Hey folks,

I was going to post this first in the HT Builder forum but because since I'm concerned with the aesthetic choice and also
their impact on image quality, and those type of discussions happen on this forum a lot, I figured this group would give
me some good input. In the following posts I'll showing some Google Sketchups of my room with some variations on decor choices.

I'm taking over the front living room of our house and with the OK from my wife, turning it into a media room/HT - it will combine my love of high-end audio with watching movies. (Movies definitely being the prime reason for the screen, although we'll occasionally watch HD sports now and then). EDIT TO ADD: The room is 15 ft deep (screen wall to back bay windows behind sofa) and 13.5 feet wide (width of screen wall). So...not a big room, but I'll be using a 124" wide 2:05:1 screen.

EDIT TO ADD: The bay windows behind the viewing sofa will employ black-out blinds and I view movies only at night, so light leakage from those windows shouldn't be a problem.

It's pretty brutal being a demanding "videophile" so far as trying to maximize the performance of any projector I buy (I'll be starting off with the JVC RS2) while making the room aesthetically acceptable. I'll be using a fairly dark wall fabric (mid-tone)
for the walls, and will be using dark chocolate velvet curtains both to cover the screen when not watching, and to run along the walls cutting down side wall reflections. In fact, the curtains will be able to be pulled quite far - 8 feet or so - along the side walls out from the screen so I think I've got that covered.

The ceiling design we are still working on, but it will be a dark color (with pot or track lighting).

The furniture will be in the brown theme too. One possible fabric very dark chocolate brown, another choice being a lighter mid tone brown, with a bit more sheen. Both are lush and feel gorgeous to touch.

I'm really agonizing especially over the carpet choice right now. I love a really rich, fun luxurious vibe which, as soon as you walk in says "Come in...relax and luxuriate..." To that end I'm looking at some shag hair rugs, one of which almost feels like a bear pelt. The kids and wife love it too.

So especially with the rug choices I'm trying to gather which is most aesthetically pleasing along with the TECHNICAL impact of the choice. Here are some photos of the materials I'll be choosing from:

Here's the wall textile covering. It has some nice variety of brown tones that tie everything else in:

http://img261.imageshack.us/img261/2451/knollwalltextile2nn6.jpg

Here are the two color choices in one shag style: the Dark Chocolate on left, and the brown/gold shag on right:

http://img171.imageshack.us/img171/8274/darkshaggoldshagms7.jpg

The pluses on the dark shag are that, well, it's dark. It completely disappears, pitch black, when the lights are out and a movie is showing so it's great for killing light from the ground and allowing focus on the image. My one concern is if I'm willing to go quite that dark for the rug, given this is a living room. Still, for dark, it does look luscious, with a nice shimmer when the lights are on.

Pluses for the gold shag is that it adds a bit of light and warmth and life, and contrast, to the room. I really love the color. My only concern is that it's not very dark. More mid-toned, so light reflection is a concern and it doesn't disappear quite as much with the lights out. I'd use a big dark border on it, as indicated on the photos, which would have dark carpet about 2 1/2 out from the bottom of the screen. I don't know if that would be enough as far as killing light reflections and perhaps if I went with the lighter rug I'd have to throw some dark velvet or something on the ground for "serious" movie watching.

Lastly another type of shag, a big on the brown/purplish side (though not as purple as it appears here):

http://img241.imageshack.us/img241/641/purpleshagwf9.jpg

I'd go with black bears not grizzly bears.

Seriously though, I personally wouldn't sacrifice too much comfort just for the sake of image quality.

Next, some crude Google Sketchups of my room, with the wall texture, sofa textures and rug textures photographed and mapped on to the surfaces. (Amazing what you can do these days). The sofas are just models I grabbed elsewhere - we have a much nicer L-shaped, deep seated sectional being built for the room. But you get the general idea of how these things look together. Although colors in these sketches do not match as well as in real life. Here are my choices and I'm looking for input which to go with, both aesthetically and in terms of which will be ok in maximising the performance of the image quality. (The room will have full light control, no light leaks, during movies).

