Full 10' Required? Cover for when in "practice" mode?

[eezetee]

Just got my optishot 2 in from Amazon and carried back home. Looking forward to getting started on the setup.

I have a few questions about the screen size that would be best suited for Optishot 2 (an maybe something like TGC in the future) as well as movies. I think i'm going with the par2pro HQ screen material.

However, is it really required to have the full 10' ? If I do, and I want to run the Benq 1085ST at 16:9, that means my wide will be about 17.5 feet. That will take up too much of the room wide wise despite my ceilings being above 10'.

I was thinking more about 12 feet wide but worried that i'll make the screen too short? Or is it recommended to run in 4:3 mode.

Really not sure what do here...

2nd question - Is it recommended to have a tarp over the screen during practice modes so as to avoid wear on the screen? If i'm just playing around at home, It won't bother me if the screen view isn't clear.

[penrose]

I am running 6ft from screen, 12 feet wide by 9 ft tall in 16:9

[eezetee]

Thanks Penrose.

I'm not sure I follow how you are in 16:9 mode at 9 feet tall by 12 feet wide? Isn't that more like 4:3? Or maybe it doesn't fill the entire screen?

Could you post a picture of how your screen looks?

Do you feel it's missing anything not being a full 10' ? Do most people create their screens with the attempt to be fully used?

[penrose]

I am about to leave to, you guessed play a round of golf. Will post picture, but wait I think I have one. I do not have as many wrinkle now - placed some sand bags down on the bottom from my old net pro. I also plan on ordering these tonight.

https://easykl.sslcert14.com/mini_klip.php

Hope this helps.

[eezetee]

Hi Penrose,

Looks good. Do you think it takes away any of the experience not being fully to the floor? Could I bother you for a 4:3 shot?

Let me know how those clips go? That could solve a huge problem that I have and that is getting the mesh hooks done.


For others that may see this thread, can you advise on the full 16:9 floor to ceiling or is it just best effort size wise but keep the 16:9?

[p3eps]

I used to have my picture starting at a few feet off the ground, and I think it does detract from the experience.
I've recently redone my setup, and changed from 16:10 to 4:3 so that my image is much fuller. My screen is 3m wide by 2.75m tall due to space constraints, so a 4:3 image is a much better fit.
I put the image right to the floor, and then put borders up so that the empty white bit of my screen is covered and framed in.
Looks much better and way more professional.

[eezetee]

I used to have my picture starting at a few feet off the ground, and I think it does detract from the experience.
I've recently redone my setup, and changed from 16:10 to 4:3 so that my image is much fuller. My screen is 3m wide by 2.75m tall due to space constraints, so a 4:3 image is a much better fit.
I put the image right to the floor, and then put borders up so that the empty white bit of my screen is covered and framed in.
Looks much better and way more professional.

That's what I figured, especially the putting. The only issue I have is that my ceilings are 10' tall, so if I wanted a full 16:9, I'd have to go near 15' to get that effect.

Wondering if maybe only 7' tall x 12.4' wide is enough? Your setup p3eps is 9 foot tall by 9.8' so I would guess a 4:3 would be closer.... Do you watch movies? I would expect the border to affect it?

Then I'll have to put my BENQ 1085ST too close to the swing? Wondering if maybe scrapping the 16:9 and going direct for 4:3 is better but when I may have to change projectors as the BENQ 1085ST is 16:9

I've got to make a decision in the next few days as I travel to the US next week and need to order my impact screen......

[Thinman]

2nd question - Is it recommended to have a tarp over the screen during practice modes so as to avoid wear on the screen? If i'm just playing around at home, It won't bother me if the screen view isn't clear.

keep in mind that if you cover the screen for practice, you will basically be taking a hammer and pounding that cover material into the screen repeatedly. Don't use something cheap that may bleed into it.

I personally would not cover it at all. If you are concerned about ware, us a much less expensive SuperTex screen that you could replace 4 times for the cost of one HQ.

[p3eps]

Your setup p3eps is 9 foot tall by 9.8' so I would guess a 4:3 would be closer.... Do you watch movies? I would expect the border to affect it?

If you look here, you can see my widescreen attempt in the first pic, and my 4:3 pic near the bottom.

http://golfsimulatorforum.com/forum/build-your-own/enclosures/75415-my-golf-sim-build-v2-uk

I don't watch movies... mine is purely for golf. I have put the football on it whilst washing my car outside - but with the garage door open its pretty washed out.
If I'd had the space, I would have gone with widescreen.

