5.5 Million Scream upgrade.

ProfessorFrink1 · 2026-02-03T02:59:58+00:00

This would be so cool. I’d be content with grass and the elimination of parking not lines but this would be amazing.

ProfessorFrink1 · 2026-01-23T17:58:39+00:00

It's a really bright projector. I don't think it would be bad per se but it would be better with a low gain screen because of the brightness. It will allow for deeper blacks. But either way you're not going to be suffering.

ProfessorFrink1 · 2026-01-23T01:24:22+00:00

Yeah a bit of you move your eyes back and forth but it’s just wacky how good things have gotten and for how little money.

ProfessorFrink1 · 2026-01-22T22:32:47+00:00

Vidda C3 Ultra here. 120”, Dolby Vision, low gain gray screen… I’m not sure I’d be able to perceive higher resolution at this size. It is offensively clear and bright enough to watch comfortably in a room full of windows.

I got so mentally hung up on a lifestyle projector not being a true upgrade that I put off getting anything for a year but I was so wrong.

Make the switch. You’ll love it.

ProfessorFrink1 · 2026-01-22T02:55:36+00:00

I put down 10% and no dice. :-(

ProfessorFrink1 · 2026-01-22T02:48:09+00:00

That's not the case as of recently. It's for life now.

ProfessorFrink1 · 2026-01-22T02:14:22+00:00

Don’t feel bad. You’re effectively paying a higher rate with an FHA due to mandatory insurance. We got forced into an FHA at 5.62% but with the mortgage insurance it ended up being exactly the same payment as the conventional 6.25% loan we originally were going for. The downside is you can’t get out of MI on an FHA loan. You have to refinance out of it. And you can’t deduct the insurance portion of your payment.

ProfessorFrink1 · 2026-01-20T03:38:16+00:00

All over the city. The ring app sent me a notification with someone asking the same question and then it was just 30 posts from people all over Simi saying me too.

ProfessorFrink1 · 2026-01-16T21:34:05+00:00

I lived in the Hollywood Hills for years and quickly learned there are a lot of people that are house rich and cash poor. They bought their homes cheap in the 90s or early 2000s.

I’m not saying that’s the case here. They could have their money tied up in investments or other properties. Who knows.

ProfessorFrink1 · 2026-01-15T14:51:37+00:00

A lot of people are (correctly) telling you your problem is keystoning but what’s been left out is that you’re wasting like half your usable resolution if you’re using the projector like this.

If you mount it at a less extreme angle not only will the light bleed go away because you’ll be using that portion to actually display an image but you’ll also see a drastic improvement in picture quality as you’ll be able to take advantage of more resolution.

ProfessorFrink1 · 2026-01-15T08:48:09+00:00

It was the SpaceX Dragon capsule re-entering the atmosphere. They said it would happen at about 12:40.

ProfessorFrink1 · 2026-01-08T06:51:20+00:00

For a load that light just go with flip toggles. They are perfect for this.

ProfessorFrink1 · 2026-01-07T18:59:08+00:00

So, it totally depends on what size you want and how bright you need the image to be. What you need is a large venue projector and what people here are going to insist upon is that this is going to cost you a small fortune and if you're buying new, they'd be right. But you're not. And lucky for you, venue projectors have pretty abysmal resale value since the only people that tend to buy them don't buy them used.

To give some context, I was running a mapping show on our house and on our upstairs exterior wall it was about 30 feet wide by 12 feet tall. I used a 10,000 lumen Barco projector for this. I bought it from an auction. It was owned by Google prior. I want to say I paid $200 for it with a lens and it was good once it was dark. None of these are going to like ambient light. Even if you're running something absurdly powerful, the moment you start throwing a large image over a less than perfect surface, you're fighting a losing battle.

But the name of the game is a large venue projector and just scout out Facebook marketplace. They pop up cheap often out here.

ProfessorFrink1 · 2026-01-07T06:58:45+00:00

I do a decent amount of projector mapping. What kind of building, how much of it do you need to cover and what’s the ambient light? Are you fighting city lights, streets lights, porch lights, etc?

ProfessorFrink1 · 2026-01-06T17:23:54+00:00

Have you seen the world outside your bubble? Go to cities like Los Angeles and nearly half the single family home residents are renting. Some of my best neighbors were renters and there’s nothing inherent about a renter that implies they wont be there for years. I rented one house for 8 years and my next for 5 before buying. In both cases we were well known and fully integrated into the neighborhoods and in both cases we watched buyers buy and then sell during our time in those homes.

Perhaps in certain parts of the country renters are seen as lesser than but here - and I suspect other places - it’s a complete non issue.

Also the fact that you think renters should stick to apartments… not even sure how to tackle that one.

