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I recently built my first HTPC, and now I'm really starting to see the customizeable benefits of doing this.
I built my own screen about a month or two ago (I'm still building the Home Theater) and as much as I always loved the picture (96" diagaonal HDTV size through a Panasonic L300U, sitting 13 feet away) I always hated the fact that 2:35.1 movies had the black bars.
I've been reading alot about manual masking systems, then it hit me.
Make a 2:35.1 screen, move the projector back so that a 2:35.1 encoded DVD fills the screen, and use TheaterTek to zoom "down" 1:85 and 1:75 movies.
Man, this works GREAT.
I originally was going to have drapes that opened and closed, but I've now turned that into a masking system that always closes to 1:75.1 masking, but when we watch a movie in 2:35, the masking opens via an automatic motor (gotten for $90 at smarthome.com)
For anyone wishing the look and feel of that large screen cinema, this is the only way to go. I put on Star Wars episode II and Lord of the Rings and it's like seeing them at the movies all over again. Now I'm ready for Pirates of the Caribean, Terminator 3 and X2!!
The beauty is it only cost me about $40 extra to add on to the screen.
This is a MUST do for any hard-core movie buff...!!
Thanks TheaterTek and HTPC!
I built my own screen about a month or two ago (I'm still building the Home Theater) and as much as I always loved the picture (96" diagaonal HDTV size through a Panasonic L300U, sitting 13 feet away) I always hated the fact that 2:35.1 movies had the black bars.
I've been reading alot about manual masking systems, then it hit me.
Make a 2:35.1 screen, move the projector back so that a 2:35.1 encoded DVD fills the screen, and use TheaterTek to zoom "down" 1:85 and 1:75 movies.
Man, this works GREAT.
I originally was going to have drapes that opened and closed, but I've now turned that into a masking system that always closes to 1:75.1 masking, but when we watch a movie in 2:35, the masking opens via an automatic motor (gotten for $90 at smarthome.com)
For anyone wishing the look and feel of that large screen cinema, this is the only way to go. I put on Star Wars episode II and Lord of the Rings and it's like seeing them at the movies all over again. Now I'm ready for Pirates of the Caribean, Terminator 3 and X2!!
The beauty is it only cost me about $40 extra to add on to the screen.
This is a MUST do for any hard-core movie buff...!!
Thanks TheaterTek and HTPC!