Fitting movies to 2.35 screen

[tominwi]

First post (deep breath): I'm a long-time disc user weary of messing with them, so am thinking that my HT future includes a Strato S, where movie watching appears to get A LOT easier (push a button, movie plays, no "trailers" or menus or etc). Presently my projected images (Sony 4K VPL-VW395ES) are zoomed-and-shifted between the various ARs to fit my 2.35 screen, and while my PJ has options for 1.85 and 2.35 and customs, the motorized lens-shifting ain't perfect, and the positions of the images from DVDs and HD discs can vary somewhat as well, particularly for widescreen stuff. So being nit-picky I tend almost always to pause the movie on a bright image at the very beginning, and make final lens-position tweaks so that it perfectly fits my screen.

My K-questions:

1. Are >16x9 programs from the K-store consistently centered in the frame, so at least when I watch consecutive films with the same AR e.g. 2.40:1 that I won't have to adjust my projector lens?

2. Does the Strato have any sort of test images that are readily called-up to help me change e.g. from 1.85 to 2.20 Before The Movie Starts, or will I still need to pause a movie as it begins to make my final tweaks?

As an aside, is there a K-User Guide anywhere such that I can study the Strato and learn about it? Or are Installation guides exclusive to dealers?

TIA to any replies!

 

[J.Green]

Strato installation guide can be found here:
https://support.kaleidescape.com/article/Strato-Installation-Guide

You might also be interested to read up on our CinemaScape feature:
https://www.kaleidescape.com/wp-content/uploads/kaleidescape-cinemascape.pdf

You can setup the Strato to always be outputting a 2.35 video image (on the OSD and during movie playback) and then just leave your projector set to 2.35 or you can put it into a hybrid mode if you wish to unzoom your projector when displaying 1.78 content.

 

[tominwi]

Thank you John, I had started to read the Cinemascape doc and stopped when it only mentioned older players, but now I see Strato supports Cscape as well. The Strato Installation Guide is helpful, though it tantalizingly shows a "Select Video Behavior" header in a screenshot that then is not expanded-upon anywhere that I could see.

OK so my curiosity is satisfied for now. It does appear that to include certain of my favorite programs-on-disc onto a new Kscape/Strato platform I would need also to get an M500 and Co-Star, though I'm not sure that will be worth it to me just to play those you don't have e.g. Concert for George.

Many thanks again for the help.

 

[MikeKobb]

Since I have a theater with screen masking at home, I'll add a little color to the answers already given here.

1. Are >16x9 programs from the K-store consistently centered in the frame, so at least when I watch consecutive films with the same AR e.g. 2.40:1 that I won't have to adjust my projector lens?

For 4K, yes. For Blu-ray quality HD, potentially no, but I've never encountered a movie that was off enough that I noticed it.

2. Does the Strato have any sort of test images that are readily called-up to help me change e.g. from 1.85 to 2.20 Before The Movie Starts, or will I still need to pause a movie as it begins to make my final tweaks?

Not really. There is a calibration tool for screen masking in the settings interface, but it only has 1.78, 1.85 and 2.35.

Now, with all that said, for someone with a 2.35 screen, I really think your simplest and best bet is to use CinemaScape and leave the lens fixed.

When you get your system, one thing you definitely want to do is turn on the subtitle repositioning feature. That moves subtitles into the image area so that they are still visible when the screen is masked down.

 

[tominwi]

Since I have a theater with screen masking at home, I'll add a little color to the answers already given here...

...When you get your system, one thing you definitely want to do is turn on the subtitle repositioning feature. That moves subtitles into the image area so that they are still visible when the screen is masked down.

Thanks for the feedback Mike, it is appreciated. It seems all y'all have this stuff figured-out; I look forward to getting a Strato but probably not until fall season at this point.

In the meantime I zoom 2.35 Blu-rays and suffer for things like trailers/ads and Menu selections that are off my screen!!!

 

[JerryL]

As a long time Kaleidescape user with a 2.35 screen, I can confirm everything said above. I think you will be very happy with the setup.

 

[baltz]

I personally use a fixed lens with CinemaScape. You simply leave your projector in "Normal" mode (no scaling), and Kaleidescape does all of the magic. You don't have the issue of menus being cropped like you would with a standard Blu-ray player and a projector set to "Vertical Stretch".

99% of movies work perfectly. My only complaint is with movies that have a changing aspect ratio. For example, The Dark Knight is primarily 2.35, but it has a few 16x9 scenes. In this case, K labels the movie as 16x9 and the majority of the movie ends up window boxed. This is pretty rare and is only a problem with a few titles.

I understand why they do this, but I would really like the option to go into the browser interface and change the metadata of this movie to 2.35. This would crop the few 16x9 scenes, which was how it was shown in most theaters anyway.

Another thing that I have been wondering is how a 4K 2.35 movie on a Strato would be handled with a 1080P output in CinemaScape mode. In theory, this should give better picture quality than a Premiere player. You would be going from ~1620 to 1080 lines of resolution instead of ~810 to 1080. Basically, you could get full 1920 x 1080 resolution instead of 1920 x 810 upscaled to 1920 x 1080.

