# Need some help with paint color for front wall...



## Todd Anderson (Jul 24, 2009)

Hello HT Gurus...

I'm in the process of installing a cinemascope wide screen in my dedicated HT (which used to feature a plasma TV)!

I'm going to apply dark flat paint to the walls and wanted to get some opinions from folks.

First off, I've purchased a Panasonic ae7000U projector... so when I zoom into 2.40:1 aspect, the top and bottom black bars will have some spill over (about 7 inches). My screen is a Carada Precision (2 inch frame covered in black velvet)... so some image will still get on the walls. 

I thought, at the outset of this project, that I would paint the entire front wall a flat black (that would absorb the spill over described above)... the rest of the walls and ceiling a flat dark brown color (called Burnt Earth)... and the trim a medium dark version of the Burnt Earth color in an Egg Shell.

So... some questions:

(1) Aside from some kind of masquerade system, has anyone here painted their front wall to absorb spillover? If so, what color did you use?

(2) Has anyone pulled-off painting the ceiling and walls the same color?

(3) I've read on some Home Theater blogs that the walls AND trim should be flat paint, as to ensure that no light is reflected. Does anyone think that painting trim eggshell is ok?

I'll be curious to hear some responses!


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## tonyvdb (Sep 5, 2007)

I used a dark blue on my front wall and with the lights off it looks black but when they are on at least is not black and gives the room some color. Ideally the main colors should be a mat or flat finish but eggshell would still be ok as long as the walls are dark.


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## Prof. (Oct 20, 2006)

That's a lot of over spill! If you can't reduce that and the image is going to show on the wall, then even flat black paint is still not going to be dark enough to eliminate the over spill..
Ideally you need to have a black velvet or flock (similar to your border material) around the perimeter of the screen to completely block out the image..


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## Todd Anderson (Jul 24, 2009)

Tony, you have over spill when you zoom to 2.35:1, yes? Do your dark walls take care of it?


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## tonyvdb (Sep 5, 2007)

The overspill I have is removed by my projectors masking feature so I dont see any light above or below. The 7000 has the same option doesn't it?


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## tiggers97 (May 13, 2008)

I was able to get away with painting the walls and ceiling at one end of the room a flat black, and the Wife loved it??!! Here's a picture of my old theater. It's kinda hard to see, but the entire wall with the screen is black. The two side walls are painted black to about 6-ft as well, and transition into the other wall color at a window (drapes cover transition) and on the opposite side a room corner. For the ceiling I went out about 6 feet, and used a flexible piece of wood to draw an arch. You can kinda see it in the picture. It looks much better in person than the pictures show.

I'm almost done with my new home theater. It looks similar to the old one. Hopefully in a couple days I'll have time to post pictures and show better what I mean.


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## Todd Anderson (Jul 24, 2009)

@Tony: I'm a complete novice when it comes to the Panasonic. I've ordered it... Haven't received it, though. And I've never used a projector... So this is all new to me.

My understanding is that when you use the zoom mode to play a 2.35:1 movie on a 2.35:1 screen, that the black bars above and below the movie are simply zoomed off the screen (so that the movie takes up the screen, but black bars are still being projected, but they are off the screen). I only came to this conclusion based on reading through various threads, though.

If I'm wrong, can you explain the masking feature? Based on your response, I'm imagining that the Panasonic has some way of zooming the picture and eliminating the black bars all together so that nothing (meaning the movie... Or black bars) are projected off the movie screen???

If so, that means I don't need to worry about adding any kind of extra velvet masking on the top or bottom of the screen?


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## tonyvdb (Sep 5, 2007)

In the advanced user menu for setting up the projectors auto zoom there is a setting for top and bottom masking, this will allow you to blank off the areas that zoom off the screen and you wont see them (the projector needs to be mounted so that its pointing at the screen not above it).


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## ALMFamily (Oct 19, 2011)

tonyvdb said:


> In the advanced user menu for setting up the projectors auto zoom there is a setting for top and bottom masking, this will allow you to blank off the areas that zoom off the screen and you wont see them (the projector needs to be mounted so that its pointing at the screen not above it).


Tony is correct - the AE7000 has this feature. I have that projector, but I have not played with that feature yet as I am still in the build process.


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## ALMFamily (Oct 19, 2011)

Sorry - and to answer your specific question, no, I do not think you will need the additional velvet.


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## Todd Anderson (Jul 24, 2009)

Very cool. I spent half the night last night in and out of sleep coming up with a design plan to add velvet top and bottom. 
=


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## Todd Anderson (Jul 24, 2009)

27dnast said:


> Very cool. I spent half the night last night in and out of sleep coming up with a design plan to add velvet top and bottom.
> LOL. Just the way my crazy mind works.
> 
> This is great news. You guys have totally made my day. I love this forum... Such a knowledge base!!!!!
> ...


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## tonyvdb (Sep 5, 2007)

Ideally the closer to center the better to take full advantage of the masking as its limited in how far it will go. But as long as its within the screen dimensions you will be good.


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## Todd Anderson (Jul 24, 2009)

27dnast said:


> Very cool. I spent half the night last night in and out of sleep coming up with a design plan to add velvet top and bottom.
> 
> 
> Does the projector have to be dead center of the screen? Or just with the perimeter of the screen?


