It's a pretty stark difference live. And yes, I got used to it pretty fast!As for the masking, I'm not feeling like I "need" it at this point as much as I did for scope films on my old screen. Since it's off to the sides, when the lights are out it barely shows up (I think using the Firehawk screen helps versus a white screen). I still may do something, but I don't know what it will be yet.
Over the years I have bought my screens from SeymourAV and always purchase side masks from them. They may be able to provide those for you (and they have both AT and non-AT) for not a ton of money. I don't find having manual side masks to be too much of an issue as it only takes about 10 seconds to walk over and remove (or put back on) the side masks. The automated ones are very cool, but I'd rather put that money towards other parts of my system. That is, of course, a personal choice. Also, building your own automated side masks can be a very cool project, but typically requires planning and building the side masks into the frame (for the least obtrusive side masks). The other site has some cool build threads in its DYI Screen page.
We are Seymour AV dealers. Seymour AV can't make masks to fit a Stewart screen. When Seymour builds a manual masking screen, Seymour installs magnets in the frame and in the masking panels.
If I do build something, I have the ability to mount some magnets above and below the screen to hold the masking. I was thinking of using some foam board and just wrapping in black velvet (which is what my front wall is anyway).
I know I'm resurrecting a thread several months old but I thought I would check to see if you added any side masking panels yet and if so what you used? The magnetic idea sounded interesting.
OK...here's what I did. In lieu of magnets, I used some brackets that rest on top of the screen and wrapped some rigid foam (the stuff that yard signs are made of) as the material. You can buy a 4x8 sheet at Home Depot for under $25.00. The brackets were a few bucks and I ended up using mini screw/nuts to affix them to the foam. I initially tried just using Gorilla Tape, but they began to sag and using two screws per bracket made a huge difference. Here are some pictures. As you can see, I used Gorilla tape all around the outside edges to give some added protection from them possibly being dropped. I then wrapped them in JoAnn's velvet (same I used on my front wall) and the results are pretty good IMO for a project that cost under $50 to complete. Let me know if you have any questions. Contemplating 2.35:1 ScreenContemplating 2.35:1 ScreenContemplating 2.35:1 ScreenContemplating 2.35:1 ScreenContemplating 2.35:1 Screen
Simple and effective. It just hangs on the top of the screen. That couldn't be easier ! I like it.