Sherwin Williams Gray Screen (SW 7071) - Who's using it? Any helpful hints?

So, after looking in to some non-DIY screen materials, I'm considering just doing a paint job for the time being.

I think the simplest solution for now is just to stick to the N8-like Sherwin Williams Gray Screen (SW 7071). I will have to prep the wall a bit, and will need to prime it too, since it's currently got a (very light) olive green tint to it.

In terms of both the primer and the paint, do I just simply use a 5 mm roller, with a flat enamel latex? Or 10 mm and eggshell?

The room has a white ceiling and light hardwood floors. The other walls are light olive green, I'm guessing with probably about the equivalent of an N7 darkness I'm guessing.

P.S. I don't really want to use a basic matte paint, since they are impossible to clean.

Hmmm... So that's a flat/matte paint? Definitely not flat enamel? The reason I ask is because I think the existing paint is eggshell, and it still looks good with the projector.

BTW, I had been looking at the Cashmere paint, which is described as having a "Self-leveling formula means no brush or roller marks". It doesn't come in a matte, but does come in a flat enamel. Have any of you tried the Cashmere?



Panasonic PT-AX200U. It's a bright projector, and its brightness is magnified by the fact that I'm only 8'10" from the wall, with an 88" screen size. I am only using their lower power Cinema modes, but even those look bright with this setup. That's why I'm considering an N8 grey paint, vs. a matte white screen. I'll have to compare with the Sherwin Williams colour swatches, but it would seem that Gray Screen is noticeably darker than the usual matte white 1.0 gain screens.

BTW, I'm going to paint the entire wall, which is about 10' wide by 8' tall.

Thanks to you both. Because of your advice I've gone with the Duration Home. The Sherwin Williams store had a nice demo of the matte paint's washability, and it also happens to be on sale right now too up here in Canada.



I think N7 may be pushing it a bit too far in my setup for my tastes, esp. as the bulb ages. My projector is a Panasonic PT-AX200U with an 88" screen from less than 9' away. Even if N7 were appropriate, I figure a good compromise is to get the N8 neutral gray and if necessary get the ND filter. The added benefit is that the ND filter can be removed later when the lamp fades. However, my guess is the N8 will be fine.

BTW, I will still be comparing N8 vs some screen swatches. At worst, this N8 Gray Screen will be a temporary screen, to be painted over again later. At best, the N8 Gray Screen will become my primary screen.

Anyone know what Carada's Classic Cinema White would correspond to? N9? N9.5? It has a touch of grey to it (and doesn't seem to be completely neutral either).

The reason I ask is because Carada's 1.0 gain CCW is a too bright for my tastes. Blacks are too grey, and whites are almost luminescent. OTOH, their 0.8 gain gray is too dark.

What ballpark gain might SW Gray Screen be? 0.90? 0.93? 0.95?

Uh oh. So you're saying that Gray Screen will be too dark if I find Carada's 0.8 gain High Contrast Gray too dark? Where did you get the gain numbers? Looking at the colour swatches, it seemed that Carada's HCG was much darker.

I haven't put the paint on the wall yet, so do you think it might be smart to start with the N9-ish Soothing White instead? What gain would that be? I know it's hard to tell from pictures, but N9 seems very white.

Gray Screen:

Soothing White <-- Click link

Maybe I should go buy some Soothing white too and paint some cardboard to see what they look like.

So I applied the Sherwin Williams Gray Screen 7071 (N8). It looks quite good in terms of tonal balance and brightness, with my setup. It could be too dark if I were wanting to project a large image from far away with a low power mode, but with this Panasonic it's nice with my relatively small screen from a short throw. I don't feel I need a neutral density filter, but I'm using my Xbox 360 as a source with it set to "Expanded" IRE 0 via VGA, and I'm using one of the projector's "low" power modes.

The so-called "matte" Duration Home doesn't seem all that matte to me though. It's got a more smooth texture to it, which isn't quite eggshell, but which is more than what I'm used to for matte.

However, this is not an ideal solution for me. I've painted the entire wall the same colour, and the wall is not perfect - I can sometimes see the connection between two pieces of drywall in some images.

BTW, it seems the best way to do two coats is to use a new roller and a new paint tray liner for each coat. Yes you can bag them, but the texture isn't always 100% the same.

I am getting slight hotspotting with this paint, and I'm thinking it's because it's too smooth. (See my comments above.)

