Focupix Electric screens from htdepot - Page 14

Thanks Alex

This is my smallish HT room. I have a Marantz VP4001 pj which is a short throw projector which gives me 120" from 12 feet away. Note I have a open wall not pictured here where is open to big windows so during the day, I have some ambient light coming into the room from the left hand side. No light hits the screen though....its more like ambient lighting that lightly floods the screen but enough to wash out the picture during daytime.

This shot perhaps indicate better....taken during the day. You can see how the screen is a little washed out (my HTPC desktop). Its watchable but I'm hoping a high gain screen like the High Power or the BriteG screen would benefit me more with the added gain/brightness, specifically for daytime PJ watching.

If the projector is somewhere around shoulder / eye level then I would suggest trying a Glass Beaded screen. How ever if it is not, the benefits would be very small from the upgrade to a glass beaded screen. Another option would be either getting a smaller screen and lowering the zoom (it is currently maxed out I believe) or moving the projector forward. Personally I would invest in some black out curtains, get a 110 HDVio Glass Beaded and lower the zoon a tad. This would certainly (even if the projector is on the ceiling) generate a brighter and more clear image.

I think I'll go with that for the side that's letting the light come in. My wife may disagree with the curtains as she prefers light in the house during the day but well.

I cannot downsize my screen as at night/evening, the picture is outstanding. It's just the daylight light that I'm trying to control. I suppose the curtains would be a cheaper alternative.

Here's a shot of Crank (BR) with controlled lighting at night (wish it was like this in day though).



Thanks for the suggestions!

Well in that case lets give that Glass Beaded a shot!
If it doesnt work like you want it to and you wish to return it, I'll waive the restocking fee.

Thanks!

I know a while back there was talk about trying to wire a 12V trigger to these screens. Was anyone successful in doing this.

I can appreciate your wife's opinion on having light during the daytime. In addition to a new screen, perhaps you could do what I did in my theater room. I put up a valance (above the window coming just to the top of the frame to allow the most light in) and under the valance I hung room blackening levelor shades. When the shades are up, there is no evidence they are even hung there. No one realizes until we start a movie that we even have shades.

Any ETA on the new case with IR? It is a deal breaker for me.

We have FINALLY developed a switcher that comes with a 12Volt trigger option; we are receiving them in about 7 days. The new screens will have this option already build into them (with an additional wall switch available).

We will also be providing the switcher by its self for previous customers looking to upgrade their current screens. Price will be around $50 and should be subject to any promotions on the website. Feel free to contact me directly with any questions.

This kind of set up works really well. We always try to recommend something like this to our customers.

Howdy everybody. I've been a bit of a forum lurker until this point. This particular thread has been really helpful to me, as I'm putting together my own home theater setup.

I picked up an Epson Powerlite Cinema 6100 projector as the key piece to my set up, and I'm trying to figure out what type of screen to get. So far, I think I want to try a screen from HTDepot, given all the comments on this thread. Plus, I'm in the DC Metro area, and I like supporting locals. :-)

My question is, has anyone here used the Cinema 6100 with one of the Focupix Flexio screens? I'm totally a newbie at this stuff, but to me, the specs on the projector seem like I should be able to get away with just a matte white screen, as opposed to a grey screen. I'm looking at the 103" (100" viewable) screen.

I should have about a 14' throw distance between where I'll mount the projector to where the screen will live. My set up will be in my basement, just as soon as I finish my final construction bits. The room has only one small window that will be blocked by blackout curtains. The rest of the light in the room is completely controllable.

So, any thoughts?

Again, I'm new to the projector scene, so bear with me. Any help is appreciated.

-SBJ-

From all that you described I would recommend any matte white screen that we have. Since you are local, you can always come on by with your projector and plug it in our show room and test out our available fabrics!

Can you give a brief description of the installation of one of theses switchers on an existing screen.

Thanks,
Ben

Here is a shot of mine the overlay picture is in full day light with black out curtains.

