After reading, reading, reading, I came to the conclusion that a BW screen was right for me. My projector is an Optoma HD65 with 1600 rated lumens. My HT is not well light controlled during the day as it has a sliding glass door with BO cloth curtains and a fluorescent light in the middle of the 12x17 room.
So I painted a BW screen and was happy. It was better than other greys I'd tried. Then I read some posts about how few DIY'ers had good reference points, and were not well suited to saying what was good and what was not. So I painted a bone stock Kilz2 test panel.
When I compared the Kilz2 to the BW screen. The differences were dramatic. The Kilz2 had clearly higher black levels with light present. However the white levels were also much higher. The BW screen clearly had better blacks, but the whites were beaten down so much that the image lost more than the darker blacks gave it.
It appears to me that the overall dynamic range of the pure white screen is higher than that of my BW screen. While my numbers are made up, they represent what it "seems like" to me and are after calibrating my projector (both screens had the same calibration numbers when using the THX optimizer).
Perceived dynamic range in a lighted room:
White = 100-255.
BW = 50-160.
Perceived dynamic range in a mostly dark room:
White: 20-255
BW = 5-200
Perceived dynamic range in a completely dark room:
White: 0-255
BW = 0-200
What am I missing? There HAS to be a reason that grey / grey relfective screens are so wildly popular with the WAY more knowledgeable folks than me.
-Jim
So I painted a BW screen and was happy. It was better than other greys I'd tried. Then I read some posts about how few DIY'ers had good reference points, and were not well suited to saying what was good and what was not. So I painted a bone stock Kilz2 test panel.
When I compared the Kilz2 to the BW screen. The differences were dramatic. The Kilz2 had clearly higher black levels with light present. However the white levels were also much higher. The BW screen clearly had better blacks, but the whites were beaten down so much that the image lost more than the darker blacks gave it.
It appears to me that the overall dynamic range of the pure white screen is higher than that of my BW screen. While my numbers are made up, they represent what it "seems like" to me and are after calibrating my projector (both screens had the same calibration numbers when using the THX optimizer).
Perceived dynamic range in a lighted room:
White = 100-255.
BW = 50-160.
Perceived dynamic range in a mostly dark room:
White: 20-255
BW = 5-200
Perceived dynamic range in a completely dark room:
White: 0-255
BW = 0-200
What am I missing? There HAS to be a reason that grey / grey relfective screens are so wildly popular with the WAY more knowledgeable folks than me.
-Jim