Museumsteve's multiscreen project

M

museumsteve

681
United Kingdom
Hampshire
I hijacked Mayaman's thread over the last couple of week and thought I really should start my own (sorry Mayaman..and thanks for your support)..

I decided I wanted to give multiscreen a bash as I was loving Forza 4 and I knew GT5 would also benefit and also I had just built a PC for trying out WMD's C.A.R.S, I had a room that I never used at home so decided I'd give it a go..and this is me so far :)

I picked up a GT Omega Pro from ebay and had borrowed a CSR from a friend and that was it..I was hooked.
picture.php


I knew I wanted to go the projector route because I didn't want bezels and I wanted the option to change the size as and when it suited..so I opted for 3 Hitachi TX200 LCD projectors. They're 720p native, have a nice short throw distance and best of all include plenty of lens shift.
picture.php


I convinced my friend to sell me his CSR wheel and CSR Elite pedals..and promptly sold the pedals and bought some Clubsports :) I also bught the CSR shifter from fanatec but have now also ordered a TH

I opted for an Onkyo 309 for sound duties, a secondhand old Yamaha receiver to run my earthquake mini quake under the seat and a Pioneer SHS100 speaker set. I'm still finalising Xboxes but currently I'm using a red elite, a black elite (was a white unit in the pic but already changed it) and 2x250GB s units..Eventually I guess I'll have 4 matching units. Still lots of work to do in the room so the end result will hopefully be very tidy..
picture.php


picture.php


A roll of conduit is good enough to hide most of the cabling running around the frame for the pedal, wheel and shifter..
picture.php


Conduit T piece is very handy to channel cables, one side to the shifter, the other to the wheel and the bottom to the pedals and power..
picture.php


Getting an idea of angles and height with makeshift screens which are just foam board from our local stationers..
picture.php


Making the screens..hinging the sides so I can change the angle if needed..
picture.php

picture.php

picture.php


So far so good...the screens will be mounted on a wall mount allow the centre screen to move, in turn allowing the side screen angles to change.
picture.php


Much happier with the results after the last few days of not realising the 'Overscan' option on the projectrs was creating a virtual bezel so I couldn't line the screens up..now sorted :)
picture.php


Quick video taken last night..

http://youtu.be/AZOWNJarTks
 
Looks great, and here is a tip. If you want to completely get rig of the line between screens you can place a strip of white paper, about an inch in width and "bridge" the two panels. Creates a completely seamless display. ;)

Just use scotch tape in case you don't like it. Glad I could help.

PS: where did you get the projector stands?
 
I will mate ;)
This evening we'll be wall mounting the centre screen (and working out a soluton to support the sides). Once it has a proper permanent home I'll be doing the finishing touches.
I think I'll be blacking out behind the screens once the book cases have gone and have a few other ideas which I pondering including a new solution for rear view mirror..
I'm more gutted that my Thrustmaster shifter will probably arrive today but no interfaceone available yet :(
 
Last night I fitted the mounting bracket for the centre screen. It's multi directional and fully adjustable so I can move it in and out from the wall and as the side screens are hinged to the centre screen I'll be able to change the angle on the fly :) the side screens sit on single rests at each end allowing complete freedom of movement if/when needed.

picture.php


picture.php


My TH8RS arrived today but alas no interfaceone yet so I'll have to give it a blast with GT5 rather than Forza ;)

picture.php



This evening I'll start to put the room back together properly :)
 
had a few days off but getting back on track now.
I bought some large gauge rubber matting which I've cut to size and fitted under the cockpit frame, this is to isolate the frame from the floor which has given a nice boost to the earthquake miniquake that's fitted under the seat. The immediate effect was that it gives a much more uniform feedback across the frame which in turn gives more immersion, grumbling around lemans in the Calsonic Skyline on GT5 is now more exciting than ever :D


I've finally received my 'new' rear view mirror option. Been messing around with it this morning, cobbled a 12v power supply together and feeding it an Xbox signal and it's gonna be very cool once I've worked out where and how to mount it :) (probably on a bendy stalk)

picture.php

picture.php
 
Love the triple projector setup, it's something I toyed with doing when it came to upgrading my projector but I went for a single 1080p machine over 3x720p.

The only thing I'd have changed on your setup is those pale walls, they really suck the contrast out of a projected image.
 
I bought some black cotton curtains this weekend and will be hanging those on the walls behind the screens as part of the room makeover once I'm done. I'll also be masking the screen with something like velour or similar to boost the contrast on screen but that'll be the last job probably :)
 
Are you in the UK Steve?

Dunhelm does some adhesive velcro (the fluffy side) that works well for screen borders, it's pretty cheap at around £1.50 per meter for the 1" wide stuff and £2.50 for the 2".
 
