[Bigun]

Hi guys,

After finding the advice on this Forum so helpful in making some decisions I thought the least I should do is to join it and contribute my 2c.

I'm new to HT, got my first ever PJ today - it's in the box still. By tomorrow I will have the two ingredients for Sugar & Cream to mix up and apply to a wall in my basement (oh yes, I have to buy a small roller).

I also have to fix up the PJ onto the basement ceiling.

After months of slow progress on the basement the next two weeks should see it all come together :R

I'll let you know how it goes...

 

[tonyvdb]

Hello Bigun, Welcome aboard the Shack.

Enjoy your stay with us.

 

[mechman]

Welcome Bigun! Good to have you here at the Shack! :T

 

[Harpmaker]

Welcome to the forum Bigun!

Looking forward to the completion of your HT and your opinion of C&S. If you could provide some photos it would be nice. :T

 

[Bigun]

Thanks for the welcome guys.

Well, I now have the ingredients.

The task today was to install the PJ to the ceiling. I also hooked up the source and got 'first light' from it. Quite pleased so far, as you can imagine first viewing is exciting.

It's amazing how the brain is able to compensate for colour balance, the whites actually don't seem too bad even though my basement wall is a tan colour. Brightness seems fine, even in 'eco mode'.

I'm going to take a bit of time to work out the best position for the 'screen' before I get on with the painting but I should be able to report back to you guys something to see this coming weekend.

Question: how important is a primer ? I have a pretty good and flat drywall installation, then drywall primer and then a high quality latex paint that is one of those light neutral tan colours. I plan to lightly sand this to reduce any 'texture' and then I was thinking I could go straight for the C&S - is this wise ?

 

[Harpmaker]

I also hooked up the source and got 'first light' from it. Quite pleased so far, as you can imagine first viewing is exciting.

Yep, we've all been there! The usual first impression is "Wow, that's a big TV!"
BTW, how big is your screen going to be?

It's amazing how the brain is able to compensate for colour balance, the whites actually don't seem too bad even though my basement wall is a tan colour. Brightness seems fine, even in 'eco mode'.

The eye/brain is amazingly adaptable in this way, but after awhile you will start to notice color inconsistencies in the image. It's kind of like never seeing a flaw in your screen, but after you do notice it your eye just keeps getting drawn to it over and over again.

Question: how important is a primer ? I have a pretty good and flat drywall installation, then drywall primer and then a high quality latex paint that is one of those light neutral tan colours. I plan to lightly sand this to reduce any 'texture' and then I was thinking I could go straight for the C&S - is this wise ?

I wish I could answer this authoritatively, but I can't; I never tested C&S over anything but a white primer. The purpose of a primer is three-fold, it hides and seals the old surface, and supplies the new paint with a "grippy" surface to stick to. You could probably get away with just painting over your existing painted wall, but you might need another coat or two of C&S. :dontknow:

 

[Bigun]

The size of the screen is limited by a bulkhead at the top and electrical sockets at the bottom. I figure I can fit in something about 4 feet high, around 100 inches diagonal for a 16:9. I will paint something a bit larger so that I have the flexibility to 'frame it' later.

I am also planning to paint it wider than I need, allowing 2.35:1 - I will try this out before painting. This would generate something closer to 125" diagonal.

p.s. Yes it's a BIG tv alright !

 

[Bigun]

OK, we've made some progress.

First, there was a wiring box in the way that had to be removed. I decided to avoid cutting a big hole in the drywall so I used a cold chisel to cut through the screws holding it to the framing. This worked a treat and box popped out. Trouble was, the bashing of the chisel sent a shock wave up the timber and popped all the nail heads straight up through the centre of the screen :foottap:

Lesson learned. Holes were patched up, sanded and primed.

I marked out a screen perimeter with masking tape directly on the wall. It's not a standard size and I may end up changing it later - good thing about this technique you can paint where you want. I painted full height to get the maximum vertical screen size. I then painted it wider than 16:9 to allow me to screen a 2.35:1 movie. However, I wasn't able to paint it so that I had a proper 2.35:1 screen because this would have pushed the L and R speakers into some corners and it looked pretty tight. I can still do this later if necessary but right now I decided against it. What does all this mean ? I can screen a 16:9 movie that takes up the maximum vertical screen height but it won't use the full width. I can screen a 2.35:1 movie that takes up the maximum screen width but it won't be full height. I will be able to program the PJ with two different zoom settings that match the two movie formats to the screen so it will be pretty much automatic when in use. I have no plans to screen 4:3, ever.

What are your thoughts on this approach ?

