anamorphic lenses are cheap as fish and chips , less than £100.00 . i have such one from russia for few years (before they went and started a war) . many on ebay and all you need is strip . yes strip off the parts that hold the optics in place and take the anamorphic out and find way of fitting in wooden/metal frame that can slid in place for when a scope movie is shown. 16:9 looks more like w/s to me as ex projectionist never liked 16:9 tv's the shape is wrong . they do 21:9 but have a laser 4k projector with 120" at-screen wall to wall . just not bothered to strip the lens down but it was far cheaper than that , snake oil rip off £8k lens . what if want to fantasize and use the screen like 70mm and have Star Trek VI bit wider and bit higher 2.2:1 it's just make the w/s bit smaller so the height is still same for scope and for fantasize 70mm just widen the image out to the fullest the screen goes and bit higher . oh , and not forget academy ratio 1.33:1 a square like image bit less width than w/s and fraction less in height . you wouldn't want Liemax since imax go around raping other cinemas into Liemax's . boycott Liemax aspect ratios annoying aspect ratio switching that doesn't serve any point to the story other than visual distraction . liemax ratio is like academy ratio on steroids , i don't play any of them anymore . the short 20m 40m movies i play them but not 'interstellar' anymore or 'dunkrik' those are annoying with aspect switching on/off every few seconds . no more nolan movies in my THX cinema with muffled dialogue . one movie that looks decent with aspect switching 'brainstorm' 1983 with w/s and scope or super panavision 70mm . the projector is still wasting light just cos the screen is masked the video projectors don't have true aperture plates like 35/70 do . the plate masks the rarely used plate for academy ratio , unless a print came in otherwise standard plate is often w/s and scope . 70mm plates would be fitted if 70mm was used . but still pointless since home cinema market place for these new 4k rubbish and can't even change the specs on it so the image is actually stretchered for scope movies where no black bars or least on 35mm the "rack lines" for scope are thin . w/s rack lines are thicker . on home video its the reverse a total shambles of a mess if you ask me . speakers are all JBL professional behind my at-screen . five JBL 4673A smaller size for 400 seat cinemas . five . Left Left-centre Centre Right-centre Right . tightly placed over 104" of the horizontal of the screen '9 .2" very small yet big sound or i can make them sound like small by reducing the crossover DSP DCX246 connected to actual cinema THX crossover/monitor . x2 DCX are only used now for PEQ channel muting/monitoring for the "five screen wide" when i use the inner left-extra right-extra . proper HF horns and it sounds , cinema . and they all cost less than a single m&k home THX speaker costing what £1.6k? daylight robbery . at-screen was less than £200 . those um, high end lol if you can call them that , again daylight robbery as they think home cinema is a luxury thing , Wrong ! nearly all my home cinema uses professional cinema processors that got cheap as i watched and waited for them to show up . that was few years ago . now very rare to get one cheap like a Dolby Stereo CP200 made in 1980 and still in use at selected cinemas thou serving and repairs not too hard as most is all analog parts and still common on ebay . CP200 is regarded as best cinema processor made . it stands 28" high ! the Denon avc-x8500h is meh . but a CP200 wouldn't be for you ? for bragging that original 'star wars' movie on it or maybe it is ? all the surrounds are configured to run as left-half right-half for Dolby Stereo (which comes in many playback formats) or dts , or can switch them to sidewall and back wall for 5.1-CBS dts-6.1 7.1 or atmos . overheads are basic common stereo pairs of height 1 2 and 3 . i have made them into not 6 but 12 easy just add a matrix decoder to each height 1 2 and 3 and bingo no more center-phantom , now has proper channel to localize sound as most times the overheads will be mono . does that shock surprise you ? with mine it's way better , when i bother to play blu/4k atmos as mostly i play 5.1 now . at least i'm catered for the sound formats here . also use "below matrix surround" and almost 0 have it i seem to be only home THX cinema that does ? surrounds are classic THX JBL 8330 mkII that mostly came from twickenham film studios few years ago when they upgraded there JBL PA cinema monitors . x11 JBL 8330 mkII and x9 JBL 8330A overheads . x11 JBL control 1 below surround . x8 JBL cinema subs thou 2 subs front are mostly used the the other subs can be blended to fill in typical room null/modes at press of button . or i can use one of the two pair Lc Rc and mimic 'star wars' baby boom as it would have been . 'close encounters' word is they used separate subs maybe for some cinemas around 1977/78 . so subs formats 2/6/8 depends on the movie shown here . sensurround well that's next level ? the home version is okay just not the same . and do we really want 120dBC of it ? no not really . less is better yes still get the sound fun of it . but way the sound/bass moved in the cinema with it , was sort of hearing a front back movement while it constant pressing against my body at alarming rate for 10 mins with 'Earthquake' in 70mm six-track sensurround . i have a one idea to make the LFE.1 a bit different here and not what your thinking or anyone else for that . shhhh . total speakers JBL around 154 speakers at 38.000kw on THX TAP ! well there , there it is .
