16:9 or 2.35:1? Which screen dimension to go for?

[rdksrk2013]

Sharing from my experience - I had gone for 16:9 screen and most of the movies Indian ones are 16:9 and with 120" screen and at 14 ft viewingdistance it is massive and immersive experience.

If your room is 24 ft then go for a bigger screen than 120".

Even if I project a 2.35:1 with the immersive experience with surround and night viewing - beleive me unless you are concentrating on the black bars - you are not going to really get distracted if your setup is good and the movie you are projecting is interesting.

Only time you start thinking of the light black/grey bands are if the movie is dialogue intensive and you are not interested in the dialogues or you are seeing some embarrasing / weeping scene which you want consiously to avoid and cannot fast forward it because your other audience or family is keenly observing.

 

[bikram_singh]

A gray screen can give you better black levels IMHO. The projector you have got is a very bright one and there is going to be ambient light if you are not careful.
Ex: If your walls, ceiling, carpet, furniture and anything else in the room is not dark, then you'll have tons of light reflected off it - and you may now think this isn't a big deal but trust me this is BIG deal. In such cases, a gray screen will give you better blacks.
If i were you i might have gone with ProGray. The stiff material may or may not be what you want - if you are building a frame and tensioning the material on it you may not need the stiff material.
Please remember - black/dark blue ceiling, at least darker gray walls (if dark blue is too much), screen wall complete black/dark blue, carpet will be dark. This will give you best movie experience. I found this out after i put acoustic material on the walls - so doing anything now is troublesome if not impossible (i might just do it very soon)
If you do all of the above the white would work as well as the gray - but really i don't see what you can lose by going gray.

I came across terms like tensioning and dew-resistant. I am completely noob in this, so I do not understand what do tensioned systems or mid dew resistant" mean", and what kind of screen is called tensioned. Please explain.

For screen I have the following in mind: I'll build a wooden frame, will get the screen material fixed on that, afterward will put an aluminum framing around it on which I'll past 3" black tape (from carl's place). Is it the right way to go about it?

 

[bikram_singh]

Sharing from my experience - I had gone for 16:9 screen and most of the movies Indian ones are 16:9 and with 120" screen and at 14 ft viewingdistance it is massive and immersive experience.

If your room is 24 ft then go for a bigger screen than 120".

Even if I project a 2.35:1 with the immersive experience with surround and night viewing - beleive me unless you are concentrating on the black bars - you are not going to really get distracted if your setup is good and the movie you are projecting is interesting.

Only time you start thinking of the light black/grey bands are if the movie is dialogue intensive and you are not interested in the dialogues or you are seeing some embarrasing / weeping scene which you want consiously to avoid and cannot fast forward it because your other audience or family is keenly observing.

I am not sure if I can go with a screen size of more than 120" for my 24 ft long room which is only 13.5 ft wide because as suggested by a forum member, I need to keep 2 feet from both sides for speakers. The logic was front speakers should be kept 1 feet away from wall (left one should be 1 ft away from left and back wall, and right one should be 1 ft away from right and the back wall).

The Polk floorstandings are 8-9 inches wide, which means I will need to keep 20-21 inches space on either side of the screen. Then there will be frame width 3" each on each side. If I add to this 3-4 more inches then all I am left is with 9.08 feet or so.

I think in this space I can go for at max with 125" screen isn't it. I've done the calculation as per the following formula:

For a 16:9 screen, given the diagonal width you can calculate the height and width using the following formula:
Height = 0.495 * diagonal
Width = 0.87 * diagonal

I hope I am not wrong in the calculation. Please suggest

 

[bikram_singh]

Make sure that you wall behind the screen is black,

To the extent that is is possible, also extend the black wall, to side walls

Make sure that the ceiling is black

For Home Viewing go with a 16:9 screen

If the room is dark enough- you will not notice the black bars- even when viewing content which is 2.35:1

I will color the top bottom, left, and right side of the screen black, which will be 2 feet deep on all sides. It'll look something like the screen the attachment file (it's a rough drawing).

