A tale about how I assembled a 120-inch home theater from pipes, ropes, a folding screen and black velvet

This post will be completely different from all previous ones, because with Epson, it intersects a little, but I want to share a story. In addition, perhaps, my experience is useful to someone.

What, in fact, is it:

Anyone who is interested in how the projector, accidentally directed at the wall, was born obsession, which, after several stages, resulted in a mini-project to create a kind of home theater - I ask for cat. Stock up on tea or coffee, grab a cookie and go!

Careful traffic and a long story!

How came to life such

In October last year, I moved to a new apartment. In the course of the move, packs, unpackings, cleanups and showdowns, I wanted to periodically completely distract from all this crazy house and just relax while watching YouTube, a movie or a TV series. Here are just besides the bare walls and shabby sofa with a chair in one of the rooms, there were no other places for such a pastime. Do not sit well, chewing a loaf in front of the tablet , honestly! An idea appeared: to use the projector , simply by pointing it at the wall (even if it is covered with wallpaper - not up to “fat”, as they say) and connected to a laptop.

But where to get the projector? I sold my old Epson EH-TW450, which served me with truth for almost ten years, before the move, but I didn’t have time to buy the new Epson EH-TW5650 I wanted ! And there is no money for it yet. What to do?

Search for "temporary" projector

It turned out that recently in the comments to the previous post I had a little controversy with the reader, who was convinced that the Chinese projector from the brand was “ quieter and juicier than color ” and, of course, about “ LED life versus lamp ”, that especially interested.

Don't get it wrong: I am well aware that the LED light source can be colder and more durable than the lamp that can be found in Epson “lamp” projectors. However, in this case another question arises: what, in fact, will be with such a projector after, say, the first, third and further thousands of hours of work? I will not delve into the details of how the RGB-LED DLP-projector LED light source works; in this case, I’m only interested in the final result: what will happen (and what will happen) if you regularly drive a Chinese projector at rated power ?

A couple of words about LEDs

Recall that the durability of the LED depends primarily on current and temperature.

According to the Lumileds report on the durability of LED light sources, depending on the operating conditions (on the page link to a PDF document with research) for LED light sources it is important to maintain certain temperature conditions of operation . When the temperature rises (and the current is lower about it) above the “calculated”, the service life is rapidly reduced:

The Lighting Research Center arrives at about the same conclusion .

As well as profpodsvetka.ru (hereinafter - from the Russian-language publications, which was found on the subject):

Led-obzor.ru additionally explain that as the operating temperature rises, the LEDs can also lose their brightness . Very curious, by the way, article.

Well, enough publications, back to the LED projectors. So, it is not known beforehand in what temperature conditions the LEDs work in them and at what current . For “to overclock” the LEDs with the notorious excess by the manufacturer of the rated power supply no one prohibited. As a result, we can nominally increase the brightness of a weak LED to a level that is more expensive and bright, but at the cost of reducing the service life. The second unknown is superimposed on it - the working temperature . As a result, strictly speaking, it is not known how much such a device will actually work on its own light source.

You just don’t think bad: I don’t try to “clever”, but only share those moments that I personally became interested in while studying this issue and searching for a “temporary” projector .

In short, Sklifosovsky!

So, what am I? “ Why ,” I thought, “ not to kill two birds with one stone: take the Chinese LED projector for testing as a temporary (until it goes out) and, in fact, have at least some projector at your disposal?” It is desirable - free then! "

He did. True, free then did not work ... And in the end I bought a small Chinese projector of a popular brand with the letter "X" for my hard-earned money. On what only you will not go for the sake of science.

But now I finally got at least something that I was able to watch in the evenings the GSL SC2 championships and all sorts of videos on YouTube, knowing that I am parallel to doing a good thing in the form of a regular "LED-strength test" .

The screen is needed ...

