White or Grey screen for living room

[beechy]

Hi guys
Have had a little (or big) mishap at home last few days my kids have smashed the screen on my plasma and its dead
Pretty upset by it and not in the position financially to replace it at the moment
I still have my projector which I would normally have a pull down screen in front of the tb for movie nights and the like

I was debating to pick up (a cheap) fixed frame screen for now to tie me over until I can afford a replacement tv

Found a white one and a grey one that I can afford and pick up quite fast
But know bugger all about grey screens is this something I should consider for living room with some ambient light at times ?

Thanks for any advice appreciate it



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[Badas]

^

Bugger. Sorry to hear about your mishap.

Does your projector throw out too much light or is it just right?

If too much I would go grey. It lowers those black and white levels. So it helps with perceived contrast.

If the brightness is just right or even a little dim then I would go white screen.

[ZoetMB]

Originally Posted by beechy

Hi guys
Have had a little (or big) mishap at home last few days my kids have smashed the screen on my plasma and its dead
Pretty upset by it and not in the position financially to replace it at the moment
I still have my projector which I would normally have a pull down screen in front of the tb for movie nights and the like

I was debating to pick up (a cheap) fixed frame screen for now to tie me over until I can afford a replacement tv

Found a white one and a grey one that I can afford and pick up quite fast
But know bugger all about grey screens is this something I should consider for living room with some ambient light at times ?

Thanks for any advice appreciate it



Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

Sell the kids and then buy whatever you want.

[beechy]

Originally Posted by Badas

^



Bugger. Sorry to hear about your mishap.



Does your projector throw out too much light or is it just right?



If too much I would go grey. It lowers those black and white levels. So it helps with perceived contrast.



If the brightness is just right or even a little dim then I would go white screen.

Cheers mate took me a while to cool down but it's done now

I dunno really I have no way of measuring it
I reckon it seems ok to me but what would I be looking for to see if it's one way or another ?





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[ImPulSive]

Originally Posted by beechy

Cheers mate took me a while to cool down but it's done now

I dunno really I have no way of measuring it
I reckon it seems ok to me but what would I be looking for to see if it's one way or another ?





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Something else to try:
http://www.projectorcentral.com/proj...ulator-pro.cfm

Plug in your set up for PJ, screen size, distance, etc. and see how your the numbers look. For a normal white screen use a gain of 1.0 For a grey screen that lowers to around 0.8 whereas a super white/bright white screen has a gain like 1.3 or 1.4

At least that should help tell you the brightness side of it. As for colors, no way to get that from a calculator that I am aware of, just need to get brightness right first, then calibrate to that set up for best colors possible.

[beechy]

Originally Posted by ImPulSive

Something else to try:

http://www.projectorcentral.com/proj...ulator-pro.cfm



Plug in your set up for PJ, screen size, distance, etc. and see how your the numbers look. For a normal white screen use a gain of 1.0 For a grey screen that lowers to around 0.8 whereas a super white/bright white screen has a gain like 1.3 or 1.4



At least that should help tell you the brightness side of it. As for colors, no way to get that from a calculator that I am aware of, just need to get brightness right first, then calibrate to that set up for best colors possible.

Great idea thanks
Will have a look what it says


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[Badas]

Originally Posted by beechy

Cheers mate took me a while to cool down but it's done now

I dunno really I have no way of measuring it
I reckon it seems ok to me but what would I be looking for to see if it's one way or another ?





Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

I trust the only measuring tool that matters to me. My eyes.

I see you already have a screen. It looks to be white. Maybe 1.3 or 1.4 gain.
Throw on a bright scene. Does it produce enough light? What about manual iris? Do you have one of those?
Then I go dark bright, dark bright, dark bright. If my eyes are squinting too much on the bright. Then it has too much brightness.
I lower the manual iris to a point where I find it comfortable. Then I take a look at a scene with both bright and dark in the picture. If it looks dynamic then I'm set.

If you go grey screen you may have to use more brightness from the lamp or open up the manual iris. This maybe a issue in the future as the lamp ages.
Sometimes I think we are better off with white screens and the adjust accordingly as the lamp ages.

[ImPulSive]

Originally Posted by Badas

I trust the only measuring tool that matters to me. My eyes.

I see you already have a screen. It looks to be white. Maybe 1.3 or 1.4 gain.
Throw on a bright scene. Does it produce enough light? What about manual iris? Do you have one of those?
Then I go dark bright, dark bright, dark bright. If my eyes are squinting too much on the bright. Then it has too much brightness.
I lower the manual iris to a point where I find it comfortable. Then I take a look at a scene with both bright and dark in the picture. If it looks dynamic then I'm set.

If you go grey screen you may have to use more brightness from the lamp or open up the manual iris. This maybe a issue in the future as the lamp ages.
Sometimes I think we are better off with white screens and the adjust accordingly as the lamp ages.

I like this method simply because everybody has different tastes and perceptions, just like how you like your speakers to sound, what may be okay for most may be too dim or too bright for others. The only other thing that I would add is to try to stick to the same ambient light levels if at all possible. Going through all that effort for night time viewing may look terrible in the day when there is a lot more ambient light and vice versa. For me, PJs are only useful in a light controlled room so I would only have to dial it in once and the ambient light levels never change. If I were trying to make a PJ work in all sorts of differing ambient light conditions, it would probably drive me mad...