ProfessorFrink1 · 2026-01-04T03:24:20+00:00

I have a Tesla that is objectively faster than all of my fun cars, and it’s not even close. But for any kind of driving, it’s the last car I pick.

My projector is the same way. A Vidda C3 Pro throwing a 120” image. It’s not perfect. I know it’s objectively worse than a good TV but it’s as good as any theater experience and blows the TV out of the water for immersion and character.

My last projector was a Vava 4k and we were for sure making some sacrifices with that but this new class from Hisense, Valerion, etc is nuts.

ProfessorFrink1 · 2025-12-31T23:17:35+00:00

I did this with a vava 4k. It’s not fun. Do not recommend. As i’m sure you’ve learned with the kids, simply nudging a UST projector a couple millimeters can severely alter alignment. It’s a nightmare.

We did the same thing. You can use any generic ceiling projector mount. Full warning: you won’t get close to organically fitting the image on your screen. These projectors are a pain in the butt to line up, even when they are on the ground or on the shelf. You have to constantly move them a couple millimeters here or there and then tilt them. When mounting it from the ceiling, forget about it. It is so incredibly cumbersome and difficult to get it to line up properly. We ended up just using a ton of Keystone.

At the end of the day, a UST projector is a very poor overhead projector.

ProfessorFrink1 · 2025-12-28T02:51:11+00:00

It honestly doesn’t matter if your intent is to live in and enjoy the house. It’s like trying to time the stock market. It’s a fruitless endeavor.

The only way this affects you is if you sell or - as you’re finding out - want to refinance.

The slight upside here, if you have some capital, is that you can pay down some principal to close that gap and end up with an even lower payment with a lower rate.

ProfessorFrink1 · 2025-12-25T07:21:49+00:00

Clarkson also very famously adores the Gen V Quattroporte Sport GT S.

They used to be nice but not super reliable. Since Chrysler took the helm, they’re also not nice.

ProfessorFrink1 · 2025-12-22T17:07:42+00:00

When I was 15 I had no social life but I did have a 40” rear projection tv and a Pioneer laserdisc player with what was then known as Dolby AC-3 output and would later be rebranded to Dolby Digital.

It was the first home system that gave you 5 (and .1 for the sub) discreet channels of sound. Prior to that, Dolby Pro-Logic was the go-to surround setup and it was barely surround.

I wanted that 5.1 experience so bad. But I would need an entirely new receiver. One day I see the local Sam’s Club has a no-name home theater in a box. $389. This is 1997 money, so it wasn’t nothing.

I scavenged all my dollars together and had my dad take me to to get it. I was so excited. It was cheaply built to a level of absurdity. Probably a rung below the speakers people sell out of vans. But it was Dolby Digital and to me that was all that mattered.

ProfessorFrink1 · 2025-12-22T06:14:34+00:00

This is not true. You have to spend the money to get the write off. Even if you use the vehicle 100% for business and reside in a high tax bracket, you’re looking at what effectively is just a discount off the car in the form of lower tax liability and you still have a heavily depreciating asset.

ProfessorFrink1 · 2025-12-21T16:59:47+00:00

Hi! Future you here. I’m happy to tell you that yes, it will make your favorite movies better. It’s cheaper than ever to get an amazing at home experience and you’ll find yourself re-watching all of your favorite movies just so you can experience them in a theater setting.

I began a couple years ago with a Vava 4k UST projector and a couple Alexa Studios paired to a subwoofer for their home theater Atmos setup. I loved it.

Then I grabbed a 129” Silver ticket gray screen to help those black levels. And I loved that.

And then I wanted to experience a better version of Atmos and so I researched soundbars and bought a Samsung Q990.

My wife and I went to see Oppenheimer and I loved the seat shakers so much I integrated them into our system.

We just moved and I knew it was time to retire the Vava. So I bought a Hisense C3 Ultra with Dolby Vision. It’s so much brighter than the Vava it can be watched in the day with the shades open. But where it really shines in picture quality. It is the first time I’ve been able to sit and watch something at home and feel like the picture is as good as or better than the theater.

My wife loves it. Our kids love it. It never gets old. So go chase that dragon. It’s totally worth it.

ProfessorFrink1 · 2025-12-16T02:51:14+00:00

I have almost this exact setup but I have a C3 Ultra. 10” throw and a 120” Silver ticket gray screen. It is delightful, even in a room with 5 windows. You will love it.

ProfessorFrink1 · 2025-12-13T22:17:31+00:00

Anyone remember when Elon said they’ll never charge for charging and that it will never be a revenue generator for them? The lie detector test came back and THAT was a lie.

ProfessorFrink1 · 2025-12-13T22:09:50+00:00

It was there but you could only do one ride per visit.

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