The Cinemar Home Theater Construction Thread - Page 86

Hope everyone had a great Christmas.

These cups showed up under the tree for the theater's front row D-Box seats.

They work great for mixed drinks and soda and prevent spills while sitting in the motion seats.


Edited by mcascio - 12/27/12 at 10:39am

The new Panasonic PT-AE8000U is installed.

A few first impressions and some comparisons of the PT-AE4000U I previously had in the theater.

Out of the box, the colors seem more vibrant compared to the 4000. There's certainly more light output and brightness.
I can see the walls around the room light up more because of this...but not to the point of it distracting. Everything really seems sharper.
The NORMAL lamp mode seems louder than the PT-AE4000U.

I like the fact that I can now hide the text PROCESSING IMAGE as it switches back and forth between different screen size / formats. Especially for movies like Tron where it's switching within the movie itself.

I was curious to see how much better the 3D has improved. While I have yet to watch an entire movie, I was impressed with the 3D. In fact, I wanted to show my Father In Law what it looked like and I only had one pair of 3D glasses. He actually was so wowed by it that he sat by himself in the theater and watched the entire movie (Ice Age).

I have yet to do much tweaking of the settings aside for some options in 3D.

My perspective is if you are an existing AE4000U owner and not interested in 3D, you might consider holding on to your 4000 for a while - or just upgrade to the 7000.

But I think the jump in price from the AE4000U to the AE8000U is definitely worth it if you also want to dive into 3D. You'll have to figure in the cost of the 3D glasses though too. They aren't cheap.

Hope that helps others make a decision.

Good to hear. I guess if someone didnt have a light controlled room they might make the jump sooner too.

Larry.

That's a great idea. I like the idea of branded cups for the theater.

Let me know if your wife has similar cups as promotional items and if they can be ordered in small quantities.

I did some Koozies branded with our themed annual outdoor party logo I created a few years back and it was a big success.

Hi Larry,

If you are referring to the moulding frames on the front lower section of the columns.

I build the frames first. Then attached the fabric to the frames with staples. Then attached the frames with a couple finish nails.

Here's the link to the details:
http://www.avsforum.com/t/1208912/the-cinemar-home-theater-construction-thread/2010#post_22162038

And some pics from that post:




I used different techniques for the sides. Let me know if you were referring to something else.

The top half where I needed access for the speakers are removable. I used magnets to hold the frames in.

Good to know.

I'm guessing your Berkline cup holders are the same as my berkline's.

I'd be interested int he 16oz tumbler's. Anyone know for sure whether they'll fit into the Berkline cup holders?

Hi Larry,

In the above photo, I attached the fabric to the moulding...no frame was needed because the moulding itself was beefy enough. These frames are the small ones located on the front of each of my columns on the lower half. They are not removable. I finish nailed them right to the column. Initally I was going to make them removable, but it wasn't that big of a deal.

Now the top half of the columns have removable frames using magnets. The frames were plastic and bought from parts-express.

This post goes into details of how I build the frames and attached magnets:
http://www.avsforum.com/t/1208912/the-cinemar-home-theater-construction-thread/900#post_21251596

I picked up a 16oz Tervis Tumbler at the local Bed Bath and Beyond.

I can confirm that they do fit in my Berkline cup holders.

Has anyone else done a custom Tervis tumbler for their theater?

I would think you wouldn't want them all to be the same so that you know which cup is yours. It might be cool to have movie themed cups but due to copyright issues, that won't work. I did see some Star Wars tumblers on ebay though.

I needed an easy way to charge, store and keep safe all the 3D glasses at once.

So I used a rackmount cable management D-ring from Monoprice. I had plenty of space left over in my Patch Panel cabinet in the theater so it worked out great.

I used this 10 port USB hub and a power supply.


Then routed all the cables up to the D-rings.





I only plan on stocking seven 3D glasses, but I could easily hold 10 with this sytem if not more. It's nice to be able to charge, store and keep the glasses protected all at the same time.

Thought this might be helpful to other's with 3D glasses.

Wow. Thanks. I really appreciate the compliment.

Hi brendanb21,

I really liked my Panasonic AE-4000u so I knew I was going to like the Panasonic AE8000U. I knew my current mount would work no problem and I also looked at all the reviews on the Ae8000U. So I was pretty confident with that model from the get go. I like the fact that it can auto-switch between 2.35 and 16:9 content which some other mfg's didn't have. I liked the added 3D ability and the rave reviews it got over other mfg's.

I looked at comparably priced Sony, JVC and Epson models. But just from the online reviews I read I felt more comfortable with the AE8000U. I'm very happy with my decision, but I never had a chance to see the others in action.

My 2.35 screen is 136" wide by 57.8" tall.

Ideally you could see both together.

Thanks as usual cowger!

I really lucked out having all the extra space in my patch panel cabinet in the theater. Beats having to drag them to my media closet to store and charge.

Do a search on ebay for 10 port usb hub and I'm sure you'll find the same one I bought.

I don't have a way to read how bright my projector is...plus it's uncalibrated. From what I understand a calibrated projector will most likely produce less light.

To my eye, out of the box, it's certainly brighter than my AE4000U was. And there are certain scenes where they go from dark to bright that are almost blinding and you have to look away.

This my unprofessional opinion though. Someone who has installed both of the models in question would be able to provide more helpful information.

I've been running in normal mode. I could probably get away with ECO mode to quiet the fan but have opted not to.

It's like everything else, unless you have something to compare it to, it's sometimes difficult to make a true assessment.

Thanks Wes.

I should start handing out awards to anyone that manages to get through this entire thread from start to finish.

I look forward to getting together with you and other locals to share stories and more importantly beer.