other

DODO Sim Advanced 206

Sim Control Helicopter hardware with twist grip throttle and fluid pedals.
24" monitor for Gauges

Primary use is Helicopters.

I have just purchased 3 Infocus IN-146 short throw projectors and Triple Head to Go Digital Display Port Edition,
and Warpalizer software and in the process of setting these up with a curved screen, hopefully in portrait mode. Up to 180 degrees if possible for the full cockpit effect.

I haven’t started the room mods yet as I am waiting for the TH2G to play with first.

Will this work?

Will I have to go with a 3 angled flat surfaces or can it be a curved surface at a 5’ radius (1.5m)

I am trying to get a floor to ceiling picture in a 8’ x 8’ x 7.5’ hi room

Any additional information you can offer would be much appreciated or direct me to any other sources.

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Timber

:welcome Timber

I do not have much multi projectorgaming experience, it know that the TH2G unit will work for you, but I am not sure on the games.

Some folks here will know, along with screen types.
Browse our forums and you shall spot some logs and emebers whom have some good experience in this area.

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Hey, welcome.

Does the geometry of a 180 degree 5' radius screen in an 8x8 room actually work out? Obviously you can't just simply place the screen at one end of the room, the center would have to go in a corner. Curious if it would even fit.

You may have problems with projector placement in portrait mode. The projectors will need the equivalent of horizontal lens shift so that they're not inline with the center of the screens (ie: where you want to be yourself). The other problems with projectors in a portrait configuration is that usually they're not designed from a cooling/airflow perspective to handle that orientation.

Another problem with curved screens is that you need a projector setup capable of a wide depth of field. Projector lenses are made to project an image onto a flat screen. When you mess with the geometry of the screen surface you not only distort the picture (this part can be fixed by software like warpalizer or nthusim) but you also have focusing issues due to projector optics (this part can't be fixed with software - you'd need a fancy lens). The edges of the picture (which should be farther from the screen in a flat configuration) are the same distance as the center of the picture on a curved screen. Usually this is referred to as "image softness" it really just means that the projector can't produce an in-focus image across the entire picture. Probably not a big issue if you're using the projector in a sim environment. It may be a bigger problem if you're looking at text. I honestly don't know what projectors are better than others when it comes to depth of field or even what lens parameters to check to see if this would be an issue for a given projector.

Have fun with your setup. It'll be a bunch of work to get up and running but it should be worth it.

M.

Thanks M,

I appreciate your reply and input.

You're right the geometry has changed, it will be a 4' radius and this may be a little tight,but I will horse around with the curved and flat surfaces.

I would be mounting the projectors from the ceiling so the cooling won't be a problem.
It seems the more I play with the settings I can't seem to get the portrait mode to work, any help here will be most welcome.

I'm thinking of running a single HD 6950 2gb card. This will give me 2 options
1 TH2G
2 Eyefinity
Any thoughts?

Thanks T

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Timber

I run an Eyefinity setup myself with a 5870E6 and 3 24" HP monitors. I've been pretty happy with it. Not sure why you'd want the TH2G unit actually. I'm planning on upgrading to projectors in the new year mostly to get rid of the bezels. Optoma GT750's are currently at the top of my list.

Sorry I can't help you out with the portrait setup. I really do think you're going to have problems unless the projectors have horizontal lens shift.

M.

Thanks M,

I appreciate your reply and input.

You're right the geometry has changed, it will be a 4' radius and this may be a little tight,but I will horse around with the curved and flat surfaces.

I would be mounting the projectors from the ceiling so the cooling won't be a problem.
It seems the more I play with the settings I can't seem to get the portrait mode to work, any help here will be most welcome.

I'm thinking of running a single HD 6950 2gb card. This will give me 2 options
1 TH2G
2 Eyefinity
Any thoughts?

