DIY Screen

[avnoob]

Hey guys,

I would like to build a screen for my projector setup. I see some of you are using paint, etc. However, I cannot use paint as my dry-wall is not up yet (oops!) haha.

I was thinking about buying some wood and making a frame and stretching some sort of special fabric around it meant for projectors. Would that work? If so, can you guide me as to who did it and HOW they did it?

Thank you!

 

[lsiberian]

Hey guys,

I would like to build a screen for my projector setup. I see some of you are using paint, etc. However, I cannot use paint as my dry-wall is not up yet (oops!) haha.

I was thinking about buying some wood and making a frame and stretching some sort of special fabric around it meant for projectors. Would that work? If so, can you guide me as to who did it and HOW they did it?

Thank you!

If you haven't put up a wall I'd build a false wall with an Acoustically transparent screen. Seymour is reliable of course you could just use black out cloth.

 

[avnoob]

I'd rather save the building to the contractor. He is going to make a dedicated setup using his own special paint, etc.

I just need a 150-200'' screen to hold me off until construction begins. What is black-out cloth?

 

[jostenmeat]

I'd rather save the building to the contractor. He is going to make a dedicated setup using his own special paint, etc.

I just need a 150-200'' screen to hold me off until construction begins. What is black-out cloth?

Don't do paint if you don't have to, for the screen. 150-200" is really freaking huge. Why do I suspect that your projector will have nowhere near the power to light something like that up. You are talking about the range of 67 to 119 sq ft.

You need to look into Dalite High Power for maximum gain without hotspotting, but even then do I suspect you will not have enough lumens. This setup requires a lot of investigation on your part, and since you don't even know how to connect a pair of speakers, I am at a loss for what to say.

 

[avnoob]

My projector is the brightest in it's class, BenQ W1000. So the problem is not with the projector it's me actually building a screen! I've asked many times whether the projector has the capacity to support a screen like that and the response I got was that if there is ambient light control it is very possible.

Sorry I'm not so tech-savvy but I have been doing my research. Thank you.

 

[jostenmeat]

Who was answering your questions?

Even the W6000 is only powerful enough for the very bottom end of the sizes you are looking at.

The only way you have a chance in hell to light up a 150", let alone a 200" with your PJ is to use "dynamic"-accurate-colors-be-damned mode. Your unit with the more accurate mode was tested to only to have 525 lumens, and that's firstly with a brand new bulb (you will lose double digit % very quickly, probably after just 100 hours) AND that is in high lamp mode which could prove to be extremely noisy with a DLP, depending.

Like I already said, you may need to investigate Dalite High Power. Like I said already, the setup is very particular.

 

[avnoob]

But, the W1000 is rated the brightest projector for under 1000$ on the market right now. When I was researching it I called ProjectorPeople (a retailer) and discussed my plans with them and they told me the only problem I would be having would be the fixed offset presented in the projector. As I have an open basement to work with, the offset does not seem to be a problem for me.

But now you're telling me that it is extremely difficult to set up. Does Da-Lite sell some sort of cloth that can be wrapped around wood? I would like to keep the cost of the screen under 100$ for materials. I don't mind putting in labor.

Thanks.

 

[jostenmeat]

But, the W1000 is rated the brightest projector for under 1000$ on the market right now. When I was researching it I called ProjectorPeople (a retailer) and discussed my plans with them and they told me the only problem I would be having would be the fixed offset presented in the projector. As I have an open basement to work with, the offset does not seem to be a problem for me.

But now you're telling me that it is extremely difficult to set up. Does Da-Lite sell some sort of cloth that can be wrapped around wood? I would like to keep the cost of the screen under 100$ for materials. I don't mind putting in labor.

Thanks.

There is no way you are going to find a screen for that size for $100. Period. I guess paint it is for you. Just hope there will never be a crack. Good luck with endless sanding! Over 100 sq ft?!

Just because it is the brightest under $1000 does not forcibly mean it is strong enough to power that size up.

What if I said, hey, I got the brightest projector under $500, so I think it should light up a 346" screen. It doesn't matter what it cost; it only matters if it can handle the situation or not.

GOOD LUCK!!

 

[avnoob]

I said I dont want to find a screen. I want to build one myself. I'm sorry but I'm pretty sure that for some rolled up cloth it should cost less than 100$ and the wood about 10-15 dollars from my local home depot store. The rest I could do myself.

Additionally, I went on the screen estimation site for projector people and my projector can support up to a 168'' screen before the warning "Please increase brightness or grain" pops up.

It's been done before, I dont know why you think it is impossible. I just need to find some decent material to wrap around the wood.

Thank you.

 

[Serj22]

I did something similar for a 7x6 foot screen, I wrapped a cheap piece of $80 worth of material on it (6 ft is the usual for fabric widths at a store).

I stretched it on a square frame made of 2x4 flat lumber (no curves)

After I was done, all 4 sides were sucessfully bowed in, so I made an inner support frame and none of the sides were bowed in anymore, lit up the projector, and BAM! Could see the entire inner frame through the screen, not like translucent, but it was an obvious grid on the picture. So I popped out the frame, edges were bowed again.