And here I was sitting on the armchair, watching horrible, and also periodically in the evenings I admired such a picture on the wall:

But ... This wallpaper. Oh, this wallpaper! You need to do something with them! My patience lasted for a month, after which I began to figure out the options.

There were two options:

• tear off the wallpaper to a famous mother, sand the wall for painting and paint it with matte paint;
• buy and hang a roll screen;

I dismissed the first one, because I'm lazy, and the wallpaper is in excellent condition. In addition, this is what, - again, the dirt is diluted in the first weeks after the settlement!? .. Oh, it! Let's go under the second scenario and look for a roll-up screen to the ceiling.

The width of the room, which I decided to allocate under the "entertainment center" - 3.23m. The height of the ceiling, taking into account the suspended structure - 2.6 m. Those. really, taking into account the dimensions of the case, etc. You can count on the screen in the region of 120 inches (up to 266 cm in width in the case of an aspect ratio of 16: 9, plus fastenings, etc.):

Take a roll?

I searched for a long time for such a diagonal screen and eventually found:

And even ordered! And then I thought with my head and decided to estimate the size and weight:

• Screen case size (cm): 282 x7.2x7.2
• Package Size (cm): 290 x12x14
• Weight: 15 kg

Almost three-meter non-separable box! I will not lift this one only on the stairs, I will not even bring it into the staircase! (In fact, going down and measuring is not an option). Maybe through the window ... Oh well, some stupid thoughts. Maybe you can also send the parcel by helicopter, hm?

Hastily cancel the order.

What to do?

I did not even have time to get upset that, apparently, I still have to peel the walls, as I remembered that there are folding screens !

Usually, they are vinyl or PVC based.

You will not believe it, but for a completely incomprehensible reason for me to find an inexpensive 120-inch folding (or “stretch”) screen in Moscow , and simply in some online store in the Russian Federation turned out to be a very non-trivial task!

As I was suggested by our projection technology manager, these screens are called “ constant tension screens ”. But, first of all, they are very expensive, and, secondly, their wall-mounting system does not provide sufficient flexibility in terms of moving the entire canvas up / down and left / right. Ie, if I decide in the future to put a stand with a UKF projector under the screen ( Epson EH-LS100 , for example) or with a decoder / blu-ray player, etc., there is a non-zero probability that the screen will have to be raised above . And you do not want to do this beforehand, because the higher it is, the higher you need to raise your head when viewing. I want flexibility in the installation and that's it!

But nevertheless I will return to the most important question in my case - the question of price . It turned out that the vast majority of offers with inexpensive screens are not on the frame - only from the sites of our dear Chinese friends! To which I eventually turned, ordering here is such a 120-inch miracle of painted PVC for 60 bucks (painted - so that it is opaque, but then there are also translucent):

Those. it is assumed that for these technological holes it needs to be straightened and stretched on some kind of construction. Such, for example:

Search for installation options

Well, OK. The ordered screen is on the way. But how and where to hang it?

Again, several options:

• buy or assemble a suspended structure-stand. Such, you know, which with a 120-inch screen, will sail like a sail from a light breeze and look like the photo above? Will not go;
• purchase a few meters of velcro tape. Soft side stick along the edges of the screen, and the "hard" - to the wall. Stretch the screen and fix with velcro. Quite an option. That's just ... And if you want to lower the screen below ? Or higher ? Or shift to the side? Again glue? And peel the tape off the wall like - along with the wallpaper ? Again, not that ...
• “Play as an engineer-Kulibin” and assemble your own construction with pipes and ropes, which: a) would allow the screen to be adjusted in two planes within 10–15 cm; b) if necessary, it could be mounted / dismantled using ordinary screws with a minimum of marks on the wall; c) would look cool .

The farther into the forest, as they say ... In general, the third option seemed the most attractive, realizable, and, importantly, flexible in terms of position adjustment. Considering that I did not plan and do not plan for this side of the room for anything else, I stopped at it.

