CurtPalme.com Home Theater Forum

[perisoft]

I've got a Stewart UltraMatte 150 electric rolldown screen (80" horizontal, fwiw). It's 4:3, however, and even though I'm planning on watching some 4:3 material (older movies, etc) I'd prefer to watch it pillarboxed in 16:9 so it's not some gargantuan jimmy stewart kind of thing.

At this point I'm not even sure if the screen is any good, but I figured I'd ask on the off chance it is:

Anyway, I'm wondering if there's an easy way to modify the screen's drop down distance? I'm not sure if they use optical triggers, something pre-set in memory?

Thanks!

[tri_joel]

Not sure about Stewart. But I imagine it is the same as the Draper, there should be some type of stop adjustment. You should check out the Stweart website for a manual.

Peace,
Joel

[paw]

I've got the same screen (Luxus Model A) and I spoke to a former Stewart rep about the same issue. He told me to roll the screen all the way down and then back up to the 16x9 size. If I didn't the screen would not be evenly tensioned. This wouldn't happen the first time but it would occur over time. Then the screen might develop waves.

There are limiters for the drop distance but you can't adjust them that much. My screen is NOS but 15 years old? I doubt they are optical triggers. More likely mechanical.

What I really wanted to do was remask (paint new black borders) the screen to 16X9 and change the down limit to stop at the 16X9. I think I going to just leave it alone. I'll roll it all the way down. Later I'll add an IR/RF interface an manually retract it to the proper 16X9 size. OH! For $600, I can live with it.

[perisoft]

I suppose I could paint a big black box on the bottom, but I'd be worried about the effect on the screen surface. I can probably find a way to adjust the stops... what do you mean by roll it all the way down and then back up? You mean, if you're going to use it for a couple of hours, you need to roll down to 4:3 and back up to 16:9 each time?

I got mine for $100, and it came with a free Zenith Pro 900x.

[paw]

Sorry to be slow in replying. I was out of town. The borders are already paint. It shouldn't effect the screen surface. Try contacting Stewart for the paint they use.

For the roll down part, yes roll it out the way out (to it full 4:3 length), then roll it back up to the 16:9 size. That doesn't take too long.

[perisoft]

As luck would have it, I checked on the screen again and it turned out I'd screwed up my assessment of it. It's 16:9 already! So now the only question is whether it's stained or wrinkled or the motor's busted... etc etc.

Thanks for the replies regardless!

[paw]

I think the motors come from Smofy and are pretty durable. Just wire that sucker up and check it out. Nice that it's 16:9. Prior to this, I just missed out on a Stewart StudioTek 16:9. Oh well!

[perisoft]

So, I've taken another look at the screen, and it's getting close to time to getting this thing up and running.

One thing I've noticed is that there's some rope/cord stuff around the edges of the screen. I'm assuming this is part of the tensioning system. But it looks a little bit odd, and is kind of different on each side. I can post some pics if that would help.

My question now is this: Is there any way I can test this without just going ZING and rolling it down? I'd hate to destroy the tensioning system, and I'm assuming that if I just use the trigger, it'll either roll all the way down or start rolling back up if I reverse the trigger. I suppose I could try putting in a switch or such to stop it outright, but I know *nothing* about the way the tensioning work on this screen or what I need to look for positive or negative.

Any advice? Thanks!

[paw]

I don't know of a way to test it without powering it up. Just be ready to flip the switch if there is a problem. What kind of screen control did you get?

Pics of the area would be useful.

There are 3 shipping screws. They are on the back of the case on the lower edges. Right side, center and left side. They screw through the case into the batten. They MUST be removed before you attempt to roll down the screen. Else, you WILL damage the screen fabric. I'm betting that they're removed on your screen. Since it was previously hung. 99.9% of people wouldn't save those screws and then put them back in. I saved mine. Somewhere.

If you're talking about the chains of the tension system, which is about all you can see when the screen is rolled up. Mine are uneven also. Stewart must use them to adjust the tension.

Here's what I found out for the wiring


wiring
---------

hot/positive - black or red
neutral/negative - white or gray
ground - green or bare



receptacles

You want the wide prong to be neutral, and the
narrow one hot. Most outlets have a darker metal for the
hot screw, and lighter coloured screw for the neutral.

neutral wire to the silver side

The white or neutral wire connects to the silver side of the outlet, and the black or hot wire connects to the brass side of the outlet. The bare grounding wire connects to the green screw in the bottom of the outlet.

