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Behr "Silverscreen" Paint

505K views 2K replies 359 participants last post by  Subw00er 
#1 ·
On a lark, I was leafing through the Behr swatches at my local Home Depot, and found the "Silver Screen" paint. Light grey, seemed similar to the "Misty Evening". So, I rolled two coats on a piece of white GatorFoam, and voila, a cheap two coat solution.


In my opinion, this gives definite contrast enhancement and deeper blacks than plain blackout cloth or the white GatorFoam surface. If you are looking for a quick down-and-dirty screen for your LCD projector, this took approx 3 hours total, most of that time was waiting for the coats to dry.


--------------------------

The Surface Material:

GatorFoam Board (a foam core artist material used for poster mounting)

--------------------------

The Paint:

Behr "Silver Screen" (770E-2) mix using Ultra Pure White (UPW) flat latex


Generic Formula of Behr SS:

1 gallon flat white latex base

20/48ths of Lamp Black

20/48ths of Raw Umber (a dark, murky yellow/orange-based pigment)

2/48ths of Red


NOTE: Wait for it to cure enough (about 2 weeks) before judging it. If you do it while it's still wet, you may see hot-spotting. It's like brewing a good lager beer, let it mellow a while, then decide.

--------------------------

The Materials:

Foam Roller

Extension Pole

Paint mixing attachment for a hand power drill

--------------------------

Projector Results using Pure Behr SS paint, on varying surfaces

(gleaned from comments on this thread)

(1) Great, Love it

(2) Satisfied, OK

(3) Not fully satisfied, but sticking with it while I look for something better

(4) I'm trying something else now



Benq 6200 (1)(1)(2)

BenQ PE7700 (1)

BenQ 8700 (4)

Dell 2200mp (1)

Epson Home20 (1)

Epson PowerLite Home 10+ (4)

Epson S1+ (2)

Hitachi CP-X300 (1)

Infocus X1 (1)(1)(1)(2)(3)(4)

Infocus 4805 (1)(1)(1)(1)(1)(2)(3)

Mitsubishi HC2 (?)

NEC HT-1000 (2)

NEC MT1065 (3)

Optoma EP727 1080i DLP Projector (1)

Optoma H27 (1)

Optima H30 (1)

Optoma HD70 (1)

Panasonic PT-AE700U (1)(1)(1)(1)

Panasonic PT-L200u (4)

Panasonic PT-L300 (3)

Panasonic PT-L500U (1)(2)

Panasonic PT-L900 (1)(1)(1)

Sharp DT-400 (2)

Sharp PG A10x (3)

Sanyo Z1 (1)

Sanyo Z2 (1)(1)(1)(3)

Sanyo Z3 (1)(1)

Sanyo Z4 (1)

Sharp XR-1S (1)

Sharp XR-10X (1)

Sony HS-51 (1)(4)

Viewsonic PJ 551 (3)


--------------------------

My Theater:

Screen: 80"x45" Behr Silverscreen painted over GatorFoam (Ser # 0001)

Primary Viewing Distance: 11'

Projector: Panasonic PT-L500U LCD (via 7.5m DVI cable)


Home Theater PC (HTPC):

- AMD Athlon 2600 (overclocked)

- Asus A7N8x Deluxe Motherboard

- 1GB Corsair PC3200 RAM

- ATI AIW 9000pro (DVI)

- myHTPC Software (v24)

- TheaterTek Movie Player Software

- Two 120GB SATA Drives (internal - setup in a Raid 0 Array)

- Six 160GB SATA Drives (external - USB)


Receiver: Panasonic SA-XR25 5.1 (via SPDIF)

Speakers: Cambridge Soundworks MovieWorks 108 Speaker System


HDTV: Projected via component video cables from a Verizon FiOS Digital HDTV settop box
 
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#1,227 ·
Thanks much. I havemy list, and I am off to the HD here shortly. I will take pics along the way, and definatley post back my progress and results.


Thanks again, for the advice, and for all the info on t
 
#1,228 ·
Bcortez,


maybe you could edit the first post, for noob's like me. Adding the base paint numbers and differances 1050 vs 1850.


I saw a pic of the paint can somewhere, got to HD called wife and had her browse looking for the base number, could not find it. She finally found 1050, so i got that, then i got home and found the 1050 1850 shoot out, and wish i had of tried 1850 because my viewing angle is small, my room is long and kinda narrow, so no one will be outside of 45.


have not painted yet, have it primed with kilz2, waiting for it to dry now.
 