Entertainment in a 3D editor

What is the most important phase of the project? Right! - Planning . And if it is also with visualization, and even visual and realistic, then absolutely wonderful.

First of all, I estimated the most appropriate position of the 120-inch screen, placing the picture from the projector on the wall as I would like to see it as a result. Then he made the necessary measurements and opened his favorite Softimage XSI .

Having collected and rendered the scene in the editor, I was able to visually assess how the construction I needed could look like (added a dummy for size estimation):

It seems nothing, only these ropes, on which the screen is stretched ... And what if all this disgrace is closed with ribbons of black velvet (or velvet) fabric? Like this:

Another thing! Although the screen seems to be.

And this is how the whole thing will look when the projector is working in complete darkness, displaying a bright scene:

As can be seen from the results of rendering with 10 rebounds , light walls are not the best option for the “canonical” home theater, because on bright scenes in the room there will be a parasitic illumination . But, in general, there is no catastrophe, which I can personally confirm already on the basis of the results of viewing on a real screen in a real room (I will dedicate this to a couple of paragraphs in the next post).

I print the finished result and put it in my bag.

I study the options for mounting such a design, I consult with a colleague-engineer, make a list of the necessary tools, components and fasteners and food in the hardware store for advice, and ideally - the purchase of all necessary.

• Chrome steel pipes D25, 25x10x2000
• Pipe fastening to the wall end-mounted reinforced D25
• Pipe connectors are hidden (for pipes longer than 2m and difficult to find, and in the apartment does not bring, as is the case with a roll screen)
• Connectors of two T-shaped pipes
• Pipe cutter
• Fastener
• Ruler, level, drills pobedit, etc ...

In general, shopping was a success and all the necessary components cost around 7,000 rubles (in fact, if you take into account only the components for the assembly, it is less, since this amount includes all levels of ruler-drills, which during the initial move safely broken / lost). Got an order and got down to business ...

And then just came the screen

Here it is after unpacking:

Here is the canvas! It's one thing to see it in pictures, it's quite another to pick it up and deploy.

In my eyes I see the question about the folds . Be sure to return to him a little later.

After careful , unhurried , neat , “ measure seven times - cut once ”, calculations and measurements, the upper and lower pipes were cut and connected, 24 holes for the end fasteners were made, the fixtures themselves were screwed to the wall, and fixed in them pipes. The rope for tying the screen to the design is cut into pieces, and the screen is stretched triumphantly on the ropes (for now - trial). Result:

On top of the pipe is passed through three end fastenings, and from below and on the sides - one by one , since only the top is experiencing a significant load. Yes, and fasteners, and the work is less, of course, in this embodiment (all of the holes had only one drill with a pointy tip).

So what about the folds?

Now you can return to the issue of getting rid of wrinkles on the screen . They are clearly visible when there is a bright scene or a uniform fill on the screen. On the one hand, “it may be hanging, it will be smoothed out” ...

Hung a week. Not smoothed out . With this you need to do something.

With the canvas came here such an interesting instruction:

I'm not sure that such severe folds can be “cured” by simply dipping the screen into “ slightly warm water ”, but I will try, of course.

Effect? - Zero , as I expected. What to do?

Again, go to the Internet and meet the mention of the fact that the folds can be smoothed hair dryer. I turn on the hair dryer and with trembling hands I bring it to the screen. The first “cold” mode is nothing, the second “warm” is nothing, the third “hot” is nothing, and the canvas is so warm that it became scary for the coating (and I have painted PVC). Well, him, out of harm's way ...

And now what? There are not too many discussions on this topic in RuNet, that there is not much in the rest of the web, and there is not much concrete advice. Oh no! Wait a minute Well, we look at the response of the merchant with similar screens to one of the comments to the product: " You can get rid of wrinkles. This is what we do, it really works . ”

"Steam iron"? .. Yes, it's a steamer ! But a great idea: it will solve the problem efficiently and safely for the screen material, because steam has a temperature that is not prohibitively high, but sufficient to heat the surface, and quickly condenses on the surface when the heat is cut off, which is useful for fixing the result.

