Axiom Home Page Forums General Discussion Home Theater Velvet or Felt for DIY Screen border?

Ok for those of you that have constructed DIY frames for front projection, I'm wondering what you used to wrap the border. This is to suck up any light that spills beyond the screen, and also helps the perceived contrast of the picture. I've heard many use flat paint, velvet, or felt. I am in the process of constructing a new screen out of 1" square aluminum 1/8" wall thickness. It will be a 2.05:1 ratio screen that is 54" X 110". I've heard good black velvet works best to absorb the light, but it is expensive and harder to find around town.

thanks, Randy

Hey Randy, (one more day before my golden email....) I have not constructed a frame for a fixed screen like you are, but in my first home theater I treated the walls (since it was a dedicated room) and was looking for a material to cover the walls with. I found that felt absorbed light very well. We did try other materials including velvet, but the velvet fibers seems to have a slight "shine" to them and did a little reflection of light as well. That was just for abient light and light coming out of the large screen TV, but if you shoot your Z2 at it, and any light floods outside the screen, you may notice it even more since the light is directed right at it. Plus, felt should be cheaper!

Either way, it will look nicer with a material on it vs. paint in my opinion.

Sir - I just got done doing this very thing. Take a look around Ebay. There's a company named Dazian that has wonderful black velvet for this very purpose. I purchased both my screen fabric and my border velvet from them. I had some trouble w/ the screen material and had a bumpy ride w/ their customer service. However, both materials were wonderful when I finally got the issue with the screen material resolved.

Good Luck

Thanks Nick and Turbo,

Yep, I'm familiar with Dazian, actually the material I will be using in this latest DIY screen test is from Dazian. It is Matte White Non-Perf. PVC Theatre Screen material. It is the same stuff Dazian sells to all of the Movie Theatres around the world. I was like $20/yard. I will have to check with them on possible materials. When hanging out at AVSforum, I've heard Velvet is the best but costly. And there are differant types of Velvet. You don't want to use velveteen, long nap velvet, or anything with stretch or sheen to it...I have found some felt at Joann's Fabrics I may experiment with, only time will tell.

Thanks again, guys...

Sir - Did you take a look at the link for Dazian that I posted? It's not their website. It's their Ebay store. Once there, you'll see the black velvet listings, which are $8.50 a yard, which is very reasonable. I don't know enough about the different types of velvet, but I will tell you that there is no sheen, etc. It's great stuff.

FYI....I am not trying to be a Dazian cheerleader, especially after the cust svce problems I had w/ them. Just wanted make sure that you didn't miss the listings behind my link. That buy was well worth it. It really completes the screen.

Good Luck

Thanks man, I'll check that out right now...I know what your saying about their CS. I have sent them 3 questions on their online form, and no reply to this date. I've called twice, and get this Irv guy that really doesn't have much of a personable attitude, and he is in sales....Oh well the material looks awesome for the screen, I'll have to check out the velvet stuff...

randy

Irv is the guy that I've been dealing with. He has absolutely no personality and he has the most pathetic email grammar & etiquette skills. It's amazing to me that a guy like that can hold such a position. I had to go over his head to get my issue resolved.

However, in the end, they do have a good product at a reasonable price. That's the only reason that I would consider recommending them.