Projector Screens

[Vrotate]

I'm looking for a very cheap solution for a projector screen. My projection size is about 77x60... Any ideas?

[LeeS]

Towards the end of this Forum Link (http://www.hdtvoice.com/voice/showthread.php?s=&threadid=4885) there is a post and a link about making your own screen.

Good Luck,
Lee

[pradike]

I know I also had sticker shock when I started out with HDTV.

There are competitively priced units from DaLite & Stewart online, if you shop around...hopefully you can find something in a reasonable budget range....

Making a home-made screen for a Projector is like putting K-Mart tires on a Rolls Royce...seems counter-productive and penny wise, pound foolish (in terms of performance).

The reason these other products cost what they do is the special farics used that achieve DB gain in the picture itself on the screen.

My DaLite Contour 100" screen has incredible imagery....also cost some $$$.

The real test is going forward...with HDTV, the difference will really be noticable. I can already see it in my HD Theater presentations.

Hope you can find something...perhaps check e-bay for a "used" one...still better than home-made.

[Freddy Basset]

You might try here:

http://store.yahoo.com/cousinsvideo/dalitemodelb.html

[LeeS]

My DaLite Contour 100" screen has incredible imagery....also cost some $$$.
pradike,

I'm looking at the Da-Lite Cinema Contour screen. What screen material did you buy? (and why :)) The A/V store has several types. I'm leaning towards the Da Mat or Cinema Vision. The high contrast, gray, screens seemed to affect the colors too much.

I'm close to getting my Toshiba MT8 DLP projector.

I can't find where you said how far your front row is from the screen?

Thanks,
Lee

[Jester]

I have heard that the best way to put together a projection screen and save a lot of money is to buy bulk screen material and assemble it on a frame. Some say that you can build the frame out of aluminum (using screen door kits). I have yet to find name brand screen material online, but there seems to be a ton of it on eBay.

I am looking to buy my first front projector for video this year. Currently I am torn between the new Sanyo PLV-Z2 (true HDTV 720p widescreen projector, <$2k!!!, optical lens shift) and the new Sony VPL-HS20 (brighter, higher resolution, <$3k).

When/if I get the projector, I plan on assembling my own 16:9 100" screen.

[57U]

Jester, Lee knows that - see the second post in this thread.

[Jester]

I must be getting lazy so close to the holidays... I didn't follow the link.

My apologies.

[LeeS]

My apologies.
Accepted :) (and I have never jumped into a thread without reading the whole thing :D, ya right)

Slow night at work last night, I must have spent 3 hours researching alternate ways of building screens from preparing and painting the wall, building frames and stretching different materials.

It all boils down to the material. (understatement) If I can get the raw screen material I mentioned earlier in the thread, making a frame wouldn't be very hard. I have full (and free) access to a machine shop :)

Following pradike's advice I researched the manufacturer's sites and determined that a 100-106 inch screen will be best. (see posts in pradike's gallery pictures). I only have one row of seating and it will be 12' from the screen. One site suggested that the front row, ideally, should be 2 times the screen height from the screen. (8.6' with a 106" screen) (9.6' for a 119" screen) So at 12' I won't be in the front row :), never did like the front row.

A 119" (10') diag screen would fit nicely, but this may be one time that bigger is not better.

Screen size and type selection from Da-Lite: http://www.da-lite.com/products/selecting.php

Lee

I'll start a new thread in the Designer Den and post pics in the gallery when I start the install.

[pradike]

Originally posted by LeeS
pradike,

I'm looking the the Da-Lite Cinema Contour screen. What screen material did you buy? (and why :)) The A/V store has several types. I'm leaning towards the Da Mat or Cinema Vision. The high contrast, gray, screens seemed to affect the colors too much.

I can't find where you said how far your front row is from the screen?

