What is the best option here and what is going to give me the best bang for the buck? Any other suggestions for making a good home theatre projection screen for a low price?Should I make my own front projector screen, buy a cheap one or paint one on the wall?
The first answer is a good approach. I also recommend the AVS DIY Screen forum. However, I chose to paint my own screen The two approaches (blackout cloth and paint) have different advantages and disadvantages ... which I'll address at the end of this response.
I wanted as large as possible a a 4:3 screen (that is the native format of my projector) so I can show 4:3 images height while also showing 16:9 (or other widescreen images) full width (vs 4:3 as a subset of 16:9, and therefore much smaller).
I have a dedicated home theatre so I was able to use an existing wall for the screen.
In brief, I figured out the maximum width of screen I wanted based on my seating distance (You want the screen to cover a 36-40 degree angle left to right). In my case this was 96'; wide. So for a 4:3 screen I needed a 72'; height (more than possible with 54'; blackout cloth). I made sure the drywall was smooth and then painted a 98'; x 74'; rectangle with three coats of a 3:1 mix of Behr Siverscreen and White Opal Pearlescent paint (wet sanding between coats).
I then fine tuned the projector to centre the image on the slightly oversize painted ';screen'; and masked the surface to a 96'; by 72'; size by painting the surrounding wall a medium blue-grey (the colour of the room).
I did not bother with black masking because:
- I project a wide range of image sizes and aspect ratios, so no single masking size works, and I was not interested/willing to build a motorized masking system
- I have not found a black border to be necessary.
So ... I made a fixed screen in several hours over a couple of days for about $50 in paint.
How does it perform? I'm very satisfied. Movies and HDTV look great. I even taped samples of commercial screen material on the surface and compared, and frankly could see no difference. As far as I'm concerned I have a screen equivalent to at least a $500 commercial screen, for 1/10 the price.
Ok, to the advantages and disadvantages of the blackout cloth and paint approaches:
- blackout cloth is limited in width and you can't vary the screen colour.
- paint can be any size and adjusted for specific conditions (e.g. I wanted a light grey screen rather than white).
- The paint approach doesn't require carpentry skills, but does require some familiarity with drywall and painting skills.
- The blackout cloth approach yields a portable, or at least movable, screen, while paint is fixed in place.
- Arguably paint is cheaper.
See the links below for some pictures / screen shots and the AVS DIY Screen forum.Should I make my own front projector screen, buy a cheap one or paint one on the wall?
Go to the website below. It gives detailed instructions on building your own screen for less than $100.
Go to LOWES or HOME DEPOT and buy a 4ft x 8ft sheet of ';White Polywall';...It's in the sheet-rock section...Once side is textured and the other side is very smooth...It costs about $10 bucks...Use a 1-inch wide black felt ribbon for the border...Then we just nailed the whole thing to the wall...Don't forget to make the heads of the nails ';black'; when you're finished.
It depends on the quality of the projector, too. I have a 1080i (Pany 1000), and I made my screen with the DIY cloth etc... I found that on my new projector the difference is greater than with my old 720i projector when compared to a high quality screen.
If you are planning to go 1080i I would recommend a Dalite fixed frame or better. If you have a 720i projector, a DIY screen can be made for under a $100.
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