Jamestown or Elite Please Advise - Page 14

I ordered a standard sized screen late Jan, and haven't heard of a ship date yet either. On one hand, I'm glad a family owned business is so busy they are having trouble keeping up with demand, on the other hand I'm tired of watching movies on an old bed sheet and wish I knew it would be a month or longer wait at the time I ordered it.

Mine should be here either Monday(2/26), or Tuesday. Finally! Ordered on Jan. 19th.

Did you get it?

I ordered mine direct on 1/30 and just received an email with an estimated delivery date of 3/1.

They were very responsive to my queries for order updates, sometimes responding within a very short amount of time. Be patient if you can - looks like he is starting to catch up a bit with the orders.

Yes, I have it up on the wall, but I still need to work on the wrinkles.

One problem I have is the frame itself not straight. I have the cleats level on the wall and the top and bottom boards of the frame are perfectly level, but the side boards are not straight up and down. You don't even need a level to see it, this thing is CROOKED. It's like someone grabbed the bottom of the frame and shifted it to the right so the sides are slanted towards the right. Can this be fixed, or is it just cut wrong and I'm stuck with it? I'm not sure if I did something wrong here or what?

Ok, I fixed the crooked screen. I tried to stretch the screen by myself the first time, and it was just a mess and really difficult. I took it down and completely restretched the whole thing, just started all over. This time with my wife tightening the screws and me stretching. It came out perfectly this time. One shot, no restretching, and took 30 minutes. And miraculously it fixed the crooked frame problem. All sides are level now!

It is a 2 person job for sure. Glad it worked out for you.

I'll go ahead and add another data point... I ordered my screen on February 2nd and it was delivered this morning, March 6th. That means a little over a month lead time currently.

I emailed James several times throughout the process and he was very communicative, always emailed back within a few hours. I could only wish that his initial estimates were more accurate! But can't complain really for the price, and I'm always happy to support small businesses.

I'll report back tonight or tomorrow when I put the screen together!

I ordered one on March 1st.. I was given an ETA of 15th March for shipment.. Hope it ships on time..

Having the same issue on my 140" diag 2.35 screen...not sure what's wrong but is there anything special you did to correct? James did send me some extra cleats, which I haven't installed yet b/c it seems like a flawed design b/c you would need to make sure all the cleat bars are 100% level on the frame itself before attaching to the wall. Super frustrated..and that doesn't even incl the trouble trying to get these wrinkles and puckers out.

u overstretched it and are bending the frame

Ok, DON'T DO THIS BY YOURSELF! That was my problem. Yes, I'm sure it is possible to do it alone, but it's way more trouble than it's worth. When I started over with my wife's help, it was a BREEZE!. One shot, not one wrinkle, took no time at all, frame is perfectly straight. Doing it alone just will not make it possible to stretch it the right way, you NEED 3 hands to do it right. I learned that lesson after trying to do it by myself.

My frame was crooked because the screen was crooked and pulling on the frame across the bottom. All my corners were screwed up and I could not get them lined up no matter what I did.

My advice, get someone to do the screws for you while you stretch, and I know the instructions tell you to start with the top and bottom middle sections, but DON'T DO THAT. This is what I did:

1. Get all the corners lined up FIRST. Get them close to the metal edges, but not too close, maybe 1/4 inch or less. Try to make all corners the same, and tighten them down. This will not be the last time you tighten the corners, it's just to make sure the screen is aligned properly. You will loosen and tighten each corner two more times.

2. Now you can follow the instructions and tighten the top middle, then the bottom middle, left middle and side middle.

3. When you pull the tabs, grab two tabs, one in each hand, and pull towards you and away from each other at the same time. Just think of trying to rip the screen between the two tabs, that's the pulling motion you want. Pull every section this way. It helps to also put your toes against the frame and push it away from you while you pull the tabs. This will get the screen really tight. Have the other person tighten the screw when you have the tabs tight.

4. Now work your way from the middle sections to the corners using the same method. Every time you get to a corner, loosen it up and restretch it, then tighten again. This is why each corner will be restretched two more times.

This is exactly what I did, and it was perfect the first time. Not one wrinkle, but if you do have some wrinkles, it should be easy to get them out.

I hope this helps.

Ok, let me start by saying now that it is up, the picture quality is great - particularly for the cost.

And James was a really nice guy with a lot of helpful suggestions.

But lets be honest - this frame design is a joke.

It looks like something developed in a high school shop class.

Using wood screws that have already been screwed and removed as the only connection at the corners on a screen over 100" is just a bad design.

The assembled screen is pretty flimsy and compared with the other screens I have owned, you have to really baby it to get it on the wall without it coming apart.

