My Glidden Diamond 450 Titanium White Screen

Well, summer finally ended and I found the time to re-paint my screen. I'm also remodeling our basement/entertainment room/Home theater. This thread will chronicle that effort and hopefully provide a bit of new information. A couple of disclaimers first. When i compare this screen to my prior efforts, I am comparing it to just that, MY prior efforts. I am not making blanket statements about one formula or another.

I started investigating white screens because I just wasn't getting the brightness I needed out of gray screens. Realistically, I should have gone with a smaller screen, more suited to the output of my projector. Oh well! Also, bear in mind that my room is semi-treated--remodeling will bring it back to fully treated--with zero ambient light during movie watching. White would not work near as well in an un-treated room with ambient light.

My first effort began with trying to develop my own screen paint formula. A more difficult task than I had imagined. I came up with something rather complex, and had some promising results. The promising results were tempered with a few problems though. To gauge my success, I researched what might be the best OTS white paint I could find. I came across the Glidden Diamond 450 Titanium White which I learned was in fact the exact same paint as the Dulux Light and Space Titanium White that is so well thought of in Europe. The Glidden was so close to my own paint formula in brightness--and devoid of negatives as well--that I realized it was pointless to pursue my own formula. Plus it is OTS and rolls or sprays like a dream!

If you're going to go with a white screen--as opposed to gray--you are after brightness first and foremost. So, if one white paint is brighter than another white paint, is at least as neutral and does not hot spot, it is a better paint. (Assuming equal ease of use.) Lots of people use the Sherwin-Williams ProClassic Smooth Enamel Satin Extra White because of an article online at Projector Central. So, obviously, it made sense to test that paint as well. Using an i1 Pro and both BabelClor and HCFR software, I analyzed both I analyzed a few other screens as well--including the commercial screen : Carrada Brilliant White 1.4 Gain and Behr 1850 UPW. Here are the results of the analysis of those four screens. (I understand that Behr has changed their formula, so that result is really invalidated.

The first number is cd/m2 with the sensor adjusted for maximum reading. The second number is cd/m2 with the meter lowered about 25 - 30 degrees. the third fourth and fifth numbers are the RGB values. The last number is deltaE from perfect neutral. A deltaE of less than 1.0 is considered perfect. Less than 3.0 is considered to be so close as to be indistinguishable from neutral by the human eye, at least according to what I've read.


Glidden Diamond 450 Titanium White:
36.35 31.6 245,246,243 1.43

Sherwin-Williams ProClassic Smooth Enamel Satin Extra White:
31.25 29.5 240,241,236 2.58

Carrada Brilliant White 1.4 Gain:
36.1 30.8 242,242,236 3.22

Behr 1850 UPW:
35.3 32.05 249,249,246 1.95

One note: This really opened my eyes. Comparing the Behr and the Glidden visually, I would have said the Behr is slightly brighter. The slight color variance can fool the eye; it really truly takes instrumentation to tell the tale.

Visually, I can detect absolutely no hotspotting with the Glidden, Behr, or SW. The Carrada sample is too small for me to really tell.
Personally, I think the Glidden and the Behr are both better choices than the Carrada BW sample I have. Similar gain characteristics and more color neutral. I'd give a slight nod to the Glidden over the Behr, and I'd rate the Sherwin Williams a distant number four. Distant at least when you consider how close the top three are.

So, here are my ratings:
#1 Gliddon Diamond 450, Titanium White, Velvet Matte
#2 Behr UPW 1850, Interior Flat Enamel
#3 Carrada Brilliant White 1.4 Gain Manufactured screen.
#4 Sherwin-Williams ProClassic Smooth Enamel Satin Extra White


BTW: I did do reflectance curves of all the white paints, they are all equally good with the Behr being the brightest white, N9.78. I was just too lazy to save the graphs.

So because of this analysis I decided to paint my screen white with the Glidden. I also encouraged it's use over the SW. I was called on that--rightfully--because I had never actually seen a full screen done with the Glidden. Now I have. So how does my subjective analysis compare to my instrumented analysis? Well, I can best sum up my impressions thusly: WOW!

