I have my Elmo HP-A305 SD shining a regular white-greyish wall right now. Frankly I'm dissapointed with the brightness since this is supposed to be one of the brightest projectors. I need to turn off all the lights in the room to have decent brightness. Even with just one 60 watt bulb on in the room starts to wash out the picture. How much more will a better projection surface help? Anyone have experience with glass bead projection screens? I don't want to mess with the viewing angle too much. I'm going to have a couch in front of the screen, so the people on the ends of the couch will be at the maximum angle from the opposite side of the screen. So in other words the person sitting on the right of the couch will be the greatest degree off axis from the left edge of the screen. I would say the couch is about as far away from the screen as the width of the screen, so that person sitting on the end of the couch will be at about a 45 degree angle from the opposite edge. But enough with theory, what have your actual experiences been?
I've got the same ohp as you.
Yes a screen helps somewhat. I'm using a DIY screen made from blackout cloth and it helps slightly with the brightness.
But if you really want to increase brightness, just get rid of the rest of the light in the room. Cover your windows, darken the walls with paint or cloth, and form a cloth shroud around the ohp.
Yes a screen helps somewhat. I'm using a DIY screen made from blackout cloth and it helps slightly with the brightness.
But if you really want to increase brightness, just get rid of the rest of the light in the room. Cover your windows, darken the walls with paint or cloth, and form a cloth shroud around the ohp.
i'm already in the basement, and there are no windows down there. i'm thinking about just sucking it up and buying a $150 84"x84" manual pulldown da-lite screen. 
it's bright enough in the dark on the plain wall, but I want to take it to the next level of performance.
say i get a screen with a 30 degree viewing angle... what will it look like to someone sitting 45 degrees off axis? will it be "ok" or will they barely see anything at all?
it's bright enough in the dark on the plain wall, but I want to take it to the next level of performance.
say i get a screen with a 30 degree viewing angle... what will it look like to someone sitting 45 degrees off axis? will it be "ok" or will they barely see anything at all?
Keep in mind, direct light is much worse than ambient light. If you have a lamp shining directly on the image, it will wash out.
I have a blackoutcloth screen, and it makes a very big difference.
I have a blackoutcloth screen, and it makes a very big difference.
since you are in the east coast, try looking for a waterproof laminate called plas-tex, sold a lowes of home depot type stores. people have reported a good increase in gain using this as screen material and cheap too. as said before, direct light is your worst enemy, can I sugest buying a couple of light fixtures that give off indirect lighting? specially wall mounted ones. as a plus if you use a dimmer as a switch you get that authentic movie theather athmosphere.
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