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Going to start the project of turning basement into theater room. - Page 2

post #31 of 165
7/19/12 at 8:36am
Quote:
I knew it was a stupid question, because somebody had to have done it. Doing a lighter trim with my darker walls will really help my WAF biggrin.gif

Not a stupid question. Worrying about WAF is the stupid part. MAN UP! Oh, wait, sorry...that kind of talk goes on in my thread.
Quote:
This photo makes me want to get a hot dog with mustard!

Is that good or bad? It SHOULD make you want to get hot buttered (and I use that term loosely) popcorn and watch a movie.
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post #32 of 165
7/19/12 at 10:16am
Thread Starter 
Lol colors made me hungry.... Jdan I was watching your videos and loved them.. Especially the part when you painted the ceiling black and you were showing iphone texts from the Mrs. lol . I am going to not worry to much about the trim at the moment. Since there is still many things to take care of... And I am not the most handy man at all .. Actually not even a clue on most of the stuff.. So I think im going to do a couple things this weekend..

1. Paint the recess lighting cups black...

2. Order some wire from Mono price so I can atleast listen to my speakers a little.

3. Start planning on finding someone to flush some shelves into my walls in the back for my components and Blu Rays...
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post #33 of 165
7/19/12 at 2:50pm
Thread Starter 
Ok i was doing some measuring because I am not fully understanding the difference in screen sizes.

Below is a diagram I tried making showing the dimensions of my walls. I have a sofit on the top left corner that you cant see because of the light I make it out in white. It hangs down 12 inches from the ceiling. Im trying to figure out the best way to go in screen format and size.

I am guessing I have to stay below the sofit because I will have speakers on the left and right hand side...

What format do you suggest going and how big of a screen do you think i should go

I will be sitting anywhere from 9-11 feet back...

The projector can be mounted anywhere from 11-13 feet back maybe 14 feet.


From wall to wall under the sofit is 171 inches... So i would guess take atleast 1 feet or 2 off of each side for the speakers... Which would give me in the range of 123 inches to 135 inches wide..


I am looking in the range of a Epson 5010 or 6010 or a JVC Rs45 but those are not set in stone because of the fact that I will not be completing and buying projector until after Cedia... So the new projectors always become a possibility..




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post #34 of 165
7/20/12 at 5:26am
Have you tried one of the projector calculators? Click here for one of the most popular. Enter your make & model and it will calculate the screen size based on projector distance and aspect ratio.
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post #35 of 165
7/20/12 at 6:30am
Thread Starter 
Ya I have but dont fully understand some of it.. As far as the zoom and throw range... Ill be sitting atleast 9 feet back.. And I can place my projector anywhere from 12 to 15 feet back. It will be hung on the ceiling if that plays any part. As far as the gain I see that the more grey is for rooms that have light.. My room will be completely dark so does that mean a 1:1 screen is the best way to go..

And as far as the 2:35 format.. It seems like i would be able to get a more wider screen then vertical.. because of the sofit and my outlet plugs on the wall.

But I dont fully understand how the formats work.. Are not all movies in 2:35 format? If they are not does that mean I can only watch certian movies on my screen then?
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post #36 of 165
7/20/12 at 8:40am
As far as format goes, it is a personal choice of how you want to do things. And no, not all movies in 2:35. MANY are in 16:9, I'm sure so that they transfer easily to TV.

If you go 2:35 and watch a 16:9 movie, there will be black bars on the sides. If you go 16:9 and watch a 2:35 movie, black bars will be at top and bottom. You can zoom the two aspects to minimize the bars or use an add-on anamorphic lens to eliminate them.

Personally, I chose the Panasonic 4000 (now I would get the 7000 for the 3D) because it has auto zoom and lens memory. I went with a 2:35 screen so that it fills the entire screen. When I watch in 16:9, the projector automatically zooms the 16:9 to fill the top and bottom of the screen and minimize the bars on sides. The bars do not bother me at all. Bars drive some people crazy. It's up to you.

Again, screen size is a personal choice. Where do you sit at a theater? How much of the screen is in your field of view? At some point in the build process, you simply have to hang a white sheet or paint a wall white and either project an image or measure out a screen with blue painters tape until you find the screen size you are comfortable with.

