home theater?
Jul 17, 2010 in
Electronics FAQs
Hello there,
I have a projection room I’ve set up
The projector, surround sound, and 360 are all set up, but two things are far from finished. The entire room is white except for a cabinet which houses all the equipment, as of right now I’m projecting on the wall about 100”. I need to know how to paint the room also should I just paint a screen or just buy a screen. One huge factor to consider, I bought a set of brown recliners, and I don’t want the room to clash. I was thinking about dark brown on the walls with a stripe of light brown across the middle. Also does the wall actually being projected on need to be black everywhere but the screen, thanks
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4 comments
hogie0101 on July 17, 2010 at 10:01 am
Darker muted colors are better.
What colors are just going to have to be up to you
However make sure you use Flat paint, no satin or semi gloss.
A screen would be ideal and provide a sharper image but you can get away with "screen paint" for now. Black around the screen helps define the image. The entire wall doesn’t need to be black, rather paint the surrounding wall what every muted darker color you want. To define the screen build a wood frame wrapped in flat black cloth/felt. A 2" wide boarder is plenty wide.
gandalf on July 17, 2010 at 10:01 am
If you ever notice in a movie theatre that they use curtains or drapes to cover the walls? And the floors are carpeted? The reason is to treat the acoustics. These types of materials absorb sound rather than bouncing them off. Go with darker colors so the light will absorbed instead of reflect.
agb90spruce on July 17, 2010 at 10:01 am
Other answers are valid.
Personally I used a blu-grey in my HT and it worked well since it is a fairly neuttral colour … but you may with to consider a deep red/maroon in your case. However, it’s really up to your colour sense. Just be sure to use flat (or at least low sheen) paint and choose a dark(ish) colour. As another responder mentioned you need to consider acoustics, and if you intend to use carpet on the floor and maybe acoustic foam panels on the wall consider what colour they will be in choosing wall colour.
Re the screen. I originally planned to buy a screen, but after reading the DIY Screen Forum on AVS Forum (See links) I decided to give painting my own a chance. I’m glad I did since I have been very happy with the result, and no longer feel the need for a commercial screen. As bonus the screen cost $50 vs $500-$2000!
I basically followed the Behr "Silverscreen" method (See second link for details). The third link is to some pictures of the screen (I’ve since painted the white grill at lower right the same colour as the wall, added carpet and grey acoustic foam panels on the walls), and to some screen shots.
Regarding a black area around the screen, many would disagree with me but I have found that I don’t need it (See picture of my setup).
Conventional wisdom is that you need a black surround at least a couple of inches (5 cm) wide to frame the screen. This is supposed to enhance contrast and absorb overscan. But … if you are like me and watch a variety of material (HDTV, movies) the aspect ratio of the image changes frequently, so what size/shape of screen do you frame to? The problem is that there is no "standard" aspect ratio. TV aspect ratios (width:height ratios) are either 1.33:1 or 1.78:1 and common movie choices include 1.78:1, 1.85:1 and 2.40:1, but include others.
Either you have to watch one aspect ratio (almost impossible and extremely limiting) or zoom the picture continually to frame two sides or continually adjust the masking to fit whatever image you are projecting. Sure, motorized masking systems exist and can be set up with presets … but that is an expensive game.
I won’t say there might not be some improvement to having a masking system, BUT I personally am not willing to pay for it and have to bother to adjust it continually. And, in my experience there is no real need. My projector (native 4:3) throws an image with sharp edges, so I simply set the zoom to fill the width of the screen and let the height vary on my 4:3 aspect ratio screen. "Widescreen" images don’t fill top to bottom, but I don’t find this distracting. See the screen shots at link 3 … do you notice the screen above and below the image?
Hope this helps … and congratulations on choosing the only true home theatre approach: a front projector!
pete a on July 17, 2010 at 10:01 am
its a personal choice but i always have an off-white shade to my play-rooms. you can always adjust the light level.