Tuesday, 27 November 2012

The Poor Man's Home Theater - Part 2


Poor Man's Home Theater - Part 2

So, I have been researching the various paths for a budget screen in my home theater and I have discovered these options:


1. Motorized retractable screens
    Small motor drives the screen up and down either via an inline switch or remote control
    Costs roughly $100 and up

2. Manual retractable / Simple stationary screens
    Spring loaded to self retract when pulled or is simply stationary
    Costs roughly $100-$200

3. Bulk screen material
    Available in 3-4 different widths, sold by the foot on eBay
    Costs roughly $10-$20 per foot (depending on width)

4. Screen paint
    Available in different shades, comes in gallon paint pale
    Costs roughly $60 / gallon (covers up to 100 sq ft)

5. Regular paint
    Available at any home hardware
    Cost varies

There are some important things to consider when choosing a screen material or colour, such as gain and contrast. Gain is basically the ability to reflect light, while contrast is the difference between your dark and light (eg. detail in dark scenes). Most white screens that you purchase have a gain of 1.0-1.3, while gray screens may be as low as 0.8 (reflecting 80% of what pure white would). If you want blacker blacks, go with a gray screen. If brightness is your goal, white is where it's at.

In my research I found that:

a. the screen paint is a lot more customize-able in the fact that you can choose the exact colour (for contrast) and exact gain (for brightness) and was a little bit out of my league

b. the regular paint really didn't give the performance of materials made specifically for this application

c. bulk screen material was similarly priced to stationary/manually retractable screens, and THEY weren't much cheaper than their motorized counterpart (less than $50)

Based on these discoveries, I began searching for the most economical motorized screen. 
I found this one on eBay for $119.95 + shipping and tax:



It is a white background, 1.3 gain, 100" 16:9 aspect ratio and might I say;
 it is very James Bond-ish, check it out

Now that all the components have been ordered, I must patiently wait for their arrival...

     Projector         -  $165.56
     VGA Cable      -    $21.85 
     Optical Cable  -    $20.79 
  + Screen            -  $161.35
     TOTAL            -  $369.55

Once I receive everything, I will update with pictures and set-up.

Thanks for looking, please comment!

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