Thanks T

I see no need for the expense of the TH2G. Just use the Eyefinity capability. If your running external gauge displays for a simpit that might be helpful, but otherwise I wouldn't bother with the TH2G. Your AMD card should push 3x1 plus whatever extra DP ports you have available on the card. Did you want the TH2G to give you more ports? If so, the ASUS 6950 DCII has 6 outs available on that card. If that isn' enough ports, get a second ASUS 6950, then you'd have 12 ports out available to push simpit display content (minus whatever your three displays used for outside visuals will be).

I'm using both X-Plane 10 and Prepar3d 1.2 on one of my setups.

_________________
Brad Hawthorne
Product Manager
Nthusim Pty. Ltd. | www.nthusim.com

Thanks BHawthorne,

I have borrowed that card (6950) from my computer shop guy, it's not the current model but I couldn't get the 3rd projector setup in eyefinity, but did with TH2Go. He gave me a dongle to use as well but it wasn't USB powered.
can you recomend a active cable?
I would like to use the HDMI input on the projectors as well so I would also need the proper gender changers to go fron DP to HDMI.
It seems wherever I look on Google, I am never sure what I need that will actually work and not wasting time & money with an incorrect purchase, any help would be greatly appreciated

Cheers T

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Timber

Active does not mean USB powered. Active means that there is circuitry within the adapter to transcode between DP and DVI signal types. Passive adapters pass through signal, while active transcode. An active adapter need not be powered by USB. Most single-link active adapters are powered by the video signal itself. You might explain the difference to the shop owner. It'll prevent misconceptions in the future.

I need more information on which card you are specifically using in order to know if it's Mini-DP or DP. You would use 2x DVI out and 1x DP (Or Mini-DP) with an active adapter. Then you use three DVI-HDMI cables. A DVI-HDMI cable is one end DVI and the other HDMI. DVI and HDMI are the same video signal types, but DP and DVI/HDMI are not. It's why DP needs active transcoding between DP and DVI and why DVI and HDMI doesn't.

Any of these adapters will work. Be mindful of if you need Mini-DP or DP though:
http://www.newegg.ca/Product/ProductList.aspx?Submit=ENE&DEPA=0&Order=BESTMATCH&N=-1&isNodeId=1&Description=displayport+active+adapter&x=0&y=0


Video Card DVI Port #1 -> DVI-HDMI Cable -> Projector #1 HDMI Port
Video Card DVI Port #2 -> DVI-HDMI Cable -> Projector #2 HDMI Port
Video Card DP Port #1 -> DP-to-DVI Active Adapter -> DVI-HDMI Cable -> Projector #3 HDMI Port

_________________
Brad Hawthorne
Product Manager
Nthusim Pty. Ltd. | www.nthusim.com

Thanks B
Just back, so here is the hardware that I will be using.
Asus HD 6950 DirectCUII (EAH6950 DCII/2DI4S/2GD5) GPU
3 x Infocus IN146 Projectors (Ultimately in Portrait mode)
Need to adapt 1 male active DP to male HDMI cable for Eyefinity
Not sure about multiple adapters in the chain that will still maintain the active component for eyefinity to work
Unless i'm missing something I can't seem to figure it out
I want to make this as simple & painless as possible

Cheers T

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Timber

This is the adapter you want:
http://www.newegg.ca/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814999032

Then you just need three DVI-HDMI cables to proper length. Not sure what a good source would be in Canada. I use Monoprice in the US though.
http://www.monoprice.com/products/subdepartment.asp?c_id=102&cp_id=10231

Set it up like I suggested in my previous post.

There is no simple DP -> HDMI solution. You need to go DP -> DVI -> HDMI. HDMI spec group is messing that up. The underlying cause is that HDMI spec group does not want HDMI playing well with DP. The core of the issue is VESA spec group makes the DisplayPort spec and HDMI spec group makes the HDMI spec. They're competing proprietary specs.
http://www.audioholics.com/news/editorials/hdmi-licensing-not-evil

_________________
Brad Hawthorne
Product Manager
Nthusim Pty. Ltd. | www.nthusim.com