Excellent video, agree with what you say: 2.39:1 movies should *wider* than 1.85:1 (or 16 x 9, or whatever), not *shorter!* I am a passionate believer in that. I'm a big fan of 2.35:1 home screens, have had a few, but these days I'm using a Constant Image *Area* screen with three way masking (sides and top). This satisfies "going wider" for 2.39:1 movies, but without making 1.85:1 films significantly smaller like they were on the 2.35:1 screen. Also, a CIA screen means there's no scope (so to speak) for using an anamorphic lens - but I've always used zoom & shift anyway, much cheaper and perfectly effective with modern projectors. CIA's maybe not for everyone, but it works for me: Room size/shape can be a determining factor. Fundamentally, I'd either use CIH or CIA - would *never* go back to CIW. One final thing about the CIA screen is that, for some of those few variable aspect ratio "IMAX" films (aka "Gimmick Cinema", in my opinion), I'll use the entire unmasked screen (it's about 2.05:1, from memory), letterboxed for the 2.35:1 bits, but get the benefit of opening up the top & bottom (albeit not quite fully) for the "IMAX" scenes. Anyway, thanks for the superb and clearly explained & illustrated video, brilliantly done.
Great to see you back making videos again. I still plan to make a screen following your video instructions, just got to finish the cinema room first...nearly there.
Thanks! Almost done with a degree, so I'll have more time. AVR video coming up next, then once my new projector gets in, I'll be doing an in depth on the Epson LS12000!
I love my 135“ 16:9 screen with motorised horizontal masking system. I am sitting less than 10 feet away from the screen. So it’s wide enough for CinemaScope movies and I can watch widescreen movies at any size. Mostly a little higher than scope. Sometimes full screen. I like it to open the screen in the IMAX scenes in movies with changing aspect ratios.
Hey, great video! I am looking at going to a 2.35:1 myself. I have the Epson LS12000, which has motorized zoom, lense shift, focus and lense memory. My one concern is that when you perform the zoom and lense shift, the black bars that are burned into the image on 2.35:1 content have to go somewhere right, so we are essentially overshooting. I am worried that will be noticeable. I plan to have the screen wall and ceiling painted matte black. Also, what about content in 2.39 or 2.40? You would still end up a little with letterboxing. How are you dealing with that? Thanks, I subbed!
I have an LS12000 now also. I don't notice the black bars overshooting at all. I have black spandex above and below the screen. Not as good as black velvet, but I still don't notice the spill. For "extra wide" content, you could zoom out a little more to eliminate the black slivers. You'll lose a little of the image off the left and right, but not much and if your screen is framed in black velvet that should take care of it. The projector also has blanking available. When I go to my "Lens 2" position. It not only zooms out but it also blanks the top and bottom bars so that variable aspect ratio content does not spill. Not a perfect solution, but it works. Of course, you could get a $$$$ anamorphic lens. For me personally, I would only consider it if I made a lot more money than I do now.
