The Timelapse Theatre - Planning n' Build Log - Page 33

I've also been playing around a LOT with the XBMC build. I installed the Cinema Experience script and have been amusing/punishing my family with "Let's go out to the Lobby" videos, THX trailers, and other movie-theater-like pre-roll before I'll let them watch a movie.

Remember this one? They put it on Youtube in 1080p! Perfect!

We watched Transformers: Dark of the Moon on Friday night and it was pretty cool! Those two micro-sized transformers annoy me, though. They are the Transformers equivalent of Jar Jar Binks.

I'm using Aeon at the moment. I really like the eye candy of the fan art for movies and tv shows. I've spent a fair bit of time customizing the main menu so that the family's most-frequently used things are available without going more than two menus deep.

The BlueCop Amazon Prime plugin is excellent as is Free Cable. I wish that there was a functioning Netflix add-on but, hey. I can't have everything!

Haha! Busted! Now you're required to have birthday parties there! I edited out the opening few second of that video too. I love it when friends see it and say "Hey! I remember that roller coaster from high school!" Loads of fun.

For the past week I've been building some panels to go around the screen. I'm not finished yet but the panels are almost finished and then will need a couple hours to install and finalize.

But first... have a look at the (blurry, horrible, cellphone snapshot) XBMC screenshot. This is great software that's a lot of fun to use. It has replaced my AppleTV use 100%.
Then, have a look at the couch that I bought a while ago but haven't gotten around to showing you! This one's made by Palliser.
I built a total of six frames using finger jointed pine. I used pocket screws to put them together but I reinforced some of the larger ones with steel corner brackets.
Then a little test fitting. Some fit immediately.
But more than half didn't. :-(
I laid out the frames on some black FR-701 that I bought from Fabricmate.
And the result is VERY pleasing. It's remarkable what a difference the panels make to my enjoyment of the room.
So there you have it. The first work I've done down in the theatre since Maker Faire in June! I still have a video in the works that shows painting the room. It's coming. Promise!

I still need to paint the columns that support the screen, install a couple supports to keep these new panels from falling all over the place, and generally tidy them up. I've got a LOT of work coming up in the next 6 weeks so theatre work will be put on hold again. Ah well... at least it's functional!

Update! I took the whole screen wall apart so that I could finish up the fabric panels.

Before (Note the thin stripe of white visible on the left-hand side between the screen and panel.


I painted the goal post black so that it would disappear behind any gaps left between the screen and the fabric panels. That matte black Behr Mouse Ears is a handy paint to keep around!


I slapped a few squares of Velcro on the panels and reinstalled them. I had read from others that it's a bad idea to use too much Velcro and I'm glad that I avoided doing that. If I had put long strips on the panels instead of little squares then the panels would be nearly impossible to remove!



I ordered a bunch more Lutron outlets and screwless wallplates. Long-time readers are no-doubt aware of the preposterous number of outlets in my room. The former owner of the house must have used the room for telemarketing or something crazy. I'm going to be blanking off four phone jacks and three CATV jacks and replacing a whopping twenty 15a duplex outlets with brandy new Lutron midnight-black outlets. It's a big outlay of cash but it will make the room look so much nicer.

I have started thinking about my acoustic panels. I'm planning to print some of my old black and white photography onto fabric using Spoonflower and the handy guide here on this forum. About 10 years ago I did a series of cloud photographs all shot on medium format film. They're gorgeous black and whites shot with a red filter for a really black sky.

Example:


Based on the measurements that NicksHitachi and I did I think that I'm going to shoot for 3" deep panels but I'm not quite sure about the dimensions and vertical placement. I've seen others mount panels at ear height. Is this sufficient? I'm wondering if I need to think about almost floor-to-ceiling sizes or if 4-5' tall is enough.
Edited by jdanforth - 8/17/12 at 2:03pm

Yeah yeah yeah... It's coming... I have been so busy. Admittedly I've been busy watching movies too!

