buuuuuuuuuurrnnnn
looks like Paul might have a few questions for his installer or like he put it….expert!
hey Paul, read the fine print of the contract you signed, it might include a free bj that you didn’t receive?!?!
that’s the only way i can justify the cost of install.

@paul
So what you are saying is your tweaking is a result of you adding masking panels, not a screen manufactured with them. I could see why this would become a nuisance, but this is not what I was talking about. I was referring to a screen that came with motorized masking and these are definitely not $20,000 as you stated, not even half that amount.

“just under $20 grand with INSTALLATION”

So apparently your dealer is selling you an $8,000 screen and making about $12,000 from the install. Great for them. I need to start installing screens apparently. But what I don’t get is how replacing your existing screen with the Elite vs the Stewart would be any easier, especially if you already have wiring in place for a Stewart screen.

This is not even my point. My point was how is it possible to have 2 motorized screens fabricated cheaper than motorized masking panels. That and the fact that you now have at a minimum a 1” offset between the two image surfaces, only a projector that will allow you to index zoom and focus positions will really compensate for the slight change in throw distance without having one of the two images in focus and the other slightly softened.

@John:  The ‘tweaking’ I was refering to were the cheap black curtains I installed to use as masking, which need to be opened or closed manually, since as I said… I’m not that handy.

My wife hates manually opening/closing the curtains when using the theater, and can’t stand white bars to the sides.  It’s that simple.

I don’t like the look of the curtains, I want proper masking material, hence my desire to move to either an electric screen with electric masking, or a 2:35:1 screen with some sort of standalone electric masking system.

@John:  Thanks for the witty answer…. So instead of insulting me, why not offer some actual useful information? What do you recommend Mr. Expert?

I have a Stewart Caberet America screen, and was looking to replace it with a Stewart vertical electriscreen electrimask,(EMC128S) with Lumiflex 130 fabric which my local dealer tells me will cost me….. just under $20 grand with installation.

Not all of us are DIY’ers, some of us have to pay experts to do stuff.  That being said, I don’t (and won’t) spend 20k on a screen+installation, particularly since the current screen has all of the work done, and all you should have to do (installation wise) is take the old screen out, and put the new one in right?  All of the wires/power/control stuff is already run to the screen location.

I’m pretty sure he’s ripping me off, but there aren’t a lot of Stewart dealers (aka more than 1) within 300 miles of where I live.

Here what im going to do. I am creating a black mask that hangs in front of my projection screen, to create a 6 inch border on top. (from where the screen comes out)  I just stop the screen when it’s at the cinemascope ratio, or Animorphic. This way there no manual tweaking or curtains involved.

Actually with the dual-screen why cant they make the 16:9 screen the bigger size, and make the screen in front that drops down be a black mask on top???