 

[Thtpro]

Yes to what you have shown. Also see attached pictures for extending the black on the wall and ceiling

 

[sash]

I came across terms like tensioning and dew-resistant. I am completely noob in this, so I do not understand what do tensioned systems or mid dew resistant" mean", and what kind of screen is called tensioned. Please explain.

For screen I have the following in mind: I'll build a wooden frame, will get the screen material fixed on that, afterward will put an aluminum framing around it on which I'll past 3" black tape (from carl's place). Is it the right way to go about it?

Tensioning means you will be stretching the screen material over the frame tightly. In this case, you can do without a thick screen material. On the other hand if your design means that you will not be stretching the screen over the frame, then the screen material must be thick so that it does not cause wrinkles.
Mild dew is sort of fungus that grows in moist places like inside an ac unit etc. Anything you put over a wall it is best if it is mild dew resistant

 

[sash]

I am not sure if I can go with a screen size of more than 120" for my 24 ft long room which is only 13.5 ft wide because as suggested by a forum member, I need to keep 2 feet from both sides for speakers. The logic was front speakers should be kept 1 feet away from wall (left one should be 1 ft away from left and back wall, and right one should be 1 ft away from right and the back wall).

The Polk floorstandings are 8-9 inches wide, which means I will need to keep 20-21 inches space on either side of the screen. Then there will be frame width 3" each on each side. If I add to this 3-4 more inches then all I am left is with 9.08 feet or so.

I think in this space I can go for at max with 125" screen isn't it. I've done the calculation as per the following formula:

For a 16:9 screen, given the diagonal width you can calculate the height and width using the following formula:
Height = 0.495 * diagonal
Width = 0.87 * diagonal

I hope I am not wrong in the calculation. Please suggest

Your math is right. My room is also of similar width (13 feet) and the 120" just about fills the entire front wall with some space on the sides for the speakers. I doubt if you can go any bigger.
That's why a room that has bigger screen wall and tapers towards the back is preferable. Along with this purpose, it'll also be great for acoustics (non parallel walls reduce reflections and standing waves - i have read)

 

[bikram_singh]

Tensioning means you will be stretching the screen material over the frame tightly. In this case, you can do without a thick screen material. On the other hand if your design means that you will not be stretching the screen over the frame, then the screen material must be thick so that it does not cause wrinkles.
Mild dew is sort of fungus that grows in moist places like inside an ac unit etc. Anything you put over a wall it is best if it is mild dew resistant

So do you think I should go with ProGray from Carl's place, which you suggested earlier, if I am going to make a fixed projector screen? I will fix the material on a wooden frame using nails? OR just buying simple Blackout cloth is advisable? As it is a dedicated room for only movie viewing, light control is not an issue, in fact, I've not built any window in it.

 

[manoj.p]

Bikram,

I see that you are importing a screen. So, I would also suggest looking at seymorav screen material. He sells a 98" wide screen material for about $20 per linear foot. It is acoustically transparent screen so will allow you to put speakers/subs behind it and you can get bigger than 120" screen. Just another option.

 

[rdksrk2013]

Bikram,

I see that you are importing a screen. So, I would also suggest looking at seymorav screen material. He sells a 98" wide screen material for about $20 per linear foot. It is acoustically transparent screen so will allow you to put speakers/subs behind it and you can get bigger than 120" screen. Just another option.

I think exploring Manoj's idea is good since you have sufficient length of room to put the speakers behind the screen.

Somehow just like the distraction of the black bars on a 16:9 screen for a 2.35:1 picture, i also get the feeling that the (even with the center speaker at the bottom) the dialogues are emanating from the bottom of the screen. This is my personal experience and need not be same for others. I still need to do the surround settings properly.

I cannot comment if the sound will be muffled a bit if it is behind the screen (as in movie theatre).

Also you can explore the idea as suggested in this thread to go for a bit of curvature of the screen. Couple of members have posted in this forum

 

[sdurani]

I cannot comment if the sound will be muffled a bit if it is behind the screen (as in movie theatre).

Can be compensated for, either by the automated room correction in the AV receiver or by manually boosting the highs a bit.

 

[bikram_singh]

Pics of my HT:

http://www.hifivision.com/my-audio-video-setup/59263-pics-my-home-theater.html#post660951