Contrary to what a lot of people will tell you around here, there IS such a thing as too big. When I sat down with my wife to determine screen size, I started from almost wall-to-wall and ceiling-to-floor. It's impressive, but we had to constantly turn our heads to see the entire screen (like when watching a tennis match). We normally sit about halfway in the theater so I dialed it down until we were both comfortable.
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post #37 of 165
7/20/12 at 10:27am
Thread Starter 
I appreciate your responses and they ARE VERY helpful..

I will be sitting anywhere from 9-11 feet back..

It sounds like 2:35 is the way to go for me so I can utilize the space to its best.. So does this mean any projector with a Autozoom will fill it up and NOT have black bars? I dont really want to spend all that money on a Anamorphic lens since I dont have it in my budget. But it sounds like you bypassed that and was able to successfully.

I would think anywhere from 120-138 inches in a 2:35 would be good for me... I honestly like the bigger the better. But do not want to sacrifce MAJOR quality to do so.. Im no expert in picture quality and everything like that so it will all probably look good to me.


What about gain in the screen was I right when saying since I have a completely Black dark room 1:1 is the best way to go?
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post #38 of 165
7/20/12 at 11:02am
Quote:
So does this mean any projector with a Autozoom will fill it up and NOT have black bars?

For the record, you can do it manually, it's just something you'd have to adjust at startup. My point here is autozoom is not necessarily a requirement. It just makes it easier. And with lens memory, you set it once and forget it.

MOST projectors are native 16:9 (like my Panny4K), so there ARE black bars at 2:35. The trick is that by building a screen wall and making it all black, the bars are projected onto the black wall and become virtually invisible. The Panny projects black enough bars that it doesn't bother me when they are projected on the side of the screen. I guess I'm just not that picky or my eyes are bad enough that it doesn't bother me. Either way, the image fills the screen top to bottom and fills the entire screen (2:35) or has narrow bars on the side (16:9) and even wider side bars for standard TV (4:3).

You can search threads/forums for more information by looking for "CIH" or "Constant Image Height."

Although I haven't researched TONS of projectors, I think that if go to the Display forums and runs the calcs on whatever model you are looking at, you'll find that most projectors will work out great for you in the ranges (seating distance/screen size/projector distance) you are talking about. The trick is to try to find a projector that won't require max zoom in or out at your distances and picture quality should be fine.

Frankly, I'm not the one to answer about screen gain. I chose an acoustically transparent material that, if I recall, is in the 1.1 range and I'm quite happy with it in my light controlled room.YMMV.
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post #39 of 165
7/20/12 at 11:10am
Quote:
Originally Posted by Holiday121 View Post

I appreciate your responses and they ARE VERY helpful..
I will be sitting anywhere from 9-11 feet back..
It sounds like 2:35 is the way to go for me so I can utilize the space to its best.. So does this mean any projector with a Autozoom will fill it up and NOT have black bars? I dont really want to spend all that money on a Anamorphic lens since I dont have it in my budget. But it sounds like you bypassed that and was able to successfully.
I would think anywhere from 120-138 inches in a 2:35 would be good for me... I honestly like the bigger the better. But do not want to sacrifce MAJOR quality to do so.. Im no expert in picture quality and everything like that so it will all probably look good to me.
What about gain in the screen was I right when saying since I have a completely Black dark room 1:1 is the best way to go?

Keep in mind, when doing the zoom method, that the image width of your 2.35 screen has to be divided by 1.78 to get the effective area of your screen. What I am saying: if you go with a 120" wide 2.35 screen the square footage of your screen (as far as the projector is concerned) is 110" x (110/1.78)=6798 square inches or 47.2 SF. So if your screen of choice was lets say a Center Stage and your projector of choice was an Epson 5010 and you wanted to know how many Foot Lamberts you would have in best image mode, high lamp, mid zoom. You would take the lumen output 650 divide by the SF of screen 47.2 SF and multiply by gain of screen 0.98 and that would tell you 13.5 Foot Lamberts with a new lamp. In this case, I think you would want to do some of the following: increase gain of screen, reduce throw of projector, reduce screen size or plan on running projector in one of it's brighter modes.
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post #40 of 165
7/20/12 at 11:28am
Thread Starter 
Quote:
Originally Posted by tlogan6797 View Post