[beechy]

Originally Posted by Badas

I trust the only measuring tool that matters to me. My eyes.

I see you already have a screen. It looks to be white. Maybe 1.3 or 1.4 gain.
Throw on a bright scene. Does it produce enough light? What about manual iris? Do you have one of those?
Then I go dark bright, dark bright, dark bright. If my eyes are squinting too much on the bright. Then it has too much brightness.
I lower the manual iris to a point where I find it comfortable. Then I take a look at a scene with both bright and dark in the picture. If it looks dynamic then I'm set.

If you go grey screen you may have to use more brightness from the lamp or open up the manual iris. This maybe a issue in the future as the lamp ages.
Sometimes I think we are better off with white screens and the adjust accordingly as the lamp ages.

I reckon from what you posted there
My brightness is fine and I would be best served with a white screen
I don't have any issues squinting
And my picture at night in a dark room is great imo opinion
It's more as I was gonna have to start using it for dual purpose so it would be use more during the day when there is more ambient light in the room so think I'll just stick to the white screen
The only time I need more brightness is during the day if I was watching something like a tv program in which case I just use living room mode which seems plenty of light output

I have my iris turned off at the moment I can't remember why I turned it off but there was a reason I did it I don't think I can control how much iris only on and off

Thanks you guys heaps for the input after owning a projector for so many years now I still know so little about how it all works and how to get the best from them
This site is a god send for rookies like myself [emoji1303]


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[beechy]

Originally Posted by ImPulSive

I like this method simply because everybody has different tastes and perceptions, just like how you like your speakers to sound, what may be okay for most may be too dim or too bright for others. The only other thing that I would add is to try to stick to the same ambient light levels if at all possible. Going through all that effort for night time viewing may look terrible in the day when there is a lot more ambient light and vice versa. For me, PJs are only useful in a light controlled room so I would only have to dial it in once and the ambient light levels never change. If I were trying to make a PJ work in all sorts of differing ambient light conditions, it would probably drive me mad...

Yeah I completely agree
But like I said earlier I have lost my much loved tv due to my kids messing around
I can't really afford to replace it with something I would like at the moment so decided to just use the pj as a dual purpose for now until funds permit
Hence why I said a cheap screen as its only in my living room
It makes it extremely hard with variable ambient light so I completely get your point
I don't really watch a lot of movies during the day so it's not quite as critical as that it's more to watch some Tele in the evening and for the kids to watch all the stuff during the day and I do have block out curtains I can put up when daylight savings rolls around to get the room a bit darker if needed
Thanks for your input mate appreciate it


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[Canada]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UAxhMflrQs8

[ImPulSive]

Originally Posted by Canada

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UAxhMflrQs8

So either get ready to spend $4-5k on a new screen, or $100 on black out curtains and ambient lighting control. Don't get me wrong, these BD are nice screens but at that price the only way they become an option is if I have no way to control ambient light, like in a restaurant or night club for example. At home, I am sure I can find cheaper options to control the ambient light levels so I can use a much cheaper screen. Like the presenter said, your black levels can only be as black as the screen looks with the PJ off. The PJ cannot make it darker, only brighter. Now your eyes will adjust to the light levels accordingly as the displayed material gets brighter and with the proper setup your eyes can perceive better black levels, but that is up to the individual and their perceptions. I am not going into that area here, plenty of material if you search. So I guess if light control is not possible and you are not happy with your picture quality and colors, then these screens are an option.

Edit: If considering the 0.8 gain version, be aware that it will take extra light to produce an image of the same brightness as before. This is especially true when it comes to active 3D, the kind where your 3D glasses have a battery and the glasses must be turned on to work.

The Black Diamond is available in two gains. Learn more below.

1.4 gain -Most popular gain of Black Diamond screens. While similar in color to the .8 gain, projected content will appear brighter and have a much wider viewing cone. Excellent choice for multi-purpose rooms / commercial applications and larger screen sizes. Works well for well-lit rooms and 3D content.
.8 gain - Near black in color and best overall black level of all SI gains. Recommended for dedicated home theaters or smaller screen sizes, where viewers will be sitting directly in front of screen - as viewing cone is more narrow than the higher gain screens. Will work with active 3D content, but not generally recommended as brightness is reduced by almost half in 3D mode.

[beechy]

Originally Posted by ImPulSive

So either get ready to spend $4-5k on a new screen, or $100 on black out curtains and ambient lighting control. Don't get me wrong, these BD are nice screens but at that price the only way they become an option is if I have no way to control ambient light, like in a restaurant or night club for example. At home, I am sure I can find cheaper options to control the ambient light levels so I can use a much cheaper screen. Like the presenter said, your black levels can only be as black as the screen looks with the PJ off. The PJ cannot make it darker, only brighter. Now your eyes will adjust to the light levels accordingly as the displayed material gets brighter and with the proper setup your eyes can perceive better black levels, but that is up to the individual and their perceptions. I am not going into that area here, plenty of material if you search. So I guess if light control is not possible and you are not happy with your picture quality and colors, then these screens are an option.

Edit: If considering the 0.8 gain version, be aware that it will take extra light to produce an image of the same brightness as before. This is especially true when it comes to active 3D, the kind where your 3D glasses have a battery and the glasses must be turned on to work.

Thank you for such a detailed and easy to follow response appreciate it


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