[Ambient Fish]

Blown away, superb job my man

[burtonpark]

Originally Posted by jagdeepp

Sorry, Windows died on me a few months ago and i lost all the pictures i'd put in the c: which included the ones of the build for the rear column.

I screwed battens to the wall for the left and right side of the column. I then had MDF cut to size at B&Q and screwed them together and filled the joins. In short i had the Front Sheet of MDF and 2 sides. There was nothing at the back. The sides were then put against the battens screwed into the wall (battens were fixed so that they'd be at the inside of the frame) and i screwed the frame into them from the sides... The frames were also mass filled with insulation so that they weren't hollow and creating boom. Wiring was put through them for the sconces (lights) Hope that helps? The mouldings at the front finished it off for me and i purchased those from Wickes at around £4 each.

Voila!

I'll add a few more pics in a few days. Had a change of heart with the colour on the wall (Mellow Mocha) which i found to be reflective and more importantly it would illuminate everytime a bright image came up on screen. Since this was distracting i thought i'd go for a darker acceptable shade. I've opted for...yep, you guessed it, Chocolate Suede. I've done a couple of coats in between the columns on one wall. It looks lush! Absolutely love it. 'Er indoors came into the theatre as i was first starting and commented that it looked dark and horrible. Having seen the 2 coats she said 'its not bad at all'. It's not actually too dark. Perfect in fact.

I'll get the other walls done over the next few days and i hope to order some Devore too. I'll also be working on a permanent solution for the french doors. I'm confused as to how to block the light. Any suggestions? Options are:

-Curtains

-Black fabric on a rail

-Building an internal set of doors filled with insulation and painted black/chocolate suede to make them fairly invisible when closed...

- Tinting out the actual window in the french doors!? How, i don't know!!

Suggest external security shutters - does two jobs in one!

PS whats this Devore stiuff - I use black velvet is that the same

[jagdeepp]

Originally Posted by burtonpark

Suggest external security shutters - does two jobs in one!

PS whats this Devore stiuff - I use black velvet is that the same

External security shutters? Thats slightly overkill and will attract unnecessary attention imo.. Plus the doors open outward so it wouldn't sit flush.

Devore is this stuff here: http://www.whaleys-bradford.ltd.uk/p...?productID=124

Blacker than black. If you have decent black velvet then please give me a link as it'll probably be cheaper than this stuff which is priced at an equivalent rate to copper or gold!

[jagdeepp]

Ok, another quick update.

Painted the walls which were originally Dulux Mellow Mocha a darker shade. I'd actually realised after initially painting and reading the tin that the mocha in fact contained pigments which caused a higher level of reflection bouncing back light. This meant that the PJ light hitting it would effectively bounce back onto the ceiling, carpet and eventually the screen.

I initially didn't have the courage to paint the walls a darker shade. I needed to work out the use of the new build over the course of a few months so i could work out whether to commit it to being a completely dedicated theatre or something inbetween. I've in fact found myself going in there with friends and family most of the time to watch movies, the world cup and to play video games. Equally I've got some weights stored under the Sofa's which i pull out and work out with from time to time. On a number of occasions i've also taken some work in with me and studied my papers with the lights dimmed down whilst listening to music. Going a few shades darker wasn't a problem since the windows have been blocked out, the french doors now have a set of thermal blackout curtains blocking them out.

Chocolate Suede it was then. I wasn't too sure initially. I didnt know whether i'd pasted too much on. The second coat was random long swept motions and the first few days later i kept examining my strokes and work. Now, a month later, i barely notice the suede effect. I just see darker warm walls which provide great ambience irrespective to whether the lighting is dimmed down, lights out or on full brightness. Would i run this colour in a lounge? Maybe over a focal wall or something, but each to their own and all fellow forum members who have used it have done a tremendous job.

Ok, curtains: check, walls: check. Next, i need to replace my maplin speaker cloth around the screen with Devore velvet. I also plan to bring that around 2 metres out. The more elaborate and fairly mental plan is to put in a curtain track just in front of the frame which would retract by remote control. At this stage i do have other priorities and Rome wasn't built in a day so i may hold out a little.