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## Todd Anderson (Jul 24, 2009)

Does the projector need to be dead center of the screen? Or does it only need to be somewhere within the confines of the border of the screen?


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## tonyvdb (Sep 5, 2007)

> Does the projector have to be dead center of the screen? Or just with the perimeter of the screen?


no, just jeep it within the screen area.


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## Todd Anderson (Jul 24, 2009)

Tony, et al. Ignore those redundant posts. I'm on tapa-talk on the iPhone and it seems to have bugged out. I couldn't see my edits... Edited again... Didn't see those.... Submitted new reply.

Now, I look like an idiot. ;-)

Thanks for the responses!!


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## tonyvdb (Sep 5, 2007)

LOL, no problem.


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## ALMFamily (Oct 19, 2011)

27dnast said:


> 27dnast said:
> 
> 
> > Very cool. I spent half the night last night in and out of sleep coming up with a design plan to add velvet top and bottom.
> ...


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## ALMFamily (Oct 19, 2011)

Wow I type slow - in the time it took me to compose that post, there were 5 replies! :rolleyesno:


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## Todd Anderson (Jul 24, 2009)

Hold on a second... 

I was just looking through an online version of the manual, it says on page 59 that the Zoom feature (taking native 2.35:1 film and zooming it to fit a 2.35:1 screen) cannot be done if the image is being sent to the projector via HDMI?????

https://eww.pavc.panasonic.co.jp/projector/extranet/main/products/ae7000at5000/manual/ae7000ENGLISH_U.pdf

Say what? am I mis-reading something here??? Isn't HDMI the only way to get 1080p?


Also, page 72 talks about "blank" masking area feature. Is this what you all referenced earlier?


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## ALMFamily (Oct 19, 2011)

27dnast said:


> Hold on a second...
> 
> I was just looking through an online version of the manual, it says on page 59 that the Zoom feature (taking native 2.35:1 film and zooming it to fit a 2.35:1 screen) cannot be done if the image is being sent to the projector via HDMI?????
> 
> ...


I have zoomed mine and all I run is HDMI so I am pretty certain it works. And, yes, that is what we were referring to.


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## tonyvdb (Sep 5, 2007)

Yes the the Blank masking is what I am talking about. 
HDMI is the only way to get 1080p and yes the auto zoom will work with any HDMI signal.


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## Todd Anderson (Jul 24, 2009)

Ok. My heart is beating again. I had a momentary collapse of disappointment.



I have another question: I just checked how much of the projector will be inside of the screen. My projector ceiling mount is a 17" extension mount. The upper inside edge of the screen frame will be 12" down from the ceiling. So by my calculations, that means the camera will be inside of the top of the movie screen by 5". Not a lot, but it's inside. The camera will be mounted about 13 feet away from the screen.

Do you think the blank masking mode will work under these conditions?

If not, I can buy a ceiling mount that extends 22-36" down from the ceiling. That would definitely get the camera well inside of the screen. But, it would also put the camera much closer to our heads (behind the couch)! 

Thoughts?





Tony... ALMFamily... you guys rock. Expect to be heaved some panny projector questions in the coming weeks!:bigsmile:


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## tonyvdb (Sep 5, 2007)

The quick answer is for the most part yes the masking will work however like in my situation if you have the projector up near the top of the screen when you zoom to fit 2,35:1 material the image needs to also be shifted up using the digital vertical adjustments. This then puts the image closer to the top of the LCD panels giving your lower blank masking adjustment too much space to fill so it wont cover all of the black area. Does that make sense?


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## Todd Anderson (Jul 24, 2009)

Yes, it does make sense.

Let me ask you this, then:

I still have the ability, according to Amazon, to cancel the order for the mount I purchased.... and could order the longer extension mount. 

This mount will drop the projector down lower behind our seating... this is not a problem from a human-traffic standpoint... No one will be walking there.

My main concern was/is keeping the projector as far away as possible to help reduce the amount of noise heard from the projector (I was really close to pulling the trigger on the JVC 30... several reasons... one being that it was reviewed as being absolutely whisper quiet).

So (A) do you think that I should just keep the order for the shorter mount, thus keeping the unit further away from head-level.... or (B) order the longer mount which would get my projector really close to the middle of the screen. But also putting closer to head level.

I haven't heard how loud the projector is... so I don't have a point of reference...


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## tonyvdb (Sep 5, 2007)

Well, I run my projector in High altitude mode all the time meaning the fan is running on high all the time too keep it cooler and last longer. I dont hear it at all unless its a really quiet part of the movie and even then its not bothersome at all. My projector is mounted just above my front row. I sit in a very dark room and the masking not completely blocking out the lower black bars has never bothered me.


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## Todd Anderson (Jul 24, 2009)

Okay...

Alright. I need to get on with my day here. Analyzing this stuff is like a full time job!

I'll be in touch in the future, I'm sure. Thanks, Tony.

T


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## ALMFamily (Oct 19, 2011)

Sorry, busy baseball evening. I currently have my projector sitting on a table and when I watch a movie, it is probably about 2 feet from me. I have never noticed any noise from it while watching a movie.


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