Seeking advice on RS232 hardware

[Roscoe62]

Hi all,

Well, after a frustrating weekend where my Panasonic AE700 projector decided to slowly kick the bucket (panels are dying) I decided instead of forking out the cash for a new optical block to fix it (and probably have the same thing happen in 2 years time), instead I'm sinking the money into a new InFocus IN76 projector. My wallet is crying but my Home Theater inner geek is rejoicing.

Anyway, I see that someone has kindly written a CQC RS232 driver for the IN76. Currently I only have one device I control via RS232 and I'm just using a USB-Serial unit to do the work. I suppose I could just buy another one, but I think I'd like to see what my other options are.

Does anyone have a PCI card they can recommend, or are there any other suggestions? It might be nice to cover off the 2 devices I will now have but still have the ability to expand for future devices as well.

Thanks in advance!

[IVB]

I use a MOXA 8way RS232 card I got for $65 off eBay, works great.

[bph]

Hi all,

Well, after a frustrating weekend where my Panasonic AE700 projector decided to slowly kick the bucket (panels are dying) I decided instead of forking out the cash for a new optical block to fix it (and probably have the same thing happen in 2 years time), instead I'm sinking the money into a new InFocus IN76 projector. My wallet is crying but my Home Theater inner geek is rejoicing.

Anyway, I see that someone has kindly written a CQC RS232 driver for the IN76. Currently I only have one device I control via RS232 and I'm just using a USB-Serial unit to do the work. I suppose I could just buy another one, but I think I'd like to see what my other options are.

Does anyone have a PCI card they can recommend, or are there any other suggestions? It might be nice to cover off the 2 devices I will now have but still have the ability to expand for future devices as well.

Thanks in advance!
I picked up an 8-port Moxa serial card for cheap, and it does everything I need it too, flawlessly.

I also have abouit 64 ports on a digi card and expander, but i have no use for them, so they are not needed to be connected.

[Dean Roddey]

We use the SIIG cards. They aren't expensive, but they aren't a fly by night company either and have quality drivers. The hardware is fairly commodity stuff for PCI serial boards, but quality drivers are still something to be concerned about and a brand X board might not have the best driver.

[ellisr63]

My AE700 was getting pretty dim a few months back so I went with the AE900.. I had an Infocus before but the DLP made me have eyestrain and the wife complained about the fan noise. Have they quieted them down yet?
Ron

[Roscoe62]

ellisr63,

I don't know if they're quieter - mine arrives tomorrow I think. However, I have heard that the IN76 was made quieter with a more recent firmware upgrade.

Before buying the AE700 I was given an InFocus 4805 to trial. I was very impressed with the picture quality, but saw rainbows galore. On reflection though, at the time I was using a high-power screen - a holdover from the days I used to run a CRT front projection system and needed all the help I could get brightness-wise. I now use a Da-Lite HCCV screen - which isn't anywhere near as reflective, and is a mild grey colour so I'm confident that will tame the rainbows down to a more acceptable level. Here's hoping anyway!

Thanks for the suggestions for PCI boards. I'll go looking for them online. The trick for me is finding a retailer happy to ship outside the US.

[ellisr63]

ellisr63,

I don't know if they're quieter - mine arrives tomorrow I think. However, I have heard that the IN76 was made quieter with a more recent firmware upgrade.

Before buying the AE700 I was given an InFocus 4805 to trial. I was very impressed with the picture quality, but saw rainbows galore. On reflection though, at the time I was using a high-power screen - a holdover from the days I used to run a CRT front projection system and needed all the help I could get brightness-wise. I now use a Da-Lite HCCV screen - which isn't anywhere near as reflective, and is a mild grey colour so I'm confident that will tame the rainbows down to a more acceptable level. Here's hoping anyway!

Thanks for the suggestions for PCI boards. I'll go looking for them online. The trick for me is finding a retailer happy to ship outside the US.

keep us informed... hopefully the rainbows will be gone.

[Roscoe62]

Will do! :-)

By the way, for those using the MOXA 8 port board ( I found one on ebay) how do you tell which cable to use in the breakout lead you've just assigned to the hardware you wish to control? Windows/CQC will assign a com port, but is it just a matter of connected each one until commands are accepted?

[bph]

Will do! :-)

By the way, for those using the MOXA 8 port board ( I found one on ebay) how do you tell which cable to use in the breakout lead you've just assigned to the hardware you wish to control? Windows/CQC will assign a com port, but is it just a matter of connected each one until commands are accepted?
Mine were assigned in order, and match the little numbers on the cables. (I have two on the motherboard, and the Moxa are 3-10).

However, they are pretty easy to view in Device Manager:
http://www.boomalator.com/moxaports.png

Or Change:
http://www.boomalator.com/moxaports2.png
http://www.boomalator.com/moxaports3.png

[Roscoe62]

bph,

Thanks for that. I was meaning more on the "match the hardware breakout cable plug to the software cable plug" scenario, but if they're indeed numbered on the cable itself then that's going to make it pretty simple.

