Axiom Home Page Forums General Discussion Home Theater Tell me about... screens

Dang it. This is EXACTLY the kind of HT scope-creep that destroys budgets, marriages, productivity, etc.

Cool.

JP, I thought that was all going to be up and running by March Madness

Cool! The Z4 is a great projector! I purchased my screen fabric at the same place as Randy and I'm very satisfied with the quality.
Going with a setup like Randy's is the way to go!! I would if the one who must be obeyed let me.

Anyway, I hope you'll enjoy your Z4.

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there's a nice film-like quality to the picture

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I've read this about the AE series. What exactly does 'film-like' imply? Softer edges rather than sharpness? Softer rather than vibrant colours?
Or that grainy speckle dust look like when one is at the movie theatre?

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I'm viewing an 88" screen from distances of 8-12 feet

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Well this will just about define my setup exactly as well. Something in the 80-95" range (diagonal correct?) at a 10' viewing distance.
Did you have pics of your setup?

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Watched the Red Sox on ESPN2HD and the colors were awesome.

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How is the HD viewing? As sharp as on other tv types?
Doesn't that Panny only do 720p?

Our basement room is completely light controlled, no windows and french doors with a heavy curtain (down at the present time). As such, i'm leaning away from an overly white screen, just a shade into the grey i guess, but looking at samples certainly would be helpful.

Thanks again everyone.

After reading about a million more threads, I guess the pattern I am seeing is that the ideal level of "greyness" seems to primarily be a function of the projector's ability provide a high contrast image, while the ideal level of "gain" seems to be more a function of the ambient light levels in the room and the projector's ability to provide brightness on your chosen screen size.

EDIT -- I just noticed that Alan said the same thing 10 posts earlier, but with fewer words and more clarity. D'oh !!

It seems to me that I have an ideal situation w.r.t. projector brightness/contrast vs. screen size, but a less than ideal situation w.r.t. ambient light.

Intuitively it seems that a greyer screen should be better at controlling ambient light, but it doesn't seem to work that way -- presumably because the greyer screens also have lower gain ?

Anyways, since I clearly (a) need a starting point, and (b) either need to cover up a lot of green or cover up some masonite or whatever (the parkland products don't seem to be available at HT but I will call them and see who else up here carries them) Randy's suggestion of starting with a pure white is seeming like a pretty good idea.

Emerging consensus on the boards seems to be that pure silverscreen is a bit darker than ideal for most rooms, but punching up the gain of the SS with some "mixings" (a white pearl plus clear poly) seems to make a pretty good finish without requiring any particular painting skill.

Past that, it seems like doing a bunch of testing seems to be the only way to get further improvement.

I still have some doubts that what I wrote at the front of this post (greyness optimizes for projector contrast, gain optimizes for room & projector brightness) is really that simple, but that's the best I've been able to figure out so far.

I am really not good at "which one do you prefer ?" tests -- I tend to pick and choose myself into a corner and end up with a strong preference for something that looks awful, even to me

EDIT -- Randy, when I went to the Dazian site and looked at their "white" projector cloth it seemed to actually be a light grey PVC. Is that what you have ?

For whatever reason the picture on their website does look grayish. I can tell you my stuff is very white. They also sell on their ebay store "Dazian Fabrics".

If you type the following words in the search field:
matte white cinema screen

you will find the stuff I bought on ebay, it comes in various sizes.

Here is an example

http://cgi.ebay.com/Matte-White-Cinema-P...1QQcmdZViewItem

John, I notice no one has yet taken interest in your lack of bookcases. I guess HD projectors are lots more interesting... I have found excellent prices and quality for bookcases at IKEA. Don't know if there is one in your neck of the woods. Being of Scandinavian descent, I love their stuff...

Me too!

The bookcases will definitely be Ikea, and probably the Billy model. I have a couple disassembled in the garage but I haven't been able to find them yet. That, in itself, is alarming.

Mark, the colour between your speakers and bookcases seems very well matched. I assume those are Mansfield Beech speakers; what model & finish are the bookcases ?

From Mark's previous post I believe those are also beech. I've got the same colored speakers and Ikea shelves. Not perfect, but a close match. Very nice clean look.

Sean nailed it!