2.35 masking on a 134" diagonal screen

[IWC Dopplel]

Firstly apologies for the pictures, iphone with no light (broke my pocket camera )

I have yet to assemble. The plan is to have the brackets fitted 10mm from outside the screen frame and 5mm proud (coming into the room) to allow clearance to the frame and screen. I have yet to cover with sticky backed velour, this has been fabricated from 3mm alloy plate. 3.25m in total

Fitting will simply be lifting up and placing over the bracket, one side at a time if you are stuck alone (put some thread on one side then fix the other and tighten both sides) They are light (easy to pick both up and move around) they will be mounted in place unless I watch a 1.85:1 movie then they will simply be removed and placed behind the speakers

I hope you can see the design. They are the same profile as the screen and fitting the brackets 5mm out will put 5mm clearance all round. So nothing touching when fitted. I have held up one side (At an angle) to show the bars against the frame for scale as one hand was holding and one hand was with ipod I wasn't perpared to risk trying to hold it true for the picture (the other end was on the floor !)

I will try and fit this week and take some better pictures !

[Johnny.G]

Looks very interesting m'boy and interested on how it turns out ...... did the metal work come back to you straight and true or have you had to tweek it.

john

[IWC Dopplel]

Originally Posted by Johnny.G

Looks very interesting m'boy and interested on how it turns out ...... did the metal work come back to you straight and true or have you had to tweek it.

john

It looks very good to me all true. It is quite rigid, thankfully. As I am over 3m it is actually welded in the middle. Less than 3m and it would be easier to make for the guys

All round a good job

[Pecker]

Great stuff.

I know if you want to buy something that does this it'll cost you a small fortune.

DIYing must give you a lot of satisfaction.

Steve W

[Deus_ex]

Hi, I've been looking into diy masking and found a neat and cheap way to do it if you have a fixed screen. Its on the US forum AVS Forum - View Single Post - I Made DIY 2.40:1 Masking for My 1.85:1 Screen

Have a look, it maybe a easier to diy solution, although I don't know if its practical if your screen is over 9ft wide.

Whats your next project IWC Dopplel, a diy anamorphic lens ?

[IWC Dopplel]

Okay here we are at step 2 :

Spacing blocks made for the brackets, covered in sticky backed velour and the brackets (yet to be covered mounted) all lined up and fitted>

To do's

1. Clean the alloy bars with spirit
2. Fix sticky backed velour to them
3. Adjust the brackets so there is a little more clearance (1mm or less in a couple of places)
4. Cover the top metal brackets in velour

By the way I fitted and assembled the bars home alone, I think this would work even better on a smaller screen. As although very workable playing with 3.25m beams just makes me a little nervous in case I drop one !

Mental note, alter screen aspect ratio before wine or beer

BTW the apparent curve on the 2nd must be my Ricoh lense !

[IWC Dopplel]

Originally Posted by Deus_ex

Hi, I've been looking into diy masking and found a neat and cheap way to do it if you have a fixed screen. Its on the US forum AVS Forum - View Single Post - I Made DIY 2.40:1 Masking for My 1.85:1 Screen

Have a look, it maybe a easier to diy solution, although I don't know if its practical if your screen is over 9ft wide.

Whats your next project IWC Dopplel, a diy anamorphic lens ?

A nice idea if they are rigid enough, much easier and safer

[IWC Dopplel]

Nearly there

[Baggy]

Looking good now that you've got them covered.

[IWC Dopplel]

All done, perf.....

It all fits within 3mm of the screen without touching, difficult to see as the velour is so good !

[Johnny.G]

That really does look well, quite a professional look to it .

Your obviously tallented .... looking at the construction of the sides of the masks and the small space you have at the sides of the screen do you not fancy having a go at further modifications or some sort of mechanical additions , cords / pulleys etc to make it a permanent adjustable masking system ... i bet you could

[IWC Dopplel]

Originally Posted by Johnny.G

That really does look well, quite a professional look to it .

