Projection Screen (where to get best deal?)

[Jake]

Hi All!!
I'm rebuilding the livingroom. Putting in a video projector with a 104" screen on the wall. I'm looking for a good place to get quality screen material at the best price. Anyone have any recommendations??

Jake

[Blade]

Jake,

I made my own screen (96" diagonal) out of black cloth (which is used on the back of curtains). I stretched it over a wood frame made out of 1X4 wood and stapled it to the back of the wood.

Then I used a paint called Goo (search for it on the net). I put on two coats of base coat and two coats of top coat. Then I made a 1X4 outside frame for it and covered it with black velvet. It turned out real nice

I have attached a picture of it.

[DC]

Blade,

How is the image quality on your homemade screen? I was considering a projection system and when I was researching it, I found that almost every high-end A/V dealer recommended very expensive screens. Some were in the thousands of dollars. They told me the screen quality was almost as important as the projector quality if you want high-resolution (ie, high-definition) images.

[smoothtlk]

Screen is very important to get the most out of your projector. I have been through 3 and looking for a 4th upgrade. Burned once on an ebay deal that was overly optimistic in it's specs and description.
check this place out for commercial screens:
http://www.shopcousinsvideo.com/projscreen.html

[rocco]

I had to make a screen for a screening room a few years back. We wanted it curved, so we made a wood frame, covered it with fiber-board, and painted it with Scotch-Brite paint (the reflective paint used for the white lines on the road).

It was not cheap, however. The screen was 6 feet high by 11 feet wide, and needed about $800 worth of paint. Looked great, though.

Don't get the yellow Scotch-Brite

[Jake]

Thanks for the Replies!!

Like other things I've done in my home automation adventures, I'm spending a LOT more time researching then what it will take to put it all together... (I hate this whole researching thing). I have run across the GOO in my searches along with some other paint recommendations. I also have gathered samples of many different materials to test. My plan is to gather as many, (possibly inexpensive), materials that I can and also paint a surface with 4 different paints, each occupying it's own quarter of the surface, then compare them all at the same time so I can see which one works best. If some cheap material works... say... 95% as good as actual expensive projector screen... guess which way I'll go. I'm just posting a few messages here and there just in case some else has already gone through this process and can save me the time, but so far no one who has done such testing has stepped forward. My search continues.

If anyone is interested, here are some of the things I have found out so far. Can't say how much of it is true or not, it's just information that I'm gathering, analyzing, etc...


The impression I'm getting so far on, "HOW GOOD THE SCREEN NEEDS TO BE", is that for earlier projectors the screen quality made a big difference, but with new, more advanced projectors, it's not that crucial.

Here are the Specs on my projector I'm using to do these test:
===================================================
- ViewSonic 255D projector

- 0.7" XGA DLP, 1024 Horizontal x 768 Vertical (XGA)
(DLP seems to be the best technology at the moment)

- 1100 Lumens

- 2000:1 Contrast

- Aspect Ratio
4:3, 16:9

- Video
RGB analog, NTSC M, NTSC 4.43, PAL (B, D, G, H, I, M, N),
SECAM (B, D, G, K, K1, L), 480i/p, HDTV 720p, 1080i
===================================================

Right out of the box, shined it on the light-gold textured wall next to my Philips 61" rear projection tv. It blew it away! The projected image on the wall was MUCH better than my rear projection tv. Since then, I haven't tried paint yet, but I have tried several different types of material. Material from fabric shops, sheets, whiteboard, 3 different types of rolled blinds, and an actual white mat projector screen. So far, there has been very little difference from on material to the other, however the blinds seemed to be the best over all. I found blinds that were 90 or 100 inches wide, can't remember right now, at Lowes. I plan to test the painted surfaces next.

[Blade]

The image quality on my homemade is awesome. In fact I had quite a few samples from very expensive screens and when I compared them to mine, I found that mine looked just as good as they did.

I am very happy with my screen and would recommend it to anyone. The Goo paint I used was the Digital Grey lite paint, but you can get one called CRT white which is brighter.

Hope this helps.

[dmurray14]

I made my own screen as well. I didn't even use anything fancy - just went to home depot and picked up a big, thick drop cloth and streched it over my wooden frame, painted the drop cloth a grayish white (I have an LCD projector) then made sides out of 1x4s and covered them in black velvet. Looks and works just like a $2000 screen at 1/10th the price. I sure can't tell the difference between my homemade and my friend's DaLite...