Robert's home theater - Page 2

Here's the latest addition to the theater, a nice custom-made marquee:



Gives it a little more of the "real" theater feel.

Years ago, I had my CRT projector floor mounted, and was very happy with my 80" wide Da-Lite high power screen. Bright, razor sharp picture with no hot spotting. When I built my home theater, I put the projector on the ceiling, and accepted the idea that I couldn't take advantage of the gain of a High Power screen. I used a piece of Wilsonart laminate, which had gotten a lot of praise. It was cheap, so I decided why not? Well, the picture was "nice", but it never really popped, and there was noticeable hotspotting, which began to bug me more and more. I finally decided to see if the High Power would make a big difference. I taped a sample to my Wilsonart screen, and could see that it was noticeably brighter, even if I wasn't getting the full advantage of the gain. I could also see that mounting the High power wouldn't cause focus or color shift problems. I went ahead and took the plunge. I bought a Da-lite Model C screen, and cut it to fit my home-built steel frame. I attached the material to the frame with small neodymium disc magnets, which have tremendous gripping power, and allow me to get a nice, flat surface.

My reaction? WOW! It makes a HUGE difference! Even watching from the first row, which has the greatest vertical angle from the projector, the brightness level is MUCH better with the High Power. The hotspotting is GONE. Colors are wonderfully vivid, and there's a perceived increase in sharpness as well. After reading all the concerns about increased black level, I'm pleased to see that it isn't a concern. My projector has a DEEP black level (you cannot see your hand in front of your face during an all-black scene), and it doesn't appear elevated at all (I put up an all-black test pattern to verify this). The result is a big increase in contrast ratio. The brightness from the back row (which puts eye level about 8 inches below the projector) is ENORMOUS. I'm ecstatic.
Edited by RobertR - 5/1/10 at 9:04pm

Thanks Brandon :)