The Melamine Screen

[Prof.]

Firstly, my thanks must go to Mazman808 ( an Aussie) who first presented this DIY screen on the AVS forum..
Through his efforts I have been able to construct a very simple, inexpensive, good quality white screen, with a gain higher than 1.00, for my new scope theatre..

I don't profess to be an expert in DIY screens, and I'm certainly not the calibre of people like w.bassett, tiddler and mechman..who have spent many months..perhaps years of evaluations of various materials and coatings of numerous screens and test panels to find the best type of screen for any given situation..
I can only give my own personal appraisal of this screen, without the backup of technical specifications..for what it's worth..
It is only my subjective view of this type of screen, which people can evaluate from the information given and of the screenshots shown..

DIY Melamine screens have been around for a long time with varying success..
The biggest problem with them (that many people have found) is that the surface has a sheen to it..
This has caused hot-spotting in most cases and the higher the lumen output of the projector, the worse the hot-spotting is..

Various top coatings have been tried with varying success..I had tried a top coating on a test panel of this material a long time ago, just using a commercial brand Clear Matte Acrylic paint, and found the result disappointing with a patchy looking finish and a dull looking picture..
Even just one coat produced quite a thick layer, which obviously had an adverse affect on the picture quality..It may have been better if it had been sprayed on, but I don't have a spray gun..
I also found that the coating had yellowed some over a period of time..

I gave up the idea of using a Melamine based screen and went looking for other materials..
Sometime later I found this material called Nulon (which I finished up using for a brief time in my first theatre) which produced a very nice well balanced colour image, with excellent blacks and whites..
Unfortunately it suffered from expansion and contraction variations, depending on the weather conditions at the time..which became a real pain...

Just prior to moving I came across Mazman's write up on the Melamine screen and his screenshots, so I decided that I would try his method when I setup my new theatre..

For those of you who are not familiar with Melamine board, it's generally available in double faced 8'x4' sheets ( may be available in larger sheets in the US ) and 16mm. thick.
In Australia it costs about $22.00 a sheet, so in the US it will be a lot less..
It's a very heavy material and difficult to handle..mainly because the surface is very slippery..
It needs to have a good strong mounting situation to secure it in place..I used a French cleat, and it did the job admirably..

All that's required to convert it into a very good white screen, with a little bit of gain and no hot-spotting, is the right top coating material..
I was not able to get hold of the same coating that Mazman used as it was an import from New Zealand and not available in my State..
I did find an equivalent at Bunnings ( similar to your Home Depot ) in the specialised paints section..
The product is made by Chatsworth ( an Australian brand ) and is called Clear Matte Acrylic Sealer...
I'm sure that you would find an equivalent over there, but it must be the sealer type..
If not at Home Depot and the like, then any Artists supply shop should have it..

Unlike the earlier Clear Matte Acrylic I had bought ( which was just a clear liquid ) this stuff looks like milk with the same consistency..
The product is guaranteed never to yellow or fade, but time will tell if that holds true..

I followed tiddler's roller painting tutorial ( many thanks for that ) to the letter and it coated beautifully, with not a sign of a roller mark to be seen..
I gave the Melamine just one coat and you could see the sheen of the surface just disappear, but the surface still remained very smooth and you wouldn't even know that it had been coated..I think the very thin liquid consistency helped to smooth out any roller marks, and I had rolled it on with the board being face up on some trestles ..

My projector is rated at 1300 lumens and occasionally I can see the slightest hot-spotting with just the one coat..Not enough to bother me..
If you have a higher lumen output, then you may need two coats..

This Melamine screen had a lot to live up to, because the Nulon screen was excellent at producing whites and blacks as well as a natural colour range..
I can say that it passed with flying colours..no pun intended...It is almost identical in every aspect of the colour spectrum, possibly a little less in the whites than the Nulon screen, which had exceptional whites.
Definition is very good with that "pop off the screen" quality..and the depth perception quality takes you right into the image..
Screendoor effect is virtually non existent...I sit 9' 6" from an 8' wide scope screen and rarely see any SDE in a movie..

So, If you are looking for a simple, inexpensive white screen with a little bit of gain, you might like to try the Melamine screen..

Below are numerous screenshots taken from a variety of DVD movies and some Lifestyle SD digital TV shots as well..
I tried to get a good range of colours and with various lighting conditions, ranging from closeups to longshots..

All of the shots are taken with the Anamorphic lens in place...I don't need to slide the lens away for 16:9 images..
Also, all the images are from SD DVD's projectored with just a 480p. projector..so if you have a 720p or better, then you can imagine how much better they would look on this type of screen..
And finally a shot showing the screen size in relation to the theatre room..