For the record, you can do it manually, it's just something you'd have to adjust at startup. My point here is autozoom is not necessarily a requirement. It just makes it easier. And with lens memory, you set it once and forget it.
MOST projectors are native 16:9 (like my Panny4K), so there ARE black bars at 2:35. The trick is that by building a screen wall and making it all black, the bars are projected onto the black wall and become virtually invisible. The Panny projects black enough bars that it doesn't bother me when they are projected on the side of the screen. I guess I'm just not that picky or my eyes are bad enough that it doesn't bother me. Either way, the image fills the screen top to bottom and fills the entire screen (2:35) or has narrow bars on the side (16:9) and even wider side bars for standard TV (4:3).
You can search threads/forums for more information by looking for "CIH" or "Constant Image Height."
Although I haven't researched TONS of projectors, I think that if go to the Display forums and runs the calcs on whatever model you are looking at, you'll find that most projectors will work out great for you in the ranges (seating distance/screen size/projector distance) you are talking about. The trick is to try to find a projector that won't require max zoom in or out at your distances and picture quality should be fine.
Frankly, I'm not the one to answer about screen gain. I chose an acoustically transparent material that, if I recall, is in the 1.1 range and I'm quite happy with it in my light controlled room.YMMV.


As far as my wall it is completely black so I will not have the problem there.. Im not probably as picky as some either because I really dont even know what to expect and the only shop around here was trying to push a Runco on me. I believe a ls-1.


I will do some reading later tonight on the CIH and get some more knowlege one it.



Quote:
Originally Posted by AV Science Sales 5 View Post

Keep in mind, when doing the zoom method, that the image width of your 2.35 screen has to be divided by 1.78 to get the effective area of your screen. What I am saying: if you go with a 120" wide 2.35 screen the square footage of your screen (as far as the projector is concerned) is 110" x (110/1.78)=6798 square inches or 47.2 SF. So if your screen of choice was lets say a Center Stage and your projector of choice was an Epson 5010 and you wanted to know how many Foot Lamberts you would have in best image mode, high lamp, mid zoom. You would take the lumen output 650 divide by the SF of screen 47.2 SF and multiply by gain of screen 0.98 and that would tell you 13.5 Foot Lamberts with a new lamp. In this case, I think you would want to do some of the following: increase gain of screen, reduce throw of projector, reduce screen size or plan on running projector in one of it's brighter modes.



Mike best belive I will be calling someone from your way to help me with selection and screen. I dont trust the people around here at the shop but I want to learn as much possible before I get you on the phone and not understand what you are telling me.

I would really atlest like 120 inches. So im hoping to stay around there or get a little more.. Thing is if nothing at Cedia is announced to my likings then a JVC-RS45 or a Epson 5010 or 6010 would probably be my choice.. I dont get the whole foot lambers deal.. Not sure what that means.


Ok back to the basement you all.. Today replacing the swtiches and outlest to black and going to try to spray my recess lighting and cents... And finsih up some trim on my painting then maybe some pics later and i might bring out some of my audio equipment :P

Thank you all
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post #41 of 165
7/20/12 at 7:04pm
Thread Starter 
Ok guys long day today... I needed to touch up some trim which opened a can of worms.. Black and red theater paint is not the easiest to line up...

Here are a couple things I did get done though..

1. Finally sprayed the recess lighting... The second shot the celing doesnt look as black because I have a florescent on in the room to help me see.








2. Replaced light switch with a fancy one and all the light sockets around the room....






Have to say that was my first time switching out sockets so probably took me longer then the average person but atleast it got done...



I ordered 9 Wall plates in black for my speakers and they should be here sometime this week..


Going to spray the vents tommorow and do some more touching up.. Back to work on monday so it puts a stop to most of the work...

I also just ordered most of my wiring for all my speakers with my wall plates so they should be here as well sometime this week.. Hopefully by next weekend I can have a picture of some audion equipment setup in the room ...


Still have to do more reading on screens etc etc..
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post #42 of 165
7/23/12 at 2:44am
Thread Starter 
Ok all of the paint is finally done ... Trim work was rough for these colors..