The straight on shot of the screen was done with a flash to demonstrate the lack of hotspotting. The screenies are of an 8700UB hitting the 138" screen with a measured 440 lumens. I'm hitting it with 1200 lumens now and it's even more WOW.









The Screen is amazing: we watched Avatar again with my new "Light Power Edition" 5020 and this screen. Wow, wow, wow. Not a hint of grain, shimmer, or hotspotting. Just a crystal clear image. My wife--who is not sensitive to such things and swore she'd never notice a difference--was stunned by the picture. She absolutely raved about it. Of course, she was seeing the combined effect of the new PJ and the new screen. The overall improvement--considering both the upgraded PJ and screen-- feels like as much as when we went from SD to HD. Seriously, it's that good.

After getting a 5020, I was thinking I would paint the screen gray because I'm getting 1200 lumens in ECO mode, but I'm absolutely stunned by the picture. Over 20 ftl... Brilliant whites and gorgeous deep blacks. Best picture I've seen yet on a screen. I think I'll be leaving it white!

It's around $50 a gallon as I remember, I got it almost a year ago. I had to have it shipped to me as there aren't any Glidden Professional stores around where I live. (The only place you can get the Diamond 450.)

I do, I don't and I will...

Absolutely, room treatment is critical with the white paint. Before we started the remodel, my room was completely treated, but "cheap" looking. Right now, the room is semi-treated. There's a light colored carpet in ront of the screen --the dark carpet was given away "because we're going to replace it anyway." (OK, If I'd been home I would have told the family member they could have the carpet in a few months...) I need to throw something dark on the floor in front of the screen till the new carpet goes in. After the remodel the room will be completely treated again, but hopefully "classy" looking. We've watched some sports during the day with light in the room, and that look good too. However, you gotta remember that low black levels don't matter in sports. All that really matters is bright colors and hitting the screen with over 1700 lumens goes a long way towards bright colors. I could only manage 1200 with the 8700, the extra 500 with the 5020 makes a big difference with that white screen. Plus I have a few hundred more lumens on tap If I remove the LPE filter for football parties.

The 5020 and the LPE filter is a big part of the wow actor. (See my sig for a thread on the LPE filter.) Not only am I getting 1200 reasonably color accurate lumens in ECO, native contrast is up about 20%. I'm taking Epson's word on the contrast improvement, but subjective viewing seems to confirm their claims.

However, even while the 8700 was still in place I was still VERY impressed with the screen. The 8700 had always been marginal as far as output in THX mode with my screen, given it's size. The picture was just too dim. I was getting a measured 8fL off the screen. After going white, fL jumped to 10 and the picture had a much brighter feel to it. Before, sunlit scenes just seemed to drab. After, sunlit scenes looked sunlit again. With the white, colors seemed brighter and clearer. My prior screen efforts had also been plagued by grain, shimmer and other problems. With the Glidden, I get none of that. Now, to be fair, my prior efforts were also plagued by application errors.

I will say that I think white screens are for those who are willing to go full dark treatment in their theater rooms. Dark walls, ceiling, floor and furniture. If you're willing to do that, I think white is worth a look. If you're not, and most aren't, you need to go gray. Just my opinion any way.

That's a whole 'nother discussion... I meant to talk about that later. I sprayed. I sprayed very fine coats with a 1.0mm tip with the Graco sprayer. I didn't spray wide open, I limited the amount of material. What I got was a very fine sandpapery like finish, like it was 1200 or 1600 grit sandpaper. This actually limited the brightness compared to my rolled samples. It measures a good 10% dimmer than a rolled sample in fact. Now, had I sprayed normal coats I'm sure the texture would be as smooth or smoother than rolling.

If I was still "lumen Challenged", I'd repaint. But I now have an excess of output available. I'm so thrilled with the picture that I wouldn't dare paint over it, at least in the foreseeable future. It does beg the question though; does that slight texture do more than dim the picture 10%? It certainly doesn't hurt the picture--other than being a bit less bright. But does that slight texture help this screen be as tack sharp and clear as it is? I really don't know...

@Tank01: Thanks! That's actually in the plans. I have magnets attached to the rear of the sintra to hold such a masking system in place. After I finish the remodel I'll work on the masking.