Cinemascope (2.35:1) Projector Screens

[J M O N]

Thinking about getting a Cinemascope (2.35:1) projector screen.  Anyone have good recommendation on sources?  Thanks.

Edited January 24, 2016 by JMON

[Youthman]

Screen vendors will greatly depend on your budget.  When I bought mine, I went with Elite as they were the more budget friendly and even at that, I wasn't too excited about spending $560 on my 103" screen.  I purchased my DIY screen fabric from Seymour for my soon to be 150" screen.  I've heard nothing but great reviews of them.

[Scrappydue]

I've had multiple people to my house that preferred my elite 4K material over their own Seymour fabric because the weave is tighter. Now if your gonna build your own frame by all means get the Seymour fabric. Is pretty cheap. If your gonna buy it all look into elite. I think their acoustipro material is now on the third gen run.

Not saying one is better than the other. Just a general consensus that the 4K material from elite is good. Can't see weave unless your about a foot away. So don't dismiss elite just cause they are a budget company.

Edited January 16, 2016 by Scrappydue

[J M O N]

Screen vendors will greatly depend on your budget.  When I bought mine, I went with Elite as they were the more budget friendly and even at that, I wasn't too excited about spending $560 on my 103" screen.  I purchased my DIY screen fabric from Seymour for my soon to be 150" screen.  I've heard nothing but great reviews of them.

 

How far along are you in building your screen?  Did you purchase that material directly from Seymour or was there another vendor you had to go through?

[J M O N]

I've had multiple people to my house that preferred my elite 4K material over their own Seymour fabric because the weave is tighter. Now if your gonna build your own frame by all means get the Seymour fabric. Is pretty cheap. If your gonna buy it all look into elite. I think their acoustipro material is now on the third gen run.

Not saying one is better than the other. Just a general consensus that the 4K material from elite is good. Can't see weave unless your about a foot away. So don't dismiss elite just cause they are a budget company.

 

Where did you get your Elite screen from?

[Youthman]

How far along are you in building your screen? Did you purchase that material directly from Seymour or was there another vendor you had to go through?

The custom aluminum frame has been build, the gas shocks were just ordered yesterday. Assembly of the screen will be one of the last things we do. I ordered the material directly from Seymour.

[Youthman]

I bought my first elite screen directly from Elite

[derrickdj1]

I am new to this game and can say the PQ on my Elite Screen is sharper than some of my plasma 1080 TV's.  JMON, are you specifically looking for 2.35:1 type screen for super wide presentations or just wide screen 16:9.  A screen that support the 2.35:1 will have large vertical black bars when the movie is not in the 2.35:1 format.

[Youthman]

Derrick, either format you will have large grey bars. With the Panasonic AE8000u, I'm able to fill the entire screen for 2.35 content and when I play 16:9 content, the panny automatically zooms out and refocuses. IMO, grey bars on the sides are less distracting than grey bars on top and bottom. Once the lights go dim, I've never noticed the bars.

For me, almost 100% of my content is in 2.35:1 as I watch zero sports. So 2.35 was a no brained for me. There's nothing like having a huge, super wide screen that allows you to see the movie exactly like the director intended. Within the next month or so, I will be selling my 103" and installing my 150".

Edited January 17, 2016 by Youthman

[derrickdj1]

Thanks Micheal, 150 is huge, lol.  The whole front wall will be filled.  That should make for a nice movie experience.  I would have to build risers for seat and some lots of other things for something like that.  You have worked hard on your theater and have some of the infrastructure which makes it nice to do the upgrade.  Can't wait to see some pic's.

[bobdog]

Take a look at Carada.  Top notch quality at a great price.  I think they get over looked a lot because they are so cheap that no one believes they can be any good.  They are.  http://www.carada.com

[Youthman]

Take a look at Carada. Top notch quality at a great price. I think they get over looked a lot because they are so cheap that no one believes they can be any good.

I've heard great things about Carada as well.  When I was looking, Carada was more than the Elite.

[bobdog]

I have two of them. A 95" in my bar and a 135" scope screen in the main room.  I have never wondered if I should have spent more.  They are the last thing I would ever think about upgrading.  The only issue for some might be that they do not do acoustically transparent screens.