And I have little faith that the screen will actually stay up that long to be honest given that the wood screws holding the top bar and the hanger barely tighten at all even though I used a screwdriver only since they had already been screwed in once before it was shipped.

So I guess I would say picture is an A, customer service is a B only because it took twice as long as originally forecast but James was great, building quality of the frame is a D at best.

Basically, this thing will have to get me through until I get buy a screen with a better stretching and frame construction method.

But I am definitely not taking it down unless it falls because I dont see it staying together.

i agree
next time i am buying a Carada

That isn't reassuring, I was planning on buying one of these.

but for $250 theres no better screen out there

Don't let a few negative comments deter you from what you want. The internet is littered with negative comments/reviews. Keep in mind the people that are unhappy are the ones that take to forums and the such to rant their less than perfect experience. The happy ones are too busy enjoying their product. Having said that this screen is GREAT for the price. Most of his screens are sub $300 and well worth the price. I have one and am very happy with it. Is it the BEST built screen....nope but is it terribly built?? Heck no. Check his reviews on fleabay as well as his reviews in this thread. The only negative that has really come out is the time it takes to receive their screen and most of those were over the holidays/superbowl season so take that for what it is worth.


Agreed!! Unless you want to go the DIY route.

Still happy with mine - although I didn't use the mounting hardware. I had been planning on making a DIY frame using 80/20 extruded aluminum parts, but the parts alone would have cost more than the completed Jamestown frame.

Yep but your 300" wide screen would have taken 1000' feet of aluminum extrusion......

Shush you, get back to getting that stripper pole installed

just figured i'd throw out my two cents about the elite sableframe screen i purchased. for what it's worth, this is the first screen i've purchased for my first dedicated home theater setup, so i have nothing to compare to.

the overall quality seemed good out of the box. setup was relatively easy and the build quality seemed solid. after i assembled and mounted the screen i started to notice some strange horizontal lines on the screen. they look like creases or wrinkles, but no amount of re-stretching will remove them. i also have a fairly annoying hot spot/reflection on the screen which is distracting at times. i'm not sure how common this is, but i don't think i should expect it on a 1.1 gain screen. to my knowledge, other people don't have this issue with my model projector (optoma hd33).

i've submitted a warranty replacement request for the screen material.

Ordered mine yesterday. 2.4:1, 120" wide viewable screen, Seymoure center stage material.

Just ordered mine also. 152" diagonal 16:9 - seymour xd with black backing.

So it's been just a bit over 5 weeks since I ordered it. No contact or notice that it has shipped yet. Should I give them a call or be patient?

nebrunner did u order from the website or ebay?

Iam in the same boat but going on a full month trying to wait it out to see if the wait is worth the reviews lol. I been in communication with them via email i was assured that i would be given a shipment date this week. if not then i'am going to try to secure my refund and buy elsewhere.

called him directly and ordered over the phone, I figured that would be the best way but maybe I was wrong.

I've been on amazon searching a possible back up and i've seen that they have fixed and electric favi goin for about 260.00. When i orered my JT screen the favi's where out of stock.

The elites have come down in price to. I'am going to wait it out til this week

Shoot him an email he will respond within an hour or so (maybe less). At this time of year 5 weeks seems to be quite the wait as it isnt the holiday season which is where he experiences delays.

I ordered a 110" grey screen. It took about 5 weeks to get it.

I found the owner to be an exceedingly nice and patient guy on the phone. He was very knowledgeable about what kind of screen I should get, and seemed to know quite a bit about theater projectors and setup. He spent about 15 minutes on the phone with me before I even placed my order. His willingness to answer all of people's questions might be part of the reason it takes a little longer than some would like.

The people who put my theater in do hundreds of theater installs in our area every year. The guys who put it up were very impressed with the quality of the screen, and said you'd have to do lab tests to see a significant difference between my $250 screen and the $1-2k screens they sell.

I am thrilled with it. It took about 30-60 minutes for my wife and I to put it together. It wasn't terribly difficult as long as you don't rush it. Getting the screen centered on the frame is the most important part.

The only thing I don't love is that you can see the screen flaps if you are standing next to the screen (like you have your head against the wall). This isn't an issue for most applications, but since my screen is against the stairwell wall you walk by the side of it when you walk in the room. It isn't a major problem, but something I might try to fix up at some point.

He did say he recently went through a death in the family or something that set him back several weeks. I personally think that the price, quality, and service more than make up for the wait. Just plan in advance for it to take 6 weeks and then you won't be disappointed when it takes 4 or 5.

I emailed him and he said he is waiting on fabric and it should be in this week or next. That will put me at 6 - 7 weeks if and when I receive it. I can live with that, if we go much longer than that I'll have to look into some other option.