Topic: Ideas to Mask the TOP & BOTTOM "Black" Bars on the PJ Screen

[rulesmeister]

Movie aspect ratios of 2.39:1 and 1.85:1 caused "dark grey" bars at the top and bottom of the screen. Do you guys have any ideas (DIY) on how to efficiently mask the "black" bars (Ung madaling ikabit at tanggalin if I switched movie aspect ratio)?

AVSforum members uses motorized "black curtain" on their PJ screens when switching from a 16:9 movie to 2.93 or 1.85:1 movies, however these are quite expensive and are not available locally. 

[Courage]

Movie aspect ratios of 2.39:1 and 1.85:1 caused "dark grey" bars at the top and bottom of the screen. Do you guys have any ideas (DIY) on how to efficiently mask the "black" bars (Ung madaling ikabit at tanggalin if I switched movie aspect ratio)?

AVSforum members uses motorized "black curtain" on their PJ screens when switching from a 16:9 movie to 2.93 or 1.85:1 movies, however these are quite expensive and are not available locally. 

Dapat gagawa ako ng thin black board na may Velcro sa magkabilang side, pero di natuloy dahil I disposed na my PJ. Yun nga lang Manually ka mag kakabit at mag aadjust..

[jambam]

Just a quick post of what I did ..

I have a fixed screen which makes it a lot easier for me ..

Phone cam pics to quickly show what it looks like..

Normal 16:9 screen



Masked for 2.35:1


What I use is black felt cloth (light and rigid ) attached by black velcro strips, its an easy  minutes  or 2 to install or take out . One tip you need to sew the velcro to the cloth , at first I just used double sided tape that came with the velcro strips, but it kept being detached .

The resulting improvement w/ the increase in perceived contrast level is really worth the extra effort to install it ...

[Tempter]

If you dont mind a bit stretched picture especially for those ultra wide movies, there are players that you can easily modify the aspect ratio based on your liking...

[Nelson de Leon]

If you dont mind a bit stretched picture especially for those ultra wide movies, there are players that you can easily modify the aspect ratio based on your liking...

Meron din player na ni-zoom niya to fit, then cut the sides of the image.

[crazyhog]

" Pictures taken last last year and copy - paste sa post ko s AVS ,

Made my own version black screen wall  plus roll up/roll down DIY masking, and black side walls for trials at the moment for my W1070

materials used
- 1 pc 1inch stainless tubular ( curtain hanger )
- 1 pc 1/2 inch stainless tubular ( curtain hanger )
- 2 pcs curtain hanger holder
-  soft black felt cloth
-  adhesive
- sewing thread



sample of 1/2 inch tubular


holder and 1inch tubular after installation


Closed up shot at mask rolled up


rolled up masking


rolled down masking 8" in height


no mask - lights on - full screen


no mask - lights off - full screen


no mask - lights on - 2.35 aspect ratio


no mask- lights on- adjust scale x 3 and height postion to eliminate lower portion of black letter box


mask down - lights on - ( same scale and height position )



and lights off. ( same scale and height )
 and compared to no mask


mask rolled up - lights off -( Same scale and height)


mask rolled up - lights off - default aspect ( letter box )

[praktikal]

mas effective lang siguro ang "tapal" for fixed screen...

pwede siguro naka flip down sa taas at naka flip up naman ang sa ibaba. (parang adik lang hehehe)

baka pwedeng idikit mo ang black felt sa aluminium  sheet para manipis. wag sa 1/4 ply. baka pwede din ang formica lalo kung may flat black baka pwedeng di ka na mag felt kung non-reflective.

[rulesmeister]

Thanks for the ideas, actually I have DIY'ed 2 types of masks dati. First is plywood ung pinakamanipis, wrapped in black cloth tapos dikit nalang sa screen using velcro. Madaling ikabit but it keeps on falling because of its weight. Ung second ko is black cloth lang pinatahi ko 2 sheets each, however matagal ikabit kc trial and error gawa ng malambot ung tela and you need to stretched the cloth for the edges to be straight enough to cover the black bars. Both are not effective.

I use HTPC (Splash PRO, XBMC, SVP & PDVD14) as media player, pwede nman e-stretch ung image to fit to the 16:9 screen, pero lalabo ng konti ung video and you'll loss the images on both ends of the screen. Besides mas maganda if you view the movie (aspect ratio untouched) the same way as the director intends to show his "creation".

[Nelson de Leon]

Pwede siguro yun mga mechanical window riser ng mga sasakyan, ma-DIY for that application.

[Tempter]

Meron din player na ni-zoom niya to fit, then cut the sides of the image.

But I am referring to those players which you can zoom without cropping any part of the picture, just stretching it to fit whole of the screen.

[rulesmeister]

But I am referring to those players which you can zoom without cropping any part of the picture, just stretching it to fit whole of the screen.

I could do that with Sir with either the HTPC or sa PJ mismo, problem with this is that the circle will become oblong, square becomes rectangle and it distorts the image. Parang ang dating is 80's na Kung fu movies na elongated ung mukha.

[Tempter]

I could do that with Sir with either the HTPC or sa PJ mismo, problem with this is that the circle will become oblong, square becomes rectangle and it distorts the image. Parang ang dating is 80's na Kung fu movies na elongated ung mukha.

Yep, that's why may qualifier ako hehe!!! If you don't mind that... But since you do, then it is out of the question.

[markcrenz]

First is plywood ung pinakamanipis, wrapped in black cloth tapos dikit nalang sa screen using velcro. Madaling ikabit but it keeps on falling because of its weight.

ok na yan sa tingin ko, double clip mo na lang . May need plywood backing para 'di ma masira screen.

[rulesmeister]

ok na yan sa tingin ko, double clip mo na lang . May need plywood backing para 'di ma masira screen.

good idea sir pero makapal ung likod ng PJ screen. I'll try the black felt as posted by the gentleman above. Pag may time pwede rin subokan ung rollup/down na mask.. :-)

[Nelson de Leon]

I could do that with Sir with either the HTPC or sa PJ mismo, problem with this is that the circle will become oblong, square becomes rectangle and it distorts the image. Parang ang dating is 80's na Kung fu movies na elongated ung mukha.

Yes. That's why i mentioned the zoom function. Splashpro ata yun player. It zooms in till the top and low borders fit the screen. May loss sa sides pero hindi gaano halata.

[jambam]

If the majority of what you watch is 2.35:1 and you are using a htpc , you can consider to set custom resolutions and make your display limited to the 2.35:1 aspect ratio , thereby making it Constant image height (CIH)