Thanks,
Lee
Sorry Lee, for the slow reply...I was out of town for a few days when you posted, and must have missed you questions. Congrats on pulling the trigger on your new projector! Here's my response:

I've got the 100" Da-Lite Contour Cinema Vision - fantasic screen. I was skeptical of a grey screen myself, but agreed to let my audo/visusal experts show me what was the right way to go - boy was it ever! I get so many comments from viewers as to how great and real the color and contrast are in PQ and imagery, 100" seems to be a great size...I've seen 110 and 119. Like you, the 119" size seemed too big for my taste.

In terms of distance....I actually measured and used the eye-height distance to the sctreen for both the front and back rows.

I've read 3 different "advices" about the right distances to use for a 2-row configuration. All I know is everyone who sits in my 2-row system loves my setup.

The first advice came from the documentation with my projector, the second here on AVS forum, and the third from a lengthy article in Home Video Interiors magazine.

You also hear the " 1 1/2 times the diagonal screen size for the nearest seating" wisdom from some AV folks. Mine is a blend of the projector recommendation and the AVI mag recommendations:

My front row eye distance from the screen itself is 12'8", while my back row eye height distance is 17' 4". Males visitors tend to head for the front row, females for the "skybox" upper row - not scientific, but pretty much a fair representation.

As you mentioned in a post earlier this year, I have a second row up on an 8" riser. Both rows are made up of Berkline 090 seats - VERY comfortable.

Hope this info helps.

Best wishes, Lee, for a happy holiday season.

As an aside - How bout them Packers on MNF last night - Brett was incredible. Terrible about his dad. Met him once - great guy.

[LeeS]

Thanks a bunch, just what I was needing.

I was almost ready to kick myself for not being observant after seeing your signature on the above post. The screen info is right there. Lucky for me that the earlier post didn't have that signature :)

I'm still stuck on the screen size and that is all I have left to do. I'll go back in tomorrow and look at them again.

My single row of seating is, within a few inches, the same distance as your front row. I have the room and maybe I'll put some elevated seating behind it :)

Merry Christmas and Happy New Year to you and yours!
Lee

[kevinw]

WOW and I just pm'ed Lee to talk to Pete if you want to know about projectors:smokin:

[pradike]

Originally posted by LeeS
Thanks a bunch, just what I was needing.

I'm still stuck on the screen size and that is all I have left to do. I'll go back in tomorrow and look at them again.

My single row of seating is, within a few inches, the same distance as your front row. I have the room and maybe I'll put some elevated seating behind it :)

Merry Christmas and Happy New Year to you and yours!
Lee
Best wishes to you too Lee. Thanks Kevin for the added assistance.

After months of use and hundreds of hours of viewing, I'm quite pleased with the 100" screen size. Also, having seen screens up to 144" in other people's theaters, I agree with you that a 100-110" screen size is most likely the ideal size for most viewers.

IMO anything above that takes away from the overall Home Theater experience. The only exception might be in a theater large enough to hold 3 or 4 rows.

[Lowpro]

I made my own screen using the same basic guidlines as the DIY link one of you posted. Cost me around $70 and I could not be happier. That particular DIY link there is excellent. I pimp that link out all the time to people interested in making their own screen. There is not much to it really and it works well.

[LeeS]

edit: answered most of my questions when I mounted the projector. This is going to be sweet :)

Lowpro, just funnin with ya.

One thing I found out, the DVI connector on my projector has more pins than the one I bought. The purchased one has 8 rows of three pins, the projector has 10 (not counting the spade pin). And my connector is wider. Going to check the FAQ on DVI connectors.

end edit


Ok projector gurus :bow: I have a snag, but I don't think its major. The screen hasn't arrived yet so I have time to nail down a solution. I ordered the 106". (changed mind several times, ended up with the 119)

The HT room is 24 feet deep, there is a major structural beam that divides the room in half. In other words its 12' from the screen and parallel. It extends down from the ceiling 12". 8' ceiling. (the beam was not a factor)

