The Austin Home Theater - Page 11

Thanks RTROSE!!

You are absolutely correct in saying that we are all crazy, but that's what makes this whole community so awesome!

I'm sure that your reveal will be great as well. What movie are you planning on showing? Right now I'm liking either "The Dark Knight" or "Inception". I'm leaning towards "The Dark Knight", except for the fact that it is shown in two different aspect ratios which throws off the masking system. (Pics and info on that coming hopefully tonight by the way. I've got to locate some rare earth magnets first....)

I agree that they are a little confusing, but I'm sure that we will all get used to it rather quickly.


Haha! Looking good BIG!!
Edited by aaustin - 6/7/12 at 7:34am

Thanks Dwight!

My engineering teacher recommended that I check out a local magnet supplier. They thought that my project was so cool that they gave me eight magnets for free! It doesn't get much better than that.

Just a quick update for you all. I finished the screen border/masking system and am now hard at work completing the finishing touches and then connecting all of the equipment. I'll post more info and pictures when I can (likely tomorrow) but right now I've got a movie premier in 9 hours!!!

The premier was AWESOME!!!

It is simply amazing to see how far the room has come and finally get to experience a movie. I'll have lots more information and pics tomorrow night to highlight the last construction things that got done.

I'd be more than happy to help you locate the seller Steve. I hope you've gotten a little more used to the new format at this point. We'd all miss your posts if you weren't here.

No problem dRwOOD73! It's little anecdotes like this that add to the camaraderie of this community.

Those sound like some good movies. I have seen Iron Man but will definitely be rewatching it in the theater. I've never seen Zombieland so I'll have to check that out.

Screen Border/Masking System

After seeing how awesome people's theaters look with a 2.35:1 screen, I couldn't stand looking at the ugly gray bars while watching a scope movie. So, I knew that I'd have to integrate some kind of masking system into my theater. After cruising around on the forum a little, the only thing that I could find (other than an expensive electronic system) was removable foam panels wrapped in velvet. I decided that this would probably be my only option even though it would be a pain to store the large panels somewhere and then parade them into the room for a scope movie. Then a few months ago I came across an awesome thread by warrenP in which he created a masking system that was actually part of his false wall and could be easily folded down to mask the screen. (the original thread can be found here: http://www.avsforum.com/t/1392984/diy-scope-masking) I loved this idea since it was easy to open/close and also eliminated the need for large panels. But, I don't have a false wall and thus had to modify warrenP's design to make it fit my situation. The logical place to start was the screen border, so that's what I did......

The basic design is that the top and bottom screen border pieces have extra velvet tucked behind them. These pieces can be moved up or down to mask off the screen, with the extra velvet filling in the space to cover the ugly gray bars. I needed something light to make up the backbone of the border since it would need to be easily moved up and down. Taking from warrenP's design, I started with foam board. I cut the boards into 3.5" wide strips (the width of the border). Since the boards were only 30" long, I had to attach multiple segments together to get to the correct length. Once again borrowing warrenP's idea, I used thin metal rods and tape to hold them together.



In practice, this didn't work. The top and bottom pieces sagged in the middle. So, I had to find something more rigid but still light. My first thought was luan, so I had a sheet cut into a few 3.5" strips at the store. The luan worked beautifully and did not sag at all.

Next I had to find a way to attach the top and bottom pieces but still have them be easily removable. Magnets were the logical choice so I picked up some ceramic ones from Home Depot. It didn't take very long to realize that they wouldn't be strong enough to hold the masks, so I went on the hunt for some rare earth magnets. Luckily I found a local magnet supplier that thought that my project was so cool that they gave me some for free.



These things are so strong that it's scary. I had a hard time pulling them apart from each other.

Since the magnets are so strong I knew that I would only need one to contact a piece of metal (rather than having the magnet contact another magnet). Since the magnets were 1/4" thick, I easily mounted them into the luan of the top and bottom border and then taped over them on both sides to hold them in place. I used one magnet on each side of the piece.



To give the magnets something to stick to, I taped metal washers around the screen in the correct locations.





Next I had to determine how large the masks would need to be. For scope movies, I would need masks on the top and bottom that are about 5.5" tall. That is from the top and bottom of a 16:9 image to the top and bottom of a 2.35:1 image. Since I'd also need to have a 3.5" border above that for 16:9 viewing, I cut the velvet to 9.5" in width (also allowing some overhang for wrapping). Then I laid the luan out on the velvet.



And wrapped the one edge around tightly.



The top and bottom pieces are identical.

Next, I built the two side pieces of the border. I cut the luan to the correct height and then attached some washers at the correct points for when the masks would need to be in the scope position.



Then I wrapped the piece in velvet.



The side pieces were attached with velcro (to allow for slight adjustments to be made as needed.

Next I simply attached the top and bottom pieces in there scope positions using the magnets and then pulled the extra velvet tight and attached it to the wall with velcro. Then I detached the pieces and moved them up/down to the 16:9 magnet position. The extra velvet folds right behind the luan piece and disappears.

Here it is in the 16:9 position.



It looks just like a regular screen border.

And here it is moved up/down to the 2.35:1 position.



Moving it between the two positions is super easy. All you have to do is pull it free from the magnets and slide it up or down.

Finally, here's some pictures of the system in action with a movie playing. First, no masking.



Second, with masking.



With the lights off everything disappears.

Taking away those gray bars hides the fact that the image is actually smaller than the screen and really brings you into the movie more. I love it and think that the system is a massive success!

