New Member questions on Sim setup

[spaz]

Hello, I have a few questions on setting up a Golf Sim. After years of thinking about it, I've decided to take the plunge and get serious about it, Ive been using a makeshift set up with an optishot, but now want something better. I dedicated a 10'w x 10'h area in my barn to set this up the usable length is about 17ft. I have a 10 x 7' 7" (Carls preferred Screen). I will be hitting balls 10' from the screen. Because of the restricted width my ball position is off center. I have about 6 -7 feet behind me for Golf bags and a couple chairs.

I have a Skytrak on order, and I have a Dell G5 computer which has a RX 5600 video card on order, and am now looking for a projector, specifically looking at BenQ TH671st and the Optoma Gt1080. According to Projector Central to display a 4:3 image the GT1080 would be 6' 3" from screen, and the Th671st would have to be 9' 5" from screen. I think I would prefer the TH671st but projector central site says it won't be bright enough at that distance.

My questions:

Is anyone using a TH671st at that distance and give comment to its brightness?

The graphics card has 1 HDMI port and 3 display ports (don't really know what they are) I want to connect the projector and a monitor (need to buy a monitor) to the card, How does that work, with matching resolution, aspect ratio, etc..

I want to display a 4:3 image with a projector that is 16:9, confused on this a bit, complete noob here - will i have to set these wit the computer or at the projector, and if i have a monitor attached that is 16:9, can the card send 2 different images or do they both get 16;9 or 4:3 (probably basic questions but all I've ever done is attach 1 monitor to a computer and it is what it is, never thought much about it.

I have a wifi router in the barn so can connect to ethernet or wifi - what is the best method to connect to skytrak?

I haven't decided yet on sim software, originally was just going to use an iPad with WGT but that doesn't have local multiplayer so took th plunge and ordered a PC (which really hurt as i'm all in to Apple eco system) So I'm looking at E6 or TGC - originally thought E6 but research is saying TGC2019. definitely more cost effective in the long run.

Is anyone using the RX5600 GPU, and if so how does it work with either TGC or E6?


Thanks for any comments or suggestions.

[JollyJack]

Hi Spaz,

Don't know if you saw the pics from my build post that I posted this morning but a couple of things I have done might help.

My screen is 2.5m x 2.5m square. I originally was keen to fill the screen with a 4:3 projected image but I soon knocked that on the head as the 16:9 is still pretty big and it doesn't look weird on the square screen with the strips above and below.

On my PC i had a single HDMI output from the TCG recommended Nvidia Graphics card. I bought a simple HDMI Splitter which then gives me a duplicate image on both the 40' wall mounted TV and the projected image. It looks great and there is zero drop in image quality.

I bought a long micro USB cable and pretty much exclusively use a USB connection. In the summer I'll probably take the SkyTrak to the range and use the wireless mode on my phone or iPad. I think TGC needs a USB connection to verify the licence.

TGC is an incredible piece of software. I've only scratched the surface with it but it is huge.

Sounds like you have plenty of room for a great setup.

Enjoy!

[spaz]

Just checked out your setup, looks great. I didn't realize the Skytrak could connect via USB, seems that would be the way to go, Thanks.

[3on3putt]

Keep in mind that you don't necessarily need a monitor. The impact screen can be your monitor. I don't have a monitor and I really don't see the need for one. I just have a keyboard on a small shelf attached to the wall. Plus it's a space saver to not have a monitor (I'm also in kind of a tight space).

As far as E6 vs. TGC2019 goes, just buy TGC2019 and don't look back.

[spaz]

This makes sense seeing i'll only be using this for golf sim, don't know why I didn't think of that.

[3on3putt]

Yeah I mean all you're really doing is using the keyboard arrows to set your aiming target before each shot. It's just as easy to look at the impact screen while doing that as it is a monitor. And it's one less thing to buy, find space for and plug in.

[Dax]

You will find that some projectors have a display port and a lot of monitors have display ports as well (quality is good and depending on the monitor, you may need to use the display port to get certain functionality - for instance on my ASUS monitor I need to use the display port in order to take advantage of G-Sync). Thus, depending on what you buy you should be able to hook everything up. Alternative is to use the HDMI splitter described above. Good luck with everything and hope you have a lot of fun!