Oh we're getting close.
With doors hung and all of the drywall work done in the rest of the basement (and thus no chance for even more dust to get in the theater), we put in the call for the carpeting people to bring the theater carpet by. Ryan Kramer (the designer of the theater) suggested 'Wavelength' from Masland Carpet and he updated the render to include what the carpet would look like installed:
It's definitely a busy carpet but I'm hoping it'll break up the monotony of black walls and black seats, not to mention that it's going to be pretty dark in there so hopefully it'll add some visual interest to the floor. We'll see what happens come next Wednesday :)
I've been trying to get things moving on the theater for the past couple of weeks, last night Manny and I tried to get the CineSlide and ISCO III (anamorphic lens) working. I didn't have a remote for the CineSlide so we spliced a 9-pin serial cable and a 4-pin RJ11 (telephone) cable together to control the device. If you happen to own a CineSlide, do remember that you can't just use a standard serial-to-CAT5 adapter, the sled only needs two pins connected and they are not a part of the standard serial-to-CAT5 pinout for an adapter you'd use to configure a router for example.
Getting the CineSlide working wasn't much of an issue after we built the right cable, send it a command to turn on, send it another to slide the lens in front of the projector and another to slide it out of the way. Unfortunately after getting the slide working we discovered a problem. The CineSlide was the only thing we hadn't tested at this point, and I had just assumed that we could make the lens stop wherever we needed it to. Unfortunately it can only slide completely to one side or the other, and there wasn't enough room on the reinforced mounting surface near the projector to accommodate this. The problem was that when in the "on" position, the lens would slide too far to the left and not let the light beam pass through. I had to move the projector, so today I did that:
See how the PJ is now left justified? Thankfully, like many of these projectors, it has a horizontal lens shift that will allow me to continue to project at the center of the screen
I also got to see how troublesome it would be to remove the projector once in its little hideaway. The process takes two people and a good 20 - 30 minutes to do carefully, and it's going to be even more of a pain once there are seats in the theater. If I had to do it again I'd drop the projector even further down from the ceiling just to make swapping/maintenance easier. Tomorrow, if I've got time, I'll get the CineSlide and anamorphic lens installed up there too.
I'm trying to get the screen fabric installed, but before that I needed to cover the OC703 along the front wall. I used velcro and tacks to cover the OC703 with accoustically transparent cloth:
The screen frame is also wrapped with fidelio velvet that I ordered from here (remember the starfield ceiling website? this one is almost as good). The velvet is great at absorbing light, so any overscan from the projector hopefully won't be too distracting:
It's soft
...and dark
Check out the gallery for more pictures of the current state, tomorrow if I can get enough help from friends and fam we may be able to make some serious progress...
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Diesel Donkey - Saturday, May 10, 2008 - link
Anand, this is an amazing project--thanks for helping us all to follow along. I have to say, though, that the carpeting in that rendered image is pretty ugly in my opinion! Obviously you must disagree because you chose it, but I guess I just have something against olive green/brown colors. I suppose it won't matter either way, though, once the lights go down and that sweet screen comes to life!JonnyDough - Friday, May 9, 2008 - link
They make a dropping platform for projectors, why not get one of those? You can make the projector drop down out of the ceiling. This keeps your lens free of dust and hides it out of the way while you're not using it. Then the kids won't accidentally hit it with a tossed toy and the cat won't get dander on it. Not to mention it makes it a bit more hard to steal, because a thief would have to pry it open (probably breaking it but at least they don't get away with it!) or find the hidden switch... A hidden wall switch/passcode? would keep the kids from viewing movies (aka pr0n) without your permission. So now that you have this huge theater for watching porn, tell me...do you keep the lube next to the butter by the popcorn maker? Bad idea if you do... :-Pkevon27 - Friday, May 9, 2008 - link
You know it's kinda sad the amount of money and time people (including myself) spend on matching tv and movies.Nice build but if you sit back and think about it do any of us need such elaborate home theater setups to watch a crappy TV show or movie?
JWalk - Friday, May 9, 2008 - link
Is it worth it? That depends on what hobbies you enjoy. I say if you are a movie buff (geek), it is absolutetly worth it.I built and put together my own home theater, and I couldn't imagine watching a movie any other way now. Mine isn't as impressive or elaborate as Anand's is going to be (mine uses a 720p pj and a home-made 110" screen), but it more than gets the job done for me.
My answer to the "is it worth it" question would be another question: What else would you rather spend your time and money on?
If you can think of other hobbies or activities that you would rather take part in, then the answer is no, it isn't worth it to you. If you can't think of anything that you would enjoy more than sitting down and watching your favorite movies in the comfort of your own "movie theater", then it is worth it.
And while I agree that there are plenty of bad TV shows and movies out there, I could also point to plenty of great ones too.
Anand Lal Shimpi - Friday, May 9, 2008 - link
Here's a scary thought: what if it is the process that I'm addicted to and not the actual theater itself? :-PGotta get another benchmark running then it's back to work on the screen...
JonnyDough - Saturday, May 10, 2008 - link
Yeah, feel free to come help me build mine. Keyword there being free. Process away Anand, process away.Kensei - Friday, May 9, 2008 - link
I suppose one test of that theory is if you find yourself inexplicably helping people you don't know that well build their own home theaters.Chapbass - Friday, May 9, 2008 - link
Hey now, Gigli is NOT crappy! :D /sarcasmtheslug - Friday, May 9, 2008 - link
Probably not, but if you were watching something good, then it's nice to have.ericeash - Friday, May 9, 2008 - link
looks great. sucks that a $2k motorized slide for a $6k lens can't stop when you want it to.