[grizzct]

I've got a Sanyo Z700 that used to be set up with a 96" Black Widow screen. The basement got flooded last spring and I had to take it all out. After some basement remodeling I'm finally ready to put it all back together. I was hoping you guys could help me figure out the best diy paint mix to use. Here's my info:

Projecter - Sanyo Z700 - known to need help with contrast
ANSI Lumens - 1200
Calibrated Lumens - About 650
Distance to Screen - 9 feet
Screen Size - 92" 16:9
Seating Distance from screen - 10 feet

The ceiling is only 80 inches from the floor and the screen wall is only 108 inches wide. I'm concerned about light reflecting back on the screen since the side walls are only 18 inches away from the screen edges. The ceiling is flat back (painted that while the wife was at work), the walls are a matte peachy biege color, and the floor is a biege carpet tile.

I rolled the Black Widow screen that I made before, but I now own a Wagner Double Duty HVLP that I would like to use to spray the new screen.

Thanks in advance for any info.

 

[Harpmaker]

Welcome to HTS grizzct! :wave:

If I have run the numbers correctly you are getting about 24 fL of image brightness at your screen, this is more than enough to be able to use Black Widow™. As the old saying goes "if it ain't broke don't fix it", if you liked the performance of your old BW™ screen then go the same route again.

If you are getting enough bounce-back from your walls to affect the projected image the only recourse is to darken those areas, this can be done by adding wall curtains, painting the offending areas a darker color, or perhaps coming up with a removable solution such as magnetic or Velcro panels that can be taken down when the PJ isn't being used.

The Wagner CS DD HVLP sprayer will, in theory, lay down a smoother layer of paint than rolling; but I've seen rolled screens I literally couldn't tell weren't sprayed. The key to spraying a good screen is getting the paint being used thin enough to get at least a 8" vertical fan and then to PRACTICE with the sprayer until you get a feel for how much paint it puts down. You can do this quite cheaply by using white primer and practicing on a large piece of cardboard or even priming your screen wall.

 

[grizzct]

Thanks for the info. I'm going to look in to either making some black velvet covered foam panels for my side walls, or finding some velvet drapes for the first few feet of those walls.

Is Black Widow my best option for improving perceived contrast?

 

[Harpmaker]

Thanks for the info. I'm going to look in to either making some black velvet covered foam panels for my side walls, or finding some velvet drapes for the first few feet of those walls.

:T

Is Black Widow my best option for improving perceived contrast?

A gray screen can only make up for a certain amount of perceived contrast lose in a projected image before you start losing detail in the dark areas of said image or the image just gets too dark. BW™ is the darkest mix we have developed for general screen usage. We are working on darker mixes, but they haven't been a priority in our testing since, so far, there hasn't been much call for them. The problem with dark screens that have a reflective element in them is that the darker you go the more contrast and brightness difference there is between the base shade of the mix and the reflective element. This difference can appear as graininess in the image if it is too great and/or introduce a limiting viewing cone to the screen. Such screens really are a niche product similar to the SuperNova and Black Diamond commercial screens.

One of the best ways to get the best performance out of a projector is to properly calibrate it. I highly recommend doing that if you haven't already. Even DVD's such as Cars and Terminator 2 have THX Optimization features that can be used to set proper brightness and contrast of the PJ.

And even with a BW™ screen the image can gain contrast if any ambient light that may be in the theater is extinguished.

 

[grizzct]

I do calibrate the projector using an eye-one colorimeter and the colorHCFR software. I had it set-up very well before, but I always thought it looked a little dim. After having it out of service for a year and a half I've come back to the web forums to see that some people have found service menu options that should allow me to calibrate it with a higher lumen level and still get decent blacks. I'm hoping this new set-up combined with moving the projector closer to the screen and shrinking the screen size a little will get me where I want to be. Thanks for your help.

 

[Harpmaker]

I do calibrate the projector using an eye-one colorimeter and the colorHCFR software. I had it set-up very well before, but I always thought it looked a little dim. After having it out of service for a year and a half I've come back to the web forums to see that some people have found service menu options that should allow me to calibrate it with a higher lumen level and still get decent blacks. I'm hoping this new set-up combined with moving the projector closer to the screen and shrinking the screen size a little will get me where I want to be. Thanks for your help.

Since you are seriously calibrating your PJ I recalculated your image brightness as being 26 fL. That should be more than plenty for a BW™ screen, but such things are very subjective. If you think you would be happier with a slightly lighter gray screen you could try our Scorpion™ mix which is N8 in shade (BW™ is N7.5-N7.6).