You can see various iterations of the room with the chocolate shag, gold shag and purple shag:

http://img166.imageshack.us/img166/4710/darkshagdarksofa1nn3.jpg

http://img259.imageshack.us/img259/3398/goldshagdarksofa1yx5.jpg

http://img138.imageshack.us/img138/5255/purpleshagdarksofa1fr2.jpg

Image with lighter sofa material:

http://img387.imageshack.us/img387/3813/goldshaglightsofa1oh9.jpg

More To Come

From an angle looking into the room:

http://img297.imageshack.us/img297/7673/darkshagdarksofa4hc3.jpg

http://img233.imageshack.us/img233/4559/goldshagdarksofa3vo3.jpg

http://img233.imageshack.us/img233/1812/purpleshagdarksofa3vx5.jpg

With the curtains closed, as I imagine will be the case whenever we don't have the projector on:

http://img391.imageshack.us/img391/4526/darkshagdarksofacurtainop6.jpg


http://img153.imageshack.us/img153/2996/goldshagdarksofacurtainol9.jpg

http://img501.imageshack.us/img501/7632/purpleshagdarksofacurtams8.jpg

This is a view from the screen wall, giving an idea of the rest of the room:

http://img139.imageshack.us/img139/524/roomviewfromscreenwallgkp8.jpg

LASTLY: A view of each with the room lights turned down and the curtains pulled along the side walls.
GOLD SHAG FIRST, DARK SHAG NEXT, PURPLE SHAG LAST:

http://img329.imageshack.us/img329/6631/goldshagdarksofalightsoph0.jpg

http://img383.imageshack.us/img383/5580/darkshagdarksofalightsohi9.jpg

http://img261.imageshack.us/img261/4281/purpleshagdarksofalightkd6.jpg

I think I prefer the dark shag, especially if you'll be using it directly in front of the screen as your mock-ups show. Using two shades for the floor seems to break up your room too much and the lighter colors compete with the wall.

If you go dark you may wish to look into getting one of those robot vacuums for 24/7 cleaning however.

edit: if you go lighter experiment with carpet orientation as this can affect it's reflective properties from any given vantage point.

Finished! Any comments on aesthetic preferences and/or thoughts on to what degree the lighter material choices will sacrifice image quality would be appreciated!

Have you cleared your plans with the animal rights groups yet? :)

Thanks Hughman. Yes I have experimented and the orientation of the pile certainly affects reflectivity and how light/dark it appears.

Knuck...it's a synthetic shag rug. In person they don't really look like a pelt, more like a comfy shag.

I hope to get more feedback...thanks.

Rich, Have you looked at the black diamond screen thread? You might be able to get away with having the room look normal and not compromising image quality if the screen lives up to its hype. It would probably be cheaper than a remodel as well.

Yes I'm keeping an eye on the Black Diamond thread. I'm certainly intrigued but also wary on 2 counts: 1. I have yet to see a screen that is "high contrast" or that focuses light away from walls that didn't have issues with either screen structure, viewing angle, hot spotting etc. And I'm quite sensitive to that stuff. 2. Given that, I'm a bit wary of ending up with a room that forces me into a very small selection of specialized screens.

But I am still eager to read user reports on the Black Diamond Screen.

Your biggest issues are not wall coverings or carpets.

I would worry about those windows and the open area leading into the other room that is right next to your screen. Both of these areas are places that unwanted light can come in to affect picture quality.

Personally, I would be less concerned with the darkenss of wall coverings and carpets, with exception of the area around your screen (from which you should make sure no projected light is bounced back onto the screen).

I see your room as a cozy living room theater. It will be nice and you will enjoy it. Good luck.

Thanks Lawguy.

With floor length curtains pulled across the doorway and black-out blinds on the windows I will have complete light control - no light leak into the room.

As far as just making sure about light not bouncing "around the area of my screen" that's one thing I'm trying to get a handle on: How far out I need to keep the area around my screen dark (for instance how far from the screen wall dark carpet needs to come out - the border indicated in the "light" rug shots stretches about 2 1/2 feet from the screen...not sure that's enough).

