Since I had an LCD/OHP system, I painted it Glidden Universal Gray. I now have a Sony CRT projector and I'll be making a white screen from blackout cloth. It will be very close to this one:
http://members.shaw.ca/danhanson/Theater/screen/screenproject.htm
http://members.shaw.ca/danhanson/Theater/screen/screenproject.htm
I was wondering if anyone has experimented with silver screens and had similar success to Tinker.
With a halogen OHP and LCP panel I face the brightness problem too.
In the old days, cinema screens were silver until such times as the projectors became more powerful and white screens sufficed. (Although there was a question in my mind if silver was unsuitable for colour movies and was discarded for that reason as much as the new brighter projectors being avalable).
I have done some "surfing" and found very little reference to the use of silver as a DIY screen paint.
I'm going to grab some MDF this weekend and paint it up a silver colour. The only question in my mind is how silver/metallic I go.
Can anyone suggest anything. Do I go a dullish silver, a metallic silver or go all out and paint the thing chrome?
Apropos....
Some-one else in this thread mentioned that have a Sharp QA-1050. This is the same panel I use. Just has VGA inputs but works really well with a cheap Taiwanese converter I bought.
Cost me $67USD shipped to Australia and has VGA , 4x RCA Video and Audio in (selectable) and VGA and 3.5m stereo speaker jack out. Great little gadget becuase it means I can just plug in a pair of PC speakers for audio.
The QA-1050 only has 190,000 colours or so, but it's not bad and full motion is not problem.
With a halogen OHP and LCP panel I face the brightness problem too.
In the old days, cinema screens were silver until such times as the projectors became more powerful and white screens sufficed. (Although there was a question in my mind if silver was unsuitable for colour movies and was discarded for that reason as much as the new brighter projectors being avalable).
I have done some "surfing" and found very little reference to the use of silver as a DIY screen paint.
I'm going to grab some MDF this weekend and paint it up a silver colour. The only question in my mind is how silver/metallic I go.
Can anyone suggest anything. Do I go a dullish silver, a metallic silver or go all out and paint the thing chrome?
Apropos....
Some-one else in this thread mentioned that have a Sharp QA-1050. This is the same panel I use. Just has VGA inputs but works really well with a cheap Taiwanese converter I bought.
Cost me $67USD shipped to Australia and has VGA , 4x RCA Video and Audio in (selectable) and VGA and 3.5m stereo speaker jack out. Great little gadget becuase it means I can just plug in a pair of PC speakers for audio.
The QA-1050 only has 190,000 colours or so, but it's not bad and full motion is not problem.
complex screen
I believe it was on the avsforum site that I saw the concept of a "DIY torus" screen. I'm very interested in this concept...anyone have any thoughts on it?
zardoz
I believe it was on the avsforum site that I saw the concept of a "DIY torus" screen. I'm very interested in this concept...anyone have any thoughts on it?
zardoz
An interesting idea i had. About built-in speaker with your screen.
http://www.diyaudio.com/forums/showthread.php?s=&threadid=8968
http://www.diyaudio.com/forums/showthread.php?s=&threadid=8968
Rear View projection Screen
This maybe off topic here, but is there a cheap way to produce high quality rear projection screen ?
Which materials is best ? Will clear acrylic with some lamination do a good job for rear view projection ?
This maybe off topic here, but is there a cheap way to produce high quality rear projection screen ?
Which materials is best ? Will clear acrylic with some lamination do a good job for rear view projection ?
Hi everyone - my diy screen
Hi Everyone, this is my first post. This DIY projector/screen stuff is cool.
First of all I wanted to say that I had read some posts on some thread somewhere where these audio/videophiles were putting down our DIY efforts. Sure, we realize that our diy projectors can't compare with these $5k+ systems, but for less than $500 it's not bad. I'm still setting up my system, thanks to the help of all of you. Your info and websites were a great help. I took the easy route and purchased an NView z215 LCD panel and Dukane 4500 OHP off of ebay. I am now building my screen. I have only tested my system for a short time, but so far I think it is great. I just can't justify spending even $2K+ on a big screen at this point. I just don't have time to watch tv that much. Sure it would be nice to watch the top-of-the-line projector but I can think of more important things to do with my money. Besides, DIY is half the fun.
After reading the numerous posts on making a screen I decided to go for it. My constraints were to be very economical, have as good performance as possible, easy to build. I looked into the Parkland Plastic product but could not find it in my area. And I did not want to pay such a high shipping and handling fee to have a panel shipped to me (not yet at least).
I read posts about people building a screen using blackout cloth, melamine, hardboard, drywall and plywood. It occured to me that it probably doesn't matter what one uses since it will be painted over anyways (except for the polywall/plastex).
I had tried the smooth hardboard material and my initial tests were acceptable. It seemed to work but I noticed small fibers that raised after being painted. My picture on this sample was good enough.
I really have no comparison since all I have seen so far is other people website pictures and they all say the pictures don't do the true image justice.
Well, I figured that real wood is easier to work with, so after reading about a fellow who used 1/4 inch birch plywood I decided to use wood.
I went to Home Depot and purchased 3/8 inch luan (sp?) plywood. I built the frame out of spare lumber, using dowels at the joints and I was very happy with the rigidity and lightness of the frame. I only built my screen to be 72" in diagonal since I figured it was big enough and I didn't want to have the picure fade as it got bigger. I mounted the plywood panel on the frame and sanded it with my random orbital sander using 220 grit sandpaper.
I painted 3 coats of Behr white primer. and one coat of Behr Eggshell white latex-(flat). I had just painted my living room with this Eggshell white and the color looks like a light grey. Please note that I am not necessarily recommending these products, I just happen to have these things available and decided to use them to be economical.
