The Esquire Theater!! Construction Begins... - Page 53

I would love to come up and meet you and see your first-class handywork live in-the-flesh, but I won't be able to make it. I pulled up the distance between us on Mapquest and it almost 800 miles, so I don't think I would be driving that anytime soon! I will take a raincheck on the invite for your next event, though. I do travel a lot so I just might be in the Northeast at that time. Thanks again!

I've thought up a couple ideas for a movie to watch:

X-Men First Class

Why?

• It's 2.35:1. I'm curious how the anamorphic lens works/looks.
• It's got BASS to show off his DTS 10 (I'm so excited)
• It's got plenty of eye candy for the Runco to show off.
• It's a decent movie with some good actors (Michael Fassbender is the man )
• And an added bonus to me; I haven't seen it since theaters

Or, and for similar reasons above:

Rise of the Planet of the Apes

Tron: Legacy (Though there are interchangeable scenes that go from 2.35:1 to 1.78:1. Don't think we can use the lens here.)

I have these titles and can bring them. I'm also a trailer junkie and can set up some trailers before the movie too.

Any other thoughts?

Work bench looks awesome. I'll help you lift those bad boys. I was lifting the CNC for practice today.

Really nice job Benji!

Love the workbench Ben! Fantastic job.

I just wanted to comment about our little meet that took place last weekend. Ben was nice enough to have Andreas and I over to watch a movie and check out the theater. We ended up watching X-Men: First Class which was pretty impressive with his system. This was my first time being able to check out an anamorphic lens from Panamorph. Even though I have the same projector the anamorphic lens made the experience so much better. Coupled with the SMX screen he had I was blown away. I was a little worried about the lens making the picture soft but I was surprised because I didn't really see a difference. This is something I'm going to definitely invest in once I get the appropriate screen and ditch my 1.78:1. The DTS-10 also impressed me a lot. It really hits hard down low. I haven't really had a lot of time to play with my Elemental Designs A7s-450 but I could tell it had a lot more punch below 20hertz. I wish I could go back and get the DTS-10 instead of the eD sub, sigh... Overall it was a really cool experiencing all this for the first time.

Oh, and Ben was even nice enough to make us popcorn and share his beer.

Ben, thanks again for inviting us. Your theater came out great with the image and sound being equally impressive. Can't wait for the side sound panels to go up so we can see what that does to the sound. I'll have to bring over my sound and/or image calibration stuff someday when we both feel motivated.

You just hit the jackpot. I have been quietly compiling the mega-encyclopedia of all these different lighting systems and what you can use with what. I am headed to happy hour now to meet a few friends, but I will try to post here today or tomorrow.

I'm glad you liked the molding! I thought is was sharp, too. Can't wait to see your painting scheme.

Looking forward to seeing that. Will you post it in it's own thread so it's easy to find?

120v is better for general lighting because it doesn't need transformers.

Well, it seems my work day won't be over for quite some time, but here is the "Cliff's Notes" version on the lighting:
[*} The cool white rope light that you have your eye on can either be hard-wired to your lighting zone (dimmer) or plugged into a dedicated electrical receptacle attached to the dimmer (Grafik Eye, I assume?) Control of this lighting zone would obviously be through the Grafik Eye via IR or RS-232. The same rope light is also available in color-changing RGB LED, but you have no control over the sequence / selection of colors - they keep cycling through the same color changing program. Control of the intensity and on/off would be through the Grafik Eye, just like the cool white rope light.
[*] The RGB LED light strips must be connected to a 12v transformer plugged into a non-dimmed 120v outlet. Rudimentary control is available with credit-card sized RF and IR remotes which allow selection of a solid color, raise/lower intensity, on/off/ cycling of colors, etc. Here is an example of a total kit you can pick up for $22 delivered which includes everything you need to play around and experiment with: http://www.ebay.com/itm/5M-SMD-5050-LED-Strips-Lights-300-Leds-RGB-Flexible-Free-44-IR-Remote-Controller-/160841629458?pt=US_Car_Lighting&hash=item2572e87f12#ht_3275wt_1397 This is obviously not an ideal solution for home theater since most folks need more than 5m of lights and want MUCH more robust control. So here is where is starts to get more complicated and where I have spent most of my effort researching.

In planning my Stonewater Cinema (I know, I know....I still haven't started the thread (or the theater) I want to have a few different areas to use RGB LED lights with my Savant control system (www.savantav.com). I will have two lighted ceiling coves at 42 linear feet each. I will have 8 columns using a polymer panel made to look like Alabaster stone which is translucent and can be backlit. And I have toyed with the idea of using the lights on the exterior of the theater door and behind some floating acoustic wall panels inside the theater to emit a nice, steady glow. To sum it all up, in using these RGB LED strip lights in multiple areas (zones) and many different lengths the question becomes how I can get lighting to all of these individual areas with the right amount of power while making it very easy to control and even allowing for presets. And most importantly - how do I do it all economically?

I have to go for now, but there are great companies like Wiedamark (http://www.wiedamark.com/ledstriplighting.aspx), iGlo (http://www.igloledset.com/buy/), Stewart Filmscreen (http://www.stewartfilmscreen.com/residential/products/special_applications/LED/LED_accent_lighting_residential.html), City Theatrical (http://www.citytheatrical.com/), Numinus (http://www.numinus.com/index.html) and others that make / sell sophisticated IP-based controllers that will easily manage multiple RGB LED lighting zones and integrate with your home theater automation system. Features and prices vary greatly, fyi. This is the information Spaceman rightly points out that I should put in a new master thread on the subject. Getting the power supplies correct, taking into account resistance loss, types of wires that can be used to "jump" from strip light to strip light, etc. can all be discussed and information shared.