I put a removable mat top edge and raise the screen for 2.35. I also used a 3M scotch bright pad to get rid of the high gloss sparkles/Silkscreen effect.

I have everything automated with my harmony 880 including screen drop

.

Alex, I need some help as well with my 115/110" 16:9 fixed frame screen. I sent your company an email yesterday regarding the problems. My order number is 18905. The screen needs to be replaced as it has several coating imperfections on it. It's not usable in its current state. Please advise. Thanks, Todd

Got my 110" 0.9 Gray HDVio. PQ is awesome. Unit has some mechanical issues, though, so I'm getting a warranty replacement. Sometimes when it's fully down and you press "up" on either the remote or the box, the screen will go DOWN instead of up. And it won't stop automatically. First time this happened it went down so far some of the part that was glued onto the roller came off. Luckily I stopped it in time before the entire screen came off. No success troubleshooting this on the phone. A shame they don't make a manual in gray, honestly I don't need electric.

Does focupix (HTDepot) have any electric screens with adjustable mounting brackets? I'm moving to a rental property and the landlord doesn't permit use of drywall anchors, so I have to drill into studs. Elite offers several (Home2, ex) where you can slide the mounting brackets along the screen case to align with studs. Is there a focupix equivalent? Thanks,

Howdy everybody. I've got an update and a question for you all. I finally set up my projector area this weekend. I hung the screen last week, but it didn't do me a lick of good until I mounted the projector with a buddy of mine this weekend. Now my sound system is installed, and we're finally enjoying the home theater experience!

Like I said, I bought a screen a week or so ago. I wound up ordering the 96" (92" viewable) Focupix Flexio from HTDepot. The screen itself looks great, and HTDepot has done well by me, but FedEx botched the shipping (delivered in the rain it to the wrong address 3 blocks over). I'm afraid something might have happened during shipping because when the screen rolls up or down, I hear a slight 'thunk' on the right hand side (like a roller is flat in one spot).

That's not a big concern, though. My big concern is that no matter how I adjust the screen, it seems to have troubles holding that adjustment between uses. If i adjust the retraction to where the weighted bottom rod is just about 1 inch outside the casing, the next time I roll the screen up, it'll hit the casing and keep trying to roll up until I tell it to stop or adjust it more.

I'll freely admit to it being user error here. But is anyone else having difficulty with the adjustments?

Thanks
-SBJ-

What a joke and waste of time/money. I'm out $150 between the shipping costs and the restocking fee all because they don't have my original screen in stock any longer and the original was damaged. To add to the situation the replacement gray screen has some blood/rust on the front of the screen. Pfft.

Hey everyone. I have an update on my screen issues from my previous post.

I e-mailed HTDepot about the 'thud' sound and adjustment issues, and they responded quickly and politely, and had me call on Thursday and run through tech support with Alex. When he heard the thud sound I was talking about over the phone, he told me it sounded like a bearing issue, which would be why I couldn't adjust the screens top and bottom stops. So Alex offered to send out a replacement screen that afternoon, and even adjusted it to the stop distances I wanted before shipping it! The best part is that I had the new screen the next day (though living within a 50 mile radius of their shop helps).

YMMV, but it's just refreshing to experience good customer service these days.

-SBJ-

It will require matching the wires inside the receiver box, this can be done with a small flat head screw driver.


I have personally gone ahead and waived the restocking fee for this order. We will also cover part of the shipping cost your incurred while shipping this item back to us. I am terribly sorry for any inconvenience this may have caused you.

The only screen that is capable of doing that is the TabTension model.

Well, after reading every post in this thread a minimum of twice...yikes...I finally bit the bullet and ordered the Focupix Flexio 125'' 1.3 gain screen. I was originally going to go with the 110'', but decided if I needed to project the image smaller, I could still do so on a larger screen. I have an Epson 1080UB, which will be projecting onto it.

