Hi All,
I am new to this hobby...I use to be really into flying 3d RC airplanes, but just recently sold everything RC related to invest in a home theater (after seeing my planes sit in the garage collecting dust for over a year because I never have time to fly, I figured it was time to let them go...it was hard, I almost cried, but I cut the cord and said good bye to that chapter of my life). I am quickly realizing this could easily be my next addiction, that is, trying to get the perfect home theater experience. Anyway, what I am trying to decide now is whether to spend my limited funds on a projection screen or just project onto a white wall. When I first started down this road, I thought it was a no brainier, I should get an actual screen. However, now that I have my projector and I am seeing the quality of the picture on my plain white wall painted with white Kilz2, I actually do not see how the picture quality could improve much because it already looks so good.
My viewing environment is 100% light controlled (it will be mostly completely dark when viewing). I am using the BenQ HT1075 as my projector.
In researching the question, a few reasons I have seen others cite for why not to just project onto a white wall is 1. you will see the texture of the wall, 2. the wall is uneven, 3. it does not reflect the picture back to your eyes quite as well as actual profession grade screen material does. If just for reasons 1 & 2, (texture and uneven), I would not be convinced to spend money on a screen. I personally do not see the texture in my wall when viewing the projected image from any more than a few feet back, although I will still apply some plaster to make it as flat as I can just because it's cheap and I can. And as far as any unevenness, maybe I am just lucky, but my wall seems flat to me, every point in the picture seems in focus when I look at it.
The reason I am not sure about is #3, the quality of the picture, contrast, color brightness, overall picture quality...of actual (insert your favorite screen material here) type screen material versus simply projecting onto a blank white wall. My dilemma is two fold, time constraints and budget constraints...meaning, I work a lot so I do not have unlimited time to futz around with countless experiments of different kinds of screens and secondly, even if I did have the time, I do not have the money to do so, I cannot spend even $300 just to see if I like it better. Right now I am projecting onto my white wall that has been painted with Kilz2 and it looks great. To be honest, I do not really see how the picture quality could get much better, I mean, maybe it could improve marginally, but unless I am really missing something here, I cannot for the life of me imagine how a screen would be drastically different because the picture is already crystal clear and the colors look right to me, black level is fine and the screen is plenty bright... what is there to improve upon?
So basically, I want to take a survey. I am looking for help from anyone that has personally seen a projector projected onto a white wall as well as that same projector projected on your favorite screen material. If you could let me know on a scale from say, 1%-100% how projecting on a white wall compares to projecting on screen material. 100% being perfect, cannot get any better picture, and 1% being, well, basically no picture at all.
My guess, without having seen anything accept the white wall, is white wall is about 94% and the perfect best screen material possible would probably be about 96%-97% (given my projector would be the weak link keeping it from 100% accurate picture). If I am right, then in my opinion, my money would be better spend upgrading some other component of my home theater versus getting a screen for the marginal 2%-3% increase in picture quality that would hardly even be perceptible except to the most discerning eye. On the other hand, if I am just totally not getting the picture (pun intended) and the variance is more like a 20% improvement in actual screen over white wall, I would most likely want to spend the money on a screen. Secondly, if you think an actual screen is significantly better, which screen material are you using?
Thanks,
Jeremy
I am new to this hobby...I use to be really into flying 3d RC airplanes, but just recently sold everything RC related to invest in a home theater (after seeing my planes sit in the garage collecting dust for over a year because I never have time to fly, I figured it was time to let them go...it was hard, I almost cried, but I cut the cord and said good bye to that chapter of my life). I am quickly realizing this could easily be my next addiction, that is, trying to get the perfect home theater experience. Anyway, what I am trying to decide now is whether to spend my limited funds on a projection screen or just project onto a white wall. When I first started down this road, I thought it was a no brainier, I should get an actual screen. However, now that I have my projector and I am seeing the quality of the picture on my plain white wall painted with white Kilz2, I actually do not see how the picture quality could improve much because it already looks so good.
My viewing environment is 100% light controlled (it will be mostly completely dark when viewing). I am using the BenQ HT1075 as my projector.
In researching the question, a few reasons I have seen others cite for why not to just project onto a white wall is 1. you will see the texture of the wall, 2. the wall is uneven, 3. it does not reflect the picture back to your eyes quite as well as actual profession grade screen material does. If just for reasons 1 & 2, (texture and uneven), I would not be convinced to spend money on a screen. I personally do not see the texture in my wall when viewing the projected image from any more than a few feet back, although I will still apply some plaster to make it as flat as I can just because it's cheap and I can. And as far as any unevenness, maybe I am just lucky, but my wall seems flat to me, every point in the picture seems in focus when I look at it.
The reason I am not sure about is #3, the quality of the picture, contrast, color brightness, overall picture quality...of actual (insert your favorite screen material here) type screen material versus simply projecting onto a blank white wall. My dilemma is two fold, time constraints and budget constraints...meaning, I work a lot so I do not have unlimited time to futz around with countless experiments of different kinds of screens and secondly, even if I did have the time, I do not have the money to do so, I cannot spend even $300 just to see if I like it better. Right now I am projecting onto my white wall that has been painted with Kilz2 and it looks great. To be honest, I do not really see how the picture quality could get much better, I mean, maybe it could improve marginally, but unless I am really missing something here, I cannot for the life of me imagine how a screen would be drastically different because the picture is already crystal clear and the colors look right to me, black level is fine and the screen is plenty bright... what is there to improve upon?
So basically, I want to take a survey. I am looking for help from anyone that has personally seen a projector projected onto a white wall as well as that same projector projected on your favorite screen material. If you could let me know on a scale from say, 1%-100% how projecting on a white wall compares to projecting on screen material. 100% being perfect, cannot get any better picture, and 1% being, well, basically no picture at all.
My guess, without having seen anything accept the white wall, is white wall is about 94% and the perfect best screen material possible would probably be about 96%-97% (given my projector would be the weak link keeping it from 100% accurate picture). If I am right, then in my opinion, my money would be better spend upgrading some other component of my home theater versus getting a screen for the marginal 2%-3% increase in picture quality that would hardly even be perceptible except to the most discerning eye. On the other hand, if I am just totally not getting the picture (pun intended) and the variance is more like a 20% improvement in actual screen over white wall, I would most likely want to spend the money on a screen. Secondly, if you think an actual screen is significantly better, which screen material are you using?
Thanks,
Jeremy