Frequently Asked Questions

LENS MODEL EVOLUTIONS. Today’s high end projectors include advanced image processing modes to show wide screen content with much higher performance by electronically stretching the content vertically to repurpose millions of black bar pixels for the image instead. Anamorphic add-on lenses (Alpha and Alpha Pro) then optically remove this vertically stretched appearance by a combination of vertical compression and about 10% horizontal expansion, thereby restoring the original shape while preserving the much higher performance. The Alpha and Alpha Pro lenses have replaced all earlier lens designs due to their inherent lack of geometric distortion, making them far easier to install and use.

HOW DOES IT MOUNT? The Alpha Pro is a larger lens that should be mounted either directly to the ceiling (using standard Legrand/Chief components) or to a shelf underneath the projector. The Alpha lens comes with the XM3 attachment plate for direct attachment to JVC DILA and Sony XW projectors. The Alpha can also be mounted to a shelf or the XM3 plate can be sandwiched between the projector and ceiling mount.

SCREEN FORMATS. The 2.35:1 cinema format is obsolete. This format was officially replaced in 1972 by the Society for Motion Picture and Television Engineers (SMPTE) standards committee with the 2.4:1 cinema format. Some additional screen border masking may be needed to fully fit standard 2.4:1 content onto a 2.35:1 screen.  Even on a 2.4:1 screen, border width should ideally be a minimum of 1.5” (37mm) to mask content aspect ratio variations.

WATCHING SMALLER FORMAT CONTENT IN A 2.4:1 CINEMA FORMAT THEATER. All anamorphic-compatible projectors include both a mode to show 16:9 content in the center of the 2.4:1 screen as well as a mode to linearly stretch 16:9 content to fill the 2.4:1, depending on user preference.

SUBTITLES. Captions and subtitles are often placed at the bottom of wide screen content and therefore may be cut off on a 2.4:1 screen. Many Blu-ray players offer the ability for subtitles in Blu-ray content to be shifted as desired so they become visible. However, streaming services typically force subtitles to a location without the ability to reposition. In this case content should be treated as 16:9 so that the subtitles below and above the image can appear.  AppleTV is leading the revolution toward anamorphic 2.4:1 projection with not only anamorphic modes but also subtitle repositioning, but the various other content provider apps on an AppleTV device still need to be evolved to take advantage of these features.

PROJECTOR ORIENTATION. The projector should be ideally mounted horizontally +/- 3” from screen center and at a height equal to or slightly above the top of the screen image for best geometry (for more details see the lens model manual).

OLDER LENS PRODUCTS. Older UH480 and DC1 lens models (ie prior to 2015) are not recommended for today’s true 4K (and higher) projectors. Panamorph does not manufacture supporting hardware or service components for these older lens models and transports.