Axiom Home Page Forums General Discussion Home Theater New Pictures of my HT/Recroom area. Finally!!!!

Yes I was planning on building my own. Right now I have some blackout cloth pinned to the wall and it works ok but if the material you're using would give me a better picture then I will consider buying some.

Do you have a Menards around you? They have Parkland Durotherm Lite panels standing up in the paneling aisle. The smooth white side works awesome for a DIY screen, just hang and enjoy. They come in 4 x 8 x 5/16 thick honeycomb panels of PVC material. They are very easy to keep clean and are very lightweight. Matte White is Matte White and has a gain of about 1.0. Matte White screens have been the norm for many many years. However, now there are high contrast and high power screens available as well, each with their own pros/cons. Matte White is neutral, just like Axiom's.

I only have HD and Lowe's around here and I don't remember seeing any Parkland panels, but I know of a place that I thinks sells them. I wonder how much better they are compared to a fabric screen? I've checked the threads over at AVS but I wasn't convinced one way or another. I'll definitely go with one of those two.

Do you know if the parkland is rigid enough to be hung on its own? I think I'll build a frame with a black border anyway regardless of which material I go with.

The Parkland comes in two differant versions. The Durotherm Panels do not need to be glued to another substrate. They are used for Garage walls and carwashs. They are a Lightweight but heavy duty PVC material that is 5/16" thick, just hang and enjoy. Of course you might have to trim the material or mask using borders to achieve a 16:9 screen ratio.

The other material is a flimsy Parkland material that is .060 thick and has to be glued to some other material to keep it flat, otherwise you'll get waves.

Both materials have the same exact material on the smooth side. In my opinion a matte white painted wall, fabric, or other material will give the same results. The key is that you don't have texture. Also, you don't want a lot of light to pass through the material, otherwise the picture will suffer. That is why a lot of people use the BlackOut cloth from fabric stores, light will not pass through.

If you really want to get crazy, get some Plexi Mirror and spray the front with MississippiMud paint (an AVS DIY paint).

Yeah I've read about the mirror and paint, but I would be too afraid to mess it up! I'm not too good with paint. I'm more likely to go with the Dazian fabric.

Thanks for the advice!