I use three of the same curtain motors and yes they are pretty noisy. Only the one used for the main tabs makes a substantial amount of noise so one day I plan to get around to putting some sort of sound proof box around it. Of course, if you have music playing when the curtains open the...
An anamorphic lens has nothing to do with it. Although you have hit on a good subject for projecting 16:9 material if you don't have a 16:9 panel in your video projector i.e. a 1.5x 'Scope lens.
The Empire Leicester Square has just about the most comfortable seats in the West End of London. High backs, spacious and they rock backwards and forwards. I'd love to have something like that but tracking down a supplier has proved impossible. Interesting that until recently in one of my...
That's true of video projection but not film. An anamorphic print results in an image wider and higher than a flat or masked print. All the masking moves simply to accomodate every ratio possible with 2x anamorphic giving the biggest picture. All the video projectors I've used here (and...
Perhaps things are a bit different in England but all these reclining chairs you've been looking at just don't look like cinema seats. At least I've never seen anything like them in any cinema I've ever been to. Would having seating like that mean you just had a lounge/living room with a screen...
Doesn't that just mean you get a smaller picture despite the film originally being Panavision (i.e. 'Scope)? I suppose some modern multiplex cinemas do the same thing - many in the UK installed screens without adjustable side masking. However, they put in top or bottom masking to reduce the...
If the bottom of the picture is still roughly at the same height throughout the zoom range then the bottom masking does not need to move. This means only the top mask has to move up and down to incorporate all the different screen ratios. LCD is a video projector. As is anything projecting a...
I build a screen for less than £5! Amazing what can be achieved with a flat painted white wall, masking tape and a tin of matt black paint. You can also purchase screen paint for an even whiter finish. That then leaves you with a further $2,000 to spend on the picture which is the most...
Also, if just using video projection you can get away with just having a moving top mask due to the way the zoom lenses tend to work on video projection. Just the top of the frame tends to move as it enlarges/reduces whereas the base of the picture largely stays where it is. It's only us people...
Surely the most important thing in any home cinema is the quality of the picture with sound being a secondary consideration. After all, sound doesnt really affect the enjoyment of Harold Lloyd, Buster Keaton or such greats as Fritz Lang's metropolis. Having said all that dipoles tend to give...