Great video! Have you considered motorized masking? You could use a motorized curtain system to bring in the side masks. There are a few guys on UA-cam doing that and it looks like it wouldn’t be too hard. I built a masking system for my CIW screen out of a motorized roller shade for cheap. I uploaded a video a while back if you want to check it out. I watch a lot of football in my theater so I went 16x9.
I was originally going to do motorized curtains, but my wife shot it down IIRC. It wouldn't have worked anyway in retrospect because my HVAC intake is behind the screen and it would have played havoc trying to suck the curtains in.
I wish our movie theaters had constant Heights screens all they have is black bars on the top of the bottom and they refuse to use the masking it's like watching a movie on TV
You showed some velvet black panels that were temporarily added on the right & left sides of your 2.35:1 screen to turn your cinematic screen to a 16:9 screen for typical television viewing. Can you tell more about these? Where do you buy these? How exactly are these held in place? How do you order these?
I built them. Basically a wood frame with black velvet fabric over them. I have magnets to help hold them in place, though I should have used stronger ones.
@@FamilyHomeTheater Perhaps you can show them in greater detail. What magnets did you use are where did you get them? Is the other side of the magnets on the wall imbedded into the frame of the screen? Thickness and dimensions of the wood? Thanks --Greg--
The black bars go away completely (unless the content is wider than 2.35:1, which is rare). The actual image is stretched vertically and the data for the black bars is discarded.
@@chrisesterbrooks2880 They are baked in. The projector (when put in anamorphic stretch mode) cuts them off and discards them. What is left is stretched vertically to fill the entire 16:9 frame. It's like if you look at a picture on your phone and zoom in. Where did the rest of the picture go? For display purposes, it is discarded until you zoom back out.
Great video! You made that masking system look pretty easy! I just installed a Stewart 2.4:1 screen and will be using a JVC NZ8 along with a Prismasonic anamorphic lens. I hadn't really though too much about doing a masking system but seeing this video maybe I should consider it. Ultimately it would be nice to have it motorized but I think the manual approach will be a lot simpler to build.
Yup, motorized is definitely nicer and more "classy" but unless you really like tinkering, panels are the easy solution. Of course, motorized masking is easier... Once it is built and working!
@@FamilyHomeTheater I do like tinkering and I'm building almost everything myself including speakers. Problem is my day job keeps me traveling all the time so it's hard to get anything done. My screen is mounted on a hinged frame so I also want to make a motorized system to tilt it up. I'm heading to Dresden Germany Saturday for a few weeks, I noted in some of your other videos that you were based in Germany for awhile. I've spent quite a bit of time in Dresden in the past and some in Regensburg.
Nice overview. Subtitles are tough sometimes bleeding out into the black letterboxed area. I noticed this more on streaming services. I love my CIH screen and DIY lens made from two prisms.
I'll need to look I to that more. I haven't noticed an issue with forced subtitles from disc rips. But I can see streaming services getting it wrong. I wonder if some players have settings to adjust where the subtitles show up? Depends on if the subtitle is hard coded to the video... Which I wouldn't think would be an issue with all the regionalization options available.
anamorphic lenses are cheap as fish and chips , less than £100.00 . i have such one from russia for few years (before they went and started a war) . many on ebay and all you need is strip . yes strip off the parts that hold the optics in place and take the anamorphic out and find way of fitting in wooden/metal frame that can slid in place for when a scope movie is shown. 16:9 looks more like w/s to me as ex projectionist never liked 16:9 tv's the shape is wrong . they do 21:9 but have a laser 4k projector with 120" at-screen wall to wall . just not bothered to strip the lens down but it was far cheaper than that , snake oil rip off £8k lens .