Thanks very much. The room has wound up looking remarkably different than my earliest plans but it's really growing into a room we love regardless.

Thanks for the compliment! I have basically sidelined the waffle wall idea in favor of installing a textured panel on the rear wall instead. I don't want to overdo the textures in the room.

Thanks for the compliment! I understand that you're suggesting that I should keep the edges of the absorber exposed but I'm not quite sure how to implement it. Can you share a diagram or a photo example?

Could you recess the material into a rigid frame that has been perforated like Swiss cheese? That would save weight too!

The material that the people in the custom acoustic panels thread are using is sufficiently porous that they're happy with the performance. This stuff is more like muslin than canvas. It passes the blow test fine and someone did some nerdy measurements of it too.

I can't imagine that my panels will be any thinner than 3' but making them floor-to-ceiling is going to be challenging. The art is almost all shot in landscape orientation. Maybe I could go shoot some more clouds, though! That's a great excuse to rent a medium format digital camera!

Very interesting. I'll have to do that and report back on the results. I've got a birthday present on order that will necessitate breaking down the screen wall anyway.

Thanks! I love the hell out of the room! It's getting better every week!

Small update:

My birthday is this Thursday so I ordered myself a little something...

I have three pairs of Meridian DSP 5000 full-range digital active speakers (one 24/96 and two 18-bit) and the DSP 5000c digital active center channel.

I was less than impressed with the 5000c center so I disconnected it and promoted one of my rear channels to be the center. This means I've been SUFFERING with only 5.1 sound!

I found an exceptionally rare 24/96 single 5000 on eBay so I bought it. As soon as it arrives I'll install it as the new center channel and then I'll have a completely 24/96 front soundstage and regain 7.1! I can't wait!

Woot! 7.1 has landed! *



*sorta... not native. The Meridian 568.2mm extrapolates rear channels from sides through some kind of acoustic sorcery but it sounds incredible!

Well, it would sound doubleplus great if I were able to have a 24/96 front stage. It turns out that you can't mix 18 bit and 24 bit speakers in the same system unless you dumb them all down to 18 bit.

I have been able to listen to my limited collection of 24/96 material by using the secondary inputs directly into the speakers but that's more trouble than it's worth.

When reconfiguring the system for the new center channel I somehow manage to mess up my right channel. It now seems MUCH quieter than it should be. I need to get a little SPL meter, I guess, and do it all properly.

Lookie what I made today for the theatre!! This is two 4x8' sheets of MDF carved with my design on the ShopBot CNC at TechShop in Raleigh.

Each panel took about an hour to cut using a 2" diameter cove bit.

This 16 foot wide installation will go on the rear wall (facing the screen) and will remain this color.





These panels are exceedingly expensive if you buy them pre-made. This is by far the largest savings I've realized in this project by doing the DIY route. I'm so fortunate to have access to CNC machines. These 4x6' panels would cost $5-600 each. I'm in this for the cost of the material ($36) and the bit ($29).

In a nutshell this is how I made these:

• Draw a 4x16' rectangle in Vectric Aspire CAD/CAM software
• Draw a 18' x 2 inch rectangle at the bottom
• Copy/Paste that rectangle a bunch o' times spaced .1 inches apart
• Center all the rectangles
• Distort the rectangles as a group (maintains the spacing between them) into a pleasing pattern
• Tell the software to cut the inside of the rectangles using a "V-Carve" pattern using my special 2" cove bit
• Split the 16' toolpath into two files (the machine's bed can only fit 60x97".
• Cut away!

Now I have to figure out how to clear-coat them and mount them. That's tomorrow's fun.

Thanks!

Before I put a drop of finish on the MDF I treated the endgrain with a layer of vinyl spackling compound and then sanded it smooth. That seems to have worked great! I haven't noticed any swelling at all after 2 coats of poly.

Haha, busted. I know. I've been SO slack getting video and photos for you guys!