Two coats of Sugar & Cream are in place as of this evening, and to my bad eye sight it looks pretty good. I used a fairly small roller, about 4 inches wide and 1/2 inch diameter. It's a poorly made roller, won't be using it again. I read somewhere that a 1/4 inch roller is recommended - that must be the diameter right, nobody would be mad enough to paint a screen with a 1/4 inch wide roller - please tell me it ain't so :coocoo:


I'll check in the morning and if all looks good I'll try the first screening tomorrow evening.

 

[Harpmaker]

Yeah, we tend to learn as much, if not more, from our mistakes than our successes. Sorry you had to patch those holes, but your tip might save someone else from the same fate. :T

It sounds like having an odd size screen won't matter too much in your situation, but you may have to build some masking panels if the unprojected screen areas are bothersome.

I'm not a roller (I spray), but from what I have read of the subject you should use as wide a roller as you can to cut down on the risk of seeing the edges of your roller tracks in the finished screen. The 1/4" or 5 mm rollers that are suggested are the thickness of the "nap" of the roller, this is the thickness of the roller material itself. The shorter the nap the smoother the paint will dry, but also the smoother the surface painted will have to be or the short fibers of the roller won't reach to the bottoms of the "valleys" of the surface and only paint the "peaks".

 

[Bigun]

Well the new screen was tested out this evening (Broken Flowers, Bill Murray). Works a treat.

You can chalk up another victory for Sugar & Cream.

 

[Harpmaker]

Well the new screen was tested out this evening (Broken Flowers, Bill Murray). Works a treat.

You can chalk up another victory for Sugar & Cream.

Thanks for the report! Glad you like it.

 

[Bigun]

Thanks guys and, at least for now, I guess is 'adios' - a case of mission accomplished.

 

[wbassett]

Glad to see another happy member!

 

[1canuck2]

Hey, I am in Waterloo, ON as well and just rolled a 125" diag screen with HTS-X2 (or Elektra) a new N8 formula that Harp gave me. The results are superb (you can see screenshots in the Screen Developer forum thread for HTS-X2). Its a little darker than the Cream and Sugar you went with and the results are very impressive with my Epson 6500UB.

I like the idea of your screen dimensions allowing for maximal width for 2.35:1 and maximal height for 16:9, but would think you would really benefit from some masking.

Also, you didn't say what PJ you are using, care to share the model? It can store multiple zoom levels and automatically switch between them? That's a cool feature...

I can say that the difference between just the dark paint border I added to my screen wall and the previous all white primered wall was a good step up, even though the screen surface coloured never changed. It helps the image "pop" more as the dark absorbs some of the light spill - I haven't even got to make a velvet frame yet, which is something I also plan to do.

 

[Bigun]

Hi there,

I'm using a Panasonic 4000, seems OK so far.

Light spill hasn't proven to be much of a distraction but I can see that would be better to have a screen with black velvet borders. The bigger problem is that light tends to reflect from the screen to the white ceiling and this creates some ambient light pollution. Wife is amenable to a change of paint colour for the ceiling but I'm not sure I would like it so we'll live with this for awhile longer.

 

[Harpmaker]

The bigger problem is that light tends to reflect from the screen to the white ceiling and this creates some ambient light pollution. Wife is amenable to a change of paint colour for the ceiling but I'm not sure I would like it so we'll live with this for awhile longer.

The darker the ceiling the better in such cases. The whole ceiling doesn't need to be dark, just the 4 or 5 feet closest to the screen; and a dark color might work as well as black or gray. I've even been thinking of trying to put up some type of dark fabric on the ceiling - it would be inexpensive to try (you wouldn't need to use velvet), but could be hard to put up depending on how the ceiling is constructed.

 

[1canuck2]

Yeah, I have a white ceiling and there's a bit of reflection from that that I will eventually obsess about. My ceiling is California knock down, which means its next to impossible to paint. I have thought of two options:

1: Putting some painted hardboard cutout thingy the same colour as my screen wall up against the ceiling. I could potentially do a decorative edge on it (even just a slight arc). Positives: I can paint it the same colour as my screen wall. Negatives: How to mount it?
2: Putting up some fabric. Positives: Possibly easier to mount. Negatives: won't match the screen wall colour. May not look right.

 

[Bigun]

I think there will be several opportunities to improve things - all part of the fun. Right now the set up is such a HUGE leap forward over my 32" TV that I am still simply stuck, in awe, of what a nice HT set up can achieve :R:R

My next project is actually to build some amplifiers for the surround. I did have a 5 channel amp under construction but it wasn't really as well built as I'd like. I'm probably going to build 4 stereo amplifiers to start with and then when they get moved to other duties I'll design and build a dedicated multichannel unit. Gotta love DIY :T