what if want to fantasize and use the screen like 70mm and have Star Trek VI bit wider and bit higher 2.2:1 it's just make the w/s bit smaller so the height is still same for scope and for fantasize 70mm just widen the image out to the fullest the screen goes and bit higher . oh , and not forget academy ratio 1.33:1 a square like image bit less width than w/s and fraction less in height . you wouldn't want Liemax since imax go around raping other cinemas into Liemax's . boycott Liemax aspect ratios annoying aspect ratio switching that doesn't serve any point to the story other than visual distraction . liemax ratio is like academy ratio on steroids , i don't play any of them anymore . the short 20m 40m movies i play them but not 'interstellar' anymore or 'dunkrik' those are annoying with aspect switching on/off every few seconds . no more nolan movies in my THX cinema with muffled dialogue .
one movie that looks decent with aspect switching 'brainstorm' 1983 with w/s and scope or super panavision 70mm .
the projector is still wasting light just cos the screen is masked the video projectors don't have true aperture plates like 35/70 do . the plate masks the rarely used plate for academy ratio , unless a print came in otherwise standard plate is often w/s and scope . 70mm plates would be fitted if 70mm was used . but still pointless since home cinema market place for these new 4k rubbish and can't even change the specs on it so the image is actually stretchered for scope movies where no black bars or least on 35mm the "rack lines" for scope are thin . w/s rack lines are thicker . on home video its the reverse a total shambles of a mess if you ask me .
speakers are all JBL professional behind my at-screen . five JBL 4673A smaller size for 400 seat cinemas . five . Left Left-centre Centre Right-centre Right . tightly placed over 104" of the horizontal of the screen '9 .2" very small yet big sound or i can make them sound like small by reducing the crossover DSP DCX246 connected to actual cinema THX crossover/monitor . x2 DCX are only used now for PEQ channel muting/monitoring for the "five screen wide" when i use the inner left-extra right-extra .
proper HF horns and it sounds , cinema . and they all cost less than a single m&k home THX speaker costing what £1.6k? daylight robbery .
at-screen was less than £200 . those um, high end lol if you can call them that , again daylight robbery as they think home cinema is a luxury thing , Wrong ! nearly all my home cinema uses professional cinema processors that got cheap as i watched and waited for them to show up . that was few years ago . now very rare to get one cheap like a Dolby Stereo CP200 made in 1980 and still in use at selected cinemas thou serving and repairs not too hard as most is all analog parts and still common on ebay .
CP200 is regarded as best cinema processor made . it stands 28" high ! the Denon avc-x8500h is meh . but a CP200 wouldn't be for you ? for bragging that original 'star wars' movie on it or maybe it is ?
all the surrounds are configured to run as left-half right-half for Dolby Stereo (which comes in many playback formats) or dts , or can switch them to sidewall and back wall for 5.1-CBS dts-6.1 7.1 or atmos . overheads are basic common stereo pairs of height 1 2 and 3 . i have made them into not 6 but 12 easy just add a matrix decoder to each height 1 2 and 3 and bingo no more center-phantom , now has proper channel to localize sound as most times the overheads will be mono . does that shock surprise you ? with mine it's way better , when i bother to play blu/4k atmos as mostly i play 5.1 now . at least i'm catered for the sound formats here . also use "below matrix surround" and almost 0 have it i seem to be only home THX cinema that does ?
surrounds are classic THX JBL 8330 mkII that mostly came from twickenham film studios few years ago when they upgraded there JBL PA cinema monitors . x11 JBL 8330 mkII and x9 JBL 8330A overheads . x11 JBL control 1 below surround .
x8 JBL cinema subs thou 2 subs front are mostly used the the other subs can be blended to fill in typical room null/modes at press of button . or i can use one of the two pair Lc Rc and mimic 'star wars' baby boom as it would have been . 'close encounters' word is they used separate subs maybe for some cinemas around 1977/78 . so subs formats 2/6/8 depends on the movie shown here . sensurround well that's next level ? the home version is okay just not the same . and do we really want 120dBC of it ? no not really . less is better yes still get the sound fun of it . but way the sound/bass moved in the cinema with it , was sort of hearing a front back movement while it constant pressing against my body at alarming rate for 10 mins with 'Earthquake' in 70mm six-track sensurround . i have a one idea to make the LFE.1 a bit different here and not what your thinking or anyone else for that . shhhh .
total speakers JBL around 154 speakers at 38.000kw on THX TAP !
well there , there it is .