Here are a few pics - Note the sound panels have been removed from the wall and need to be hung back up! I'm still in 2 minds whether to replace these with movie posters since the rear panels seem to do the trick and capture reflections well enough. My only concern with movie posters is the reflection from the glass/plastic which may detract and become irritating. Pic's anyway:
:

A more interesting shot with my new 35mm Nikkor AF-S lens

A close up shot of the wall trying to capture the suede effect. By touch its effectively sandy to the touch but its all about the look i guess!

Has the suede paint on the walls made a difference? If i was to offer a stat i'd say the image is now 60% better in terms of contrast! A job definitely worth doing!

[FRL]

Great set up.

Just wondering what media server you are using. Looks great.

[jagdeepp]

Originally Posted by FRL

Great set up.

Just wondering what media server you are using. Looks great.

Hello mate, and welcome to the forums.

I've got a HTPC with Windows 7 MCE. I've got 2.5 terrabyte under the hood and a couple of external drives which are around 750gb each. I've got a number of themes running in Media Centre. If you go to the PC>HTPC section you'll find some excellent guides. A dedicated PC is better for tweaking than a media streamer. Especially if you need to make adjustments to compensate for the fairly saturated colour palate of the JVC 350. The PC runs exclusively for home theatre. No other apps at all.

[Oggie]

Top project this, well done jagdeepp !

[snapper3166]

This room gets better and better...........

Chocolate Suede it is then!

Interesting what you say about the acoustic panels.... if you're getting rid of them let me know

[shynsingh]

Satsriakal Jagdeep

Looking good, very good - well done.
Nice to see Heyy Baby in the collection.

Regards
Shyn Singh

[Darrenraymond]

Fantastic video and pics there mate. Well done.

Im looking to take advantage of my pc's bluray/dvd-rw to store blurays onto my media centre like yours but having trouble with
1) Bluray playback
2)Storing them to harddrive.

May i ask what software etc ur running tht enables you to store your films the way you have.. All help much appreciated

[phil5366]

This is still one of the best setups over the last couple of years on here! A credit to you, great build.

[jagdeepp]

Originally Posted by Darrenraymond

Fantastic video and pics there mate. Well done.

Im looking to take advantage of my pc's bluray/dvd-rw to store blurays onto my media centre like yours but having trouble with
1) Bluray playback
2)Storing them to harddrive.

May i ask what software etc ur running tht enables you to store your films the way you have.. All help much appreciated

Hiya mate, thanks for the compliments. I have simply taken the blu ray folders and played the 'originals' through Arcsoft Toal Theatre 3. The PC requires a decent graphics card and processor to cope with the 30gb/ps from the files. On occasion if forwarding through a scene you can end up with a couple of seconds of lag which is annoying. I've converted files to MKV which as a divx equivalent significantly reduces file size and i've stripped away all extras.

For original blu ray playback I don't think it gets much better than a PS3 or a quality blu ray player. The Popcorn hour is also very decent and copes well wth blu ray iso's. I understand that it now has a media jukebox available for download which makes for greater eye candy. Hope that helps?

[jagdeepp]

Originally Posted by phil5366

This is still one of the best setups over the last couple of years on here! A credit to you, great build.

Thanks for your kind words. I've just had a butchers at your work. Absolutey stunning kitchen/dining room. Your lounge is also very cozy! I reciprocate the compliments my friend!

[jagdeepp]

The theatre is having further and i can quite confidently say 'the final' modification.

I've taken time off work this week and i needed a break. So what better way to spend time away from the office than to undergo further projects in the theatre!

Here's whats happened so far:

Riser built. Used 2x7 timbers 3.6mtrs in length. Stacked one pile on another which with chipboard on top gives a riser height of around 15 odd inches! This is certainly high but i'd used a riser calculator i'd found on avsforum.com. Since my screen is 16:9 and sits fairly low down the rear had to be sufficiently high to allow for those sitting at the back to see over the front sofas. 17" was suggested but i thought i'd drop a couple of inches from that.