Cory from Par2Pro's advice to me was to make the screen as tall as possible - as it gives you better options for high shots.

[eezetee]

Thanks p3eps. I see exactly what you meant when in 16:9 mode. The 4:3 mode all the way to the bottom seemed much more realistic even with the space at the top. I guess it's about the driving area being at ground level that helps. Do you think that net behind it was neccessary, or a tarp/mesh would have worked?

I'll indeed have to rethink my actual available space. This part of the house is still being built so I'm cautious if I think I'll have a certain sized area and find out I'll have less, which could be an issue.

If the BENZ1085ST has a native 16:9, does that mean if I run it in 4:3 i'll be detracting from it's performance?

[p3eps]

I think the quality of the screen and it not having loads of ripples in it makes it look more realistic! Having the image right to the bottom is definitely a bonus though.
I went with the net because it was recommended by Cory at Par2Pro. I thought it would help preserve the screen, so it seemed like a good idea. My net is tied quite tightly on the frame, but the screen is much looser. In theory, this means that the screen won't see so much tension, and shouldn't warp or rip as easily.

My Benq projector is native 16:9 as well, at 1080p... which means it projects 1920 x 1080 pixels. I've got it set to 1600 x 1200. In theory, its only using 1600 of the horizontal pixels and blanking out the other 320. I don't have enough vertical pixels to display 1200, so it uses my 1080 and must merge some together to make them fit. Technically it will be a slightly degraded picture than if I had a native 1600x1200... however my Benq cost me about £600 and a decent native 1600x1200 would be about £1500.

[eezetee]

Thanks p3eps. Really appreciate it and it helps me make some decisions.

Just to clarify, although your native resolution is 16:9, you still run opti or other sim in 1600x1200 and don't notice major difference. I think that may work for me as that way I can still watch sports/TV in 16:9 but there may be extra area that is uncovered. I can probably design around it.

I'm going to rethink and see if I can't get 16:9 out of my setup.

How high do you think the minimum is ? 2.4M (8') which is 4.24M wide (13.9) feet. I think I can squeeze that in. But if I had to go 3M high, then the width wouldn't fit and I'd have to go 4:3

[p3eps]

When I turn my projector on without the PC, it automatically defaults to 16:9, and The image stretches onto my side curtains. If I didn't have the door at the back of my garage, I'd have the screen an extra few feet wider and go with a 16:9 image.
If I set mine to 16:9 at the moment with my width, the picture is only about 1.8m high. I'd have to blank off about 1/4 of the height of my screen. At least my 4:3 means I'm only blanking off a small bit at the top.
I think my picture is 2.4m tall, and above that is blanked off by the top trim.

I've upgraded my projector and my screen both to much higher quality than my previous setup, so to me, it looks amazing in comparison! I run TGC at 1600 X 1200 and it looks significantly better than it did on my previous setup did at 1920 X 1080. My projector then was outputting at 720p, and it was onto an archery net!

[eezetee]

Nice p3eps.

Did you test out those clips yet? That could be a deciding factor in how I mount my screen. I'm T-2 weeks before my trip to the US where I will be stocking up on all of these supplies to build my room so I need to make a hasty decision and hope it's right.

Thanks to yours and everyone's advice, i'm going to try and squeeze the 16:9 if I can but making sure it is atleast 2.5M tall otherwise like you said there is too much blank screen.

Curious, if you went with the Par2pro material, what kind of balls are you hitting?

I see people talk about using completely white balls with no logo but the Almostballs do have a logo. Any chance you know if these damage the screen?

[p3eps]

Where are you if you're heading to the US in 2 weeks? I'm heading to Orlando 2 weeks tomorrow!
Personally I'd rather pay the shipping / import charges, and take my time and do it right. Having done the process twice, I wish I'd taken my time and done it right the first time!

I'm hitting Bridgestone E6 balls at it. I thought it was 'sponsorship' logos that you were supposed to avoid on the balls - not the ones the manufacturer put on.
Once the ball starts getting a little bit scuffed, I put it to the side and use it for my practice / winter rounds on the course. I don't want a slightly ragged ball tearing the screen.

For me Almostballs are useless, as the GC2 knows they're only flying 1/4 of the distance they're meant to!

If you end up with blank screen, you can always get some trim to cover it like I did. It looks much better with the black border above the picture than empty white screen!