confused about the Firehawk g3

i've been playing with 'grey screen' material as well recently, and though i haven't gotten samples of the firehawk, i did notice that NO grey screen material looked any good at all in white scenes next to a normal white screen. however, when i set up a full 'grey screen'(i used a blanket that was actually super dark) my eyes quickly adjusted and the whites looked acceptable again.

the thing with grey screens is that no matter what the gain is, there is no amount of light you can project on a grey surface to make it look white. just like there's no amount of blue light you could shine on a red surface to make it look blue. but our eyes do adjust, and when you don't have a true white source to compare to, we start to perceive the light grey as white.

i'm trying a cheap grey screen, ordered it a couple nights ago, and i'm hoping for the best. but honestly, even though i'm all about the blacks, i am a little concerned about the grey. it seems as though it's either not going to be dark enough to really improve my blacks much, or it'll be so dark that there's no way the whites will 'pop'.

fortunately i get to play trial and error with my parents theatre first, haha. and they are so far from picky they'll be happy with anything(including the bedsheet they've been using until the screen arrives).

if you have the option, i would strongly suggest viewing some FULL screens(even if it's not exactly the firehawk) in a store somewhere to get a better idea of how they look.

I've used a Firehawk G3 in my theater for the last 5 years. I think some have measured a real 1.15 gain. It's very hard to put screen samples over an existing screen without the existing screen biasing what you see. That blanket trick is a good one! Viewed on its own, whites and colors look great on a Firehawk G3 - especially with those great blacks that the screen helps maintain. Night and outer space scenes rock !

True. This really has to do with how the room affects your screen. Light walls, light carpet, glass, lights on, not having total light control = washed out blacks on your screen. The Firehawk G3 helps keep light reflected back on the screen from washing it out. But there is no free lunch.

not to mention very few projectors can actually project 0 light on the screen to represent black.

but i had the exact situation described above. when compared at the same time, grey screen made blacks look phenomenal and whites look unwatchable. when i removed the white screen comparison, my eyes adjusted and the pictured looked 'normal' with a slightly darker black level

And I am running into the same thing in reverse. When I put a sample of the StudioTek 130 G3 over my Firehawk, the whites and colors look great, but the blacks look " terrible ", at least in mixed scenes where there is some bright parts on the screen. And so, I am using a flashlight ( the flashlight test ), and using a heavy " wack a mole " hammer to eliminate reflections that send light back on the screen from my room ( like painting all the walls facing the screen a very dark grey, new black rugs in front of the screen etc. ).

It's working, and it's making the picture on the Firehawk look better too !! .

A dark rug can help. Try Wal Mart for a decent black one.

May I know where can I get good deals on Firehawk G3 screen?

Sure - shoot me an email ! We sell them right here at AVS !!