Your obviously tallented .... looking at the construction of the sides of the masks and the small space you have at the sides of the screen do you not fancy having a go at further modifications or some sort of mechanical additions , cords / pulleys etc to make it a permanent adjustable masking system ... i bet you could

I'll put my thinking cap on

They will be permanently on until I watch a 1.85:1 film

[Manni01]

Originally Posted by IWC Dopplel

A nice idea if they are rigid enough, much easier and safer

That's the way I plan to do mine, except because my screen has to stand on the floor (height limitation), I intend to use lens shift (no need to zoom/refocus) to move the picture to the top of the screen and use only one mask of different size (for each letterboxed AR, 1.85, 2.35 and 2.40) at the bottom of the screen. I'm waiting to get the PJ setup to make sure I don't make any mistake in my calculations...

Well done IWC, it's a very elegant system and it looks great, even if I'm not sure I fully understand how it works from the pictures... I'm not sure I can visualise what it looks like in 1.78 ratio. Do you remove the masks, or are they lifted up/out on some kind of hinges? Sorry to be so thick...

[IWC Dopplel]

Originally Posted by Manni01

That's the way I plan to do mine, except because my screen has to stand on the floor (height limitation), I intend to use lens shift (no need to zoom/refocus) to move the picture to the top of the screen and use only one mask of different size (for each letterboxed AR, 1.85, 2.35 and 2.40) at the bottom of the screen. I'm waiting to get the PJ setup to make sure I don't make any mistake in my calculations...

Well done IWC, it's a very elegant system and it looks great, even if I'm not sure I fully understand how it works from the pictures... I'm not sure I can visualise what it looks like in 1.78 ratio. Do you remove the masks, or are they lifted up/out on some kind of hinges? Sorry to be so thick...

Manni, its very easy. You can see it fixed to permanent side brackets, this is how I will store the bars (in place) as well as watch a 2.35:1 film (most films as you know are 2.35) then when I watch a 1.85 I simply take them off and place on the floor behind the speakers in front of the screen

They are very rigid, and do an excellent job. It may be possible to designs a side support the allow them to be manually wound up/down so I never unbolt. On a 134" diagnonal it is only 205mm of masking. But boy it make a huge difference to the in room contrast on a 2.35:1 film

I may have insufficient clearance at the top to clear if they simply move up and down by some mechanism. I will put my thinkin cap on again

For the moment it's a manual process :

1. loosen one side (keep the nut on to stop it slipping off), unbolt the other side and take that end away from the stud and lower by hand to rest on the floor (easy as they are light).

2.Then undo the thread on the other side and remove to lower the whole bar to the floor.

3. Repeat for the other bar

[Manni01]

Originally Posted by IWC Dopplel

Manni, its very easy. You can see it fixed to permanent side brackets, this is how I will store the bars (in place) as well as watch a 2.35:1 film (most films as you know are 2.35) then when I watch a 1.85 I simply take them off and place on the floor behind the speakers in front of the screen

They are very rigid, and do an excellent job. It may be possible to designs a side support the allow them to be manually wound up/down so I never unbolt. On a 134" diagnonal it is only 205mm of masking. But boy it make a huge difference to the in room contrast on a 2.35:1 film

I may have insufficient clearance at the top to clear if they simply move up and down by some mechanism. I will put my thinkin cap on again

For the moment it's a manual process :

1. loosen one side (keep the nut on to stop it slipping off), unbolt the other side and take that end away from the stud and lower by hand to rest on the floor (easy as they are light).

2.Then undo the thread on the other side and remove to lower the whole bar to the floor.

3. Repeat for the other bar

Thanks, it makes sense now. It's the first picture which confused me, it looked like the bars where "open" or "up" as if on a hinge, but the AR still looked like 2.35, so I couldn't understand how it worked. Now I get it, bars on = 2.35, bars off = 1.78 (I assume, or is it a 1.85 screen natively?). I guess I'm surprised with the heavy duty aspect of the approch compared to the simpler/lighter way I intend to go, that's why I assumed it was a complex design (a la Masquerade) to move the bars in and out of the way manually or automatically. But it still looks very good