I hope that this opens up the idea of a hidden masking system to a whole new group of people, those without false walls but instead a screen mounted directly to the wall. It wasn't very expensive, went together fairly easily, and adds a ton to the movie watching experience. It is definitely one of my favorite features of the room!
Edited by aaustin - 6/11/12 at 8:06pm

Well this past weekend was certainly exciting to say the least. I woke up Saturday morning and got right to work painting the door stops and around the switch box where I had to fill in the gaps. I ended up having to roll on one more coat of red on that section of the wall to make it blend nicely. The drywall patch came out beautifully by the way. You'd never know that there used to be a 4-gang box there. Then I installed my dimmer switches.



I went with two Aspire master dimmers and one slide dimmer from Lowes. I chose them mostly because they were the color I wanted, but the master dimmers also have a cool feature in that they automatically fade on and off. This means that when it's time to start the movie I just press them once and they do a slow fade to darkness. It's a poor mans Grafik Eye. The soffit lights and screen wash lights are on the master dimmers. I went with a standard slide dimmer for the overhead lights since they are really only turned on for cleaning and maintenance.


After that I painted and installed the corner shelves for the surround speakers.



Next I cut up and painted the shelves for the components in the equipment closet. The previous owners of our house left some 11.5" deep shelves in the basement that were perfect for my application.

Then I spray painted the vent covers and installed them. The one on the screen wall is flat black and the one in the back soffit is dark gray so that everything blends in nicely.

Then I moved onto the wallplate installation (which I also spray painted in black and dark gray). I don't think that it is neceassary to post pictures of all of the speaker wallplates, but one cool one is this keystone plate located in the room.



It's got HDMI, composite video, a 3.5mm headphone jack, and an ethernet jack that runs to the equipment closet so that cameras, video game systems with wired controllers, etc. can be used in the room even though all of the other equipment is located off of the hallway.

Originally the premier was supposed to be Saturday, but I just couldn't finish it all in time so we moved it to Sunday night.

Sunday began with the moving of the chairs into the basement and the installation of the bass shakers. I got two Aura Pro Bass Shakers for Christmas that I'm finally able to put to use. I decided to mount them in the two center chairs. The recliners had holes conveniently located in the bottom of their frames that allowed me to screw a piece of plywood to them. The bass shakers were then screwed to the plywood.



After that I connected the new 20 amp breaker for the equipment closet. It was my first time adding a circuit but everything went smoothly and it really wasn't that difficult. I turned off the main and was very careful. I was happy that it only took a few minutes.

Next I hung the shelves in the equipment closet and went about the daunting task of connecting all of the equipment. It only took me three hours!! Pretty good actually.



On the top shelf I've got the receiver (Onkyo tx-nr609) and the PS3. The next shelf has the cable box/DVR, Apple TV, and Wii. The third shelf has the bass shaker amp (an old stereo receiver) and a VCR (for the Christmas classics ). The last shelf has an old Panamax power conditioner that a friend gave me. I also added an ethernet switch and the ir distribution system.

I'm going to make some panels out of luan that will be attached with velcro behind the shelves to cover up the exposed wiring while still allowing access.

After that I brought all of the speakers down and connected them, ran Audyssey, and then prepared for movie time. The whole family came down and we started off with a few clips from Avatar since all of the bright colors show off the picture quality very well. Then I popped in Inception so that I could demo the masking system. After that we started the feature presentation of The Dark Knight.

One word......... AWESOME!!!!!!!

Between the sub and the bass shakers, I thought that the house was going to come crashing down during the scene where the hospital blows up.

The whole thing was better than I could have ever imagined, and the whole family left extremely satisfied.

I've still got to hang the center channel shelf once it comes in the mail, but other than that the theater room is complete.

Wow....it feels so strange to say that after devoting my life to it for the last seven months. To see this thing go from an idea in my head to a completed room with all the steps in between has been the most amazing experience of my (admittedly short ) life. I have never been so proud of something that I have accomplished. Walking down there and opening that door is like entering another world; a place where everything else disappears around you and you can do nothing but smile and enjoy the experience.

I've still got a few more things to do to finish the basement. This includes installing the drop ceiling in the hallway, painting the stairs, and putting the baseboards in the hallway and bedroom in. I will continue to post those things in this thread since technically it is all part of the basement remodel.

I'd like to take a moment and thank all of the people that helped me on this forum. Your advice, ideas, and encouragement were instrumental in making this room turn out as great as it did. I know for a fact that had I not been a part of this community, the theater would not have been half as awesome as it is. Thank you!!!

To end this post I've got some pictures of the (99.9%) complete home theater room. It's been quite the journey, and the reward is sweet!





Edited by aaustin - 6/11/12 at 10:15pm

Thank you for the kind words RTROSE!!! I know what you mean about that "wow" feeling when you walk in. I can't help but smile everytime I open the door.


Thanks!! Don't worry, the tub will be taken out as soon as my shelf comes in the mail. I think it kind of works though. RTROSE would probably agree that it needs some paisley print though!

The rest of the family loves the theater room as well. Last night I had to wait to use it since my sister already claimed it for her and her friends.

You are correct about the extra velvet. When you put the masks up/down into their 16:9 positions the extra folds up behind the luan pieces and is held there by the magnets.

Thanks vanice!! Don't worry, I plan on sticking around for a long time so I'll be here to offer advice if you need it.

Thanks Tom!!! It is an awesome feeling!

Thanks nebrunner!! I'll be interested to see how your masking system turns out. It should work very well for CIH too. I chose the magnets because they can be hidden completely behind the velvet. With velcro you'd have to have some pieces exposed. Also, I think that they attach/detach a little bit smoother than velcro and don't make a noise when you pull them apart.

Thanks for stopping by!

Thank you trek737!!

Thanks Spaceman! It is very hard not to enjoy it!

Thanks GWCR! Your build is coming along great by the way. I'm waiting for another update!