#1,230 ·
The Behr 1850 base has more sheen,(...the 1050 is Flat) and subsequently less of a viewing cone. timothy.c.porter was / is aware of such and was noting that in his instance, the loss of any "Side Viewing" capability isn't a concern. jsegura3, the latter statement parallels your own determination as well.


In the case of SS, anything that directs more light forward to the seating position instead of refracting received light to the sides means that the image will appear brighter. (...or as bright as it can be....)


Plenty of effort has gone out on trying to enhance SS with Top Coats (...much to Bcortez's dismay...) and virtually nothing worked to do anything except lessen the overall quality of the image or reduce it's extremely wide and acceptable performance value per dollar spent.


However, using a more reflective Base is an viable option, for it provides the SS tint with a better medium in which to reside and work within. For this most part, a base change won't irk the thread's OP as long as it's still a simple Behr product. But Top Coats, or the addition of separate reflective elements is not what the OP is trying to advance wit SS. As such, and although some such alterations can make improvements, any overt deviations should be represented in a separate Thread where they can be examined and hopefully exploited.


Butcha know....if one starts tinkering with adding more elements, and using different MFG paints for Bases, then it just ain't good 'ol Behr SilverScreen anymore. And when that happens, you've essentially graduated into the more advanced (...and expensive...) DIY applications anyway.


I'd suggest that anyone who needs to get in contact with Bcortez do so via PM. But be advised...Fall is "Brewing Season" for De' Man.


Why am I responding in depth to SS questions, and even defending such a simple DIY solution? Well, bluntly put, Bcortez once sent me some Home Brewed beer....and Brother Members....that counts for a lot in my book.
 
#1,232 ·
tiddlers post on the top of page 41.


I do not want to encourage any changing of the SS , it is simple easy and cheap, I got everything and i mean everything at home depot for 50 bucks, and you could have it done in 2 days work. And you can watch when you are waiting for it to dry.


I only requested the clarification, because Bcortez did not specify which base to use by number, and when i walked into HD i found 2 lats, and , not knowing much about paint i did not know the differance, or which one to use.


I am very detail oriented, and I bought exactly what was recommended, down to rollers and sanders.


I think 1850 would give me a lsightly brighter screen since i view pretty much straight on.


1850 is the flat latex enamel and 1050 is flat latex. They were side by side and both marked as interior flat, jsut 1850 is enamel and i think it said low luster sheen.


So far it looks good. I have anouther coat or two to paint. I added a little to much on the last coat, so may need to sand and paint again. I am giving it 4 hours to dry good to decide, wet it looked a little thick.


Word of caution to noob' s take it slow, and use little apint, do not try and paint in one or two coats, but several light coats. If not ou are going to have to sand.
 
#1,233 ·
My guess is you will not notice a difference once you use either. If you do, then what are you out, about $20.00?


sorry to be nudge here, but how much clearer can this description be (originally on the front page before you asked for clarification)?


The Paint:

Behr "Silver Screen" (770E-2) mix using Ultra Pure White (UPW) flat latex


Generic Formula of Behr SS:

1 gallon flat white latex base

20/48ths of Lamp Black

20/48ths of Raw Umber (a dark, murky yellow/orange-based pigment)

2/48ths of Red
 
#1,234 ·
I just did the Silver Screen paint on my BOC screen and i really love the results. The picture is great and the blacks are great and i notice more details in the darker parts of the image. I thought the plain white Black Out Cloth was great but i did notice that the blacks was washed out and was more grey than black so i just got some SS and used the Wagner sprayer. I gave it like 8 or 9 coats and it has been dying for around a week. It really is a great Cheap improvement over just a plain white BOC screen. I also just made a black border out of some black suede, the fabric store did not have any black velvet so i went with the black suede. It really looks great. Thanks to everyone on this thread for all the great info.
 
#1,235 ·

Quote:
Originally Posted by buster7467 /forum/post/14837902


I just did the Silver Screen paint on my BOC screen and i really love the results. The picture is great and the blacks are great and i notice more details in the darker parts of the image. I thought the plain white Black Out Cloth was great but i did notice that the blacks was washed out and was more grey than black so i just got some SS and used the Wagner sprayer. I gave it like 8 or 9 coats and it has been dying for around a week. It really is a great Cheap improvement over just a plain white BOC screen. I also just made a black border out of some black suede, the fabric store did not have any black velvet so i went with the black suede. It really looks great. Thanks to everyone on this thread for all the great info.

Which base did you use, the #1050, #1850, or maybe the #4850?


