Does it really make a difference painting your movie living room dark or even black? - Page 3

I am using a combination of the velvet and flat black paint. My ventilation system covers the first 3' of width across my ceiling and comes right down to the screen frame, so I wanted to make sure to use velvet here to kill off reflections. The rest of my ceiling is about 1' above the screen which is just flat black paint right now. I wish I would have just done the whole ceiling in velvet right off the bat, but will do the remaining part (at least the first 5-6' of it out from the screen) at some point when I get a wild hair. I might even use Protostar here just for the convenience factor of the adhesive back vs having to stretch/tack the velvet which is a bit of a pain on the ceiling.

Is the Protostar adhesive good enough to stick to a drywall ceiling without fear of it coming off?

My ceiling is currently dark brown felt. Click the first link under my signature to see shots of the room with ceiling.

It's very dark, better than paint. The only thing is since I've got all other surface areas covered in black velvet now, it's perfect pitch black around the image everywhere except the ceiling which I can see as lighter in comparison. So, insane AVSer that I am, I'm putting another curtain rod (hidden) over my screen. A 64" (or so) tall velvet curtain will hang from that curtain rod, stacked to the right of the screen. When I've feeling like I want the best possible experience, I'll pull the curtain across the screen wall, and then raise the corners to hooks on the ceiling, so that Fidelio black velvet curtain will cover the whole front of the ceiling making it jet black entirely.

Another benefit to the darkness of the Fidelio velvet is that, having tested adding another layer of stacked side curtain to one side of the screen, I was afraid it might look unbalanced. However, the Fidelio is so dark that under all but the brightest lighting, you can't even make out any additional velvet stacked against the existing velvet. It's all one black hole.

the adhesive is very strong, there's no way this stuff is coming off a surface without destroying it. I made 1 mistake on 1 grid section (out of 200) and it took me an hours to scrap it all off. going forward, I had to be meticulous with the placement before pressing it down on the surface.

Fidelio velvet is what I used. I couldn't remember the name of it until your post Rich. I think it cost me around $1,500 to cover my little 11x13 screening room some years ago. I use it for all of my homemade masking panels and to cover my LCR's and two tall SVS subs.

Tom

Thanks for the heads up! I will be sure to spend some extra time to get it right if I end up using Protostar.

A bit off topic, but you guys should check out Wreck it Ralph if you have not done so yet. This is the latest animated jaw dropper and really shows off our displays. I watched the 2d last night, but am curious to check out the 3d next watch. Solid audio as well.

I have my room painted flat black and a dark grey yet still have some reflections from the ceiling. It does also make me realize how much light reflects from everything else and that my projector does not have very good black levels. I would be concerned about velvet being flammable if I had a room covered in it.

I find it depressing to stay in a blacked out room for more than 1 movie. We are buying a large plasma to hang behind the screen. I know that a dark room can make it more immersive but most of the time I would rather have the lights on. I may end up using the plasma more than the projector.

I used a deep dark blue/purple on my ceiling. The color guy found a "light absorption index" and used that to select paints. But my ceiling is also a 6/12 pitch that slopes up from the screen and that helps a tremendous amount in taming ceiling reflections back to the screen. It peaks at 17' roughly over the second row's foot area. I have 4 sets of cable lights with 5 down firing lights on each run, so 20 down-firing lights in a 4 x 5 grid at about 9 feet. The area above them is a black void when they're on and continues to be a black void when they're off and the movie is playing.

As much as I love my blacked out room and would not want it any other way all things considered, I know exactly what you mean. There are definitely times when I dont want to hang out in "the dungeon", especially if it is a more social occasion. I love my HT, but it does not always suit my mood. Sometimes I opt to watch upstairs in the bright, open more cheery atmosphere when I dont feel like hanging out in a black pit. I like having the option of both rooms and most of the time I love the HT and the focus it lends to whatever is being experienced in it. Having said that, if I only had one viewing room, I would honestly probably opt for the more open, cheery and inviting atmosphere of the upstairs living room and deal with the compromises to PQ brought on by light colored walls, floor, ceiling, etc.........

Funny that I'm doing that now with a light coloured living room and I'd love to have a dedicated room decorated in blacks and dark greys. We always seem to want what we haven't got.

True!

I really love what RichH has done with his room which can give you BOTH types of viewing environments. Nice, open, bright and happy living room type setting when it fits the mood, or when you want to do some focused and serious viewing, pull all the curtains and black out the room. Your room looks perfect for doing something similar Kelvin! If I ever turned my upstairs family room into a HT room, I would definitely look to do something similar to what he has done.

Yes, I'm planning something a little bit along Rich's lines (he's been an inspiration for a few years on this matter) but I can't have curtains each side to pull out due to the furniture. Instead I plan on extending the screen pelmet forwards beyond my ceiling light and having drop down curtains and ceiling cover inside. I'm in the middle of a major bedroom DIY project right now, so it will come later this year (I hope). The dedicated room will be 2-3 years at least, in other words after I upgrade my X35.

Speaking of ceilings, any ideas on how use velvet or Protostar on a cathedral ceiling that is textured? I painted the ceiling very dark red, but would like to blacken the ceiling from the top of the screen back at least one screen height.