Should I make my own front projector screen, buy a cheap one or paint one on the wall
l am in need of a fixed projector screen for my deticated home theatre. l
am building my theatre and l am trying to keep it as low cost as l can
while still making it nice and functional. l am in need of a projector
screen and l really do not wanna spend 2,000 or even 500 dollars for a
screen. l have read that you can make your own using photo paper and a
black frame for about a $100. l also know that l can paint one on the wall
using goo kits for a couple of hunderd dollars as well. My other thought was to buy an inexpensive pull down screen and cut it from the mechanism and fram it. 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?
Go to LOWES or HOME DEPOT and buy a 4ft x 8ft sheet of ''White
Polywall''.It is 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.
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 & paint) have different advantages &
disadvantages . which I will 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, & 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 & then painted a 98'' x 74'' rectangle with three coats of a 3:1 mix of Behr Siverscreen & White Opal Pearlescent paint (wet sanding between coats). I then fine tuned the projector to centre the image on the slightly oversize painted ''screen'' & 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 & aspect ratios, so no single masking size works, & 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 am very satisfied. Movies & HDTV look great. I even taped samples of commercial screen material on the surface & compared, & frankly could see no difference. As far as I am concerned I have a screen equivalent to at least a $500 commercial screen, for 1/10 the price. Ok, to the advantages & disadvantages of the blackout cloth & paint approaches: - blackout cloth is limited in width & you can not vary the screen colour. - paint can be any size & 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 & 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 & the AVS DIY Screen forum.
Go to the website below. It gives detailed instructions on
building your own screen for less than $100.
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