Official Mitsubishi hc4000 ONLY Thread - Page 79

If the room isn't 100% bat-cave, a Da-Lite high power screen will preserve ANSI contrast and give the impression of darker blacks, but it will be a bit too bright at first (not that bad), so you pair with an ND filter for a few hundred hours. Otherwise, DA-Lite also makes good regular white screens with little visible texture. My main issue with cheaper white screens (sub $150) is they show a texture to the image. If the room has way too much light carpet, or light furniture, or white walls, then a POSITIVE gain gray screen is the way to go. The HP Screen is kind of a middle ground for this type of room. A room with too much reflective light colors will need a positive gain gray screen.

For most almost bat-caves (which includes most rooms), I'd still do the Da-Lite High Power (if seating isn't too tight), and then buy ND filter, use it for 200 to 500 hours, take ND filter off. You get about 1.5 gain with HP screen when a projector is ceiling mounted, but it looks better unless you have all black furniture (I have brown furniture, black ceilings, and one white corner showing, and it still looks better than a regular screen). I've had 4 screens in 3 different rooms now. Retro-reflective does have disadvantages for large viewing parties (more than 2 people viewing at once), up to 4 people can view but some will get a dimmer image if sitting far right or far left of the center.

Depends on screen size, for anything over 100" with this projector, I'd personally probably do MILD positive gain (1.2 to 1.5), but that's just me. The less gain you do the quicker the lamp will need replaced, but I am a tad bit of a brightness freak.

Once the projector gets uncomfortably dim, you will be forced to put it in HIGH lamp sooner than if you had more gain. Hence, with a higher gain screen you can run the lamp in low for a longer period of time. Sure you could theoretically leave the lamp in low anyhow even when it was too dim, but I'm talking with decent brightness expectations.

Yah, if not using an ND filter at first, you may need to use a varied calibration and drop the brightness/contrast and gamma below optimal levels for the first couple hundred hours or a tad more. A darker gamma can also help to give a slightly dimmer image (but you'll be living with a non-optimal calibration). Keep in mind that ND filters are cheap and under $50. ND filters are not perfect solutions either, but you only need to use it temporarily when you are on a new lamp until it starts dropping.

Part of the screen decision depends on how heavy of a user you are (how many hours you will spend watching the projector). I mean if you are a 500+ hour per year user and want to conserve on lamp budgets, then it easily makes sense to suffer through a slightly too bright of an image the first couple hundred hours.

The first drop is usually noticed by eye in 100-200 hours for someone with a high perception (some never notice it), the second drop at 500+ hours, but it varies as NO lamp is the same. It is actually dropping at different rates, but your eye cannot see brightness perfectly linearly, and sometimes you just don't notice until you see ALL White or something else and think "wow not as bright as I remember".