Did you do a contrast & brightness calibration? If you don't have a utility for that then look for the THX Optimizer. It is on the Terminator II, Nemo, and Cars DVDs. It is probably on many others but those I am sure about. I could not believe the difference the calibration made the first time I recalibrated for a gray screen.
 
#1,236 ·
After having picked out and installed a Hitachi CX-250 for a buddy a couple of yrs ago, he recently asked me to pick out a new one. The original screen was just some $30 folded up piece of "screen material" bought off of Ebay wrapped onto some 1x4" framing. At 11' his current screen sise at full zoom and 16:9 HD is roughly 96"


Based on his insistence that he order from PC-Mall since he has a line of credit there and his budget, I ended up having him get a Sharp PG-F320W, mostly beacuse it had a DVI input and a native widescreen resolution and was well within his budget.


At first I told him to just get a widescreen 120" elitescreen, but after reading arund, mostly on this forum, I have decided to go all out and accept the DIY challenge. Here's my plan.


Given the specs from Sharp, the new pj shouldn't have to be moved. At full zoom it should be right at the same size from the current 11' cieling mounted position, roughly 96". Given that, I should be able to get a 49x97 board from Lowe's cut to a size that will fit that almost perfectly with just a single cut, and still have some wiggle room for a little bit of trim.


For my paint mix, here's what I came up with to try. I got most of the products from here, although I couldn't find the Opal White pearlescense paint anywhere locally.


3/4 liter Behr SilverScreen interior flat acrylic latex.

1/4 liter Behr ultra pure white #1050

75ml (2.5oz) Liquitex silver matt acrylic

4oz DecoArt Pearlizing Acrylic medium


For the surface, I found the whiteboard here in FL at Lowe's. The local HD doesn't sell the Parkland stuff, but I think what I found is similar. It's very flat, about 1/4in thick and waterproof, warp-proof, etc. I'm really only concerned that it might be too plat and I'll regret not priming it. Unfortunately I don't have the time to prime it. My buddy is having a big party for a football game tomorrow night and I need it to at least be dry enough to mount by then. We'll worry about curing later and maybe reapplying with primer and/or a different formula another time.


So, does anyone have any opinions or ideas or other comments??? I should have probably posted this a few days ago to get some more feedback. As it stands, I'm off to verify the measurements of his PJ so I can accurately have the board cut right after I get off of work in about 2 hours.


I'll take some before/after pics.


I'm really counting on the picture looking a LOT better than what he has now. I mean, 100" of HD is nice, but the washout when any ambient light comes in is pretty rough. That's the biggest objective...make it so that you don't have to close all the curtains during the day to watch TV.
 
#1,237 ·
penleydr,


The recipe above is not true Silver Screen, as so being not so, we gotta take the discussion of same, and my advice as well, off the Thread.


You have a PM waiting.


Afterwards, start a new thread about what your attempting. Many will have an interest, believe me,
 
#1,238 ·

Quote:
Originally Posted by tiddler /forum/post/14839176


Which base did you use, the #1050, #1850, or maybe the #4850?


Did you do a contrast & brightness calibration? If you don't have a utility for that then look for the THX Optimizer. It is on the Terminator II, Nemo, and Cars DVDs. It is probably on many others but those I am sure about. I could not believe the difference the calibration made the first time I recalibrated for a gray screen.

I don't have any place in town that sales Behr paint so i had to go to Lowe's and have them mix up some Val spar. They looked up the Behr paint code for the Silver Screen and i just bought a quart of that for like 9$. I sprayed it on the back side of the BOC, the rubber coated side. I got my ceiling mount for my projector a few days ago and i got my projector finally mounted in it's permanent location. My screen is roughly 80in diagonal. And is a 4:3 aspect ratio. It is the biggest i can use at my throw limit. I can only have the screen at a distance of 11ft. The room i am using is only 12X12. So the size of the screen is just about the perfect size for the space. I messed up when i got into a rush and made my screen. I messed up on the measurements and now i need to make a top and bottom black trim pieces because the projected image fills the screen from left to right but it is about 6in short from top to bottom. So i need to cover two 3in wide pieces of wood to put at the top and bottom.


