Review: Reke 500RGB (laserius projectorus-cheapus)

[Guyfromhe]

Re: Reke 500RGB

Guy --
Thanks for the refresher on this. I have a lot of reading to do now and find those damn connectors!!!

HMike

Go ahead and do some reading on the basics to get caught up and if you have any questions feel free to fire them my way.

 

[Guyfromhe]

Re: Reke 500RGB

For anyone on the edge about this projector or anyone who wanted more Dino is having a Thanksgiving promotion and for the next 16 days you can get this unit for $199 + shipping! That's $10 or $15 less than pretty much all of us paid with their other coupons... If you want one now is a great time to get one.

 

[Bandidos]

Re: Reke 500RGB

These units sound great. Is it easy to program a simple line drawing configuration? Can anybody recommend some show software for Apple Macs that would do this??

 

[Guyfromhe]

Re: Reke 500RGB

These units sound great. Is it easy to program a simple line drawing configuration? Can anybody recommend some show software for Apple Macs that would do this??

It is a great unit for the price.. You won't find anything near the capabilities of this at this price range.

As far as drawings it depends... If you are talking about actually drawing a picture you can do it in any vector software such as Inkscape (There may be better vector software for macs) I don't know what actual laser output software may be available for Mac though, You may need to run Windows in a VM for output... Spaghetti, or LSX with a sound card DAC are probably the best choices for less expensive stuff... If you have the money for it Quickshow from Pangolin looks to be the best.... These are all Windows software packages though... I think Laserboy was built for Linux so you might be able to compile it to run on MacOS but no promises...


The thing will work out of the box in music sensitive mode however if you don't want to do anything super fancy... You can also control the built in patterns quite well with DMX.

 

[animator]

Re: Reke 500RGB

Hey everyone,
I got my Reke 500RGB today. However, after firing it up, it seems that it's only displaying blue, red and green kinda glow on the front lens, but they're not projecting. I cracked open the case, and I can see that they're both powering up and refracting out of the front of the unit without the front plate on, but I'm not seeing them working on the built in animation. Has anyone else encountered this problem? Could it just be that the built in animation is jacked up and isn't properly assigning the colors? or does anyone know of a way that I can test that the red and green are working? I'm just seriously bummed, since it took so long for them to verify and ship my order during their "holiday"

 

[Guyfromhe]

Re: Reke 500RGB

Sounds like either the mirrors are out of alignment or the dichros are out of alignment... You can try messing with it but you could easily break it... might be worth waiting for a replacement instead... I have never heard of anyone getting a unit with this problem other than yourself.

 

[animator]

Re: Reke 500RGB

Hmmm. I'll crack it open again a little later and try to see what's going on. I'm kinda bummed since I need this thing to work soon for a shoot. If I can't get this thing to work, does anyone have a Reke in working order that they might consider renting to me? or selling?

 

[Hemlock_Mike]

Re: Reke 500RGB

Guy ---
1. My projo looks real good on allignment after it warms up for a while. It is way brighter than my home built RGB :-(
2. My sound card has mic and line audio inputs. Will these give me a "show" of light with direct audio input?
3. My correction amp board has no caps on the outputs. It's currently direct coupled to the ILDA connector cable. This looks different than what I see here. Do I need to install the coupling/blocking caps and move my DB25 cable before connection to the projo? 1 mfd?

HMike

 

[animator]

Re: Reke 500RGB

OK, so I cracked open the unit again, and it seems that the plate with the red and green lasers & mirrors mounted to it is loose. There are 4 screws holding down the plate and 3 of them are super loose. Is this something I can fix myself? or should I just send this thing back for a replacement? Anyone have tips for fixing laser alignment?

 

[Bionic-Badger]

Re: Reke 500RGB

OK, so I cracked open the unit again, and it seems that the plate with the red and green lasers & mirrors mounted to it is loose. There are 4 screws holding down the plate and 3 of them are super loose. Is this something I can fix myself? or should I just send this thing back for a replacement? Anyone have tips for fixing laser alignment?

Well, first try tightening them down and see if it aligns up.

 

[COCONUTS]

Re: Reke 500RGB

Guyfromhe,

Based on your patience with all my questions about selecting a projector, I went with your review and recommendation and ordered one this morning. I just sold my brand new DTR MDXL the other day and was able to convince the wife I could spend the paypal money and not put it in the bank like she had suggested.... I had a choice of a new handheld burner or a projector.


The projector made more sense!

I'll post when I get mine with details about time in transit, initial impression of the system and hopefully no problems to report.

Dino site order confirmation said 3-7 business days delivery to the USA, which can't be correct:thinking: I went with normal shipping, the .99 hassle free exchange option and the .59 "tell the packing girl option" as well. I told her to send me a good one and make sure it arrives in 1 piece. LOL

Thanks for your help!:beer:

COCONUTS

 

[Guyfromhe]

Re: Reke 500RGB

Well, first try tightening them down and see if it aligns up.

I would say this will probably fix your problem. It seems like they have been shipping units with loose screws lately.. I am surprised at this with all the Chinese magic glue they use on those things.

Guyfromhe,

Based on your patience with all my questions about selecting a projector, I went with your review and recommendation and ordered one this morning. I just sold my brand new DTR MDXL the other day and was able to convince the wife I could spend the paypal money and not put it in the bank like she had suggested.... I had a choice of a new handheld burner or a projector.


The projector made more sense!

I'll post when I get mine with details about time in transit, initial impression of the system and hopefully no problems to report.

Dino site order confirmation said 3-7 business days delivery to the USA, which can't be correct:thinking: I went with normal shipping, the .99 hassle free exchange option and the .59 "tell the packing girl option" as well. I told her to send me a good one and make sure it arrives in 1 piece. LOL

Thanks for your help!:beer:

COCONUTS

What's a DTR MDXL and why would you sell it if you just got it?

Usually the shipping step takes 3 (DHL) - 7 (EMS) business days and they don't seem to send anything DHL even if you choose it..

The processing time however can vary greatly... Usually they get things shipped at latest 5 days I have found so most people have their projectors in hand worst case 2 weeks.

Just make sure you check for rattling or loose screws when you get it that seems to be an issue lately.

 

[ARG]

Re: Reke 500RGB

The processing time however can vary greatly... Usually they get things shipped at latest 5 days I have found so most people have their projectors in hand worst case 2 weeks.

Yup.... I got mine processed after a couple weeks, and it just arrived in Canadian customs an hour ago (11 days since it shipped)

Hopefully I will get it today

 

[Guyfromhe]

Re: Reke 500RGB

Yup.... I got mine processed after a couple weeks, and it just arrived in Canadian customs an hour ago (11 days since it shipped)

Hopefully I will get it today

Did you order during one of their month long holidays?

 

[ARG]

Re: Reke 500RGB

Did you order during one of their month long holidays?

Weeklong :yabbmad:

 

[animator]

Re: Reke 500RGB

So this morning I peeked inside the Reke, and saw that the plate where the lasers are mounted was indeed loose. I eyed where the lock washers had left an indentation, and then I pushed the board to that spot and BINGO! The red and green snapped back into alignment. So my REKE 500 works afterall. However, after projecting it onto a surface 15 feet away, it hit something shiny and reflected back at me with such intensity that I'm worried I might have injured my eye. Can a reflection of the laser at 5 yards do that much damage to you? I suddenly feel like the kid from A Christmas Story.