Slaughter House Cinemas (Project Thread)

[speedklz]

That is sexy... likes boots on a rooster... I love the color scheme, the whole thing looks really nice.

[carls64]

Greetings all, it has been a while since I made any updates. I did do something that I had wanted to do for a while but could not decide the best way to do it. As it is hard to decide on a screen size/aspect I went with a 16:9 screen. However a lot of the content I watch is widescreen aspect (movies anyhow). I looked into many different screen masking solutions and I did not want to invest a great deal on this nor did I want to rebuild my screen wall to accommodate it. Replacing the screen was not an option as that would involve rebuilding the screen wall fabric frames, and again that was not an option.

I found several people who made screen masking inserts for the 16:9 fixed frame screens and felt that was the obvious solution, but could not decide on what material to use. I am in that mood right now where if it is going to take me more than a couple hours effort I was not going to tackle it, call me lazy! I have been simply enjoying my HT now and feel that most of the hard work is done.

My solution was simple, I picked up a piece of 1/2" laminated foam board insulation from my local Home Depot (had to cut in lengthwise into two 2x8' lengths to get them in the car, I then proceeded to make 3 x 7 1/4" strips. from there I had to add about 9" to each 8' length to account for the screen width. I used Gorilla Glue to glue the sections together. That stuff is great fro foam board it only takes about 30 to dry!

Next I purchased some Royalty 3 black velvet from Joann's (using a 40% off coupon) I should have only got 4 years, I ended up with 5 and now I have way to much left over LOL. I then wrapped the foam board length in the velvet securing it with spray adhesive and packing tape. I made the two masks so the would friction fit in the screen. The fit perfectly, although for some reason the top of my screen seems to "sag" a but and on full screen content you can see through the leading edge of the screen through a small gap between the frame and the mask, no big deal, can't see it while you are seated.

I heard people say that the resulting "masks" are amazing and make the picture POP for widescreen content, and I really never gave it much warrant but I have to say I was amazed!

Here are a couple pictures of the completed "mini" project.

[carls64]

OH! also I added a couple more seats, I have 10 seats now, so far never filled them all LOL.

[bpape]

Nice job Carl!

Bryan

[carls64]

Thanks, Bryan!

I also decided to re-paint the ceiling directly in front of the screen, I see this morning that I missed a couple spots I will have to touch up. I used the Promar 400 Ultra Flat black and I have to say it makes a BIG difference there is very little reflection on the ceiling now from the screen.

A had a friend over and we screened Gran Torino and the new Star Trek flick. Both movies were awesome! The screen was clear and bright and the new masking system just made it that much more enjoyable. I wish I had done that months ago!

Recently I purcahsed a new media streamer, BriteView CinemaTube, and it has the ability to move and resize the subtitles, so I moved them up and shrunk the size now they show in the right area with the screen masked and they are not to large, perfect set up now for widescreen display.

Now to consider a anamorphic lens LOL