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Newbie looking for a laser projector - help!

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trocks

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Hi I'm new here and new to the world of lasers but I hope the experts here can help. I am going to be in charge of a show here in my city in April, and I am looking for an inexpensive laser projector with specific functions. Most importantly I need something where I can input custom text to spell out words. Ideally it should have some automatic functions such as displaying tunnels, beams etc. by responding to music or other audio input, and it would be great if I could input custom art as well. The color of the laser doesn't matter so much. Ideally it should be Macintosh compatible if it needs to be programmed through a computer, but I could get by with something that uses Windows XP or Windows 7 in a pinch. I'd like to spend less than $500.

Any suggestions? Thanks.
 





Flaminpyro

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I do hope you find what you are looking for but you are asking a lot for only $500.00
check ebay
 
Ash

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AFAIK Amonstar makes the least expensive full-color projectors:
310mW RGB BLUE Voilet ILDA Cartoon LOGO DJ Disco laser - eBay (item 120664948503 end time Feb-25-11 22:13:34 PST)
or you could go with the green-only for $290:
150mW GREEN CARTOON LOGO DJ LASER STAGE CLUB ILDA LIGHT - eBay (item 290398327123 end time Feb-27-11 07:32:47 PST)
You will also need an ILDA controller and software ($100):
NEW iShow ILDA DJ Laser Light CARTOON Software Control - eBay (item 300488842090 end time Mar-02-11 22:57:37 PST)
 
vk2fro

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Make sure you buy from a reputable seller on ebay who will back you up if you get into trouble. It may be a trio of isolated cases, but I've had 2 projectors die on me from china and borgqueenx had his laser projector play up as well.

I had a great experience with my seller, but returning the laser a second time was starting to look like a money pit, so I am building my own, much higher power system :) The scanners from the second projector (which now only have one mirror as one fell off) will be going into another project, a laser harp (only need one axis for one of those!)

Software wise I dont think there is anything out there that runs on a mac, so you will probably need to either run the software in a VM like parallels, or use bootcamp, and boot over to windows whenever you want to use the projector with the computer.

most china projectors have DMX in it you can enjoy a basic music controlled show while you save up for your DAC and software.
 
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trocks

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Thanks everyone for the replies - it's all very helpful. I'm looking over the Ebay links and realizing I'll have to spend a little more money to get what I need.
 
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T

trocks

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These look pretty good. Can I run this with an ILDA controller and software like iShow?
 
vk2fro

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Guys dont get ishow - its crap. Just do a search here for ishow and you'll see plenty of posts about it.
 
borgqueenx

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A other solution to ishow would be the riya lite dac from drlava.
He sells it for 150 dollar, but you wont be able to make great shows with it until you also purchase compatible
Asershow software(another 100 dollar or so) but you will be able to use alot of freeware laser applications.
I do think itsa better alternative for laser starters. The riya lite is also usb powered, so no extermal power required like the ishow dac.

About the projector:
Buy a complete one on ebay for your budget to see if a laser projector is somethimg you want to do more with.
But be warned: if you like it, you will try to upgrade....and there might not be enough room in the projector for other components...so then you will start a massive adventure just like i did.
 
vk2fro

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and myself too - I had 2 china projectors which went bad LOL

Now I am building one from scratch :)
 
borgqueenx

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vk2fro said:
and myself too - I had 2 china projectors which went bad LOL

Now I am building one from scratch :)
Click to expand...

hehe there are only 6 components of the old projector left in my new projector :p
the red laser, the green laser, the green laser driver, the red laser driver, the green laser driver, the driver's PSU unit.
Soon all to be removed for 4 components. new green laser plus driver and new red laser plus driver, integrated PSU to connect to the main.
 
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trocks

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borgqueenx

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Not hard to use....its just...there are simply no positive reviews about it. It acts weird. Make a detailed image and in the output therenis suddenly a weird line or another line missing..
Id recommend the riya lite...and then first use demo software and see if laser projectors are the thing for youu:)
 
vk2fro

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Pangolin QS might be very good Sai, but its more than the price of his projector budget alone. I'm personally getting a QS/FB3 simply coz I've seen some of the neat stuff it can do (virtual LJ anyone?) :)
 
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