Let me know where your head is at with this stuff in terms of how many linear feet you are looking to use, how important is integration with your iRule control system, what power you have available to this lighting and I will cherry pick from my information and give you some strong recommendations on starting points.

Ben, as I mentioned to you earlier. I have those RGB LED strips (100 feet worth) and they have the remotes/power supply/controllers. Initially I plan to set the color and intensity with the remotes and just use a switch to turn them on and off. I plan on making a controller for the lights so I can control them through my PC or Touchcontrol (iPod/iPad remote software). I have a couple of other electronic/PCB projects that I have been learning the skills for this sort of thing.

That's great, but for us mere mortals we must go with the commercially available control options.

Using a credit card remote or switch to get the lights on/off does not appeal to me personally in terms of control flexibility and ease of use (i.e wife's ease of use) - that is why I am striving to find an economical IP-based solution that will allow me full control of these RGB LED zones.

I was just mentioning it to Ben because he is only 15 minutes away from me. I might be able to come up with something for both of us if his needs parallels mine. I can't do a totally custom solution for him because I just don't have the time to do that. If you want full control (RGB, dimming, flash, cycling) of multiple sets of RGB LEDs, I can't imagine it will be inexpensive, but it depends on what your definition of that is.

If you only need dimming over 5 seconds, let's say when turned off or on from a Grafik Eye and a separate way to set the color, I think I could do that Ben.

No, I know. It is very impressive that you have the skills and aptitude to custom-engineer a solution. Some of the 12 and 24 channel controllers I have come across are around $300 - which is good. But they also use DMX control (a lighting industry standard), which is bad when you have Savant that A) doesn't control DMX and B) doesn't have an appropriate interface or GUI for the control even if it could speak DMX. There are code translators, or course, but it starts to get a bit messy. The least expensive would be to learn the IR codes from the credit card remote of the RGB / LED kit and have a control system with discrete IR output to adjust certain zones of the RGB / LED, essentially replicating the control buttons on the remote for each zone. To make it convenient and easily integrated with the automation system, that is what I am sourcing now.

I found a clearing house of Philips Color Kinetics products, specifically their iColor Flex SLX product which can be used for advanced cove lighting. The nice thing about Color Kinetics is that most of their controllers can receiver either IP or DMX commands and then issue all the DMX commands for robust control, plus they have robust interfaces and are known to be reliable. At $875 per 15' strand, I am out...but clearing at $125 per strand .....I am evaluating.

Sounds like you are on the right track with the Color Kinetic product. Seems to fit your needs at a moderate price.

I guess it is a philosophical question of whether you really need the color selection and modes on your master remote. I would not want to be in a room with anything other than a solid color or maybe a very slow/subtle color change...and that is only when I wasn't watching a movie. If you want a dance/club atmosphere then that is another story. Turning the lights on and off by remote is reasonable and even necessary. Dimming is nice to have on remote. Unless you are changing the color every day or more, I don't see remote control of that worth a few hundred dollars unless you are not on a budget. I mean, you do have to get off your seat to get a drink, popcorn, blanket, let guests into the house, etc... no remote for those, but somehow we manage. Ok, so you could get someone to do those things for you, but at some point the cost outweighs the convenience.

Not meant to discourage...I just don't know what Ben's needs are.

Agreed - most of the time it would be a solid color or a slow roll of solid colors - and I even see this as part of the movie "pre-show" and not during the movie itself. And it is not about being lazy, it is all about the automated sequence (i.e. activity scenes) and ease of use for anyone who picks up the remote to use the room. The way I see this lighting being used is mimicking the incandescent (or warm LED) lights in the room when I want or rolling through colored accents any time I call for it either directly or by scene selection. But with RGB LEDs planned for the ceiling cove, inside 8 columns, on the theater door and potentially even behind some "floating" acoustical treatments, it begins to be much harder to control using the simpler controls (Credit Card sized IR remotes or RF remotes) and naturally forces my hand into a controller that will be able to handle and easily manage a number of different lighting zones. And if I were to do color rolls I would need some way to have all of these different lighting loads synchronized so I don't end up with a rainbow of different colors rolling over at different times. The ONLY way to accomplish this is through a more advanced controller which will hopefully be IP-based to easily integrate with my automation system.

Here's a sample video of the iColor Flex SLX light strip. You are right - the ability to control each individual light in every aspect means that you could in-fact have your own bonafied dance club atmosphere in your theater. Maybe I'll start hosting some bachelor parties with female entertainment

Right around 4:00 there are some cool but completely nonsensical effects, like the random strobe, color chasing and the like.

Wuss. I only say that in jest because I don't want your girlfriend coming over and kicking my butt.

I will have 13 white spandex wall panels backlit with an upper and lower row of LEDs for two channels or more of lighting plus overhead RGB LEDs (probably always white) over two rows of seating...so I may have four sets of lights too if I don't think about controlling each of the panels individually. I should have most of these done this weekend with a little luck!

Ben, you can't make a wrong choice -- it is your theater! I'm not sure what I think of the crown molding paint. There is something interesting about it though. How about going with a darker grey in the center? ...or a darker grey top and bottom and black in the center?

So what is your new painting scheme for the crown look like or are you going to keep us all in suspense??