Threw away the project and just went with a screen.

So what you're saying is possible, but for that size, you're talking about WAY more than $20 worth of wood, since you need to beef it up a lot without making an inner frame. I spent about $80 on nice wood and it still bowed, and you'll need double that, plus the cost of fabric that won't let light through, plus a second layer of fabric so you don't get shadows on the frame. It's a little more money than you're anticipating.

 

[smech]

Just for reassurance, Art measured your pj at 1225 in Cinema mode with Brilliant Color on. I'm not a fan of BC but apparently the 1000 doesn't work like my W5000. Your lumens are fine.

For your temporary screen I'd go with Black Out Cloth as previously mentioned. How long until the room is finished and you get your preferred screen?

 

[BMXTRIX]

Ignoring the lousy quality of the W1000 with a 2x color wheel and mediocre image quality, the projector is rated to deliver about 150" of screen size with a 1.0 gain screen.

http://www.projectorcentral.com/BenQ-W1000-projection-calculator-pro.htm

For a cheap DIY screen, then paint is great, but wall preparation and maintenance can be a significant cost. Very significant! I would never recommend that route, but while the results are good, walls tend not to be truly smooth and any 'house settles' issues can be catastrophic.

Blackout cloth DIY screens are one of my favorites because you can build the screen yourself for around $200 for a PROPER screen. You can go cheaper, but you can actually have an excellent one which you will be happy with for years for that much money. No 2x4s, but poplar 1x3s with proper reinforcement and heavyweight blackout cloth from your local Joann's Fabric store. Add to that a TRUE velvet border wrapped around 3-4" baseboards and steel reinforcement for all joints for long lifespan without flex and bowing.

I'm not sure you are quite on the page you may need to be with respect to your own setup. You've set a lot of expectations and put a dime store budget to go along with it. I've seen results people have been satisfied with this, but typically they are very unhappy with their final setup.

The general rule is that you want 15 ACTUAL lumens per square foot of screen space after calibration, in a properly painted room. An out of the box projector can see a 20% falloff in light output in the first 100 hours, and as much as 50% at 1,000 hours. You also typically want to 'emulate' the theater, which means for center of theater viewing, you want a screen that is .66x your seating distance in width. At 15' a 120" wide screen is appropriate. Some people just 'try to fill the wall' with as much as possible, and they end up feeling like they are sitting in the front row of the theater, which isn't fun for them.

Can you do 160" or smaller? Yes, I think you can.

Should you? I'm not at all sure. I would buy the projector and set it up and see if that's really the size you want and if you are happy with the image before I started investing money into a painting job for the room and a commitment to something that large.

 

[jostenmeat]

Just for reassurance, Art measured your pj at 1225 in Cinema mode with Brilliant Color on. I'm not a fan of BC but apparently the 1000 doesn't work like my W5000. Your lumens are fine.

At the big end of the sizes he's thinking about, that's only 10.3 FL. If you say Art, I assume Feierman, then I assume his* best mode, which assumes high lamp. There is little that I fear more with projectors than audible noise, and there is nothing I fear more in this regard than a DLP in high lamp. However, looking it up, it is a lot quieter than I feared.

Ignoring the lousy quality of the W1000 with a 2x color wheel

What out for RBE at this size with a 2x color wheel!!

At 15' a 120" wide screen is appropriate. Some people just 'try to fill the wall' with as much as possible, and they end up feeling like they are sitting in the front row of the theater, which isn't fun for them.

I went a lot bigger at 15'. To improve my audio, while keeping the screen anywhere close to my preferred size, I only have AT screens as a viable option in the future. Of course, lumens enters the discussion once again there.

 

[avnoob]

Thank you everyone for your replies.

I guess I wasn't crazy when I said that my projector could handle it.

I understand that the system has to be good quality. Even though I'm trying to keep the cost of this temporary system down, if you look at my sound system - I bought the best for the price. I have a full monitor 70 setup with a powerful receiver.

For the screen, I really like blackout cloth and I think I might settle with 156''. I was viewing this individuals DYI http://www.avsforum.com/avs-vb/showthread.php?t=1062799 and he seems to have the hang of it.

As a plus, my brother is a mechanical engineer so I'm sure we'll figure something out.

Any other advice as to where I could find the BOC at such width?

Thanks.

 

[BMXTRIX]

DYI = Do Yourself In
DIY = Do it yourself



I made one from poplar and ran into none of the issues that guy ran into. Bought a furniture type staple gun, all the materials, and followed a similar tutorial to one of the ones over at AVS.

http://www.eldamar.net/house/ht/screenHowTo.html

The DIY screen FAQs there have some building examples which are excellent...
http://www.avsforum.com/avs-vb/showthread.php?t=646534

I didn't raise the front edge like in the tutorial, but I did add a 100% true velvet wrapped piece of base board to create a phenomenal border.

