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Step 8Enjoy Your New Screen
Here are some pics of my finished product.
**A note about aspect ratio: To get the measurements for my screen, I chose a movie with the 2.35:1 aspect ratio (movies like Matrix, Starwars, etc.) and blew the picture up to the size I wanted. When I watch content with 16x9 or 4x3, there is white showing on both sides of the screen not being used. To address this, I added black curtains (along with a black skirt) so that it covers up any unused portion of the screen (See pics below). The result is that the entire wall is either the movie or black. Another way to address the aspect ratio variation would be to create a 4x3 screen that was much taller, but still as wide as possible. Then, you could have a black skirt that you raise up for 16x9 content or 2.35:1 content. This way, regardless of the aspect ratio, your content will be as wide as possible on your wall.
Make sure to have a party for the inaugural movie viewing.
Just some final notes on how I (technically) only spent about $50 for my entire Home Theater setup:
Projector:
Old multi-media projector - given to me. This may take some good social networking. My church replaced it's main projector in the auditorium and the old, obsolete one was just gathering dust in a closet. I asked if it could gather dust at my house. Once the bulb goes on it, it will basically be trash because the $300-400 that it'd cost for a new bulb will be half way towards a new projector with much better specs. UPDATE: With '08 birthday & Christmas money, I replaced the hand-me-down projector with a 720p projector. No surprise, the picture looks much better. I have also since added a built-from-scratch HTPC with Blu-Ray, HDMI out & Optical audio out. With Windows Media Center, it can stream Netflix & Hulu and also DVR over-the-air HD. I use an iPhone app as the mouse, keyboard & MC remote. I love the set up and maybe I'll make an instructable on creating an HTPC.
Surround Sound System:
I looked in Consumer Reports for a comparison of models. The top model was a 7.1 Onkyo, but it was a receiver only. I already had a DVD player, but decided to go with a system that had a DVD player because the one I got is up-converting and has HDMI ports (a little future proofing). I went with the second highest ranked model in CR, which was the Sony HT-7100DH. I'm quite pleased with it. I got mine from amazon. You can definitely find better prices online (as always with electronics). This is where the technicality comes in. I bought this with Christmas money, so it wasn't really out of pocket.
Screen:
As stated before, these materials cost me around $50 for the whole project.
Hope you enjoyed. Hope this was helpful.
**A note about aspect ratio: To get the measurements for my screen, I chose a movie with the 2.35:1 aspect ratio (movies like Matrix, Starwars, etc.) and blew the picture up to the size I wanted. When I watch content with 16x9 or 4x3, there is white showing on both sides of the screen not being used. To address this, I added black curtains (along with a black skirt) so that it covers up any unused portion of the screen (See pics below). The result is that the entire wall is either the movie or black. Another way to address the aspect ratio variation would be to create a 4x3 screen that was much taller, but still as wide as possible. Then, you could have a black skirt that you raise up for 16x9 content or 2.35:1 content. This way, regardless of the aspect ratio, your content will be as wide as possible on your wall.
Make sure to have a party for the inaugural movie viewing.
Just some final notes on how I (technically) only spent about $50 for my entire Home Theater setup:
Projector:
Old multi-media projector - given to me. This may take some good social networking. My church replaced it's main projector in the auditorium and the old, obsolete one was just gathering dust in a closet. I asked if it could gather dust at my house. Once the bulb goes on it, it will basically be trash because the $300-400 that it'd cost for a new bulb will be half way towards a new projector with much better specs. UPDATE: With '08 birthday & Christmas money, I replaced the hand-me-down projector with a 720p projector. No surprise, the picture looks much better. I have also since added a built-from-scratch HTPC with Blu-Ray, HDMI out & Optical audio out. With Windows Media Center, it can stream Netflix & Hulu and also DVR over-the-air HD. I use an iPhone app as the mouse, keyboard & MC remote. I love the set up and maybe I'll make an instructable on creating an HTPC.
Surround Sound System:
I looked in Consumer Reports for a comparison of models. The top model was a 7.1 Onkyo, but it was a receiver only. I already had a DVD player, but decided to go with a system that had a DVD player because the one I got is up-converting and has HDMI ports (a little future proofing). I went with the second highest ranked model in CR, which was the Sony HT-7100DH. I'm quite pleased with it. I got mine from amazon. You can definitely find better prices online (as always with electronics). This is where the technicality comes in. I bought this with Christmas money, so it wasn't really out of pocket.
Screen:
As stated before, these materials cost me around $50 for the whole project.
Hope you enjoyed. Hope this was helpful.
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Sep 26, 2011. 4:04 PMbehan
says:
This is exactly what I was searching for, Thanks very much for the excellent tutorial, Your time and effort is going to save me about £150 and for that I am extremely grateful, Thank you very much sir
Reply
Jan 27, 2010. 5:53 PMmilesduggan
says:
This is exactly what I needed to see! Thank you so much for taking the time to post such an in depth step by step diy screen project! I am going to build mine next week and post a few pics, giving you credit of course! Stay diy!
Reply
Oct 10, 2008. 5:38 AMkeppoch
says:
Wow! This was a particularly well done Instructable. The extra detail you went into takes into account the various skill sets of the viewers. What comes quite naturally to some simply leaves others in the dark ( without a screen). Quite simply an excellent addition to a surpurb resource for the 'do-it-your-self' builder'! - You have the gift of teaching. -
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