The projector has an image offset of 116 degrees. That amounts to 8.43 inches for the 106" screen (52" high). I have to mount the projector behind the beam, 12" down from the ceiling. This means I have to mount the screen 12" down from the ceiling PLUS the 8.43" for the offset. This would put the bottom of the screen about 24" from the floor. Problem for a single row of seats? Most likely for a second row. (mounted the projector to hang an inch below the beam, can tilt upwards slightly, no problem

What if I mount the projector a little lower and tilt it upward so I can mount the screen 12" from the ceiling (or less), cancelling out the offset. The projector has +/- 20 degrees of keystone correction. That will take care of the width problems at the top and bottom of the screen but what about focus problems??? Would the preceeding cause a focus problem between the top and bottom of the screen? (did this, didn't seem to have any effect on the focus. Using a bedsheet though :))

If the keystone doesn't take care of the focus issue, would tilting the top of the screen out slightly to correct the focus be a problem for the viewers? It would have to be tilted out the same number of degrees that the projector was tilted up.

This offset thing sounds great if you have tall ceilings :(

I'll do some digging on the net to see what the keystone correction does besides fix the width problems.

I don't have the projector in hand, pick that up Friday. May be a bunch of worry for nothing. I don't know how much vertical adjustment there is for the image, etc. Not much information from the Toshiba site and the InFocus site is better but not much.

Thanks guys,
Lee

edit: Cutting on the wooden beam is definitely out! :D

[LeeS]

This is the DVI connector that my Toshiba MT8U has two extra rows of 'three pins'. The normal cable has 8 rows and mine has 10 ???
P&D (EVC) connector (Digital version)
P&D can connect to DVI-D, DVI-I, DVI-A, DFP and VGA,
depending on which version you have.

Lee

[LeeS]

Ahhhhhh :) Ram Electronics came through. I had an email response first thing this morning. (The Toshiba MT8U is the same as the InFocus 7200)

http://www.ramelectronics.net/html/DVI_m1_adapter.html

Ram is one of the links in our FAQs on DVI

http://www.hdtvoice.com/voice/showthread.php?s=&threadid=1788

Lee

edit: ordered a 7.5m cable and the adapter

[sieve11]

After deciding that my 38310 just wasn't big enough, and not warming up to rear projection, DLP and lcos notwithstanding, I took the plunge into front projection. I new very little about it and was on a limited budget, so I did all the research I could, both here and on the AVS forum.

Here's what I came up with. An Infocus X1 that I got at Best Buy. Their normal price is $999. I had a preferred customer 10% off which got it down to $899. Plus, I had a coupon for double reward points, so I got a gift certificate for $76 on a future purchase. In my convoluted accounting system, that brought the price down to $823.

We had an old hobby table in the basement that we were going to throw out. It was just a 4' x 8' piece of plywood with legs. Our painter happened to be here while this was going on and suggested that we cut the table to use for mounting the screen material. After removing the legs and 11" off one end, we ended up with a perfect 16x9, 97" screen base, which he painted flat white.

I found some screen material on ebay for $27, which we velcro attached to the plywood. He then mounted it to the studs in the basement wall with a mitered piece of 1"x1" stip. The screen just sits in place and can be lifted off. It is very stable.

I brought down the JVC 5.1 receiver that I got for the 38310 room and put an older 5.1 receiver in that room. Still had to get new surround speakers, but I used the center channel speaker and subwoofer from the family room. The satellite speakers, KLHs, cost me just $100 on ebay, but they sound fine.

So, for under $1000, we now have a full-featured home theater that even my wife loves (she never did really warm up to the 38310). It is definitely a family experience, Nemo and Monsters are a huge hit. It's home theater on the cheap, but we are extemely satisfied.

[rewjr]

here is a cheap line of chinese made screens - http://www.tigerdirect.ca/applications/SearchTools/search.asp?page=1&keywords=elite%20screens

Cheers...