Riser carpetted (by moi)

Front spotlights taken out (closest to the stage)

To do now:

Devore on panels surrounding the screen (replacing the maplin speaker cloth which for me wasn't cutting the mustard!)

5mtr Electric curtain rail to be put together to hold my deep black velvet curtains which will cover the front stage. So far i've had difficulty understanding the instructions. GazzaS (kind chap here on the forums) has offered some reassuring advice on assembly.

2 further sofa's to be delivered in a fortnight to allow comfortable seating for 8.

All the above has been managed on a very tight budget. The curtains were purchased on an ebay auction for a shockingly cheap price. The timber was ordered but included the use of left over bits of wood. The carpet on the riser was in fact left over from the original carpet. The curtain rail was also a very very reasonable purchase working out the same price as a quality 5mtr rail. Ordered from China at less than half the uk price! The sofa's are also a bargain costing less than 50% of the original dfs sofas from again, fleabay.

I'll upload some pics later this weekend by which stage the devore should be done and curtains up. I can then sit back and continue watching movies.

This is now literally an enter, switch on, sit back enjoy and then leave room. Each evening in here is an event and an absolute privilege.

[snapper3166]

Eagerly awaiting the photos!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

[Darrenraymond]

It sure does help.. Thanks for the pointers.

[DrGekko]

Hi Jagdeep.

Heartiest congratulations mate, superb set up. Absolutely love it. The video is excellent and demonstrates things really well. Excellent!

I have a few questions for you....

1. How did you stretch the material around the frame and where did you acquire your screen material please?

2. Have you/are you considering a curtain or some other method to screen off the vertical bars during 16:9 viewing?

3. Can you configure My Movies display into 2.35:1 to fit your screen during movie selection?

4. Are you using an anamorphic lens for you 2.35:1 images?

Thanks very much!

[jagdeepp]

Originally Posted by DrGekko

Hi Jagdeep.

Heartiest congratulations mate, superb set up. Absolutely love it. The video is excellent and demonstrates things really well. Excellent! Cheers mate

I have a few questions for you....

1. How did you stretch the material around the frame and where did you acquire your screen material please? The screen is actually a fixed frame Carada screen. It's 136" diagonal. Width wise its around 118" viewable which is 10ft.
I simply stapled the fabric to the frame surrounding the screen. It's a frame made of 1 3/4" timber with 6mm of MDF screwed to the front. The MDF panels have been covered in fabric which is stretched and stapled to the back. It's then attached to the frame and screwed in from behind so no joins or staples are visible.

2. Have you/are you considering a curtain or some other method to screen off the vertical bars during 16:9 viewing?
The screen is a 16:9 viewing so no curtains or anything required for 16:9 material. For 2.35:1 however i tend to use my htpc and windows media player classic to stretch the image around 15% height wise and 5-10% widthwise which doesnt result in a massive loss on the sides but gives a larger more generous unskewed image without much compromise (from what i can tell). Otherwise i tend to leave the black bars which to me are more than acceptable. I could push the image up and mask the bottom end but at this stage don't have the need to. Once i'm into a film i'm able to forget about the bars.

3. Can you configure My Movies display into 2.35:1 to fit your screen during movie selection?
I don't believe you can actually. I use Windows 7MCE which allows for letterbox or 4:3. It doesnt cater for 2.35:1. I guess you could just live with the stretched image but on a 16:9 screen there's no issue.

4. Are you using an anamorphic lens for you 2.35:1 images?
No, nothing at all. I was at the brink of purchasing one weeks ago but eventually decided against. I tend to play xbox and enjoy the windows MCE menus in 16:9 and would prefer to keep them as they are. A 2.35:1 through anamorphic could in fact stretch my image to a mental 14ft wide which sounds amazing but having looked at a few calculations it would appear that you need to be a 1.5 throw ratio which i dont have, the image would therefore wouldnt be optimum. Plus i prefer my large 16:9 image with bars to a 2.35:1 with pincushion with a smaller 16:9 if that makes sense. At a push i may mask but at this stage i dont feel the need.
Thanks very much!

