My First Venture into Building an AT Screen - Page 2

Silver over White has been shown to be the most effective combination.

...and yes, the TW9000 will do splendidly with the Silver Moleskin Spandex.

OK!

So is these the fabrics i need? I'm ordering from Spandexworld.com, and since i live in Sweden it would be kind of a hzzle if i ordered the wrong products
There were some different versions of white and silver but i guess these two are the right ones, or?

Silver: http://spandexworld.com/c3/catalog/product/6409
White: http://spandexworld.com/c3/catalog/product/977

Yes that is what you want to order

Another question! I'll have inwall speakers behind the screen, i'd like to get the screen as close to the wall as possible. Is it a problem to have the AT screen very close to the speakers?

Spandex and grill cloth (as far as passing sound goes) are the same. As long as it isn't touching the driver itself no problem.
Now if you are talking subwoofers you will want to give some space to prevent the air from flapping your AT video screen.

Just what i wanted to hear! Thank you!

But in post #14 you wrote:

"The reasons for White over Silver are:

Lower Lumen PJ
No need for REALLY SIGNIFICANT Contrast Enhancement
Ambient Light issues are very minor or non-existant.
Desire for brightest image (White reproduction) possible."

He seems to have a bat cave. Thx

But i guess that goes for, as stated by MM, lower lumen PJs. And the TW9000 (US: TW5010) is a high lumen PJ which needs the darker fabric (silver) to get the better contrast and better blacks

I am running 6010 with Silver over White and so far love it! I am running at ~135" diagonal.

Got pics of your screen build?

How many yards did you order?

2.35 or 1.78? What is the horizontal measurement?

What mode for 2D do you find has adequate light?
Is Theater in Eco sufficient for that size or do you have to hit it with more lumens.

I'm using the Silver over white combination at a Width of 112" with an Acer 5360 and find the projector is just adequate when tweaked for almost maximum brightness.
This projector is known to be bright but I do have 3000 hrs on the bulb so probably taking quite a hit.

I love the richness of colors and the extra kick to contrast this combination gives, but when I tape a sample of Center Stage XD to it the difference in brightness is HUGE.

I am running 16:9.

I used 1x4 Poplar for the frame - the top and bottom are 10' wide and I think the height is about 68" (at work need to check when I get home)

I have an extra inch all around so that I can add a frame later.

As for brightness - I am using THX mode for both 2D and 3D.

For football I run at a higher setting - Either Cinema or the other top setting in the list (can't remember what its called - I belive it is right above "Living Room") and it looks great with recessed lights on that are away from the screen.

Allows everyone to move around and hang out.

I have a sample of the Center Stage XD and the 4k but haven't compared them yet.

I ordered 3 yards of the White and 3 Yards of the Silver and that fit just fine stretched over the screen. No problems getting it stretched to fit properly.

I have two center braces that I offset with washers between the brackets and the header and the footer boards so that they don't touch the spandex and create any bulges.

I will add pictures soon.

Jimmy, thanks for the response. Is your projector in Eco mode?
Let us know your thoughts when you get a chance to compare those screen samples. The 4K is supposed to suck light so might not be much different than silver spandex. XD is bright but has quite a texture in comparison. Regardless, even XD is close to 3X the price of spandex and I would hate to even guess what a prefab screen with 4K on it would run.
Smart move offsetting the center braces. Your screen sounds very similar to mine just a little bigger. I opted for a constant area approach so it is part way between 1.78 & 2.35. I say good for both, some might counter with not great for either.

(We have kind of commandeered Youthman's thread. He hasn't posted for a month. )


Edited by DavidK442 - 9/28/12 at 5:23pm

I thought the XD material is $22 per sf?

I didn't get a chance to take screenshots last night - big thunderstorm rolled through so I had the projector unplugged.

Here are a couple of pictures of the frame being built and the first layer of the white spandex.

I believe I am in ECO mode but I also only have about 15 hours on the bulb.

Do you use any tools to help get your corners perfectly squared on the frame?

Nice build.

My wife helped by holding the corners square using the framing square you see in the pictures.

While she held the pieces in place, I marked the holes for the brackets and then drilled pilot holes for the screws.

She then held the corners in place with the framing square on the inside corner and I put in the screws for the brackets.

I also bought brackets for the inside corners but turns out I didn't need to use them.

At first I put the cross beams in place but they were poking out which would have been seen pushing on the spandex so I took the top of the "T" brackets off and put washers between the top holes on the "T" brackets and the top and bottom braces and put the screws back in. This offset the cross brackets enough that they don't touch the spandex.
Edited by jimmyk36 - 9/28/12 at 9:10am

Thanks, the offset on the support bar is a nice touch.

Wondering if I need to buy corner clamps to hold the pieces together tight while i screw on the corner brackets.

The best way to guarentee that your screen is square is to measure diagonal corner to corner both directions as you screw the brackets down.
1/8 inch difference or less and you should be good.

Just checked the site. It is $22 per linear foot. A 10" wide screen = $242.

Spandex $12/yard X 3 yards X 2 layers = $72

Sorry, looks like I exagerated a wee bit on my last post. I will edit it.
10X for the 4K maybe?

OK - still very happy with the silver over white spandex. However, I built it with plans to put the speakers behind it. I currently have it hanging on the wall and I think I would like to keep it this way.

Now - since I have decided to keep it on the wall I was thinking of going with a non-AT screen. Primarily to get more brightness for 3D.

So my thoughts are:

1 - go commercial - IE - Elite Sable Cinewhite 135" for about $387

2 - purchase Elite Cinewhite screen material and somehow overlay my DIY screen - just got done chatting with Elite and the guy said it would be "cheaper than $80" for the Cinewhite at 135" diag 16:9 for the material - anyone have experience with this?

3 - just swap the silver and white spandex and go with White over Silver (or order another white spandex and staple it over the existing silver over white - easier than removing all the staples and I could fall back to silver over white if I am not happy with the white top layer)

Thoughts?

Again - I don't think I will be doing AT and would like to get the best picture with my Epson 6010 for a reasonable price.

I have no idea about the screen material you mentioned but I recently conducted a direct comarison between the Silver over White Spandex, White over White Spandex, Center Stage XD, & a neutral gain (1.0 I'm assuming) solid Vinyl from Draper. The list is in order of dimmest to brightest, with Silver Spandex WAY dimmer than the rest, White Spandex only slightly dimmer than the other two and Center Stage and the Vinyl being almost equally bright. Not surprisingly the black level is inverse. One thing I noted was that the Center Stage and the Vinyl gave a slightly sharper image. I think there is so much light leakage through the first layer of Spandex that the fine detail tends to blur, even unstretched. This is actually a benefit to my sad little 720p projector at my 50 degree viewing angle as it slightly masks the pixel structure. Not that it is a consideration for you but I do notice that my sample of Center Stage XD gives a very slight yellow tint when compared to both the vinyl and the spandex.
Edited by DavidK442 - 10/17/12 at 9:56pm

Anyone else have any comparisons such as these? How about compared to a painted screen directly on the wall?

You're welcome.

Sorry - typing on the iPad - thought I said thanks!

I do appreciate the info.

Really enjoyed reading this thread. Greatly helped me understand AT screen and build.