[BleedingStar]

I just purchased a Mitsubishi HC5500, and am making a DIY screen for it.

The HC5500 is rated at 1200 Ansi with a 14000:1 contrast ratio.

I have a very large wall with 20" ceilings which i am projecting onto, and I kinda want to take advantage of this. My current HD setup displays a 16:9 setup at about 108 inches. I am looking to take this to a 130-140 inch screen possibly.

About 90% of my viewing is with extremely controlled lighting. Most is at night with full blackout curtains. The ceilings don't come into play for ambient light cause they are 20" high, and the side wells are quite far away. However the wall behind the screen is currently white.

The projector has a very high contrast, but not a super high ansi. At first I was thinking a grey screen, cause I thought they were just all around a nicer option, but after research, it seems this isn't exactly accurate. So from my understanding I should get a brighter white screen for optimal viewing at a larger size. Also, with controlled lighting I am under the impression that a white screen will be a better choice.

According to projectorcentral.com's calculator a 1.3 gain screen with this projector will go upto about a 145" screen and still be fairly in the green area. I am buying material for a 140" screen and can play with the picture to see the advantages of size vs picture, and can cut it down if needed.

This is the screen material I am looking to buy:

http://cgi.ebay.com/140-movie-PROJECTOR-projection-SCREEN-MATERIAL-1-3-gn_W0QQitemZ120354369102QQcmdZViewItemQQptZLH_DefaultDomain_0?hash=item120354369102&_trksid=p3286.c0.m14&_trkparms=72%3A1205%7C66%3A2%7C65%3A12%7C39%3A1%7C240%3A1308%7C301%3A1%7C293%3A1%7C294%3A50

Any recommendations or advice? Does anyone have any thoughts on using Silver Screen or know where you can even buy DIY silver screen material?

 

[BleedingStar]

My viewing distance is 14' According to THX standards of a 40% viewing distance. 140 inches is nearly exact for a 14' viewing distance.

I'm just really curious to see how the HC5500 will perform at that size. The calculation say it will produce a 13fl bright image... which as the lower end of the 12-20fl recommendation, but still in range. I guess i've really just got to see it and test it out.... its hard to really trust ANSI rating anyways. My current acer xd1170 is rated at like 2200 ansi... so i'm hoping this new one doesn't seem dim in comparison.

 

[BleedingStar]

Painting "may" be a possible option.. especially if its affordable. That material I found is a pretty decent rate, and i'm trying to get the bang for the buck with the screen. The option you mentioned sounds really interested, and I could probably get a small amount and point on a scrap board pretty easily for testing. I kinda prefer the fabric option mainly because of flexibility and movement since I chance my setup from time to time.

In terms of the Da-Lite silver material, i would love to be able to use that... but everything i found was $15-$20 a square foot, which would put me in about $1000 range just for the material... quite a bit more than I'm looking to spend.

 

[BleedingStar]

oh ya... the viewing area isn't that wide... there is 2 couches in my theater. however the main couch gets about 99.9 percent of the use and it is only about 7 feet wide and positioned centered with the screen.

 

[BleedingStar]

Any other recommendations for other fabric... possibly with a higher gain? I have heard good things about Da Lite High power for situations like this, but its way out of my price range. Looking to spend no more $200 on fabric right now. Maybe upgrade to something else down the line.

 

[BleedingStar]

i was actually just on the elite screen website. Wasn't able to find any material for sale straight. They also don't have anything higher than a 1.1 gain that i saw. They did have a 135" vmas electric screen on open box for $316 which is pretty dang good, but i have no real need for for an electric screen.

 

[BleedingStar]

Ya... looks like for now i'm just gonna have to pick up the ebay stuff and see how it is... i can always upgrade later after i do some research a bit more.

 

[BleedingStar]

I'm sure if you hit them up they well send you a sample for a review... seems they sell quite a bit of stuff on ebay.

 

[BleedingStar]

Check this out! :T Mounting it would be a pain though.

mech

Very nice link.... i wish they had the Powergain available in the 135"... the prices are quite decent on here for sure.

 

[BleedingStar]

Got it in... pretty nice stuff for the money. Not too familiar with high gain material or DIY screens for that matter really. The material has 2 sides, one seems similar to my other dalite, possible a 1 or 1.1 gain, while the other side is more reflective 1.3 gain i think. However, I think the higher gain side requires tension because you can notice every single little wrinkle in the fabric regardless of how tight i pinned it up... however the other side does not have this issue. The more reflective side also seems to hotspot a bit. Hard to decide which to use... with a 140" it will be much easier to mount without tension because i can just tack it to the wall and build a frame for it... getting the proper tension on a 140" may deem a bit difficult... it is recommended to use a backing and glue it down, which i would have to build in a couple different pieces for a 10' by 6' screen.

Is it normal for high gain screens to require tension? Any recommendations for creating a large tension frame?

 

[BleedingStar]

got it all mounted up and tensioned on a frame, went with a standard simple scretch and staple method and it actually came out much better then I thought it would. I did go with the higher gain said, and it even fully stretched it does have some noticeable hotspotting, but its not nearly as noticeable without the waves. NOT sure i'm fully sold on the side... it wouldn't be too hard to flip it back to the other side... i built the frame so i can flip it... just have to remask the other side. Guess i'll just watch it this way for a bit and then decide if the higher gain is with the slight hotspotting.

Pictures soon. = )

 

[BleedingStar]

Put up a new thread with some photos of the new frame. Check it out:

http://www.hometheatershack.com/for...332-new-improved-star-theater.html#post145254