And then they invented the colour wheel. And the DMD with lots of tiny mirrors. And afterwards they used LEDs and laser diodes…
[Technology Connections] Video projectors used to be ridiculously cool [34:39]
Submitted 2 weeks ago by FenrirIII@lemmy.world to technology@lemmy.world
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ms8uu0zeU88
Comments
probable_possum@leminal.space 2 weeks ago
dual_sport_dork@lemmy.world 2 weeks ago
The micromirror arrays are the wildest of the bunch to me. That is just such a prima facie batshit insane idea and it’s astonishing that it actually works.
“Yeah, we need to be able to individually display and shut off these pixels, so we’re going to go ahead and design a chip with 6,220,800 tiny mirrors that physically tilt when you poke them with electricity. Rather than, I don’t know, literally any other solution that presents itself.”
Krudler@lemmy.world 2 weeks ago
It sounds insane, but the array that drives it is functionally not that different from the array that individually causes LCD crystals to shift.
I have DLP parts sitting around because they’re cool.
TimeSquirrel@kbin.melroy.org 2 weeks ago
There was an idea I read about (might have been Popular Science or something like 25 years ago) where they came up with an idea for a jet that didn't use traditional control surfaces like ailerons, but rather line the wings and fuselage in thousands of tiny flaps that would all be precisely computer controlled. It would be able to basically mold and shape the airstream around itself to make precise movements.
SaveTheTuaHawk@lemmy.ca 2 weeks ago
still used for a type of advanced microscopy.
MonkderVierte@lemmy.zip 2 weeks ago
There was a micromirror e-paper too. Though i don’t think they got a reader on market. Got bought up by E Ink corp, like everythiing else e-paper.
Beacon@fedia.io 2 weeks ago
RGB flashing sequentially is the wooooooorst. Most people can't see it but holy shit i can and it's like random colored strobes flashing everywhere. Bleh
Steve@startrek.website 2 weeks ago
I believe the crt projector doesnt have that issue
probable_possum@leminal.space 2 weeks ago
Yes, I could tell if dlp, whenever my eyes moved.
They fixed the issue by increasing the color changing frequency in led beamers.:)
acosmichippo@lemmy.world 2 weeks ago
So they used to be ridiculously cool, but they’re still ridiculously cool too.
NABDad@lemmy.world 2 weeks ago
We had one in an auditorium where I work. Only problem is it was underneath an MRI scanner. Every time they’d open the door to the MRI, the magnetic field would knock the projector tubes out of alignment.
The technician who came out to work on it said it was hopeless. He told us he had a customer whose projector would get out of alignment if he moved a speaker in the room.
I was so happy when we finally replaced it with an LCD projector.
czardestructo@lemmy.world 2 weeks ago
Does anyone remember older 747 jets having these types of projectors to show movies on international flights? Always thought it was so cool.
ivanafterall@lemmy.world 2 weeks ago
I used to have one of these. Traded an electric guitar for it, then never set it up, while it sat like a beast in my basement taunting me. As cool as it was, I should’ve never traded that guitar. :(
echodot@feddit.uk 2 weeks ago
I remember Center Parcs having one of those things. Lots of fun for overexcited 10 years olds.
bridgeenjoyer@sh.itjust.works 2 weeks ago
2 of them!
unphazed@lemmy.world 2 weeks ago
The safety warning about CRTs is no joke. My dad used to work appliance repair in the 80s. These guys were all well trained in that shop. They had a shelf of tvs with dates on them. No tv was to even be looked at until at least 3 days from dropoff, then they discharged the capacitors. They hated the tvs most, because they ran test after test before plugging them back in. I miss the free crap Dad would drag in due to missed payments or abandoned electronics. We had a 24 in industrial microwave that I miss to this day. I could be lazy and microwave anything in that damn thing, regardless of metal content, and could defrost a small turkey.
Cratermaker@discuss.tchncs.de 2 weeks ago
What do you mean about the metal content in the microwave? Does the larger chamber make it somehow immune to arcing?
frezik@lemmy.blahaj.zone 2 weeks ago
Metal is only a problem if it gets near the sides/top/bottom. There are even microwaves that come with a metal rack for the middle that’s suspended by plastic tabs.
Bigger size makes it easier to stay away from the sides.
unphazed@lemmy.world 2 weeks ago
I was a kid, so don’t remember everything as my Dad explained it, but it used a more powerful magnetron with a pulse system and used a fan to blow the heat. It also cooked hot pockets without leaving the outside cold and lava inside. Moreso than that, I don’t remember as it was a tech geek dad talking to a 12yr old teenager that only cared to listen to the first half. I was a shit, and I regret ignoring the trove of knowledge that man had.
MonkderVierte@lemmy.zip 2 weeks ago
Probably a “strong enough to still heat stuff in a metal bowl” thing.
AnUnusualRelic@lemmy.world 2 weeks ago
Taps on top “this bad boy can kill so many Wi-Fi networks”
Itdidnttrickledown@lemmy.world 2 weeks ago
I repaired TV’s in the 80’s and 90’s. I worked on many of them right after they came in. It was easy to discharge any caps without damaging the units. I respected the potential for getting shocked and the voltage a flyback transformer can produce so I never did get shocked by one.