I also have 3 screen samples that i got from a company. I have 1 light grey, 1 dark grey, and 1 white. The light grey is almost a perfect match to the SS paint color. Also i hope to be able to make it to a HD soon and get a quart of the Behr Silver Screen paint. I will spray it on this screen when i get time. But the Valspar does look good. But i have nothing to compare it to other than the plain white BOC that i had before and the 3 samples that i have. But i do like the picture better with the grey screen than the white BOC. Also i am using about the cheapest projector that i could find. It is the Nec NP100 model running from my computer. I run my Sat box, Xbox 360 and everything else off my computer. And i like it. I will eventually get a better projector in a couple years but for right now this is way better than the setup i had before this. Plus the price of new bulbs for this projector are only like 150$ compared to some of them that i looked at for around 250$ and up.


Here is a question for you guys. Just how high would you have your screen hung on the wall? My seating is around 10ft from the screen. The bottom of my screen is 30in from the floor.
 
#1,239 ·

Quote:
Originally Posted by buster7467 /forum/post/14855284


Here is a question for you guys. Just how high would you have your screen hung on the wall? My seating is around 10ft from the screen. The bottom of my screen is 30in from the floor.


Well, obviously you do not have 2 rows of seating, so 30" to 36" is just fine. 36" to 40" does let you look a bit more comfortably at the screen, because having the chin very slightly elevated is the most natural position for the head.


It also helps keep drool from running down onto your lap & your shoes when watching certain types of content.
 
#1,240 ·

Quote:
Originally Posted by MississippiMan /forum/post/14855353


Well, obviously you do not have 2 rows of seating, so 30" to 36" is just fine. 36" to 40" does let you look a bit more comfortably at the screen, because having the chin very slightly elevated is the most natural position for the head.


It also helps keep drool from running down onto your lap & your shoes when watching certain types of content.

Thanks for the info and help. I will probably just keep it at around the 30in mark and just enjoy the setup for a while before i go changing anything. I really do love the look that the SS paint gives to the setup. I will probably never go back to a white screen again. Again thanks for the help.
 
#1,241 ·
Buster,


Your set up (PJ) and needs mirror exactly the sort of situation that is ideally suited for a simple solution like Silver Screen. You've got 2000 lumens, just 1600:1 on/off Contrast, and your screen is small enough that 800x600 resolution looks great. ( Hey.....I was there a while back with the X-1 and Z1, and I know how good they both looked to me, even though I was pushing the limits with 6' x 8' screens!
)



Silver Screen helps deepen blacks across the scale, but is still light enough a shade that it doesn't degrade whites as much as other Grays can. Yes, it does affect whites a bit....all Grays do, even the most advanced DIY "Grays". But in the search for a basic Neutral Gray, it comes as close as any simple tinted base can/does. That being so, it still provides a Gray's color enhancement that goes with deepening hues through attenuation (...that IS what is going on....) and that actually improves the image from a PJ that has sufficient luminosity, but low contrast. Sounds like a NEC NP100 to me!



And as long as you keep your screen size down to 80" diagonal,* packin' in 800x600 worth of pixels into that small an area WILL look spectacular if you keep your program material as pristine as possible. And with the PJ's lamp set to Econo you'll enjoy even Blacker blacks. You've got excess lumens actually so not using them can actually improve your watching really dark program material.
* (...some might say thats a teeny weenie @ 48" x 64"....but think instead of it being 70% larger than a 65" Plasma...
I / We ALL should have been so lucky as to get to watch Cartoons on a 4' x 5.3' screen.
)



IMO, and I'm sure you'll agree, your where you want to be without undue expense, and thereby set to improve your situation later without losing any real amount of vested cash.


Happy, with no where to go but to an even happier place.


..........I think I'm getting all stingy.
 
#1,243 ·
Hi there, New to the forum. I have a new Sharp XGA projector that I use occasionally in my work, but interested in using it at home as well. I would like to use the Silver Screen paint on a movable screen in 72" size. What type of substrate would some of you suggest? I saw some really white and smooth paneling in Home Depot today when I picked up the paint cards. Is there anything else readily available to paint on that is not too heavy to move around? I plan to make a frame for whatever I use as a screen. Thanks for your advice.
 
#1,244 ·
Hello & welcome 257Roberts,


That was most likely Thrifty White Hardboard you ran across, and for the size screen your considering, there is really no other more desirable material, nor any as inexpensive as the TWH. If you so noted, it's priced at only an average of $11.00 for a 4' x 8' sheet. They'll cut it to your dimensions there if you ask, but don't do that until you decide how it will be mounted / Trimned. That all is yet to come.


It's glossy white surface is ideal to use as a underlying substrate to a Gray paint such as Silver Screen. The "next best" surfaces are either White Plastic Sheets or Counter Top Laminates, and both cost on upwards of 4x-8x as much. Not what you really wanted to/intended to spend if Silver Screen and it's affordability were behind your choice.