Been spending some time researching Bass traps and some audio equipment.

Stopped over at BB to pick up some Blu rays and traded in some regular DVDs to get the 5 Bucks off... Picked up some 3D titles for $14.99 a piece not to bad.

Back to work this week so much wont be getting done. Got plenty of things coming in the mail though.. As I get will post...
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post #43 of 165
7/30/12 at 10:05pm
Thread Starter 
Ok since I had a day off I did a little work not much in the basement...

Heres how it started



I got some goodies in my faceplates..




After putting them on:

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post #44 of 165
7/30/12 at 10:11pm
Thread Starter 
Now for some speaker suggestions on placement.... My sides and rears are both martin logan Motion 10 series speakers... I thought they would be taller then they are.. They are 35 inches high so lets say roughly 3 feet tall...


They look like they are to low to the ground:







Do you think I should build something to get them to sit up higher? Like a Riser or something... Then again maybe ear level when sitting down is maybe 3 to 4 feet. Any suggestions?


Speaker placement for the REARS... In a 7.2 System what do you think I would be best off doing

Have them facing in from somewhat the corners to the middle of the room






Or Have them firing close together towards the center of the room?

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post #45 of 165
7/30/12 at 10:11pm
Thread Starter 
Cant forget the trade in your DVD and get 5 dollars towards a Blu Ray $9.99 and up at BB picked me up some goodies

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post #46 of 165
7/31/12 at 7:22am
Are you open to getting new rear and side speakers? Most people recommend the surrounds to be 2-3 ft above ear level.

PS: if you haven't seen Inception, you'll gonna love it.!
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post #47 of 165
7/31/12 at 4:11pm
Thread Starter 
Honestly I got them so cheap brand new I would like to keep them



So you suggest building something to raise them?
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post #48 of 165
8/1/12 at 5:33am
Yes, I would raise them somehow. Maybe build them into some columns or something. Surrounds should be firing over the listener so they are not located easily especially since they are monopoles.
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post #49 of 165
8/1/12 at 5:42am
Thread Starter 
Hmmm this is going to be tough but I will try to figure something out with it
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post #50 of 165
8/3/12 at 11:01pm
Thread Starter 
Question .. I am taking the dimensions for my front stage and im going to be cutting it close for the screen. At 120 inch screen with a fixed frame is it ok for the black frame part to be almost as close to the top of the ceiling as it can go?
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post #51 of 165
8/14/12 at 6:16am
Thread Starter 
Here are some updated pics of the front stage... Need the two sides which will be done today,... I had to use Roxul Safe and Sound insulation instead of sand but hopefully it still works pretty good.



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post #52 of 165
8/14/12 at 8:30pm
Great job. Will you be adding black carpet? Can't wait to see the false wall.
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post #53 of 165
8/15/12 at 2:34am
Thread Starter 
Yes I have to have someone do the carpet though I dont think I can do it
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post #54 of 165
8/15/12 at 6:34am
I don't think it will cost too much to have someone come in and do that. Certainly a nice improvement.
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post #55 of 165
8/15/12 at 6:39am
Thread Starter 
I have a friend of the family that will do it thank god... Cutting my shelves into the wall today.. Will update with pics
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post #56 of 165
8/17/12 at 2:30pm
Thread Starter 
Well got my price for the carpet.. $350 bucks man that sucks, I also picked up some new curtains for the room... I will post some pictures when I finish the shelves
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post #57 of 165
8/17/12 at 2:54pm
That doesn't sound too bad. Unless you are able to find a remnant, you're going to have to pay for a lot of waste for such a small job. Is that the "friend of the family" price?
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post #58 of 165
8/22/12 at 7:45am
I'm enjoying your build...I am probably at the same type of skill level as you so this isn't as threatening to read as some of the other guru's threads. smile.gif
Good stuff, thanks for sharing it.
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post #59 of 165
8/22/12 at 8:24am
Also enjoying your thread, i like the colors of the theater.
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post #60 of 165
8/22/12 at 12:01pm
Thread Starter 
Thanks.. He is coming next thursday to do the carpeting.. And Yes a friend of the family... Going to update some shelves pics soon
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