Best shade of gray?

[jefft1314]

Oh, I know I'm hitting it with a lot more light than Bill is. :-)

I think regardless that I'll try the third coat- unless you can think of a reason not to? It's been suggested that I pick up an ND filter in order to filter out some of the 25 foot lamberts I'm currently getting and I plan on following that advice very soon.

[Tiddler]

I can't think of any reason not to try a third coat.

[wbassett]

jefft1314 wrote:

Anyway, besides that- I'm not totally happy with the gray screen, my wall sort of sparkles in places (can't describe it better than that, and this certainly wasn't the case with the kilz2). However, I realized that I did sort of a rush job on the second coat of the gray screen, and for some dumb reason, I never bothered to watch Tiddler's rolling instructions; I only read them. Now that I've watched them I've taped off the part of my wall that the screen projects onto (no reason to run a third coat over the entire wall) and I'm going to give the "screen" a third coat of the gray screen employing proper rolling technique. I'm hoping this helps!

Honestly I'm not sure why you're getting sparkles, the matte finish doesn't have that much of a sheen. Did you apply poly as well? The only person I know that put poly on Duration base Gray Screen hated it. There is a color shift with the poly, that's not a guess- Behr did spectrophotometer readings of paint with and without a poly coating and there was a difference in the color readings. I suspect that may be why the person disliked it. Besides it's already a matte finish. If you did apply poly, don't go too crazy with it and put on too many coats. People have reported that there is a point when the image doesn't get better, but actually worse. I've heard people say with too thick, or too many coats it starts to fuzz the image and make it softer looking and in some cases like it's out of focus.

The only thing I can think of is possibly if you got too much texture from the roller. I use either a good quality 1/4" nap roller or foam rollers (not the small foam trim rollers, full size foam rollers). Again there is nothing I can see in the paint or finish that would cause sparklies. Think of it this way though, if you are over powering this and getting sparkies, it's better to have spent $40 something than literally over ten times that amount on something like a Da-Lite Pearlescent screen. If you're having sparklies with this, a screen with added components like pearlescence (mica) will light up light a traffic sign wrapped in Christmas lights.

You really should get yourself an ND filter if the projector is that bright. Like I mentioned, as the bulb gets older you can remove the filter and keep the same screen brightness throughout the life of the bulb. If you go for a super dark screen now, you will be able to get the image down in brightness, but when the bulb starts to age the screen image will get dimmer and duller. Most likely you won't even make it through the bulb life before spending money on a new bulb when the old one actually had some life left in it if you had a filter you could just remove.

tiddler wrote:

Typically a couple of hours should do for waiting between coats. When applying polyurethane top coats I recommend people wait over night to be absolutely sure the paint is dry.

Bill did mention he could see tiny white specs in his Gray Screen. I wonder if that is what you are seeing. Also with a smaller screen you may be hitting it with a lot more light than Bill is.

Actually I said there appeared to be dark flecks in it not white. Someone jokingly said they were bugs!

Projector Central's review states:

Projector Central wrote:

It carries a theoretical 700 ANSI lumens rating, and in bright mode we measured an actual light output of 580 ANSI lumens. Switching to "theater" mode netted a respectable 465 ANSI lumens. So the H710's actual lumen output is much closer to its theoretical maximum than is the case for most competing home theater projectors. In reality, the H710 puts out more light than many models rated at 1000 lumens or more. So buyers should not try to compare the H710 to other models based on the official specifications.

...

Brightness uniformity is an impressive 88% when the H710's lens shift is in the neutral position. When the lens shift is set to one of the extremes of its shift range, brightness uniformity drops to between 75% and 78%. There is no hotspotting or distracting fade at the extremes, but it is better to avoid an installation that requires use of the extreme ends of the shift range if you have a choice.

The H710's contrast rating is only 2500:1, but it produces an image that is comparable in contrast with other projectors rated up to 5000:1. Shadow detail is very well defined, and black level is deep and inky. Even especially dark scenes were a pleasure to watch on the H710. We did find it useful to change the gamma settings, as occasionally the projector suppresses an image's midtones. Adjusting gamma corrected this minor annoyance.

I would also play with your settings some more and see if there is one that performs better and really brings the image alive with the best color and brightness. Cynical can attest to this. He was only 'satisfied' with his projector and screen at first and after trying different settings and talking to people he found some settings that he hadn't tried and the image popped right in for him. You might want to drop Smokey a line and ask him for some advice too. He's certified and definitely knows what he's talking about and can give you much better advice than us mere mortals that tweak and try can.

Right now you're blasting that screen with upwards of 28fL of brightness at the screen and that's insanely bright. You have to knock it down or else with lights out you're going to get eye fatigue before even one movie is finished and yeah... you'll hot spot or sparkle where others won't. Nothing against pearls, but be thankful you didn't add mica to the mix or you might have a real mess right now that could require starting over from scratch. In your case you definitely don't need it.

Sorry if I swayed you away from an N7 shade, you could have handled it and even an N6 for that matter, but I would rather see you use a filter and extend your bulb life/image uniformity across the life of the bulb. By mid bulb life you'll be down to around 18fL which is still very bright, and at the end you'll probably be down around where I am. Consider yourself lucky!

(BTW, screen size is a factor too... if you had the same size screen I have you'd we'd both have around the same fL at the screen). At least I know never to drop my screen size now.

Right now I would say if you only have Gray Screen up, try sanding it smooth and shining a light on the screen. Stand to the extreme edge of it and look across the screen for any peaks and valleys. If it is smooth, roll on a final coat with Todd's instructions and make sure not to over work the paint or dry roll. You know you are dry rolling when you hear the roller making 'sounds' and you are pressing harder. As Todd instructs, apply only enough pressure to make the roller move. That's the exact same advice I give and it is very sound advice no matter who says it.

I think we can get you fixed up, and I still say shoot Smokey a note too.

[jefft1314]

Hey Bassett, thanks for the very detailed response!

I used a 3/16's nap, but I'm pretty sure I "dry rolled" over much of the screen while I was rolling the second coat on in an attempt to even out the paint and get rid of the roller lines. Again, I didn't specifically follow Todd's instructions, and that's only my fault. I also wouldn't even consider top coating this in an attempt to obtain extra gain... that's pretty much the last thing I need right now!

I'm pretty sure we can chalk the sparkles up to my poor rolling technique. That said, when I get the third coat on (most likely today), if it still sparkles I'll have to strongly consider going white again.

I'll order the ND filter this week, especially if the sparkles remain after the third coat. You mentioned eye fatigue- I've actually spent quite some time with the projector watching movies and playing 360 and I haven't had any issues with eye fatigue then again I still have very young eyes (I'm 23).

Oh, and don't get me wrong about the picture quality, you have no idea how incredibly amazed I am at how good of an image this projector throws, and the gray screen certainly doesn't detract from that. I watched Knocked Up last night in HD-DVD, and it was just phenomenal. It absolutely rivals the local cinemaplex that's gone dlp in all of their theaters. There really is no "dialing-in" the Samsung. It's "turn it on, and forget it." I like!! :-)