Axiom Home Page Forums General Discussion Home Theater Screen- Draper Luma2 HC Grey vs Dalite HCMW Mod. C

Hi,

I am thinking of upgrading my Matte White projection screen because although I am satisfied with the output, I think I will get better results with a grey screen. Since my Mitsubishi X500U projector is extremely bright (3300-3600 lumens), I usually have to turn down the brightness to -20 (out of max. 30) and bump up the contrast to +12 or more (out of max. 30) often.

Also I have one of the sidewalls adjacent to my screen full of mirrors so when watching a movie, a lot of the projected light on the screen gets reflected off the mirrors making the HT area pretty bright.

I read up at the AVS Forum but couldn't find any thread that dealt with my problem. Basically I want to get a lower gain (and higher contrast) grey screen - something that will not reflect back so much light.

At AVS forum I found some people who dont recommend Dalite Model B in HCMW because of wrinkes. My choice has narrowed down to Draper Luma 2 High Contrast Grey and Dalite Model C High Contrast Matte White.

I am looking at the HDTV 45" X 80" widescreen option as well as the 84" X 84" model.

Requesting actual users of Dalite Model C in HCMW and Draper Luma 2 High Contrast Grey to please post their comments on the quality of these screens as compared to Matte White.

If anybody is using a 2500+ lumens projector, could you please let me know which screens did you try and settle on ? I looked at the Greyhawk as well, but it seems quite expensive as compared with Draper HC Grey and Dalite HCMW models.

Thank you for your help.

Does it have to be a pull-down? If not, the Da-Lite High Contrast Cinema Vision (HCCV) would be another great candidate, with a grey base and better ambient light rejection due to a mild ortho-reflectivity.

Thanks for the reply Sushi. It has to be a pull-down because it is right above the main window.

I looked at the HCCV spec.s and it has a gain of 1.1. I found some PDF's of Dalite swatches at AV Outlet and I agree that something along the lines of HCCV is what would be suitable for me.

I also found the High Contrast Da-Mat and it has a gain of 0.8. Again it is not available in pulldown.

I am waiting for someone to give me some comments on high contrast grey of Draper Luma 2.

I have a Da-Lite HCMW Model C. It lays mostly flat, but isn't perfect. I suspect you'd want a lower-gain screen, especially with a wall of mirrors(!?) in your theater room.

Yeah, the fundamental problem here is, ALL non-tensioned pulldown screens will develop minor wrinkles/waves sooner or later. Among the Da-Lite screens, the Model B is definitely worse in this respect than the Model C, which is much sturdier and thus "kind" to the fabric. As far as I understand, the ONLY ways to completely avoid visible wrinkles/waves on a pulldown are:

(1) Go with a tensioned pulldown. I don’t know about other vendors, but all tensioned pulldowns from Da-Lite are electric (read, $$$$$).

(2) Use the unique, retro-reflective High Power fabric, which will make the wrinkles/waves, if any, completely invisible on the projected image. In fact, on the AVSforum, folks are requesting Da-Lite to manufacture a gray-based High Power -- which would possibly bring the best of both worlds!

But I would hesitate recommending the High Power in your case for obvious reasons, Mahesh, although the High Power does a superb job of rejecting off-axis ambient light, such as the reflections from the sidewalls.