The "100 Inch LaserX TV" - Scam or Legit?

[Jason Dunn]

<div class='os_post_top_link'><a href='http://www.mybigtv.com/' target='_blank'>http://www.mybigtv.com/</a><br /><br /></div><i>"Did you know it's now possible for you to change any regular television into a big screen TV? Get a big screen home theater today for less than $20. This amazing new download illustrates the quick and easy plans. That's right! You can have a big screen movie theater in your home right now for less than the cost of a night out! This is the Secret the big Electronics Companies don't want you to know. It's true - we have finally found the secret. Using the LaserX system, you can convert any image from any regular television into a giant 100-inch projection TV!"</i><br /><br />I saw this in one of our Google AdWords, so I hovered over the link to get the URL (if I click on my own AdWords I'll get booted from the program, but you can click if you see something you like). I went to the site, and I can't figure out what the angle is here. First, for $19 you get instructions that tell you what to do - they don't sell a physical product. They also say that the parts you need to complete the project can be found at any retail outlet for $20. They also say that you don't need to disassemble your TV set...so what the heck is this system they're selling? Does anyone have any ideas?<br /><br />This screams "scam" to me - everything about the sales pitch reminds of me a "DVD Ripper" I bought a couple of years ago, well before any of the nice all-in-one packages were available for sale. It was possible to rip a DVD using a series of freeware tools, but it was an awkward, slow process. I paid $50 for this DVD ripper, and when it arrived in the mail on CD, it was nothing more than all of the SAME utilities that I already had, only the "added value" was a set of instructions on how to use it all. They were selling a "system", not actual software. :roll: First and last time I ever did that!

[Phoenix]

Well, of course it's a scam. :P

It's like someone selling a "Super-Duper X-Ray Ray-gun Blaster!" 'We've figured out how to build one. It's the secret the firearm industry doesn't want you to know about! It's like galactically super way cool!'

:lol:

[Jason Dunn]

Well, of course it's a scam. :P

Yeah, but HOW...that's what I'm curious about. Maybe I'll just spend the $19 USD and find out. :lol:

[Phoenix]

Yeah, but HOW...that's what I'm curious about. Maybe I'll just spend the $19 USD and find out. :lol:

Maybe it would be worth a good laugh!

[Filip Norrgard]

It's a scam. They have a link to the BBBonline and claim that they are "sealed" but clicking the verification link (http://www.bbbonline.org/cks.asp?id=10109278581619371) reports this:
This company is currently not active under the BBBOnline Reliability Seal Program.
Why those little...! :evil:

[hang5lngbd]

Here's a Picture (http://homepage.ntlworld.com/stuart.kennedy60/proj_tv_1.jpg) of the finished product
And here are some Plans (http://homepage.ntlworld.com/stuart.kennedy60/proj_tv.gif) to see how it all fits together.

Here are the 'plans to make a 100" projector TV'. The idea is to use a standard TV (say 14") and project the image onto a wall or screen. Most of the eBay adverts include the 'special' lens required to make the projector, but after a little bit of digging around, it turns out that this lens is a plastic fresnel 'page magnifier' lens. A fresnel lens is a 'flat' lens, or rather, the lens curve is collapsed down to a series of very fine concentric rings. Now, just a little bit of Physics to explain why TV manufacturers are not falling over themselves to sell you a projection TV constructed this way.

The picture will always be darker, as the same amount of light has to cover a bigger AREA.
The picture will always be darker, as the lens will not be able to collect all of the light.
The picture will not be as sharp because of lens aberrations, e.g. chromatic aberration, sperical aberration and so on.
The picture will not be as sharp as the lens can only focus sharply on one bit of the TV screen which is CURVED.
Projection TVs are bulky.
For a fixed focal length lens, the size of image depends on the distance from the lens to the wall/screen (measurements later)
For a simple projector, the image will be reversed left-right (even with the TV upside-down!)
So with this information in mind and the asking price of the plans and lens typically being around £10, I didn't bother! So, a couple of days ago, in amongst the '100"/150" projection TV lens and plans' adverts, I was very happy to find an eBay seller, this one: rjac4 who was selling suitable fresnel lenses at £4.99 plus p&amp;p at £1.50, not for one, but for two lenses! They arrived in the post double quick, and I got on with my projector design.

