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Author Topic: Screen for home theatre James Collins Film Handler Posts: 19 From: Lowville, n. y. Registered: Mar 2013 posted 05-16-2013 01:58 PM                     Hello, I recently built a projection booth in my basement. Most of my films are 16mm i also have super 8. I am currently using a small screen on a tripod. Which is fine for me. My question is regarding a motorized screen. I have seen online and on youtube peoples home theatre setups. I was planning on setting up a motorized screen, mounted on the ceiling of my basement. I have seen them in action on youtube and i think they look really cool. I was planning on keeping my tripod screen too. It is nice because i can kinda position the screen at different lengths from the projector. It is small, i can fold it up when not in use and it is portable. I was thinking though to install a permanent motorized screen aswell. And maybe use that aswell. Like i could decide ahead of time when i am showing a film which screen to use. I wondered what people felt as far as picking the right screen. Like one question i had was the screens i am looking at are modern. Like i just watched a motorized screen demo on youtube in a home theatre. And the guy also showed what looked like a digital projector. I am not to familiar with digital projection, but what i am wondering is would a modern screen be suitable for me. Considering i am using a projector and film? And any advice on a particular model would be great. Even if someone has had luck with a particular model or would recommend a certain brand that would be great. I am thinking, i want to have my screen controled from my projection booth. I want to be able to flick a switch or push a button and have the screen drop down. I wondered how that would work? Is that done wirelessly, or do i run a wire from the screen into my booth. Or is there an option for either installation? Also can i mount the screen to the back wall of my basement? I have concrete block walls? Or would it be better to mount the screen to the ceiling? I have wood beams and a wood ceiling? Also as far as size and aspect ratio what are my options? I can take some pictures of my booth and basement. But like i have heard of 16:9 aspect ratio. Just wondered what people thought about size of my screen. This is a project i have been working on for a little while. Almost finished painting my booth. Just bought a speaker, plan on buying like a 30ft audio cable that i am gonna run from my projector in my booth out to my speaker. I want to have an electrician put a light dimmer on the inside of my booth to control the lighting of my basement. I figured i could lower the screen from within my booth and then dim the lights just before i flick on my projector. Anyway any ideas especially regarding the screen would be appreciated. I have looked on ebay maybe down the line i could get a movie theatre style popcorn machine. But that might be down the road aways. I know i used to have a movie poster of the cable guy that i got from a movie theatre. Wouldnt mind getting a movie poster. Anyways any help or info wold be appreciated.  |  IP: Logged Scott Norwood Film God Posts: 8146 From: Boston, MA. USA (1774.21 miles northeast of Dallas) Registered: Jun 99 posted 05-16-2013 02:12 PM                        On drop-down screens: Drop-down screens (any kind of roll-up screen, actually) will eventually sag in the middle. Tab-tensioned screens are one way to prevent this, but are expensive; a "proper" screen should be supported on all four sides (as with a cinema screen, which is supported with lacing or with springs), but this is not possible for a drop-down/roll-up screen. You will have a difficult time finding a perforated drop-down screen, which would allow you to put the loudspeaker behind it for realistic sound. Da-Lite and Draper are the two big names for this type of screen. Both are good. There are other manufacturers as well. On aspect ratio: You probably want a 1.33:1 (also known as 4x3 by video people) for 16mm, as most 16mm prints are in that format. The exception would be if you have any Cinemascope prints, in which case you would want a 2.66:1 screen with some sort of masking system to allow you to mask in the sides of the image. The 1.78:1 (aka 16x9) ratio is a video format only, although it could be a reasonable compromise for both 1.33:1 and 2.66:1 films if you have a masking system for both the sides and the top/bottom. If you do this, you will need a different (longer) prime lens for Cinemascope than you will for flat films. On screen surface: This will depend on your room dimensions. For a square-ish room, you will want a matte-white (1.0 gain) screen, as it provides the best image quality and light dispersion. Gain screens (greater than 1.0 gain) reflect more light back to the source and less to the sides of the room; they appear brighter than matte screens to viewers seated in the center of the room, but dimmer to those seated on the edges. For a long, narrow room, these might be worth considering, especially if your image is dim. Silver screens have extremely high gain, and really should only be used for polarized 3D, which I assume that you are not doing. They are also easy to damage and quite expensive. Grey screens (gain < 1.0) exist, but are designed for video use in an attempt to increase the apparent contrast range of the image. These are irrelevant to you. On screen sizes: The usual recommendation is to have the audience seated 2-4x the screen height. Since you are using 16mm and since 16mm lenses are usually only available in a limited range of focal lengths, you should probably calculate the possible screen sizes with the available lenses and pick one of them. You do not want to be stuck between lens sizes. Other stuff: You probably want to get a theatrical dimmer (variac or maybe a Kelmar cinema dimmer). Regular dining-room-style dimmers do not dim through the entire range and tend to "pop" on at about 30% when raised from 0%). Movie posters are all over Ebay, usually at reasonable prices. I know nothing about popcorn machines, but that would be a fun addition.  |  IP: Logged Randy Stankey Film God Posts: 6539 From: Erie, Pennsylvania Registered: Jun 99 posted 05-16-2013 02:58 PM                     For a home theater setup, I might consider a sheet of 3/8" MDO plywood painted flat white. Screw it to the wall, put a nice frame around it then put curtains on a traveler track above the screen so you can open and close them to get different aspect ratios. In a small room, it shouldn't be a problem if you put the speakers on the floor, under the screen. For the curtains, get a velour material and sew a 3" black strip on the leading edges. Weight the bottoms of the curtains so they hang taught. Set the travelers so the curtains close and completely overlap to hide most of the black strip. When it's movie time, pull the cord to draw the curtains open to predetermined locations, based on the screen ratio you want. When the movie is over, draw the curtains all the way closed. It will look like a window with the drapes drawn shut. Get some track lights. Put them on the ceiling, pointing down at an angle toward the screen. Put them on a dimmer. That way you can make a real, old-time movie presentation with the "light curtain" fading down as the drapes draw open. Motorized drapes and a home automation system could make it so all of this happens by remote control. It would be very cool!  |  IP: Logged James Collins Film Handler Posts: 19 From: Lowville, n. y. Registered: Mar 2013 posted 05-16-2013 03:08 PM                     Hello scott thanks for the quick reply, One thing i will say this is a work in progress. Nothing set in stone. That is kinda why i am posting so i can get some help before hand. Anyway a couple of questions after reading your post: Da-lite and draper are manufacturares of the drop-down style screen am i reading that right? You had mentioned a "proper" screen. And you had said tab-tensioned screens. And that a tab-tensioned screen could be expensive. Am i reading that right? How expensive (ballpark)? And is a tab-tensioned screen a "proper" screen? Like i said i am looking for advice, i thought the motorized screens looked really nice. And i thought for presentation they would add a nice touch. But are you saying for picture quality a screen that has tension would be better? Do you have any recommendations model manufacturer wise for a screen that is "proper"? Randy thanks for the reply, The ideas you mentioned sound really interesting. I was reading an online article by a projectionist. He talked about showmanship and how it is a lost art. He described a similar thing you mentioned with the curtains. A couple of things. I could still use a screen and use the curtains right? And also i could have the lights on the bottom right? Also the black on the curtains, could you explain that a little more? Anyway, i am definetly interested in your ideas. Thanks for the info.  |  IP: Logged Randy Stankey Film God Posts: 6539 From: Erie, Pennsylvania Registered: Jun 99 posted 05-16-2013 04:28 PM                     The lights should shine down, toward the screen at a 30º or 45º angle so they make parabolas on the curtain. Up or down, it doesn't really matter. Most people put them on top so as to keep them out of the way but I've seen "curtain warmers" go both ways. Frame the screen in a complimentary color to the wall. Something that looks nice but doesn't stand out. You don't want it to show up in the dark and distract the viewer. Inside that frame, make a black border with a nice, clean edge about 1" or 2". This will help mask off the blurry edges of the image and make the picture look nice and clean. Let the picture spill over into the black by about an inch. The black strip along the curtain edge will allow you to make a screen that can adjust to any aspect ratio you want. Just draw them in till they meed the picture edge. Again, let the image spill over by an inch. If you want to show a movie in Scope, Flat, Academy or using a video projector, you can draw the curtains to any point you need to frame the picture. If using a manual curtain pull, put tape marks on the pull lines. When the tape marks line up, that's a stop for a particular screen ratio. Put three or four colored marks on the pull line for different sizes. Just line up the correct color marks for the size you want. I'm not big on roll-up screens. Like Scott said, they always sag and wrinkle, no matter how you try. A permanent, tensioned screen is best. If you don't want to do that, just use a piece of plywood and mount it to the wall. I like MDO plywood. That's not MDF. MDO is regular plywood with one surface sanded perfectly smooth and has resin and paper bonded to it. You can paint it and it will be perfectly smooth and flat. (MDF is made up of wood strands and has a rough surface.) Use a good, quality flat, white indoor paint. You'll get about as good a screen surface as can be had without spending a boat load of money. The only reason I'd use a motorized, roll-up screen is if it had to be completely out of the way when not showing movies. But, if this is a "home theater" it won't matter if the screen is visible.  |  IP: Logged James Collins Film Handler Posts: 19 From: Lowville, n. y. Registered: Mar 2013 posted 03-13-2014 01:48 PM                     Randy, Just wanted to thank you for your advice. I have a set up a lot like u had suggested. I got a set of motorized curtains, online. If I could figure out how to post them a video, I could show you the curtains in action. Anyway this morning I painted the screen flat indoor white. I put to coats on. Tomorrow I am going to put a coat of black around the border. Eventually I will put another coat of black. And then polyurethane the wood with two coats. I will post some pictures of my progress. Anyway, I wanted to thank you for the info and help.  |  IP: Logged Jack Theakston Master Film Handler Posts: 411 From: New York, USA Registered: Sep 2007 posted 03-20-2014 07:06 PM                     As far as digital projection or 35mm projection goes, my personal choice is for a screen that is 2:1 aspec ratio. That way, your 1.37 is as tall as your 1.85, but 'scope is wider. The only drawback is that you need masking on all four sides.  |  IP: Logged James Collins Film Handler Posts: 19 From: Lowville, n. y. Registered: Mar 2013 posted 03-26-2014 11:07 AM                     Here is a picture of my screen.  |  IP: Logged

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