Will be buying either a 58 or 63 inch Samsung Plasma, will also have a nice Ideal-Lume Panelight behind it.

Is there any type of guide, online program, anything that can give me a selection of colors that would work best together for a Home Teather type room to benefit from the color selection. We will be painting the ceiling, walls, and a installing a new carpet.

Any help would be appreciated.

http://www.cinemaquestinc.com/ive.htm

From the link above: http://cinemaquestinc.com/ideal_viewing.htm

A relatively neutral-gray set of colors works best, using matte surfaces rather than reflective or glossy ones. But consider what room treatments you might need and what colors they come in--that might be your best starting point for color selection.

Putting a dim light behind the plasma screen makes viewing easier on the eyes than complete darkness, IMO. Sounds like you've already thought of that!

If you don't have an artist's eye for color coordination, you could go to a paint store (e.g., Sherwin-Williams), where you'll find matched sets of variations on the same color. On the Sherwin-Williams websites and elsewhere, there are programs that show a room and let you choose colors for the various surfaces. But these aren't all that useful unless you have a properly calibrated monitor.

Thanks for the advice.

The Plasma will be under a drop ceiling where as the rest of the room isn't dropped, is ti important that the ceiling also be painted in the neutral grey family?

Thanks for the advice.

The Plasma will be under a drop ceiling where as the rest of the room isn't dropped, is ti important that the ceiling also be painted in the neutral grey family?

Your goal is to prevent reflections from the furnishings and surfaces from interfering with the TV set picture where you sit. And you also don't want to be looking at the TV and having distracting reflections on the ceiling from the TV picture. So the answer to your question depends on the height of the ceiling, how close it is to the TV, and how far away you're sitting from the TV screen.

Would a color similiar to Black be OK for the wall behind the Plasma?

The idea with the backlight is to provide a percentage of the light output that your display is outputting (10% ideally). If you go too dark with the color behind the TV, you may have to buy additional backlights to make up the difference. If you go lighter you obviously have more options without having to buy more lights.

The idea with the backlight is to provide a percentage of the light output that your display is outputting (10% ideally). If you go too dark with the color behind the TV, you may have to buy additional backlights to make up the difference. If you go lighter you obviously have more options without having to buy more lights.

Oh I had though that the darker the better, even had my wife convinced.

She'll be happy to go lighter.

I do have the Ideal Lume Panelights on order, comes with two lights, I had thought that would have been enough for a near black wall.

The wall the TV is facing, ceiling, sidewalls and flooring are what will be reflecting light that will have have a negative impact on that picture. The wall behind the TV can't shine directly on the screen, so it's less of an issue. The color of the wall behind the TV will make a big difference in your perception of the screen though. A nuetral color is the way to go, so you are thinking in the right direction.

Black wall behind a TV? Please check this quote from 'Color Appearance Models' by M. Fairchild: http://www.avsforum.com/avs-vb/showthread.php?p=13966345#post13966345

In other words, a lighter wall color behind the TV is preferred to a darker color, both with room lights on or with bias lighting in a darkened room. Save the darker colors for the room surfaces in front of the TV, to reduce screen reflections.

Best regards and beautiful pictures,
G. Alan Brown, President
CinemaQuest, Inc.

"Advancing the art and science of electronic imaging"