 

[lsiberian]

I would suggest that you look into the Sanyo PlV-z60 instead since it's got a lot more placement flexibility. If you want 1080p you do know the Epson 6100 is now only 1200 bucks online. I'm not a fan of DLP setups anymore because the projectors lack the lens shift and zoom technology to make tuning the picture easy. Rolling a screen takes far less effort than stapling one to a frame.

 

[lsiberian]

Ignoring the lousy quality of the W1000 with a 2x color wheel and mediocre image quality, the projector is rated to deliver about 150" of screen size with a 1.0 gain screen.

http://www.projectorcentral.com/BenQ-W1000-projection-calculator-pro.htm

For a cheap DIY screen, then paint is great, but wall preparation and maintenance can be a significant cost. Very significant! I would never recommend that route, but while the results are good, walls tend not to be truly smooth and any 'house settles' issues can be catastrophic.

Well he's having the contractor do it so I don't think there is a cause for concern. Make sure he uses something good for brightness though.

I am concerned the screen may be too large though. Eye strain is a concern.

 

[avnoob]

I did look at the 8100 - it's the direct competitor. However, the reviews for the projector state that its unreliable. Additionally, its noisy and the LCD lamp is susceptible to dust, rainbow effect, etc.

Every person I've asked told me to stay with the DLP if placement was not an issue, and honestly it's an open basement, doesnt really matter if it's 20 feet away or 5 feet away. The only restrictions will take effect when the basement is actually finished, in which case it will be a fixed offset.

I've settled on making a 150'' display. Yes it may be a little big but whatever, you only live once.

 

[BMXTRIX]

Well he's having the contractor do it so I don't think there is a cause for concern.

That's a huge issue of concern. Contractors are freakin' idiots. Flat out, contractors have no clue how to do audio video unless they are serious enthusiasts, which 99.9% of them are not. They don't run the correct cabling, they don't know what questions to ask, they do not place things properly - they just mess up systems. I've followed dozens of contractors into rooms, and this is pure experience talking.

I would have zero faith in a contractor doing a better job on a screen via painting, then making one from scratch using blackout cloth.

If avnoob is making the screen himself via drywall or by blackout cloth, then I would have much more faith in the process, but not with a contractor doing it.

 

[BMXTRIX]

I did look at the 8100 - it's the direct competitor. However, the reviews for the projector state that its unreliable. Additionally, its noisy and the LCD lamp is susceptible to dust, rainbow effect, etc.

What reviews have you read? Seriously?

http://www.projectorreviews.com/epson/home-cinema-8100/

The Home Cinema 8100 is moderately quiet. It claims 22 db in low power, and, relative to that, is probably about 27 db at full power. That's a good bit quieter than many home theater projectors (a lot of the DLP projectors are in the 30 - 33 db range at full power). In other words, the Epson is typically quieter at full power, than many DLP's running at low power.

and..
http://www.projectorcentral.com/epson_8100_home_cinema_projector.htm

vs.
http://www.projectorreviews.com/benq/w1000/index.php

BenQ claims 27 db in low power, 29 at full power.

LCD projectors are NOT capable of the rainbow effect. 100% impossible.

DLP is capable of rainbows, especially slow color wheel speed projectors like (guess which one?) - The BenQ W1000.

Every person I've asked told me to stay with the DLP if placement was not an issue, and honestly it's an open basement, doesnt really matter if it's 20 feet away or 5 feet away.

You've been speaking to fools - period. DLP can be very good with the right projector that is properly designed. This model is cheap and worse than the Optoma HD20 by a good bit. The Mitsubishi HC3800 on the other hand is one of the best entry level DLP projectors on the market and is one that I would strongly recommend.

http://www.projectorcentral.com/Mitsubishi-HC3800.htm

The only restrictions will take effect when the basement is actually finished, in which case it will be a fixed offset.

Showing you need to do some serious research...

The BenQ, to the center of the lens, must be placed 12" above the TOP of your screen to fall on screen properly. It also must be placed between 18.5' and 22' from the screen to the lens. It's going to be tight at 160" diagonal! If you only have 20' depth, then you can't go above 160" with that projector in that room. 150" does work.

The Epson 8100 can be placed almost anywhere from 16'-32' from a 160" diagonal. About 15' or more for a 150" diagonal.

I've settled on making a 150'' display. Yes it may be a little big but whatever, you only live once.

It's not about living once. It's about not making poor and rash decisions because you know more than people who have been installing front projection systems for a decade or more and listening to friends instead of the manufacturers who build the movie theaters you watch movies at.

More to the point - not just taking a week or two after getting a projector and seeing if you actually are happy with a humongous screen in your space.

I know I am setting my brother up with a 161" diagonal screen. But his basement has 10' ceilings and is about 30' deep with the theater back wall and primary seating around 20'.

I'm not trying to tell you not to do it, but if you came here for advice, then listen to it. If you came here to prove why you are right, then statements which are known to be false simply show your ignorance on the subject and should help you open your eyes to this simple reality.

Good luck - I'm done posting here.