I just wanted to comment that a Beech/Birch plywood would probably workout nicer since it seems to be a denser wood with less grainy texture. But the Luan with 4 light coats (rolled on ) seemed smooth enough and Home Depot didn't have the Birch/Beech plywood in stock. I tested my screen last night and so far I am very happy with it. I would like to try the silver now that everyone is talking about it. But I'm happy with grey.
I'll set up a website with pics as soon as i can. I don't have a digital camera, so I have to figure out how to take the pictures.
just wanted to share what I have done so far.
Thanks everyone, you all are great!
Rydad
Hi Everyone, this is my first post. This DIY projector/screen stuff is cool.
First of all I wanted to say that I had read some posts on some thread somewhere where these audio/videophiles were putting down our DIY efforts. Sure, we realize that our diy projectors can't compare with these $5k+ systems, but for less than $500 it's not bad. I'm still setting up my system, thanks to the help of all of you. Your info and websites were a great help. I took the easy route and purchased an NView z215 LCD panel and Dukane 4500 OHP off of ebay. I am now building my screen. I have only tested my system for a short time, but so far I think it is great. I just can't justify spending even $2K+ on a big screen at this point. I just don't have time to watch tv that much. Sure it would be nice to watch the top-of-the-line projector but I can think of more important things to do with my money. Besides, DIY is half the fun.
After reading the numerous posts on making a screen I decided to go for it. My constraints were to be very economical, have as good performance as possible, easy to build. I looked into the Parkland Plastic product but could not find it in my area. And I did not want to pay such a high shipping and handling fee to have a panel shipped to me (not yet at least).
I read posts about people building a screen using blackout cloth, melamine, hardboard, drywall and plywood. It occured to me that it probably doesn't matter what one uses since it will be painted over anyways (except for the polywall/plastex).
I had tried the smooth hardboard material and my initial tests were acceptable. It seemed to work but I noticed small fibers that raised after being painted. My picture on this sample was good enough.
I really have no comparison since all I have seen so far is other people website pictures and they all say the pictures don't do the true image justice.
Well, I figured that real wood is easier to work with, so after reading about a fellow who used 1/4 inch birch plywood I decided to use wood.
I went to Home Depot and purchased 3/8 inch luan (sp?) plywood. I built the frame out of spare lumber, using dowels at the joints and I was very happy with the rigidity and lightness of the frame. I only built my screen to be 72" in diagonal since I figured it was big enough and I didn't want to have the picure fade as it got bigger. I mounted the plywood panel on the frame and sanded it with my random orbital sander using 220 grit sandpaper.
I painted 3 coats of Behr white primer. and one coat of Behr Eggshell white latex-(flat). I had just painted my living room with this Eggshell white and the color looks like a light grey. Please note that I am not necessarily recommending these products, I just happen to have these things available and decided to use them to be economical.
I just wanted to comment that a Beech/Birch plywood would probably workout nicer since it seems to be a denser wood with less grainy texture. But the Luan with 4 light coats (rolled on ) seemed smooth enough and Home Depot didn't have the Birch/Beech plywood in stock. I tested my screen last night and so far I am very happy with it. I would like to try the silver now that everyone is talking about it. But I'm happy with grey.
I'll set up a website with pics as soon as i can. I don't have a digital camera, so I have to figure out how to take the pictures.
just wanted to share what I have done so far.
Thanks everyone, you all are great!
Rydad
An idea for screen material
Hi,
Well i went to JoAnns fabrics today (3-23-03) and looked into the "blackout" cloth material. I was quite amazed to find it at $5.99 a yard...ouch. Well with that option aside for the moment I looked around and manged to find the end of a bolt of a Semi-shiny white material. I checked it out and it seemed to be a very good option for DIY screen material. It is called "Polyester Habutae #4163- item code 5880174. I manged to get about 2 yards of the stuff, the end of the bolt for only $1.88 a yard....WOW!!! This stuff seems like it will work quite well, its solid bright white, and shiny, but not too shiny. It is a bit translucent though, but with an opaque material behind it I think it might work quite well, as far as being shiny enough for a good bright refelction, but dull enough as not to compromise the image to a great extent. I have searched and read in the forums for quite a while and tried to think about how well this material might work. As soon as I get my projector working, i will try and post my results with the material. If anyone else has tried this material, post your results or send me a link to the forum and give me some info. If it doesnt work, or if anyone else is willing to try it, hey its only 2 bucks a yard, no damage done.😎
Hi,
Well i went to JoAnns fabrics today (3-23-03) and looked into the "blackout" cloth material. I was quite amazed to find it at $5.99 a yard...ouch. Well with that option aside for the moment I looked around and manged to find the end of a bolt of a Semi-shiny white material. I checked it out and it seemed to be a very good option for DIY screen material. It is called "Polyester Habutae #4163- item code 5880174. I manged to get about 2 yards of the stuff, the end of the bolt for only $1.88 a yard....WOW!!! This stuff seems like it will work quite well, its solid bright white, and shiny, but not too shiny. It is a bit translucent though, but with an opaque material behind it I think it might work quite well, as far as being shiny enough for a good bright refelction, but dull enough as not to compromise the image to a great extent. I have searched and read in the forums for quite a while and tried to think about how well this material might work. As soon as I get my projector working, i will try and post my results with the material. If anyone else has tried this material, post your results or send me a link to the forum and give me some info. If it doesnt work, or if anyone else is willing to try it, hey its only 2 bucks a yard, no damage done.😎
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