[Youthman]

I have never wondered if I should have spent more.

I agree wholeheartedly.  The PQ from my Elite is fantastic.  I switched to Seymour to make a DIY Acoustic Transparent screen.

[The Dude]

I purchased my DIY screen fabric from Seymour

 

Which one did you go with, the xd or uf? 

 

The uf is fairly priced. I wonder how much quality difference you get with the XD?

[Youthman]

My fabric is the XD Material.

[Scrappydue]

I've had multiple people to my house that preferred my elite 4K material over their own Seymour fabric because the weave is tighter. Now if your gonna build your own frame by all means get the Seymour fabric. Is pretty cheap. If your gonna buy it all look into elite. I think their acoustipro material is now on the third gen run.

Not saying one is better than the other. Just a general consensus that the 4K material from elite is good. Can't see weave unless your about a foot away. So don't dismiss elite just cause they are a budget company.

Where did you get your Elite screen from?

amazon. Ordered the acoustic pro2 material. It was HORRIBLE! They sent the 4K material for FREE! However doesn't look like they sell that stuff anymore. I read a ton of reviews that all did the same as me. So they prolly got rid of that crap. Now they show the acoustic pro3.

[J M O N]

I am new to this game and can say the PQ on my Elite Screen is sharper than some of my plasma 1080 TV's.  JMON, are you specifically looking for 2.35:1 type screen for super wide presentations or just wide screen 16:9.  A screen that support the 2.35:1 will have large vertical black bars when the movie is not in the 2.35:1 format.

 

Youthman eplains it perfectly below.  I'm looking to be able to display both 16.9 and 2.35:1 content at the maximum sizes possible for each.  As I am limited in height but not in width, a 2.35:1 screen will give me the largest sizes I can get for both cases given my wall constraints by maxing out in the height dimension.  If I was limited in width but not in height, then 16:9 would be the better solution.

 

 

Derrick, either format you will have large grey bars. With the Panasonic AE8000u, I'm able to fill the entire screen for 2.35 content and when I play 16:9 content, the panny automatically zooms out and refocuses. IMO, grey bars on the sides are less distracting than grey bars on top and bottom. Once the lights go dim, I've never noticed the bars.

For me, almost 100% of my content is in 2.35:1 as I watch zero sports. So 2.35 was a no brained for me. There's nothing like having a huge, super wide screen that allows you to see the movie exactly like the director intended. Within the next month or so, I will be selling my 103" and installing my 150".

[J M O N]

Thanks for the suggestions!  I did look at Carada, Draper, Monoprice, Elite, etc.  Jamestown seems to be a pretty good option as the prices are reasonable and so is shipping.  They seem to be well-regarded.  Although they don't list Cinemascope formats as an option, they do make them and can build custom sizes.

 

www.jamestownhometheaterscreen.com

[garyrc]

Seymour screens are great!  They will either sell you the fabric or a complete screen by direct mail.  They are very helpful; we exchanged several emails with them before buying.  We got a 130" (wide, not diagonal) 2.35:1 acoustically transparent screen.

 

"CinemaScope" is a trade name for the anamorphic process introduced by 20th Century Fox in 1953.  It was later all but replaced by Panavision.  I assume what you have in mind is a 2.35:1 screen, which was one of the CinemaScope shapes.  There were other shapes in very the early history of CinemaScope.  If you look at all screen shapes, by all professional cinema companies, there are at least 10 aspect ratios (shapes).  They all look good on our 2.35:1 screen.  As Youthman said, grey bars at the sides look better than grey bars at the top and bottom.  Most filmmakers are banking on a 2.35 image being larger in screen area than the usual 1.85:1 or 1.78:1 (16:9), which is what you get with a 2.35:1 screen.  The most common CinemaScope and Panavision shapes completely fill our 2.35:1 screen.

 

I strongly recommend an acoustically transparent screen, with the center speaker behind the screen, at ear height.  The Seymour models have only about 2 dB loss at 15,000 Hz.  If you have Audyssey, it will totally compensate for that.