[Redbeeerd]

Heya!

Found this most excellent place via google, and I have to say it seems you guys have all the answers to my screen ailments!

I am considering making my own screen, and it seems the BW or CS paints are what I am looking for.
I have a pretty bright room (white walls, a lot of sun in the daytime) and atm I am using a white Grandview screen (1.0 gain). From what I understand, I need a grey screen, and preferably one of those high contrast ones that are really expensive. I cant afford a Firehawk or similar, and since I am a DYI freak this place really sparked some interest!

Now, where do I go? My Z5 should put out something like 12-13fl at 14.7 feet/110" screen. However, the lamp is old and I guess it has about 500 hours left at the most. When the lamp is dead I am planning to get a brand new projector, which means the lumens will be increased a bunch. I understand the Cream and Sugar paint should be my choice based on my current situation, but that the BW will be superior once I get a new projector? The question is: should I get BW straight away? And if not, will changing to Cream and Sugar give me a noticeable performance increase compared to my white Grandview screen?

Anyway, thanks for some great inspiration, and I am looking forward to hearing from you!


/MArtin

 

[mechman]

Now, where do I go? My Z5 should put out something like 12-13fl at 14.7 feet/110" screen. However, the lamp is old and I guess it has about 500 hours left at the most. When the lamp is dead I am planning to get a brand new projector, which means the lumens will be increased a bunch. I understand the Cream and Sugar paint should be my choice based on my current situation, but that the BW will be superior once I get a new projector? The question is: should I get BW straight away? And if not, will changing to Cream and Sugar give me a noticeable performance increase compared to my white Grandview screen?

Welcome to HTS Martin! :wave:

I'd agree with your assessment above. C&S™ is the best you could do with an old bulb in the PLV-Z5. You're at 12fL with with the lamp aged 25%. More than likely you're at 10fL or less at this moment. I'd paint C&S™ for now and then revisit your screen when you get a new projector. Then you may be able to paint over the C&S™ with BW™. :T

 

[Harpmaker]

Another welcome Martin!

The C&S™ mix you would want to try would be a mix still in development called (for now) HTS-X3 N8.7. This mix, and a slightly lighter version (HTS-X4 N9), can be found here.

The good news is that these mixes can me made in about every country in the world, the bad news is that the paints are all "artist" paints and relatively expensive unless you can find them on sale or you have a discount coupon.

As stated in the thread, these paints MUST be Liquitex BASICS MATT and not the regular Liquitex BASICS paints. Here in the U.S. most stores that carry the Liquitex brand of paints don't stock the BASICS MATT line and these must be ordered from a catalog or over the internet.

 

[Redbeeerd]

Thanks for the great advice guys, I will go pick up some paint tomorrow!
Ofc spraying it on is preferable, but is rolling it on good enough? The only thing I want is a screen that looks better than my current one (white) in a light environment, but I know from experience that I will be annoyed with very tiny details if the work isnt good enough.
Or.... well, Ill just do a test panel :doh:

 

[Harpmaker]

Either of the experimental C&S™ mixes I linked to should give you slightly better contrast and black levels (the lower the N value the better) than a 1.0 gain white screen, but while it will be a visible difference it won't be a huge difference.

 

[Redbeeerd]

I did a test panel, and indeed I got visibly better results but not by a whole lot. The mix is barely grey, is that the way it is supposed to be? I was kinda expecting it to be a bit more silverish.

 

[Harpmaker]

I did a test panel, and indeed I got visibly better results but not by a whole lot. The mix is barely grey, is that the way it is supposed to be? I was kinda expecting it to be a bit more silverish.

It sounds like the mix is working like it should. To see a greater improvement in ambient light performance and perceived image contrast improvement you should go with a darker gray mix when you have the lumens to support it.

If the mix was more silvery it would be too reflective and have a undesirably narrow viewing cone and perhaps even hot spot. We consider mixes that behave that way as being very much niche products only to be used in circumstances where these limitations can be lived with. While we could design mixes with these properties we haven't since most people want a more general purpose mix with a wide viewing angle.