But how do you want to apply the SS, and then how you DO apply it will spell the biggest difference. Home Depot, or Online merchants sell a extremely inexpensive "Electric" HVLP Spray Gun called the Wagner Control Spray ($49-69.00) and with it you can....with a little practice....paint a virtually perfect surface that will essentially disappear once you hit it with a projected image.


You have a VGA PJ as of now....but the Future bodes a certainty you'll eventually upgrade, and if the screen you make is done correctly, it'll service any upgrade you choose quite well. Silver Screen was a bit dark for many earlier Digital PJs (both LCDs and DLPs) but has always found favor with owners of Presentation PJs that have higher Lumen output. You don't mention your Mfg/Model, but I do think your on the right track, and you can get further down that route faster and with less expense by choosing the Thrifty White Hardboard as a paint-able substrate.


(BTW...check the Top of the DIY Screens Thread list as of now, there is a Thread entitled "A Painted Thrifty White Hardboard Tutorial". Isn't that a coincidence? )
 
#1,245 ·
Hi Mississippi, I am your neighbor in L.A., Lower Alabama. I have a cup gun and compressor, but have never sprayed any latex with it, just furniture and a couple of cars with lacquer and enamels. Do you guess the spray is that much better than a roll job? My projector is a XR32X. 1024x728. It displays quite well in 720p. I had an old Epson S4 that was okay, this one is way nicer, brighter and has more resolution.
 
#1,246 ·
I used a Ingersoll Rand HVLP Gun w/32 Gal Compressor, Water/Rust Filter, Rubber Hoses to reduce condensation, for over 3 years until switching to the Wagner (...simply an easier "do" with that Gun...)


At the start of my DIY Screen making efforts, I spent just at/slightly over a year Rolling.....and hated every minute of it....but insisted it was the best route for DIY'ers because of the expense and trouble of HVLP/Compressor Rigs.


Then I saw personally one of my mixes done with a HVLP setup, and was so embarrassed over the difference (...and I was very good at rolling, mind you....) I switched immediately, throwing a lot of people on this Forum for a complete loop.


If you've used that gun with a 1.2 to 1.5 MM tip and sprayed thinned Lacquers and Paints, you'll ace out spraying a water based Latex. Just match up the needed viscosity by adding enough water and mixing it in completely, use the right Tip and Hose/Gun pressure settings, and get your distance and travel speed correct, and you can get the same smooth featureless deep finish using latex on a smooth surface.


Or mess up just as bad or worse.
But with water based paints your Gun will rinse off, and mistakes can be more easily corrected. But Hey! We are all here to help you avoid mistakes....so if you ask before you do, you'll get all the advice you could even need / want.....but cannot avoid.
 
#1,247 ·
Yea, my projector does a good job at the 720p too. Now i just got done switching satelite providers and after watching movies on my xbox 360 in HD, the picture on the satelite is not pleasant to watch anymore. I guess i will have to upgrade my package to HD service. I remember hearing people say that once you get to watch programs in HD you wont want to watch anything else. Well i am a believer in that now. LOL
 
#1,248 ·
Okay Mississippi, thanks for the tips. I guess I will try to spray the paint. I may need a HVLP gun, have been wanting one anyway. My cup gun is the siphon feed model you see everywhere. I have used a HVLP that was hooked to a turbine (sounded like a vacuum cleaner motor) and with enamel it left a factory finish. I didn't know that you could spray latex with those also. I'll post back with the results once I get the screen done. I may buy a screen later, but I want to see if we will use the projector at home enough to warrant spending three Benjamins on one.
 
#1,249 ·
I've been researching the painted wall option for my screen and can't decide which way to go...I am installing an Optoma HD70 on a high ceiling about 16-17 ft from wall. Screen = 120" diagonal. Should I go with 100% Behr UPW flat OR a Silverscreen/White Pearlscent mix (read 70/30 is a good mix)? Any other paint mix that may work better?


The HD70 is supposed to have great contrast, so my guess is that I need the best gain and color saturation. UPW is supposed to be better for this.


Any help would be great!
 
#1,250 ·
DVDGuy,


What with your 17' throw and 120" diagonal screen, I'd suggest something with more Gain. Any variant of SS that would suit your purpose would be too far removed from a stock SS to represent what is intended in this thread.


To further this discussion, Post a new Thread titled "Which paint for a 120" Screen & HD70?" ....and you'll be able to get a wealth of ideas and suggestions. And who knows....but that one of them might suit you to a "T".
 
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