It's an awesome little screen. Found it on ebay just by searching 'rear view lcd'. There's lost like it out there as part of kits with rear view cameras etc..obviously I only wanted the screen itself.
It's a nice size at 7inch, 12v, NTSC/PAL, only composite of course but at such a small size it really doesn't matter. It has 2 video inputs as well as other stuff (like usb/sd card) but I wanted it because I wanted to get as close to a rear view mirror style as possible. I cant get audio through it for some reason but I wont use audio anyway so I'm not actually fussed about that.
In all it cost me around £45 incl postage...and the picture is more than adequate :)
 
museumsteve
It's an awesome little screen. Found it on ebay just by searching 'rear view lcd'. There's lost like it out there as part of kits with rear view cameras etc..obviously I only wanted the screen itself.
It's a nice size at 7inch, 12v, NTSC/PAL, only composite of course but at such a small size it really doesn't matter. It has 2 video inputs as well as other stuff (like usb/sd card) but I wanted it because I wanted to get as close to a rear view mirror style as possible. I cant get audio through it for some reason but I wont use audio anyway so I'm not actually fussed about that.
In all it cost me around £45 incl postage...and the picture is more than adequate :)
Click to expand...

I'm assuming this can only be made to work with PC games? I don't quite understand how this is supposed to work...
 
Forza games support a rear view mirror, using a 4th Xbox of course ;)
I've been using a 15.6" LED screen but wanted something more 'realistic' ;)

You can see the old screen I was using at under the right hand screen
picture.php
 
it is a very cool feature and something I wish GT would offer. Forza and GT do offer different things in multiscreen.
Forza doesn't do 3 screen replays..GT does and it looks awesome.
Forza does up to 5 screens, 3 screens for front/left/right views, rear view and a replay/TV camera view.
GT offers 3 screen or 5 screen racing views.
 
Actually what would be cool is if PD could implement a rear view mirror feature utilizing a PSP/ PSP Go/ Vita via USB... would be the perfect size and could process it's own graphics, cause an entire console for that is serious overkill.
 
Steve, all you need now is some sort of tactile movement in that rig. Trust me, save up for this as it will put everything before it to shame. I had the best gaming session of my life last night. I tuned rFactor and Need for Speed shift perfectly for the D-box and I can't explain the feeling. Amazing. Nice work, and hopefully you'll have more details soon.
 
museumsteve
It's an awesome little screen. Found it on ebay just by searching 'rear view lcd'. There's lost like it out there as part of kits with rear view cameras etc..obviously I only wanted the screen itself.
It's a nice size at 7inch, 12v, NTSC/PAL, only composite of course but at such a small size it really doesn't matter. It has 2 video inputs as well as other stuff (like usb/sd card) but I wanted it because I wanted to get as close to a rear view mirror style as possible. I cant get audio through it for some reason but I wont use audio anyway so I'm not actually fussed about that.
In all it cost me around £45 incl postage...and the picture is more than adequate :)
Click to expand...

Screen looks nice Steve great little purchase you got their.

Oh regards FM3/FM4 replays, go to photo mode, let it load then exit. Once you exit it brings up the extra screens. Isn't as good as GT5 in this regard but will activate the screens.

I purchased screen border felt on ebay from India, good quality stuff.
 
Last edited:
Thanks for that mate, I'll have a look tonight :)
GT5 is getting more playtime than Forza at the moment because it feels a bit more gritty and exciting to play. I am trying to finish the room but it's always tempting to have a blast ;)

My on-going makeover of the room continues this week with the arrival of a wall clock. It's an original Austin Allegro hub cap made into a clock..and my very first car was an Allegro (around 1983 I think) so I'm very happy.
I got it from this guy for anyone that's interested
 
They always did...but in multiscreen you become pretty oblivious to it as it's so immersive IMO. The combination of the screens, the sound and the awesome feedback (much more engrossing than Forza) and it's as good as being there ;)
 
Day off today so I got quite a bit done in my room :)

Made a stalk for my rear view mirror..just have to work out where and how to mount to the frame :)
picture.php


Cut the rubber matting to size properly..
picture.php


Black curtains behind the screens :)
picture.php

picture.php


I made pictures out of some of my fav racing games using the discs or manuals or both :)
picture.php

picture.php

picture.php


Room's coming along nicely..:)
picture.php

picture.php
 
Looking nice, great work with the game discs, find myself that the cockpit has ended up being a "room project" and not just a cockpit build.

Have to laugh as I bought a flag like that a while back on ebay.
Bit of a Jordan fan are you?

"Gary Anderson" is well known around our parts here and I had a recent local customer that knows him well who works for the Suzuki Moto GP team for Ohlins suspension. Always nice to meet people like that who travel the world and in such working environments.
 
Last edited:
Thanks mate :)
Really enjoying it now the hardest stuff is done.
I'm not a big F1 fan but my mate donated the shirt to me so I thought as it's race related it would fit in just right :)
Still got some finishing to do, aswell as the screen borders but this weekend I'm just gonna crack on with my Forza career ;)

..and thanks for the multiscreen replay tip, works a treat.
 

Latest Posts

Back