DIY Screen - 155" Diagonal - Advice Needed

Oleson said:

What material do suggest using for making a test panel? Sheetrock is a little dusty.

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I've always used 1/8" tempered hardboard because it is inexpensive, light and the stores will cut the panels to size for me. Mech has just switched from hardboard to posterboard I think, I'll have to find out more about that.

Just for grins, we'll do a panel of Kilz and one of the Electra mix. I tend to like the color depth achieved with the gray-screen panels. But it's my understanding that a white screen will work with my PJ.

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In a totally dark room with dark walls/ceiling/floor a white screen is almost always the best screen. The problem comes when the walls aren't dark enough so light from the screen gets reflected back onto the screen which lowers image contrast and washes out colors. The more light that hits the screen that doesn't come directly from the PJ, the worse the problem is. And if you want to have even a small amount of light in the room so people can move around safely your image quality takes an ever bigger hit. Thus the gray screen was born and the rest is history.

When we built our house 3 years ago, the hot "must have screen" was the Stewart Gray-Hawk or Fire-Hawk. Hence the decision to go with a gray type screen, and Behr Silver Screen was very popular with some additives added. A lot of people used the Silver Screen paint alone.

This was all from research at Projector Central forums. I must say that the "Shack" forum is the best.....and I've looked at quite a few lately!

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Interestingly enough, if you take a look at the screen statistics of the GrawHawk G3 and a Black Widow™ screen they are virtually identical.

Adding mica to Silver Screen raises the reflective quality, and thus the gain, of the mix; but I'm not seeing a lot of extra gain from your particular formula (which is actually a good thing). Gain is something that cannot be determined by eye any better than color neutrality can be. If you ever see a gain figure given for a mix that isn't actually a measured figure, discount it as a serious number even if it comes from an "experienced" source.

Thanks for the kudos. I'll have to admit not being familiar with the forum at PJC.

We do try here to present hard facts and not simply subjective opinions. We understand making our own screens should be fun, but we also understand that people want something that actually works well as a screen. :T

I'll have the color data for your screen mix up later tonight.

More photos.......

These were all taken in the Cinema 2 mode. I did some calibration with the PJ settings.

The camera was positioned at eye level, back 3rd row, center. All of the photos are very representative of the actual screen image, with 2 minor exceptions:

1. The camera has a barely noticeable blue push in the photos, i.e., some whites tend towards blue.

2. The camera causes bloom, that does not exist on the actual screen. This was more evident in the B&W pic's.

The black & white shots are interesting.....there is a certain amount of film grain evident. Plus the room was very smoky with a large degree of dust particles airborne. This is quite evident in a number of the shots. This is a blu-ray disc.

The Marylin Monroe scenes (Niagara) are standard DVD. Although they are dark scenes, there is a fair amount of color detail.

The Alaska shots are blu-ray, and give a good representation of the actual screen image, with the exception of 1 & 2 above.

As you can see I'm obsessed with black level detail!

I thought these concert pics pretty well show what is going on, both the good and perhaps other items as well.

The PJ was in Cinema 2 mode, which is my new mode of viewing.

I think I'm seeing quite a bit more detail in the last Roy Orbison photos compared to the first ones. Again, be sure there is black detail to actually be seen in the source image. I suspect they are lacking in the Niagara material (although I could be wrong). I know that many of the DVD's of the older movies and TV shows I have are lacking in quality compared to good BR material.

Something that concerns me a bit are the seemingly blown out whites (also called "crushed whites" when the term is used properly) in the Alaska photos. Is this the way the image looks to your eye or is this part of the blooming your camera is doing?

While this simplifies it too much, the Brightness setting on a PJ or TV controls black detail while the Contrast setting controls white detail. You have to do a little dance with these settings since changing one will affect the other.

I have good news about your current screen mix. It is VERY neutral and the mica in it is very well controlled! I can see no refraction in any of the three mixes I made up (I'll detail these in their own thread). :T Assuming the Behr *** is similar to the other white pearl paints, your screen is almost dead-on N8.5. This means trying the Elektra™ N8.5 mix probably wouldn't gain you much except perhaps a bit more screen gain; but that is only a wild guess since none of the Elektra™ mixes or the Behr SS/pearl mixes have been actually measured for gain yet.

If you are wanting to try a lighter mix than your current screen I would recommend Cream&Sugar™. Keep in mind that while this will lighten blacks, thus allowing more detail to be seen in them, it will also decrease the screens ability to handle ambient light. That shouldn't be a problem in your HT with all lights out (except EXIT lights). If you look at the C&S™ thread don't be confused with the three different ways to make it (C&S™ #1, #2 and #3); these are just three ways of making essentially the same mix.

Yes...a very old thread. But, a new projector is in use now. Here are some pics (iPad) taken of the Panasonic PTAE-8000U, and my new Epson 5050UB.

Whoops...a couple did not upload right!

Here is another photo. Are there any DIY screen gurus on this forum? Or, are they all deceased and/or banned?