A quick experiment shows that the lens has a focal length of approximately 300mm. To find the focal length cast an image of a distant object on a suitable surface, i.e. cast a picture of a tree on the horizon, through the window onto a wall! You need the focal length as a starting point for dimensioning the projector. Lenses obey 1/f=1/u+1/v which means to project an image at infinity, the lens would need to be 300mm away from the TV screen and to project a same size image, the lens would need to be 600mm away from the TV screen. This gives us our focus range, you need to build the projector so you can move the lens between 300 and 600mm away from the TV screen (well, the 600mm is a maximum, and something less will be fine). Making a focussing mechanism is usually pretty awkward, you need to be able to move the lens whilst keeping it 'true' i.e parallel to the screen in this case. Also, as I mentioned earlier (if you've made it this far!) the picture will be reversed. The solution to this is to use a mirror and this has a convenient consequence, it allows making the projector more compact and allows the TV to just rest, picture down, on the projector.

Until I get the plans drawn, I'll have to describe it to you. (If you are a photographer, visualise the layout of an SLR camera). Imagine a box with a rectangular hole in the lid, this is where the TV sits face down. Inside the box is a mirror, I used a bathroom mirror that had been sitting around for ages, it's dimensions are 365mm x 275mm. It sits at a 45 degree angle and reflects the picture from the TV to the end of the box. This end of the box holds the lens on a panel that is hung from the top of the box with hooks, so it can slide backwards and forwards to adjust focus. The box is made from offcuts of MDF which conveniently, the local wood shop had in almost exactly the right sizes for this project. I actually had to make only ONE sawcut to make this projector! (well, I had to jigsaw out the lens hole, so, two sawcuts really!)

[Filip Norrgard]

If these statements were true:
process the light spectrum
...enhance the brightness level
...focus the image
And done using optics only (which the site implies), well that would be such a revolution that the Hubble space telescope should have been replaced ages ago! :? And we could investigate the far corners of the universe as we know today for cheap bucks... :lol:

[scotte2051]

Believe it or not I bought a projection kit not too long ago and my provider gave me some interesting information on how to do it! When I bought my kit it came with 3 lenses (6x Fresnel) and it came with the wood and everything, and the mirror! I will attempt to make a digrahm on how to do it below!

Here is the Board to hold the lense /______________________________
Here is the 3 Lenses / | (L1) |(L2) |(L3)
| | | |
| | |
| | | |
\ | | |
\------------------------------------------

there is the diagrahm, the picture needs to pass through all 3 of those lenses which will make the picture super sharp and also broaden your viewing range up to 500 inches, that is if you have the distance! but the whole projector basically looks like an backwards L! this fixes your inverting problem, the tv is rested and the top of the L and the mirror is angled at a 45 degree angle and the bottom corner of the L and then it sends the image through the 3 lenses. Also if you still are not getting a very sharp picture, you need to go to your local Wal-Mart and buy a couple cans of FLAT BLACK SPRAY PAINT and paint the inside of the box with it, this is because if you do not do that the image lights will be reflected of the side of the wood and will send all types of light throughout your lenses which makes the image blurry! I have my projector set up and it works like a charm! Try it yourself!

[Chris Gohlke]

Scott

How about posting a picture of your setup, this I have got to see to believe.

[supRNurs]

While researching this subject I came across a site other readers may find interesting. http://www4.tomshardware.com/howto/20041113/ The article begins:
The well-known auction portal eBay has just about everything. For some time now, several sellers there have offered instructions for building a so-called "multimedia projector", as well as other "bargains" designed to help the customer get a giant screen at home without too much financial outlay. This is how it works: the seller offers a PDF construction guide for $20 in a "buy it now" auction that contains everything the customer needs to know. But does it really work?

The author reviews several "plans" and goes on to design and construct a working model, providing step-by-step instructions with illustrations.