The official SeymourAV center stage screen thread! - Page 44

You usually need to be closer than a 120 degree viewing angle before you have to move your head to see the edges of the screen - that's around a 0.5 x image height distance or closer for a 16:9 screen (0.67 x IH for a scope screen).

2.4 x the image height gives 40 degrees and is where THX recommend you sit for 1080 HDTV 16:9 (best quality/immersion) but it's best to try things first to see what suits you. If you zoom for scope you may find the image a little chunky so can't sit as close as you would if you were using an anamorphic lens, so that's why testing will tell you what works for you. The screen texture itself may be the limiting factor for how close you end up sitting in some cases.

For movies, anywhere between 2 to 4 x the image height is the range where you would sit in a commercial theatre, so if you want to replicate that at home, you can try to get your seats at a similar distance to where you'd sit in the theatre.

Gary

1. I think either AR screen would look great in the room.

2. It's gotta be close to 50/50. Unfortunately I like a big 16:9 for my 360 gaming, and I want a big scope picture for "blockbuster" movie nights for friends and family. The room just isn't wide enough (9') for me to get a scope screen in there at my required 16:9 image height.

3. See diagrams below for anticipated LCR placement.

4. I do have a masking plan for either 16:9 or scope, but I don't plan on going back and forth a bunch. I just don't want to waste screen material if I get the whole thing set up at 16:9 and decide I should have gone scope. If that happens I'll add narrow horizontal masking at top and bottom to get the proper scope ratio, then will use new panels to mask for 16:9 as needed.

I also don't want to commit to scope now because I'm nervous about wanting a bigger 16:9 picture, and afraid I won't be able to come up with an acceptable DIY anamorphic lens using trophy wedges.

5. A 101" scope screen at 9.5' would result in a viewing angle of approx. 48 degrees, so that shouldn't be too bad at all.

So what I'm thinking is I'll build the screen initially like so (wider than 16:9 but not quite scope; these diagrams are actual scale)...



Then if I decide that the bigger 16:9 image wasn't worth it (96" diagonal vs. 86" diagonal), and I can come up with an affordable anamorphic lens, I'll remove the side panels, mask the top and bottom, and run with the following (creating new masking panels for use with 16:9 content)...



Thanks very much for the feedback!

Why build it with that kind of frame? Couldn't you just get the biggest piece of fabric that will fit in the space and mask the whole thing to taste? Curtains do a great job. You could make them out of the black backing or similar AT material. That's the easy way of going CIH. If you want to change the height you have to make masking that's adjustable up/down too. But that's not splitting the atom is it?

Hmmm. Interesting. If I understand you correctly the screen would be mounted on top of the frame instead of behind it? I do need some sort of frame so the screen can be removed to access the area behind it, but I wouldn't have so many lines in the front wall between screen wall panels (which need to be removed to access storage shelves), the screen frame and the masking panels. Would be a much cleaner look I think. Thanks for the suggestion. The only issue that comes to mind is that I plan to illuminate the area behind the screen which would leave a dark border where the frame is.

I do apologize for taking the thread off-topic. I'll find a spot for a separate construction thread to solicit feedback.

You have to have a frame of some sort... or do you?

You could do a trampoline rig or tarp clips to hold it in place. The masking would be such that even all the way open, all that would be hidden. You could still take down the masking and unclip the screen for access. If you backlit it you couldn't see what was behind the masking anyway - clips/grommets/whatever are hidden - all you see is the back glow from inside the masked area.

Help Please.
I have a 120in 16x9 Center stage xd with the gen 4 standard ir remote, I pushed the button for down, the screen began coming and it just stopped and will not do anything. It is hanging out about 6 in form the case. The remote has power, the light on the wire hanging of the case lights up when I push the remote, and I can even hear a click when I push the button. What is wrong and what shoud I do. I have had this for more than a year now. Thanks

If you haven't replaced the batteries in the RF remote yet, they may be due. If when you press the remote, the light on the screen flashes several times, then you need to reassign the remote to the screen, but I'd recommend doing this after battery replacement. To reassign the remotes, press the screen button, release and see the LED will stay on. Then, press the middle stop button on the remote and the motor will jog to confirm that the remote handshake has occurred.

If none of this helps or otherwise I'd recommend you call us up at 515-450-5694 or email at chris@seymourav.com and we'll dig deeper.

Cheers,
Chris

The lights on the screen led only flashed once with remote, and remote light blinked once also when I press once, just like it normally did. I got my ladder out. I unplugged and replugged in and now it works fine. go figure. thanks

You can see my HT construction link below to see how I made my screen. By the way the SeymourAV material really rocks!!. Made my screen come alive.

