Black screen vs White or gray

[jackpilot]

Interesting topic debated on a Euro forum

I tried a flat black 3' X 3' square and must admit results are surprising, especially in a NOT DARK environment.

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

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BP18KcELwvo
(from 2 minutes on)

Comments welcome

[MCrevot]

Astonishing ... Topic to be dig !
Thank you, Jack

Michel

[Flying_Fox]

Did you buy that paint Jack?

[Joe Lavery]

That looks awesome Jack,
the lack of a real black is the main reason many of us go for TV's or Monitors in preferrence to projectors.

Something to watch I think.

Joe.

[bernard S]

okay   i will share   solutiion      grey   with screengoop  two part process ..thin coats sprayed on  do not dilute   anymore than one coatveach effects brightness and contrast    will give you black black ..say thank yiu bernard  lol

[FredK]

I am using a product from Paint-On-Screen for my screen.  They sell screen paint that it an emulsion of fine silver or some other reflective substance.  It is available in shades that range from White to Black in 10 gradations (1-10).  I am using a "5" which is mid-scale and is a dark grey color.

The thing is for the dark colored screen to work you really need a projector that has a high lumens rating.  The typical short-throw projectors we use (ala the Optoma HDs that I have) really do not meet that requirement.  Also, many of us attempt to maximize screen surface area for immersive effect further diluting the light intensity.  That is further exacerbated since we lose much of our screen real estate to warping adjustment and overlap cropping etc. Note that the screen size in the fellow's video really is not all that large with no warping.

With my mid-range grey I do need to pump up the brightness setting a bit on my projectors.  I'm not sure how that will affect lamp life but so far I'm OK.

But I have never actually tried a totally dark screen I have to admit.

I'm not sure that Paint-On-Screen is still in business. Their website home page is still up but all the informational links are broken.  The paint is still available on Amazon though.

Fred K

[Garys]

okay   i will share   solutiion      grey   with screengoop  two part process ..thin coats sprayed on  do not dilute   anymore than one coatveach effects brightness and contrast    will give you black black ..say thank yiu bernard  lol

I thought you were using the original collimated display. Did you run into trouble getting the old crt projectors up and running again?

[bernard S]

oh my god  gary  orginal crts for displays a nightmare of bibical proportions  ended up doing all the math and shaping acylic to size of orginals  hence the screen goop with projectors x6

[Garys]

Nice.  Fred and Bernard, What type of gun is best for the spraying these coatings. I have used rolled on behr silver screen for many years in my setup but about to go through the process of redoing visuals over again so this thread is of good timing.

[FredK]

I simply used a high quality long nap roller to insure no overlap marks.  Lambs wool would probably even be better.  Work quickly. I applied 3 coats allowing long dry time between coats.  The result was just about perfect in terms of uniformity!

My home-made curved screen is about 8 years old now.  I re-coated it about 2 years ago.

Fred K

[Garys]

Excellent Fred, great looking screen. You technique is similar to the way I did mine as well.
The you tube videos of the black screens look really good, but I'm yet to find one that covers the same area's that we need. Will keep looking into this.

Gary

[Flying_Fox]

My home-made curved screen is about 8 years old now.  I re-coated it about 2 years ago.

Fred K

Fred, just wondering why did you need to recoat it? I have screen painted with Behr Silverscreen paint  (not sim screen but for home theater)11 years ago and it's still good as new.

Nick

[FredK]

Fred, just wondering why did you need to recoat it? I have screen painted with Behr Silverscreen paint  (not sim screen but for home theater)11 years ago and it's still good as new.

Nick

There were some blemishes and scuffs due to reconfiguring equipment and general work in the area etc.

Fred K