I love good black levels and of course I want my ANSI contrast maximized (but don't want something like a Firehawk screen as I see the screen texture). I keep reading things like "even wearing a white shirt will degrade contrast" and then I look at all that light carpet (if I use it). Or people keep talking about the dramatic effects on image quality they get when they tried surrounding their screen several feet out ceiling/walls/floor with black velvet/dark carpets. I'm trying to have a cozy room, but I
also worry about making the wrong choice that compromises image quality.

Bump. Looking for more opinions :) thanks.

I'd probably go darker on the Knoll wall coverings. There is a fair amount of white in that pattern. I'm currently redoing my loft apartment and am doing all the walls a dark grey.

Rich: Not sure what screen you are planning, but the long narrow structure of your room (similar to mine) makes it ideal for the Dalite HP screen (provided your pj is not mounted too high), and it has absolutely no screen structure or hotspotting. It doesn't look like any viewers will be outside the screen edges.

Thanks guys.

Steve, the Knoll covering is actually darker in most instances than it appears in the photo which is why we are going with it. It seems fine and not very reflective in some tests I've done. Given I'm going quite dark everywhere else and this is still a living room, I think I need at least one area of decor which isn't really dark. This is one reason I am employing the dark velvet curtains that can be pulled 8 feet along the wall from the screen so there won't be any wall reflections near the screen anyway.

millerwill (Bill, is it?),

Yes I actually realised that my set up would be a prime candidate for the HP screen. The projector will come out of a cabinet with a "TV lift" that raises it just above seated head height for viewing movies. Then it disappears down behind the viewing sofa out of view when not being used, for a nice equipment-free look.

So obviously I could use an HP. The main thing against the HP for me is that I don't think I need a screen that bright in the first place. Also, I am fussy about black levels
and so I don't see a reason to risk raising them too much with a very high gain screen.
Lastly I'm very fussy about light drop off with viewing angles. Comes from living with a plasma for the last 6 years I guess. At this point I plan going with a Carada screen (probably Brilliant White 1.4 gain from my calculations on screen size), which have a rep for zero visible screen artifacts and a very wide "plasma-like" viewing angle, as far as screens go.

I like the dark carpeting. Flows with the other colors in my opinion.

Richard

millerwill (Bill, is it?),

Yes I actually realised that my set up would be a prime candidate for the HP screen. The projector will come out of a cabinet with a "TV lift" that raises it just above seated head height for viewing movies. Then it disappears down behind the viewing sofa out of view when not being used, for a nice equipment-free look.

So obviously I could use an HP. The main thing against the HP for me is that I don't think I need a screen that bright in the first place. Also, I am fussy about black levels
and so I don't see a reason to risk raising them too much with a very high gain screen.
Lastly I'm very fussy about light drop off with viewing angles. Comes from living with a plasma for the last 6 years I guess. At this point I plan going with a Carada screen (probably Brilliant White 1.4 gain from my calculations on screen size), which have a rep for zero visible screen artifacts and a very wide "plasma-like" viewing angle, as far as screens go.

As others have said, Rich, the room does look super--congrats! With the dark sides of your room, the wide light dispersion of the Carada should not be a problem, and it does give you a wider viewing angle; so it should certainly work well.

Re brightness, which pj are you getting? I believe it's the RS2, with ~500 lumens in low lamp. I'm sure you've calculated the ftL you'll be getting with your screen size, but you may want to plan on 30 - 35 ftL with a new lamp, so that you'll still have ~ 20 when it ages. Unless your screen is rather small, I doubt that the HP would be too bright. E.g., my 126" diag HP would give ~ 30 ftL with a RS2 and a new lamp, and thus ~ 15 to 20 after it's aged. With the CR of a RS2, I don't think you would need to worry about black levels. My RS1 still wows me; I can't imagine what an RS2 would look like! Bill

I would go for the darker carpet too. The gold looks interesting, but I think the brown would look better considering the renderings that you put up.

Much obliged folks. I certainly appreciate the input regarding the aesthetics for sure.
That's a big part of my decision.

I was hoping for a little more comment on the technical side as well: I'm likely to go with the dark shag throughout anyway. But I'd be curious as to how much, or how little, the lighter gold rug would compromise the image quality due to reflectivity. I don't know if the proposed black rug border about 2.5 feet from the bottom of the screen would be enough to mitigate reflections from a lighter rug choice.