Actually it stopped again, I will email you a video of it, let me know, thanks.

Here's my Carada retrofit project. Currently have a 120" 2.35 carada screen but always wanted an AT setup. I was able to successfully mount the XD fabric onto the carada frame using the existing snaps on the frame.

Rex from Carada was nice enough to let me purchase the factory snaps they use on their screens. Can't say enough about how nice these guys are. If they had an AT fabric option, I would have just bought one from them and saved my hands the pain. I bought the plier tool separately. Had to put a lot of pressure on the pliers to attach the snaps but it worked.



Here's the XD fabric precision cut to size and laid on top of the frame.



Working from the center out, I painstakingly installed the snaps one by one as they were mounted. Took about 3 hours.





There were a few waves that required me to rip out some snaps and reinstall.



Final product.



I'm impressed by the screen. I was worried that it'd be dim and that I'd see the screen texture but no problems at all. It looks great from 12' back. Loving the audio coming straight out of the screen.

Pocoloco, nicely done! I suspect that locating the snaps on the fabric to match the existing locations on the frame was a hoot. Especially when you had to account for stretching the fabric, which doesn't stretch much. Enjoy your 2.35 AT!

really nice work you did there. i had, years ago, contacted carada to see if they would install the snaps for me onto my xd material so i could use it on their masquerade system but they would not take the chance. i ended up building a masking system that works pretty good, but not as nice as the carada. i wish seymour and carada could get together and offer this service as it would be great for many of us in these situations. unless seymour can come up with a masking system of their own

Thanks. Actually, becuase the material was tilted, it had a bit of stretch to it which made it easier to match the snaps. But the stretchiness made it harder from a waves perspective.


Thanks. I thought the masquerade was compatible with other screens so you could technically use it with a Seymour screen/frame. I was hoping carada would come out with an at fabric but I too asked years ago and still nothing. There must a be technical reason why they don't have one. If I was starting out from scratch, I'd just buy the entire Seymour screen.

Just ordered my F105 Center Stage XD retractable!

So I now have a nice sharpie mark on my screen which is kind of annoying. When I got the screen it had a label telling me which side to use. I thought I would check to see if there was any chance of the material being reversiable before I ordered a new one?

Yes the CenterStageXD is reversible, and both the video and audio specs are identical for both sides. The weave looks different, and there might be some other characteristic to note that I can't remember, but the other side is absolutely usable.

Ditto. IIRC, Chris says that the QC checks the front side (for blems, etc.) and that's the side that gets the sticker (that may or may not stick), and rolls the material with that side inward.

Great news, thanks for the help guys!

Did anybody ever get their Logitech Harmony working with the Seymour screen? If so could you share details. Thanks

I'm about to order some CenterStageXD XD to retrofit my screen research.

My projector is a JVC X7 (same as RS50). Do you know if i need to tilt the fabric to avoid moiré ?

The only way to find out for sure is to order a 2' square sample from Seymour and test it out with your projector. Email Chris and he'll tell you how to order the sample.

To be safe you should tilt the fabric the maximum amount your screen size will allow! I am sure Chris will tell you this.


...Glenn

A customer with the screen had submitted the codes for them to add to the library. I talked with Logitech for a couple hours and they told me it takes time to get added to the database, but I'm not seeing any progress on it yet.

If you're unable to load the hex codes from our site directly, we do have the remotes for you to manually teach the harmony.

Cheers,
Chris

If you have the hex code you can send in a request to Harmony tech support to have them added to your account. I done this with some speacial codes I wanted for my 5007 reciever, took a couple of days but they got them no my account. The more people that request them for their account the better chance that they will get going an actually get them in the data base.

i haven't tried it but I just found this also http://forums.logitech.com/t5/Harmon...lf/td-p/406224

Thanks for the replies. I've asked Logitech to add the codes I think I'll give the other solution a try as well, as that may well be useful for other things.

Well the website method to add codes only seems to allow the addition of one code per device. Any subsequent codes seem to replace the one done previously. Bit annoying really. Guess I should have ordered a remote when I got my screen.

That plus the apparent wait (days!) that it takes to get a code added to your "account" so that it can be added to your actual remote (not to mention - but mentioning it anyway - that Chris Seymour is still waiting to get his screen's codes added to the standard Harmony database) speaks volumes about Logitech and the Harmony. Good hardware done in by lousy support.

Well Logitech have added the codes to my account, and sure enough they are in there. I'm stuck working in Germany this week, so can't get home to install and test them.

I've also ordered a remote from Chris, so worse case I can learn them anyway.

My F105 arrived today! Hope to have it installed soon.