Excellent video, agree with what you say: 2.39:1 movies should *wider* than 1.85:1 (or 16 x 9, or whatever), not *shorter!* I am a passionate believer in that.
I'm a big fan of 2.35:1 home screens, have had a few, but these days I'm using a Constant Image *Area* screen with three way masking (sides and top). This satisfies "going wider" for 2.39:1 movies, but without making 1.85:1 films significantly smaller like they were on the 2.35:1 screen. Also, a CIA screen means there's no scope (so to speak) for using an anamorphic lens - but I've always used zoom & shift anyway, much cheaper and perfectly effective with modern projectors.
CIA's maybe not for everyone, but it works for me: Room size/shape can be a determining factor. Fundamentally, I'd either use CIH or CIA - would *never* go back to CIW.
One final thing about the CIA screen is that, for some of those few variable aspect ratio "IMAX" films (aka "Gimmick Cinema", in my opinion), I'll use the entire unmasked screen (it's about 2.05:1, from memory), letterboxed for the 2.35:1 bits, but get the benefit of opening up the top & bottom (albeit not quite fully) for the "IMAX" scenes.
Anyway, thanks for the superb and clearly explained & illustrated video, brilliantly done.
Great to see you back making videos again. I still plan to make a screen following your video instructions, just got to finish the cinema room first...nearly there.
Thanks! Almost done with a degree, so I'll have more time. AVR video coming up next, then once my new projector gets in, I'll be doing an in depth on the Epson LS12000!
Can't wait for that been waiting forever for someone to give a real review of the epson ls12000!!! Love your content
I love my 135“ 16:9 screen with motorised horizontal masking system. I am sitting less than 10 feet away from the screen. So it’s wide enough for CinemaScope movies and I can watch widescreen movies at any size. Mostly a little higher than scope. Sometimes full screen. I like it to open the screen in the IMAX scenes in movies with changing aspect ratios.
I never expected anyone to say "Sponsored by no one", nice video as well, cheers.
Great video. I watched all your videos before setting up my theater. I love your humor and style of delivery, and it’s very helpful.
Today's video sponsored by nobody, that's hilarious
This video is a great knowledge base for projector enthusiasts
Lmao at you reading the on-screen graphics at 8:50
Great video, very informative - thanks for making it!
Hey, great video! I am looking at going to a 2.35:1 myself. I have the Epson LS12000, which has motorized zoom, lense shift, focus and lense memory. My one concern is that when you perform the zoom and lense shift, the black bars that are burned into the image on 2.35:1 content have to go somewhere right, so we are essentially overshooting. I am worried that will be noticeable. I plan to have the screen wall and ceiling painted matte black.
Also, what about content in 2.39 or 2.40? You would still end up a little with letterboxing. How are you dealing with that? Thanks, I subbed!
I have an LS12000 now also. I don't notice the black bars overshooting at all. I have black spandex above and below the screen. Not as good as black velvet, but I still don't notice the spill.
For "extra wide" content, you could zoom out a little more to eliminate the black slivers. You'll lose a little of the image off the left and right, but not much and if your screen is framed in black velvet that should take care of it.
The projector also has blanking available. When I go to my "Lens 2" position. It not only zooms out but it also blanks the top and bottom bars so that variable aspect ratio content does not spill. Not a perfect solution, but it works.
Of course, you could get a $$$$ anamorphic lens. For me personally, I would only consider it if I made a lot more money than I do now.
@@FamilyHomeTheater I just looked up the blanking feature. How cool is that?! I feel more comfortable now, thanks!