I've got the various Stewart Luxus Model A manuals. If you want them, let me know your email or you can download them from www.stewartfilms.com

[perisoft]

So, I finally got a chance to unroll the screen. It turns out that two of the motor wires are cut in half (no biggie) but what was worse is that, internally, the rolled screen had fallen off the motor drive. This is because there was no mount at all on the other side - the thing was just flopping around in the case.

I made a new mount for the other end, and propped the whole deal up on a fork lift to see what the screen looked like. This is what I got.








So, there you have it. The first pic is somewhat misleading - there's no vertical-ish splotch to the left; that's a shadow. The bottom bit is actual dirt, though.

Shot with the flash, it almost looks passable, but my experience tells me that any wrinkles will pop out like a groundhog from a burning hole during pans or with solid colors.

What really makes me think the thing is toast are the wrinkles; I understand they're impossible to get out. But I figured maybe someone has some magic ideas. I'm going to leave it out overnight, but I'm not too hopeful...

[Spanky Ham]

Try a hair dryer. If that doesn't work, then try a heat gun on low setting. A digital Steinel set at 350 would be ideal.

[paw]

The horizontal wrinkles will fall out. I have those. The disappear in a 30 - 60 minutes. They took longer when I initially unrolled the screen. With the diangle wrinkles, you might try weighting the batten to help pull them out. Maybe some steam also?

[jkruger]

I picked up an old Da-Lite that had wrinkles and a bunch of dirt on the lower part like that for $20.00. Hung it out in the sun, washed it really good with 409 and lots of water, left it hanging for three days and the wrinkles were gone and it came out super clean.

[perisoft]

Those posts make me feel warm and fuzzy. Any advice on cleaning? Stewart's site says to 'lightly brush' the screen surface. I don't think that's gonna cut it. It's kind of sparkly and granular (being 1.5 gain), so I'm worried about rubbing, and not sure how to get the dirt off otherwise.

Would a shrink tube type heat gun for electronics work? Do I run the risk of melting the screen?

[jkruger]

I used a soft sponge to wash mine. I dried it with some paper towels, not putting much pressure on the surface. It was a glass beaded screen, and a few of the beads came off but it wasn't noticeable after it dried. The wrinkles just went away after a few days in the sun.

[ecrabb]

Our screen at the office will get wrinkles after only a couple of weeks of non-use with it rolled up. The wrinkles come completely out after just a day or two of being unrolled. I bet the hairdryer or heatgun idea will take care of it if time won't. If neither of those will, then the idea of the steam iron would be another thing to try. You've got options.

SC

[perisoft]

Awesome. Thanks a ton, guys. Without this screen I'm pretty much back to a bent old piece of half-inch insulation board with $1/yard WalMart fabric duct-taped around it.

[tri_joel]

I cleaned my Draper screen with Simple Green, heavily diluted with water, and several soft cotton towels. I washed it several times, then rinsed it with cotton towels and water several more times. I then dried it with cotton towels. My screen had some sticky stuff on it. The Simple Green worked.

[dbaisey]

I have seen a Stewart cleaned with simple green become unusable from being sticky. I seem to remember there were different dates that affected how it should be cleaned. On this one it was left up for a couple of months afterwards and it pulled some of the surface off and left a mark. Not sure how they diluted it but worth mentioning. It was a Videomatte 2.0 I think

[tri_joel]

Doug,

Good info. I called Stewart and the tech support guy told me to use the simple green. If I remember correctly, it was 10% Simple Green, not very much. He stressed rinsing it several times to ensure all of the simple green is removed. I didn't have anything to loose, the screen was covered in sticky crap and unusable, looks and works great now.

Except I am still undecided if it has too much gain (rated at 2.0), I get a great picture out of my BG 1208/2 with contrast and brightness down at the 50% or so level. I'm not sure I understand exactly what hot spotting is, but I'm pretty sure I don't have it. I taped a big piece of white paper on the screen, the screen had a better pic than the paper unless I cranked the brightness and contrast up, then the paper had a better pic. I'm pretty happy to leave the screen and keep the brightness and contrast down. I may eventually change the screen to a matte white though. In other words, I've decided to remain undecided until I can decide which decision to make.

Didn't mean to get off topic.

Peace,
Joel