Cheers! :-)

[Jonathan]

Well, after a frustrating weekend where my Panasonic AE700 projector decided to slowly kick the bucket (panels are dying) I decided instead of forking out the cash for a new optical block to fix it (and probably have the same thing happen in 2 years time), instead I'm sinking the money into a new InFocus IN76 projector. My wallet is crying but my Home Theater inner geek is rejoicing.

You are going to love the IN76 :-) I recommend that you flash it with the latest firmware update especially if you are mounting it upside down as it reduces the fan noise.

[Roscoe62]

Thanks Jonathan,

I must say I'm REALLY looking forward to trying this thing out. I'd always said if/when we get around to replacing the AE700, the IN76 was the one I'd want to replace it with.

BTW....are you the guy who wrote the CQC driver for the IN76? If so, thank you so much!! :-)

I'm still 2-3 months off commencing my CQC implementation, but it's comforting to know that I'll be able to use your driver to control it. In the meantime I'm just going to use a stick-on IR emitter.

[Roscoe62]

Just posting back in case anyone was following this thread.

The IN76 arrived and I set it up on a coffee table just until we'd evaluated it.
This thing is BRIGHT. I know it's only rated at 1000 ANSI Lumens - the same as my Panny AE700 but it is MUCH brighter. In fact, the brightness was a bit of a problem as both my wife & I were having to wipe our eyes a bit!

Unfortunately we both still see rainbows, but the image is just superb! Even on SDTV stuff. We tried DVDs and we were seeing detail we never saw on the Panasonic, and HD stuff was almost frightening in it's clarity and level of detail. I thought the AE700 was good, but this is in a different class.

We did have a few problems with my wife experiencing eyestrain and slight headaches, but we managed to sort that out by slightly dialling back the brightness and contrast settings. Also, there seemed to be an 'adjustment period' while we got used to the new projector.

My dealer ended up contacting InFocus NZ and apparently the odds of 2 people in the same household not related by birth BOTH seeing rainbows on a machine with this colorwheel is around 10,000 to 1! Apparently we are both VERY sensitive to rainbows.

I also learned that as far as colorwheels go, there are NONE faster than this model so, if we're still seeing rainbows on this machine we're pretty much screwed! The only other option is a DLP 3-chipper like the InFocus 333, but that's WELL outside our budget.

Yeah we still both see rainbows, but it's only in certain scenes and the rest of the time the image is SO good we've decided we can live with it.

Oh yeah....the fan noise. I checked the firmware revision and this machine already has the 'quiet' modification and, even though it's still just on the tabletop it's pretty quiet! From comments I'd heard I thought it might be a LOT louder.

Overall, we're happy with it.

[znelbok]

I dont know much about projectors and this made me go have a look at what you got your self.

One thing I noticed is that it claims to do 16:9 & 4:3, so how do you display a movie in it native ratio? (2.35:1 etc)

Mick

[ellisr63]

One thing I have noticed.... when you ceiling mount the projectors for some reason they appear to be noisier than if they are table top. sorry to hear you are sensitive to rainbows... I hope you don't get the nausea too. when I got rid of the AE700 and moved to the AE900U.... it was much brighter too. I am not sure if it is as bright as the one you got though.
Ron

[Roscoe62]

I dont know much about projectors and this made me go have a look at what you got your self.

One thing I noticed is that it claims to do 16:9 & 4:3, so how do you display a movie in it native ratio? (2.35:1 etc)

Mick

Hi Mick,

Not 100% sure I understand the question. It is a native 16:9 projector. One of the movies we watched was a 235:1 aspect ratio movie - the projector just displayed those active pixels - so you were left with some top & bottom bars. I didn't have to adjust anything to achieve that. It just worked. :-)

One thing I have noticed.... when you ceiling mount the projectors for some reason they appear to be noisier than if they are table top. sorry to hear you are sensitive to rainbows... I hope you don't get the nausea too. when I got rid of the AE700 and moved to the AE900U.... it was much brighter too. I am not sure if it is as bright as the one you got though.
Ron

Hi Ron,

Yep this sucker is BRIGHT! My AE700 has a brand new bulb in it, is rated at 1000ANSI Lumens but it's dim compared to the IN76. I can't comment on the AE900 as I've never owned one. For what it's worth, there's a substantial difference in contrast between the AE700 and the IN76 as well, which probably serves to make it seem even brighter. Before dialling back the brightness, if there was a scene with a lot of white or a light color in it, I was finding myself almost squinting at it! From what I understand InFocus specs are taken with the image already set up for a "best quality image" as opposed to other companies who quote maximum specs - which may also be why their specs don't seem that impressive when stacked against projectors from other manufacturers. The other example of this is the contrast ratio. However, from what I've seen, the actual image is a completely different story.

I will spend some time this weekend crawling around in the ceiling - got to put a piece of plywood up there so I can install the ceiling mount with confidence. Hopefully the unit will still be relatively quiet. Here's hoping anyway!

[ellisr63]

Some people I have heard will over time just get used to the DLP and will not get nasea... I hope you and your family are ones that can get pass the rainbows and nasea.
Ron

[Roscoe62]

Me too Ron, me too. :-)