Wilsonart DW hotspotting??

I recently installed my Wilsonart Designer White screen that is 92" Wide and a 1.85:1 A/R My projector is a Sony G90 and overall the image looks awesome but one thing I have noticed is that I am getting some mild hotspotting right in the middle of the screen.

Has anyone else noticed this hotspotting issue witht the Wilsonart DW laminate??

Thanks guys, I have a PM into him so I hope he responds.

The G90 is ceiling mounted where the bottom of the lens is even with the top of the screen.

Before I put up the Wilsonart laminate I was using the painted wall which had basically zero hotspotting issues. Like I mentioned it is not horrible but it is definately there. I will take a picture of it tonight and post it here of a completely white window so everyone can see what I am talking about.

Thanks Clarence for your reply.

I have adjusted the bright field uniformity and it has helped a little and like you said, you normally do not detect it during normal viewing. I wondered if it would help to try to paint the laminate with Behr UPW flat to help eliminate this all together. Has anyone tried doing with with the DW laminate?

I was thinking about using a sprayer and this way I would be able to coat the material evenly without any marks from a fine nap roler.

Any thoughts on this??

Hello again,

Okay I went ahead and did something that most would think would be nuts but the hot spotting in the center of the screen was bothering me. Also, there was defiately some color shifting present as well.

For example, I have my Windows XP background color set to grey and you could clearly see in the center of the screen the affect of the hotspotting causing the colors to be an off grey near the center.

I went to HD and purchased a quard of UPW Flat interior. Had the guy shake up the paint really well and then got some very fine foam rollers so that when I applied the paint to the laminate it would be as smooth as possible.

I first cleaned the laminate with 91 percent isoproply alchohol to make sure there were no contamintents on the surface. I then applied 2 coats of UPW to the laminate waiting a few hours in between.

The results: My hot spotting issue is completely gone!! My grey XP background screen is perfectly grey without the other issues I was having before. Color and brightness uniformity appears excellent.

Regarding how the image quality looks, I think that I can say that with the DW laminate, the image perhaps was a bit smoother and more highly resolved. Also, the picture seemed to have more "punch" to it than now.

It seems in the DIY screen world there is no perfect answer. The DW laminate material seems to offer a better quality image/brighter and better resolved but with a slight hotspotting /color uniformity issue in my case. The Behr UPW flat applied to the DW laminate cures the HS/CU issues but doesn't have quite the PC the laminate offers so thats where I am at now!!

The only thing that I can assume is that with the UPW applied I now have basically a matte white unity or slightly under unity gain screen where with the DW material it was closer to a 1.3 gain screen. Also, the application of the UPW is not as smooth as with the laminate so this can be the cause of the image not being has highly resolved looking but this is all mere speculation.

I could try that too!!! Luckily the laminate is very inexpensive and I can put up another one and test those results.

I have heard some say that with a clear Matte poly, it "softens" the picture?? Is there any truth to this? Also, where would you purchase this matte finish? Any part numbers??


TIA!!

Thanks guys for your replies. I will have to try this on my next DW laminate screen. I think I paid around 35 dollars for a 4 x 8 sheet. My screen is 92" Wide with a 1.85:1 A/R.

Perhaps it is because my projector is only 120" from the screen is why I had the issue with DW laminate while others report no hotspotting at all??

Does anyone know exactly what is causing this? Is the laminate too glossy hence the need to dull it witht the matte clear coat??

Just a local small shop in a commercial warehouse area here in Miami. They will take the laminate and cut it to whatever size you want for 5 dollars.

I don't think that they ship though as they just do local work.

I just checked my invoice. I actually paid 17 dollars for a 4x8 sheet of the DW laminate but they call it the LC version so it is half the thickness of the standard laminate. It is designed for vertical mounting which in my case was perfect. It is definately DW in color.

At the same time I also ordered another 4x8 sheet of the standard thickness DW just in case I messed up the thinner version. This one cost me 40 dollars. On the back of both laminates it does have a product code that I confirmed with Wilsonart as being their product.

Yup, it is the LC version Eric which I believe is half the thickness as the other version. The color DW is the same.

I am picking up another 4x8 sheet tomorrow of DW but this time it will be the standard thickness stuff that everyone else is buying. I will report back to let you know what is stamped on the laminate.

My throw distance is on 121" on to a 90" wide screen so this might have something to do with the hotspotting/color uniformity issue. I think it is important to note however after painting the laminate with the Behr UPW flat, ALL of the hotspotting issues and color uniformity issues are GONE. Now, in a full white test screen it is completely white with no reflections of the CRT's in the middle like before.

As I have mentioned, the picture definately is not as "punchy" or vibrant as before but this might be remedied by a few clicks up in the contrast.

For me the jury is still out on which way to go. Whether to leave what I have up there and call it a day or to take it down and put up the other DW screen and deal with the hs. It is not like it was readily seen during normal viewing but if there were scenes in the movie such as one showing the entire sky or winter scenes, you could definately see it.

Another option is to just break down and order a Stewart Studiotek 130 and put this whole thing to rest but then again with my luck that will hotspot just like the DW!!

My projector is a CRT so the NDF would not be applicable.

Sent you a PM Eric.

MM, I want to thank you for your suggestion below. I went to HD and purchased the Behr "poly" top coat and applied it to the DW screen.

After letting the top coat dry after a few hours, all of my hot spotting and color uniformity issues are now GONE!!

I have read that some people felt that applying this material as a top coat will cause some softening of the image but I have not found this to be the case.

My question is now that this is applied, does this reduce the amount of gain of the screen? I beleive Clarence and others have measured the gain of DW to be close to 1.3 Does the application of the poly reduce this down to standard matte white levels of unity gain??

Are there any other "down" sides to using the poly on this type of material?