Great video! Have you considered motorized masking? You could use a motorized curtain system to bring in the side masks. There are a few guys on UA-cam doing that and it looks like it wouldn’t be too hard. I built a masking system for my CIW screen out of a motorized roller shade for cheap. I uploaded a video a while back if you want to check it out. I watch a lot of football in my theater so I went 16x9.
Here is a link to my video ua-cam.com/video/UhRA4Vdx6oc/v-deo.html
I was originally going to do motorized curtains, but my wife shot it down IIRC. It wouldn't have worked anyway in retrospect because my HVAC intake is behind the screen and it would have played havoc trying to suck the curtains in.
I wish our movie theaters had constant Heights screens all they have is black bars on the top of the bottom and they refuse to use the masking it's like watching a movie on TV
The black bars are much blacker with some projectors in light- controlled rooms. Then you don't lose subtitles.
Nice video. Thank you I learned a bit that will help me in choosing my screen and projector.
You showed some velvet black panels that were temporarily added on the right & left sides of your 2.35:1 screen to turn your cinematic screen to a 16:9 screen for typical television viewing. Can you tell more about these? Where do you buy these? How exactly are these held in place? How do you order these?
I built them. Basically a wood frame with black velvet fabric over them. I have magnets to help hold them in place, though I should have used stronger ones.
@@FamilyHomeTheater Perhaps you can show them in greater detail. What magnets did you use are where did you get them? Is the other side of the magnets on the wall imbedded into the frame of the screen? Thickness and dimensions of the wood? Thanks --Greg--
@@gregcastiglione4763 Hmmm, a screen wall video. That sounds like I could do it fairly quickly. I'll see what I can do.
like the constant height concept...my pocket is not enough deep so it better stick to 16:9
What’s happens to the black bars in 2.35:1 content when vertically stretched and used with an anamorphic lens
The black bars go away completely (unless the content is wider than 2.35:1, which is rare). The actual image is stretched vertically and the data for the black bars is discarded.
@@FamilyHomeTheater I see. I guess I always thought the black bars were “baked” into the image.
@@chrisesterbrooks2880 They are baked in. The projector (when put in anamorphic stretch mode) cuts them off and discards them. What is left is stretched vertically to fill the entire 16:9 frame.
It's like if you look at a picture on your phone and zoom in. Where did the rest of the picture go? For display purposes, it is discarded until you zoom back out.
@@FamilyHomeTheater Would love to see how you made the masking panels for your 2.35:1 screen!
@@chrisesterbrooks2880 ua-cam.com/video/GmCK0AH_mKI/v-deo.html
Great video! You made that masking system look pretty easy!
I just installed a Stewart 2.4:1 screen and will be using a JVC NZ8 along with a Prismasonic anamorphic lens. I hadn't really though too much about doing a masking system but seeing this video maybe I should consider it. Ultimately it would be nice to have it motorized but I think the manual approach will be a lot simpler to build.
Yup, motorized is definitely nicer and more "classy" but unless you really like tinkering, panels are the easy solution. Of course, motorized masking is easier... Once it is built and working!
@@FamilyHomeTheater I do like tinkering and I'm building almost everything myself including speakers. Problem is my day job keeps me traveling all the time so it's hard to get anything done. My screen is mounted on a hinged frame so I also want to make a motorized system to tilt it up.
I'm heading to Dresden Germany Saturday for a few weeks, I noted in some of your other videos that you were based in Germany for awhile. I've spent quite a bit of time in Dresden in the past and some in Regensburg.
Learnt a lot here thank you very much😃
Nice overview. Subtitles are tough sometimes bleeding out into the black letterboxed area. I noticed this more on streaming services. I love my CIH screen and DIY lens made from two prisms.
I'll need to look I to that more. I haven't noticed an issue with forced subtitles from disc rips. But I can see streaming services getting it wrong. I wonder if some players have settings to adjust where the subtitles show up? Depends on if the subtitle is hard coded to the video... Which I wouldn't think would be an issue with all the regionalization options available.