On a seperate note, I've now completed the following:

Building and carpetting the riser
-Replacing Maplin speaker cloth around the screen area with devore velvet.
**I must say on this note that the devore is brilliant! Having hung my first panel i wasn't convinced. Having completed the panelling however i was stunned when i put on a movie. The screen appears to be in a complete blackhole! Zero reflections! It's blacker than black.**

-Assembling and hanging up my 5 metre elecric curtain rail. Needs slight tweaking to stop the motion once the curtains open or close but its 90% done.

All thats left to do now is trim the length of the velvet curtains and hang them. I also need to build a frame for the devore panels that will go in front of the Curtains.

Finally, i should be receiving my 2 front row sofas within a fortnight. That'll then be the theatre finally complete. I may in due course replace my PJ box with a ceiling mount.

I'll add some 'final' pics in a couple of weeks once the sofa's are delivered.

[DrGekko]

Can't wait to see the curtains, should add some drama to the scene!! Where did you order your electric rail from please? Does it come with a motor? How are you going to control it, from remote?

Thanks!

[cymruoasis]

Very cool

[jagdeepp]

Originally Posted by DrGekko

Can't wait to see the curtains, should add some drama to the scene!! Where did you order your electric rail from please? Does it come with a motor? How are you going to control it, from remote?

Thanks!

Hiya, i'll add some pics with the curtains etc once the sofa's are in (some point over the next week and a half i'm promised). I'll also try and upload a video of the curtains in action. The curtains are ordered from these guys.

Electric curtains and Motorized Curtain System manufacturer, electric curtain tracks

They are remote controlled through ir and so should work with an all in one remote. They also come with a wired remote which could be attached to the wall. Now its connected i can confirm the motor isn't ultra quite but simply sounds like a machine rotating wire. The sound is similar in fact to the sound of the JVC lens cover opening and closing. It takes around 5 seconds to open the curtains out fully and the glide is very smooth.

I've also almost finished devoring. It comes out a total of around 2 mtrs from the screen. I've noticed that the eye is no longer focussed on whats going on outside of that 2 mtrs where the devore ends as the brightness of the screen still results in spillage onto the ceiling. It's really not noticeable though and the picture is far more immersive. I'm currently down with man flu. Once i've made a complete recovery I'll get this finished and upload a few pics of the area.

[Pecker]

I've seen a lot of very impressive systems here in my time, but this one tops the lot.

Not only that, but it's quite similar to what I'm planning.

May I ask a few questions? Sorry if you've already covered any of the points.

1 - Roughly how much was it?

2 - What speakers do you have?

Steve W

[Pecker]

Having read you sig I now realise that '2' was a stupid question.



Steve W

[bodmin]

top notch

[Pocket]

Spectacular job, Jagdeepp!
How big is the doghouse?

[borrower]

Nice work! Easy to justify 'getting sent to the doghouse'...

[jagdeepp]

Originally Posted by Pocket

Spectacular job, Jagdeepp!
How big is the doghouse?

Hiya mate and thanks for the comments. The Kennel is is around 6mtrs deep by just under 7 metres wide. The screen wall pretrudes and swallows up a small portion of the size.

There will be 2 rows of sofas in the theatre by the back end of next week and the rear set will sit on a 15" high riser which is under 3.7 mtrs wide. The room will be a little busier looking than was the case in the video and earlier pictures. What it does mean however is that it appears moreso to be a cosier dedicated theatre than something that was only otherwise half way there. The rear seats in fact mean the viewer is 15ft away from the screen which is easier on the eye for those who dont want to sit 3 mtrs away from the screen and have an imax experience!

[Pecker]

We talk a lot here about seating distances - it must be very nice to have the choice.



Top, top set up. I've shown Me Julie the video already.

Twice.



Steve W

[soupdragon]

Ace! Love the layout of everything - a true home theatre!

[jagdeepp]

Ok here's a quick snap of the new layout. 2 new sofas will be here to replace the leathers that form the front row. I'll upload the final pics once they arrive.