Video projector that accepts RF?

[Slickone]

Is there a non-expensive projector that will accept an RF signal, as would be outputted from old school game consoles/computers (ie. Atari, Commodore)?

 

[Matthias99]

Probably not. They make RF->composite demodulators for just this purpose; you can buy them at Radio Shack, among other places.

 

[Slickone]

The only thing I can find on radioshack.com is a modulator.
Any idea what the cheapest one I can get would be, and where? If this is gonna be something expensive, I won't bother.

 

[Matthias99]

Originally posted by: Slickone
The only thing I can find on radioshack.com is a modulator.
Any idea what the cheapest one I can get would be, and where? If this is gonna be something expensive, I won't bother.

You know, I was almost certain they made one, but apparently they don't. 😕 In fact, there seem to be essentially no standalone rf demodulators out there.

The easiest solution might be to run through a VCR with composite/S-video out.

 

[Slickone]

So a VCR will convert an RF (has both audio and video of course) input via F-type coax, to composite (video only) RCA out?
And to audio via the VCR's RCA audio out.

If this is true, what's the cheapest projector model I should get?
Say one says it's XGA (1024) and is LCD, is it like a regular LCD monitor, in that I can't send it another resolution? In my case, it'd be very low, and odd sizes. ie. 320, 160. What would happen if I ran those resolutions on it?

 

[Slickone]

^

 

[Matthias99]

Originally posted by: Slickone
So a VCR will convert an RF (has both audio and video of course) input via F-type coax, to composite (video only) RCA out?
And to audio via the VCR's RCA audio out.

If this is true, what's the cheapest projector model I should get?
Say one says it's XGA (1024) and is LCD, is it like a regular LCD monitor, in that I can't send it another resolution? In my case, it'd be very low, and odd sizes. ie. 320, 160. What would happen if I ran those resolutions on it?

That's just the native resolution. If the projector will accept an RCA video input, it will display 480i video (it will probably be upscaled to the native res, although there may be an option to display it 'centered' without upscaling). This works *exactly* the same way as an LCD monitor.

And your console outputs 480i (640x480), even if it the effective resolution of the video hardware is only 320x200 or 160x120 or whatever the older Ataris ran at.

"Which projector should I buy" is a huge and incredibly vague question. I'd look over at a dedicated consumer electronics site like www.avsforum.com -- there are a lot of factors to take into account, such as throw distance, brightness, scaling capabilities, noise, lamp life, projector type, whether or not it accepts HD input...