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Need Screen Paint Mix Recommendation (making lemonade)

3K views 9 replies 3 participants last post by  Harpmaker 
#1 ·
I am looking for advice for screen paint/mix. I am currently running a far from ideal set up and am looking for advice/input on to make the best of it.

I am using a low output, low contrast projector(HD70) on a big screen (126") in a living room setup with a lot ambient light. The projector is ceiling mounted.

Thoughts i had were to do a Black Widow with an eggshell instead of flat bermuda biege, or something along those lines. Perhaps I might tolerate some hotspotting for the benefits of increased gain? I assume I will not want a white screen due to the ambient light issues.

Let me know, if you have any thoughts. Thanks!

Mike P
 
#2 ·
Mike,

Could you tell everyone a little more about your setup?

  1. How far from the screen is the projector?
  2. How far do you sit from the screen?
  3. Are you running in low lamp (398 lm), or high lamp (756 lm) mode?

Based on what you said in your post you may already be pushing the limits.
 
#3 · (Edited)
I'm in high lamp mode
The projector lens is ~16' from the screen and zoomed as small as the screen will go
I'm sitting ~14' from the screen

This is the only viewing device for our primary viewing area (living room). The projector will be upgraded at some point but for the time being this is what I have. I've looked at sites like projector central to understand the output and what I need based on what screen, and there really isn't anyway i'll get greatness, but i'm hoping for good at night and what ever I can get during the day ;)

My naive assumption is that I am looking for a high gain gray. Does that exist in a paintable mix?
 
#4 · (Edited)
Based on the information you've provided, it looks like your best bet is to stick with a screen that is as close to a gain of 1, or a bit higher.

It's good that your projector is 16' from the screen as that will allow you to potentially use a white with a bit more sheen.

Check this thread: Neutral Gray sticky

A good neutral white is Glidden Professional Paint in a matte finish from Home Depot, or potentially you could use Sherwin Williams ProClassic Smooth Enamel Satin Finish (no pigment added).

In the "metallic" mixes, you may want to talk with Harpmaker or mechman about Cream&Sugar Ultra. I'm not sure what the gain is but in may be a potential solution for you as well.

At 126" diagonal you are around 16 footlamberts on a new lamp, probably dropping down to around 8 footlamberts as the lamp gets older. The only other recommendations may be to decrease your screen size a bit and/or find some ways to keep ambient light off the screen.
 
#5 ·
Ambient light is somewhat uncontrollable thus the making lemonade part. I can say that currently i am shooting on a Sherwin Williams Satin Agreeable Gray (existing wall color) and can tolerate it enough not to put the LCD TV back in it's place for now.

I will be shooting onto killz2 when I prime before my finish coat.
 
#6 ·
mppatt01,

There are no "high gain" (peak gains of 1.0 +) darker gray screen paints that don't have problems due to said gain. About the closest you might get to such a mix would be Black Widow™ made with an eggshell base instead of the normal flat enamel (now called "super flat" by Valspar instead of a flat enamel). However, such a BW™ variant hasn't been tested yet.

Based on your paint choice (SW 'Agreeable Gray) your current screen is about N8.3 in shade, but it pushes yellow pretty hard. You should get about the same image brightness from BW™, but the slightly darker BW™ might be of help with the ambient light problem.

With your current screen size and PJ mounting distance you are getting about 16 fL of image brightness with a new lamp, however, that brightness could well drop to 8 fL over the life of the lamp. That is bordering on too dim an image even for those of us that don't require a really bright picture.
 
#7 ·
I have what I need to to paint BW, but I might just sit on the super flat Bermuda Beige and buy a quart of eggshell Bermuda Beige and give it a try.

Thanks for giving me an idea of what I am at now!! I think I wouldn't want to go any lighter than this. The current wall color is pushing quit a bit (to my novice eyes; skin is very red).

Right now it's 8am, the sun has been up for 1.5hrs and I"m watching underworld evolution with the projector in "Bright" mode with 900hrs on my bulb. It's not impressive, but sitting here, i can tolerate it until I can buy a new projector, and at night, I love it :D

My last house had a basic theater in the basement with 106" screen and complete light control (where the HD70 was originally). With 2 young kids and a 1000 projects I never used it. Even with the greatly lower picture quality now, it's finally getting the use I had planned for it. Thanks again for help!

Mike
 
#8 ·
I have what I need to to paint BW, but I might just sit on the super flat Bermuda Beige and buy a quart of eggshell Bermuda Beige and give it a try.
It would be really great if you would give the BW™ eggshell mix try, I truly don't believe it would hot spot. If you have seen the gain chart Mech did for BW™ there is some "headroom" for more gain.

Thanks for giving me an idea of what I am at now!! I think I wouldn't want to go any lighter than this. The current wall color is pushing quit a bit (to my novice eyes; skin is very red).
No problem. :T This is yet another area where color science can be most beneficial in home theater, between the RGB numbers and the CIELAB numbers we can tell a lot about how a paint will work as a projection screen.

Do you have a calibration DVD? A properly calibrated PJ can make a world of difference in image quality.

Right now it's 8am, the sun has been up for 1.5hrs and I"m watching underworld evolution with the projector in "Bright" mode with 900hrs on my bulb. It's not impressive, but sitting here, i can tolerate it until I can buy a new projector, and at night, I love it :D
The best way to combat ambient light is to block it, but sometimes that just isn't possible.

My last house had a basic theater in the basement with 106" screen and complete light control (where the HD70 was originally). With 2 young kids and a 1000 projects I never used it. Even with the greatly lower picture quality now, it's finally getting the use I had planned for it. Thanks again for help!

Mike
Yep, "The best laid plans of mice and men"... glad to know you're using your PJ as planned now. ;)
 
#9 ·
It would be really great if you would give the BW™ eggshell mix try, I truly don't believe it would hot spot. If you have seen the gain chart Mech did for BW™ there is some "headroom" for more gain.
I need all the gain I can get, so if there is headroom, i'd like to find it. I am assuming to try an eggshell BW i just substitute eggshell for flat enamel/super flat. Hope so as I have a can in the garage now. I requested the VUPE PPG Bermuda Biege in Eggshell, end up with a "paint + primer" . I assume this is a labeling change.


Do you have a calibration DVD? A properly calibrated PJ can make a world of difference in image quality.
I have the Disney WOW calibration disc and couldn't get the red out without a terrible looking picture shooting onto the agreeable gray, so I went back to earlier settings. I'll re-calibrate when I get the new screen primed.
 
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