For steaming, I borrowed from my friends this 1300 W steamer:

And for almost 6 hours carefully smoothed the screen. And ironed! That's just a little overdid with care ... You see, the dullness of the surface of the PVC screen is provided not only by the material itself, but also by its texture . Those. the canvas itself is visually spotted with small, small "pimples", which allows it not to glare and evenly reflect light.

So, my advice to you is how to remove the folds from the PVC screen: if you smooth it with a steam cleaner, do not press the steam nozzle onto the screen !

Otherwise, as I, in some places, diligently “smoothing” especially stubborn folds, iron this fine surface texture too ! Now from a certain angle on the canvas you can see, as if “greasy” (and in fact, smoother and therefore slightly glare) areas that are visible when the screen is filled with a uniform white light from a certain angle (see the bottom of the photo, you can see the “track” in width - exactly with the otparivatel nozzle):

Not a catastrophe, but in the future I, most likely, will still order a new painting and “steam it off” without much fanaticism.

In general, pressing the steamer nozzle to the cloth for smoothing folds, in fact, is not necessary, because PVC tends to return to its normal, “factory” state when heated to water vapor temperature.

And one more important point: after ironing, the screen will “sit down” . In my case, from the 120-inch (on the passport), it actually turned out 116- inch screen. I suppose that the shrinkage would be less if there were one or two mounting holes on each side, since they would not allow the canvas to be strongly tightened between attachment points.

And here he is! - Smooth, evenly stretched with ropes screen on the frame of their own making:

Love it? Now we will hide this “snake wedding” out of sight.

Making an adjustable velvet frame

To frame the construction, we will do the following: take black velvet (or velvet) on a cotton basis (so as not to stretch and hang loose):

This velvet or velveteen cut into four strips of the desired width and the bottom. And we will fasten to the Velcro ( Velcro tape / burdock )! To do this, we attach the side with “hooks” to the pipes, and glue the soft tape and sew them to the tapes.

The use of stickies will solve several problems at once:

• will provide an opportunity to stretch and fix the fabric tape between the two attachment points;
• allows you to change the screen diagonal by moving tapes;
• help to easily remove the tape for cleaning;
• it will be possible to replace the tape with another one if necessary.

No sooner said than done!

Measure out and cut off. Then we bend the edges and glue it with a braid (or “cobweb”, as it is also called), so that the material does not crumble.

We pretend where we need to sew tapes of velcro to fit it (without sagging above and below the screen).

We sew velcro to the tapes on the reverse side, as well as - additionally - on two long horizontal tapes - short velcro in the middle of the tape and screen , to provide them with additional support and not let them sag), we fix the Velcro and on the pipes.

Voila! Done!

And the sound?

I will do this: I will take your favorite stereo pair (the legendary JB-381 ) and put it on fashionable stands. I already have a stereo pair, it remains to order for the speakers of the rack - I took the metal Bowers & Wilkins STAV24 S2 - and skip the wires for the fabric tapes.

READY !

Result

GIF-addition for perfectionists: the wiring is hidden, and the corner of the plinth is returned to the place:

In my opinion, it turned out well. Feelings when watching movies, games (yes, any content, in fact) you can imagine. Remember nVidia's " The way it ' s meant to be played "? - Playing PS4 Pro on such a diagonal, I constantly pronounced this phrase in my head. Modern console games just look amazing on the big screen (Horizon: Zero Dawn, Rachet & Clank, Driveclub, Uncharted, God of War - I’ll go through again, this is a completely different experience).

To be continued

In one of the following posts (already much more briefly) I will tell you how I did get Epson EH-TW5650 (even if only for a week) and my impressions when watching a picture from it in a dark and illuminated room, as well as some more reflections on the resource projector light source.

Well, as time passes, I also plan to share my experience in operating an LED projector.

Thank you for attention!