DIY Suggestions for 150" 2.35:1, 120" 16:9, 60" CIH screen for multi-purpose room

I am looking for suggestions for a DIY screen for my multi-purpose bonus room. In our old house we had a Panasonic AE-900 and a do-able board 16:9 screen and loved it. We moved into a larger home, and have a bonus room that is odd shaped (see my plans below for dimensions) but approx 16'x22'. There will be ambient light coming into the room from windows on the side and doorways in the back. I could blackout the windows and doorways but probably won't. I have Paradigm tower speakers with a large center channel. I recently un-boxed my Panasonic PT-AE7000 and set have it stacked on boxes at a current throw distance of 19'8". Originally was planning on ceiling mounting the projector at ~16' but I could shelf mount it at ~19.5' due to the odd shape of my room, so I may do that. My walls are currently painted an off-white, or light tan color. I plan on painting the walls a dark maroon. Painting the ceiling is an option also. On one side wall I will have a flat screen TV that will be used by kids playing video games or watching TV when the projector is not in use, also used to show a second sports game or Red zone channel during NFL weekends. I plan on having some felt or something to drape over the TV to eliminate the glare while watching a movie on the screen.

I have some painters tape on the wall and have dialed in the projector at 60"CIH so it auto-zooms between 16:9 and 2.35:1. That is SOOOO COOOL! I am sitting at 14' and love the size of the screen, so does my wife. I was planning on using Wilsonart DW of FG with an 80/20 aluminum frame. Since this is a multi-purpose room and there will be kids in the room without me some times, I liked the durability. I got some samples and have been playing with content. It's hard to tell with an 8x10 swatch. The projector is currently set on Cinema2 in Eco mode. Honestly, not that impressed with DW or FG and I REALLY wanted to like it. DW looks a little too bright in white scenes to me and blacks are lacking. Contrast and color looks better on DW with complete light control, but get washed out with ambient light in the room. So FG looks better with ambient light. No surprise there. I was hoping to really like one or the other and place an order but now I am not sure. I watched my first complete movie last night and was thrilled with the picture even on the off-white wall and that got me thinking maybe I'll just paint the screen wall and frame it with a border and some magnetized masking panels for 16:9 and be done. Any thoughts or suggestions for a good DIY solution for my room? Thanks!



Edited by JimmyJoe - 2/2/13 at 10:12am

Thanks MM. I played around with the projector central calculator and realized that I only get 8 foot lamberts at 19'8" so I will go ahead and ceiling mount the projector around 16'7" since that will give me 12 foot lamberts.

In that example what substrate is used? Which would you recommend? I currently have a orange-peel texture on my wall. I can't tell that there is orange peel on the wall when I am watching something now. I have never used a paint sprayer before, but it actually kind of sounds like fun. So at this point I am thinking about one of these:

1. Paint the wall as-is on top of the orange peel and build a 3" frame (if not happy, sand smooth and re-paint)
2. Build a Wilsonart FG screen (if not happy, then paint)
3. Some other substrate???

I could sand the wall smooth before painting, but if I don't need to would prefer not to do the extra work.

Since I will have low to moderate ambient light looks like I should use either RS-MaxxMudd v.2.1 or Silver Fire v2.5 3.0. Do I have that right? Any reason to use one over the other? Do I have enough light output for those mixes?

Still reading through the whole Silver Fire v2 thread but got me thinking maybe I should reduce my screen size. I guess what I should have been asking is what is the optimal DIY screen SIZE and solution for my room to balance my projector and make sure I have enough light output to have an amazing picture with some ambient light? Should I make my screen smaller?

Why is RS-MaxxMudd LL a better choice than Silver Fire for me? Also, why the LL not the standard? Thanks!
Edited by JimmyJoe - 2/3/13 at 11:13pm

Thanks again for your help.

I played around with a changing CIH from 60" to 50" and really like the 60" better. I think I am going to stick with the larger screen, it just feels so much better to me. If I went smaller I would probably not be satisfied.

I went ahead and ordered the HVLP Paint Sprayer 2900 and a 1.5mm tip so I plan on spraying my screen. I'm good with it being a little harder to mix and cost a little more in supplies so would the SF v2.5 1.0 be best for me? Will SF v2.5 1.0 handle low-mid ambient light at least as good as RS-MaxxMudd LL?

I am going to go ahead and try to smooth out my wall for my screen. I'm handy but haven't worked with drywall mud before. I currently have a typical house wall, painted with orange peel texture. I could use some advice or step by step instructions on how to prep the wall for the screen. Should I just sand my current orange peel wall to get it smooth or do I need to do something else first?