 

[tominwi]

...99% of movies work perfectly. My only complaint is with movies that have a changing aspect ratio. For example, The Dark Knight is primarily 2.35, but it has a few 16x9 scenes. In this case, K labels the movie as 16x9 and the majority of the movie ends up window boxed. This is pretty rare and is only a problem with a few titles...

Ha! Yeah I remember that one, and though I haven't looked at it recently (on Blu-ray) I seem to recall that I zoomed it to 2.35 and then electronically Masked-off the top & bottom so those IMAX scenes would not spill off the screen.

I think my new PJ might be able to save Masking settings, in which case I might have to make a custom setting and call it "Nolan"!!!!

 

[MikeKobb]

I personally use a fixed lens with CinemaScape. You simply leave your projector in "Normal" mode (no scaling), and Kaleidescape does all of the magic. You don't have the issue of menus being cropped like you would with a standard Blu-ray player and a projector set to "Vertical Stretch".

99% of movies work perfectly. My only complaint is with movies that have a changing aspect ratio. For example, The Dark Knight is primarily 2.35, but it has a few 16x9 scenes. In this case, K labels the movie as 16x9 and the majority of the movie ends up window boxed. This is pretty rare and is only a problem with a few titles.

I understand why they do this, but I would really like the option to go into the browser interface and change the metadata of this movie to 2.35. This would crop the few 16x9 scenes, which was how it was shown in most theaters anyway.

Another thing that I have been wondering is how a 4K 2.35 movie on a Strato would be handled with a 1080P output in CinemaScape mode. In theory, this should give better picture quality than a Premiere player. You would be going from ~1620 to 1080 lines of resolution instead of ~810 to 1080. Basically, you could get full 1920 x 1080 resolution instead of 1920 x 810 upscaled to 1920 x 1080.

I'd like to add that aspect-ratio override as well. In the meantime, I change it manually with my control system, but it would be great to remember it.

I don't think I quite understand your CinemaScape question on Strato, though. Why would you display the movie as 1080p rather than 2160p? You would be going from 1600 pixels of true vertical data down to 1080 (a 32% loss), and you'd be losing fully 50% of the horizontal resolution.

 

[baltz]

I'd like to add that aspect-ratio override as well. In the meantime, I change it manually with my control system, but it would be great to remember it.

How are you handling that with your control system? I disable cinemascape and set the projector to vertical stretch in this case, but that results in info being cut off (if I press info to check time remainig, etc.). Is there a better option?

I don't think I quite understand your CinemaScape question on Strato, though. Why would you display the movie as 1080p rather than 2160p? You would be going from 1600 pixels of true vertical data down to 1080 (a 32% loss), and you'd be losing fully 50% of the horizontal resolution.

I was referring to 1080p output to a 1080p projector, comparing Strato/UHD Movie/1080p output/CinemaScape to M500/HD Movie/1080p output/CinemaScape.

I haven't seen any CinemaScape info available specific to the Strato. Is there anything important to know if using a Strato with CinemaScape and a 1080p projector?

 

[MikeKobb]

Yeah, unfortunately, you will still have that issue because the onscreen display elements will respect the bookmarked aspect ratio.

It occurred to me as I was driving home that you might have been referring to a 1080p projector. Sorry I was a bit slow on the uptake. You would be starting with more data when using a Strato in this scenario, although I confess that I have not tried this particular combination so I don't know whether the end result is noticeably sharper. CinemaScape will work fine in 1080p on Strato, though.

 

[J.Green]

...although I confess that I have not tried this particular combination so I don't know whether the end result is noticeably sharper. CinemaScape will work fine in 1080p on Strato, though.

I am using CinemaScape (Native 2:35 Display mode) on a Strato that is connected to a 1080p projector and I think it looks just great. But that's purely a subjective opinion.

 

[baltz]

Thanks for the feedback. I expected it to work fine.

I also see that upgrading to the Strato would fix the aspect ratio issue for The Dark Knight. The UHD version is listed as 2.35 in the store, so I assume that version doesn't have the changing aspect ratios.

 

[iansilv]

Thanks for the feedback. I expected it to work fine.

I also see that upgrading to the Strato would fix the aspect ratio issue for The Dark Knight. The UHD version is listed as 2.35 in the store, so I assume that version doesn't have the changing aspect ratios.

I know this is an old thread, but how does the 4K Dark Knight work with cinemascape?

 

[MikeKobb]

If you mean the multi-aspect-ratio version, which is only on the HD quality version, it is bookmarked as 1.78:1 aspect ratio because of the IMAX scenes. The experience with CinemaScape will not be very good, unfortunately. The IMAX scenes will be full-height in a 1.78 frame in the center of your 2.35 screen, and the 2.35 scenes will be letterboxed within that same frame.

If I were watching the HD version on a CinemaScape system, I would turn CinemaScape off on the player for that movie, and manually set up the lens or zoom so that it would fill my 2.35 screen and crop the IMAX scenes. The IMAX portions of the film were framed so that they could be cropped to 2.35 without loss of important information, because when it was screened originally, it was shown in many 2.35 cinemas.

The 4K version does not include the variable aspect ratios, and it will fill a 2.35 screen.