Masking Changes the Shape of Your Home Theater Screen
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Good article.
A lot of this is dependent on the physical aspects of your home theater space. The room can either be height or width constrained. If you have a narrow room, a masking system as described is a good choice. The masking comes from the top and bottom and changes a 16:9 screen to 2.35:1.
However, if your room is height constrained, it is probably better to purchase a 2.35:1 screen and then mask horizontally. Horizontal masking is easier because you can use traditional traverse rods and a dark curtain to achieve the effect. That has the added benefit of having the dramatic curtain that opens at the start of the show.
A great way of doing budget masking is to use black velvet, wound around a long window shade roller with an aluminum bar providing the strength. When you want masking, you simply pull the upper and/or lower shades into position where they are held by clips on the side. This sort of masking is on my "to do one of these days" list. I have to admit that the lack of masking doesn't bother me enough to get me motivated to actually build the masking system. I have no trouble getting lost in the picture and the dark gray bands on the edges of the picture just don't seem to get in the way.
The masking systems shown in the article are all powered and have presets. They are also quite expensive. These are a good solution if you want the best at any cost, but overkill for most of us.
A lot of this is dependent on the physical aspects of your home theater space. The room can either be height or width constrained. If you have a narrow room, a masking system as described is a good choice. The masking comes from the top and bottom and changes a 16:9 screen to 2.35:1.
However, if your room is height constrained, it is probably better to purchase a 2.35:1 screen and then mask horizontally. Horizontal masking is easier because you can use traditional traverse rods and a dark curtain to achieve the effect. That has the added benefit of having the dramatic curtain that opens at the start of the show.
A great way of doing budget masking is to use black velvet, wound around a long window shade roller with an aluminum bar providing the strength. When you want masking, you simply pull the upper and/or lower shades into position where they are held by clips on the side. This sort of masking is on my "to do one of these days" list. I have to admit that the lack of masking doesn't bother me enough to get me motivated to actually build the masking system. I have no trouble getting lost in the picture and the dark gray bands on the edges of the picture just don't seem to get in the way.
The masking systems shown in the article are all powered and have presets. They are also quite expensive. These are a good solution if you want the best at any cost, but overkill for most of us.
