Hacker Classifieds Featured Find: Free Sony Video Wall Projectors

projectors

[paulgeering] has a set of 10 video projectors, usually found inside Sony’s RVP 4010Q 40″ rear projection system that he must get rid of.  He is offering them up for free to any Hack-a-Day reader that is interested. He doesn’t have the room to store them any longer, but he can’t bear to see them go into the trash. These projectors can still be found for sale online to the tune of $3500 apiece, making this an incredible bargain!

All he requests is that you either pick them up or pay for shipping from the UK. He is willing to part out the projectors and ship individual parts if requested.

If you do end up having one of these shipped to you, be sure to keep us posted on what you do with it. We would love to see some giant video wall hacks in the near future.

If you have something lying around that needs to go, be sure to post it in our classifieds.

31 thoughts on “Hacker Classifieds Featured Find: Free Sony Video Wall Projectors

  1. There is only one flyback in proj sets, and its not much larger than a single tube set. The HV from the fbt goes into a splitter for the 3 guns. For what looks like just the lightbox, the only optics you will get are the single lens of each gun which are likely still filled with toxic liquid coolant and nothing too special.

  2. @Erik Johnson

    normally there is either one that is 1.5x bigger than a normal 30″ CCD or 2 regular ones

    the one i have used in the past was very large and with a ZVS driver i got huge arcs

  3. every projector/tv i’ve taken apart has 2 or 3 flybacks except for 1 that had a splitter, the flyback was no bigger than 1s i’ve ripped out of 20 inch tvs, most of the average sized 1s are rated at 30 kv or more, even if normally driven at under 15, they have plenty of headroom for bigger sets
    on that note, any suggestions for some old arc tubes from 175w metal halide lamps?(the m57 ballast costs more than entire fixtures for the lower voltage 175w metal halides, ripped the arc tubes out for fun) sofar i have a ozone generator based off of a ac flyback(from a plasma ball, if anyone needs details i’ll post them but its stupidly simple, arc tube, fan and a coffee can case on top of a old plasma ball that broke)

  4. @Frogz/biozz Are you in the US? Maybe this is an overseas design?
    I worked for years in California as a TV repair tech in the field and have seen more projection/tv innards than I care to count and have never seen more than one flyback in a set until today… (sony/pana/mitsu/tosh/rca/magna/hit/sams/funai/phil/sanyo all the same)

  5. I obtained a VPH-12xx or some similar model. These things are fantastic, a $50 cable had me running off of an SVGA. The device is capable of up to 25′ diagonally. I pushed it to around 90″ to cover the wall.

    Anyone that can get them should take them. I haven’t seen any consumer level projectors that match even the older CRTs in overall build quality.

  6. @Erik Johnson
    i live in east coast usa
    i have been dyumpsterdiving seance … god i was 13 i think … i have seen 5 or 6 or so of these before and i have seen either 2 or 1 flybacks in them
    all driven with a single fet

  7. I can’t speak for components but I actually set up sort of home-theater-on-a-budget using one of the Sony VPH-12XX series, which apparently these are based on. It took some effort but you can’t beat (fuzzy) 1080i for $200. These are supposedly some of the most reliable CRT projectors as well. If I were in the UK I wouldn’t hesitate, assuming you would want something of this bulk with limited video bandwidth that has to be meticulously tweaked to align the tubes for each new setup. Also the low-hour tubes sweeten the deal. They are probably significantly more valuable than the projector itself, what with their limited life and the scarcity of new ones.

  8. 3 bigscreen rear projections
    and 1 overhead front projection(sadly, dead)
    only 1 of the rear projections had a single flyback and splitter
    found em all in the alley, field stripped the bigscreens(lol 1 of em was already left half gutted, they took all of the audio circuitry/speakers :( big tvs = good for amplifiers, if you’re REALLY lucky they will be a seperate module even)

    a flyback splitter looks like a flyback but with 4 connections on the top, 1 input and 3 outputs, the connections on the board are only to keep it in 1 place(they arnt connected to anything electrically

    on another note, im jealous of anyone close enough to get these but until my bulb dies, my lcd projector will do

  9. Wow ive got one of these RP TV’s that i dismantled it had a massive lenticular lens combined with a Fresnel for the screen. Also a big front surfaced mirror. No wonder they cost so much!

  10. @grenadier That’s the stuff :)

    @Grovenstien The Fresnels aren’t of the magnifying variety you expect (e.g. I wasn’t able to burn ants with them), but are fun to look thru and walk about – and the lenticulars I haven’t found any use for except possibly cutting up and using for POV animation printouts? I have a small collection of different sizes that have defects here and there from customer replacements. Those bastards have sharp edges! My old car got a few holes in the roof fabric from transporting them :(

    Some sets (handful of rcas i think) had mylar stretched on a metal frame with a cork backing. Cleaning one of those is a bitch, you can’t touch them without scuffing!

  11. I’m in the UK down in Somerset. If your within range for me to collect I wouldn’t mind taking one of these off your hands to see what I can reperpose it into (:

  12. Hi
    I’m setting up a Guerilla Cinema group in Manchester and one of these would be perfect I’ll come and pick one up if you’ve still got them? i have friends all over the country so if you far that shouldn’t be a problem.

    Cheers!

  13. Just an FYI to all who are still interested in these projectors, Paul was able to offload all of them right away once we put this post up.

    Thanks for your interest, he was quite pleased to be able to give them away to good homes.

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