To Alex/HTDepot -- I think it is a VERY SMART idea to be posting on forums like these, having twitter, and being so available to the customer. That is more than 75% of why I chose your screen. Seeing your replies and how you are helping the customer/creating custom on-the-fly manuals/etc.. is pretty damn awesome in my opinion.

Also, the cost of your screens, comparitively to others, is off-the-charts (in a good way!). It almost makes me wonder how some of those companies can stay in business when you offer such great deals for items that obviously aren't junk. If they were junk, these previous 14 pages of posts would all be screaming it! I definitely hope your company thrives with business with these prices.

Anyways, I'll try to remember to post back my results once I get the screen up and running. I have a bad habit of not looking at threads I've been monitoring after I've made a purchase.

Keep up the great work!
-Matt

"part of the shipping cost"???

If this product was defective, and the supplier no longer has a direct replacement, then why isn't the supplier paying for ALL of the costs incurred by the customer? How is this any of the customer's fault? It was the supplier's decision to discontinue the product. It was the supplier's decision to ship a defective product.



Michael

Can you post the instructions for installing the 12 v trigger upgrade? I never did see how much the upgrade cost?

But you are right that there still has not been a diagram released or linked to yet.

I just saw on the web page that it is $100. But there were no diagrams.

Well, my screen arrived today (Flexio 125'' 1.3 gain). I would rate that very high in shipping speed. I was very impressed to get such a large item so quickly. It arrived in a wooden crate to help protect it, and the box appeared to have taken no damage.

We got it hanging within about 15-20 minutes, which was pretty cool, and using the electric box, it extended beautifully.

Unfortunately, near the bottom center of the screen, there are two 6-10'' light black streaks, and one circular black streak above them. Upon projecting an image, they aren't too noticeable, but in light scenes, you can definitely see them. I attached a picture below to show this. The camera does not show it as well as what your eyes can see. As a reminder, I'm projecting an Epson 1080UB onto it.

Also, there appears to be quite a few waves when it is extended, many more than I expected. My last screen was a free graywolf screen that came with my old optoma 31, and it had waves as well (not as many, however), so I'm not as bothered by them as some may be.

I love the two remotes/electric motor. That is definitely my favorite part. The other thing that was noticeably different than my graywolf is that the viewing area is MUCH better with this Flexio. There is almost no degredation in video quality when sitting from the side, where the graywolf's video quality degradation was hugely noticeable from the side.

Overall, I'm satisfied, but definitely wish to have gotten a screen without the two black streaks running along the bottom of my white screen. Less waves would have been cool also, but I expected some waves with a non-tension screen.

If you have any questions, just let me know.

Overall Rating: B-

With less waves and a pure white streakless screen: A- (it would be simply amazing to have gotten it in this shape)

p.s. Does anybody know what the two metal pieces that came extra with the screen are? They almost look like bolts and have the letter A on the ends of them.

-Matt

Hi Matt. I believe those are anchor bolts for drywall. Drill a hole in the wall, push the bolt in 'A' side first, then keep tightening the bolt. It'll force the back end to expand outward and lock it into place on the wall.

I was able to hang my screen on studs, so I skipped using these things.

As far as the streaks in your screen, contact HT Depot. I've had extremely good customer service from them and they've really come through for me. Let them know what's up. Maybe they can do something for you.

-SBJ-

Great! Thanks for your reply. Also, I did send them a note to see if there was anything that could be done about the streaks. The good thing is that the streaks are only visible under bright white conditions. The bad news is that under bright white conditions is that they are highly visible.

**edit** I meant to say visible under any bright scenes, not just white scenes - i.e. Bright light blue it shows as much as bright white.

Update - contacted customer support a little over a week ago and was told to send some pictures to Alex, but haven't gotten a reply yet. I'm not sure if he is OOO at the moment, or not.

**Edit** Received a response that they hadn't gotten any of my e-mails containing pics, so I tried sending them to another e-mail address today (9-08-2009)