I hope you enjoy the show...

[cynical2]

Very nice job! You mentioned that you don't move the lens for 16:9 viewing. Does that mean that with 16:9 content, you use the projector to compress it horizontally down to 4:3, and then let the lens expand it back to the intended 16:9 ratio?

Jim

[wbassett]

Looks good Prof! Great to see you back up and running!

[mechman]

Nice job Prof!!

mech

[Prof.]

Thanks Jim..

cynical2 wrote:

Very nice job! You mentioned that you don't move the lens for 16:9 viewing. Does that mean that with 16:9 content, you use the projector to compress it horizontally down to 4:3, and then let the lens expand it back to the intended 16:9 ratio?

Yes, that is correct..You don't get the full resolution of the 16:9 image, but the difference is barely noticeable..

[Prof.]

Thanks Bill....
All I have to do now is finish the theatre..The ceiling tray is proving to be a bit of a headache, but I'm about three quarters the way there..
Should have some final pics in about a weeks time..

[Prof.]

Thanks mech...
I'm very happy with the way the screen turned out..

[wbassett]

Prof. wrote:

Thanks Bill....
All I have to do now is finish the theatre..The ceiling tray is proving to be a bit of a headache, but I'm about three quarters the way there..
Should have some final pics in about a weeks time..

I really like your look. I'm sure with lights out all you see is the screen which is how it should be, but with lights on, that's a cool looking setup. From the pics it looks like a RP HDTV on steriods!

[Prof.]

wbassett wrote:

From the pics it looks like a RP HDTV on steriods!

..I loved that!!
It is a bit like that..With the whole screen wall being black, the screen is virtually all you see, and being almost wall to wall, really helps with the illusion..

The theatre lighting is looking good..I recently picked up a HPM Super Dimmer on Ebay for $38.00...couldn't believe my luck..
It has variable dim rates with remote control and I have it set to slowly dim as the movie starts..The effect is really theatre like...

[wbassett]

Prof. wrote:

..I loved that!!
It is a bit like that..With the whole screen wall being black, the screen is virtually all you see, and being almost wall to wall, really helps with the illusion..

What I meant was with the lights on and the way you did your framing and hid your components, it almost looks like an HDTV sitting there... very nice and very slick.

Did you use just a straight Melamine board with nothing on it? That's basically Do-Able then!

[cynical2]

Prof. wrote:

Thanks Jim..


Yes, that is correct..You don't get the full resolution of the 16:9 image, but the difference is barely noticeable..

Interesting way to do it...definitely beats dealing with a slide. One of these days I may give the anamorphic thing a try myself.

[Prof.]

wbassett wrote:

What I meant was with the lights on and the way you did your framing and hid your components, it almost looks like an HDTV sitting there... very nice and very slick.

\
Ah!!..I see what you mean..If the screen was darker, it would look like a giant RPTV!!
Thanks for the compliment..

wbassett wrote:

Did you use just a straight Melamine board with nothing on it? That's basically Do-Able then!

Bill..In the write up I mentioned that you can't use the Melamine board as is, with nothing on it..It hot-spots badly, unlike Do-able that can be used straight off the shelf..
The Melamine board must have that clear matte acrylic sealer top coat to tame the hot-spotting..

[Prof.]

Jim..
The only time I use the slide is when I need to remove the lens for cleaning..
If you slide the lens away for 16:9 images, some refocussing is needed with most anamorphic lenses, which became a bit of an annoyance..


Mark's CAVX Aussiemorphic lens is a great lens and far less to import than buying one over there..
His Mark2 version now comes with coated prisms..
Just about everyone who has switched to a scope image have said that they wished they had done earlier..

[wbassett]

Prof. wrote:

Bill..In the write up I mentioned that you can't use the Melamine board as is, with nothing on it..It hot-spots badly, unlike Do-able that can be used straight off the shelf..
The Melamine board must have that clear matte acrylic sealer top coat to tame the hot-spotting..

Apologies for over looking that... you did an excellent job though and deserve to be proud!

[Prof.]

Bill...I'll be doing the final write up on the Finniss Theatre shortly so I'll try and get a couple of better pics of the Melamine screen, so you can see what it looks like close up..

[Rex]

Prof. wrote:

Bill...I'll be doing the final write up on the Finniss Theatre shortly so I'll try and get a couple of better pics of the Melamine screen, so you can see what it looks like close up..

Great information and great looking system. Inspirational!

[Prof.]

Thanks very much Rex..

[Rex]

Prof. wrote:

Thanks very much Rex..

Hey - don't be shy. Don't applaud! Send money! LOL