I'm considering trying a 10 mm roller for another coat, instead of the 5 mm I used before. 15 mm would be pushing it though. What do you think? Or would 10 mm give me too much texture?

Hmmm... Maybe it's a false alarm. It seems better now, a day later. I suspect it's because it's had the whole day to cure.

Immediately after painting, it was unwatchable - sparklies.
An hour later it was still odd looking.
Many hours later it seemed dry but slight hotspotting was there.
Now a day later it seems much better.

I will take a flash picture later to see what it looks like.

However, I still wonder if Sherwin Williams (and other companies) are "cheating" with their washable matte paints. These mattes seem distinctly eggshell-like, just less so, and are not like the mattes of yesteryear.

Out of interest's sake, what are the recommended off-the-shelf N7 paints? I'm considering trying Jeff's N7 recommendation just for the hell of it, to improve blacks.

Note that I'm in Canada. I have no idea where to get EasyFlex or True Value paints. It's easy to get CIL Cilux, Behr, Benjamin Moore, Sherwin Williams, Debbie Travis, etc.

I do see this post:

Any other recommendations?

BTW, does that just mean I'd get the UPW Flat 1050 and add these tints? What are 1650 and 4850?

What about for a gallon size? (I don't know how to read the numbers.)

My blacks with N8 are good but not stellar. I wonder if N7 could improve it without killing the whites.

I posted this in the EasyFlex thread, but here it is again:

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So, I've painted the first coat of that Behr N7 formula. I guess I got to be the guinea pig.

This Behr 1050 Ultra Pure White Flat Interior paint feels thinner than Sherwin Williams Duration Home. Behr UPW goes on easier, but you have to be careful because it drips more easily. The SW Duration Home is more thick and sticky.

After just a few hours of drying, there is no hotspotting at all with Behr UPW Flat. Impressive.

Unfortunately, it's just too dark for my setup. Yes, blacks are blacker, but it seems one loses detail in the dark greys. With N8 Sherwin Williams Gray Screen, there was more perceptible shadow detail, at the expense of the blackest black. Despite the slightly lighter black, I prefer this. To increase detail for N7 I can increase the brightness, etc. but that makes the blacks similar to N8 blacks, and the projector gets louder. Without increasing the brightness, whites are OK, but are starting to look ever so slightly dull. BTW, Carada's High Contrast Gray is even darker than this Behr N7, although Carada's HCG is a slightly different colour too.

Hence, I'm going back to N8 SW Gray Screen. Too bad I bought a whole gallon of the Behr stuff.

I went to N7 Behr, and then came back to N8 Sherwin Williams Gray Screen. Well, I'm now one day later after that new paint job again, this time with 6 mm rollers (just because that's what was available at the store).

I agree with tiddler it may take more time to cure, but I do see very mild hot-spotting with bright images with the SW Gray Screen using the Duration Home base. With N7 Behr UPW 1050 Flat, any hotspotting was absent after just a few hours of drying time.

It could be partially the different colour I don't know, but I'm now convinced that at least part of it is due to the slightly more prominent sheen to Duration home. I think SW may be cheating with its "Matte" label for Duration Home so they can advertise superior washability against competing matte/flat paints. It just isn't that "matte" compared to some other matte paints, like Behr "Flat".

Overall, I think the image is good, but in the future I may repaint the wall with an N8 Behr UPW Flat.

To summarize, I do like Sherwin Williams Gray Screen, and its washability is a plus. However, to reduce hotspotting (which admittedly is quite minor with SW Gray Screen), one might want to consider a true flat paint like the Behr UPW 1050. Washability will suffer, as may gain to a certain extent, but at least you have the choice. I personally am not interested in using a clear top coat, not just because of the potential colour shift, but also because of the potential for increased hotspotting.

Be careful.

My Panasonic PT-AX200U is even stronger. It was measured at over 2300 lumens! However, the colour balance goes progressively wonkier as you increase the light output, and things get harder to correct.

The cleanest colours seem to be in the 500-600 lumen range judging by that review, and I think that's about right. Apparently your projector is a bit strong in low lamp mode at a touch over 600 lumens, but it's not a night vs. day difference vs. the Panasonic I'm guessing.

That's why I got rid of N7 and went back to N8. N7 might work for you, but I'd probably not recommend N6, unless you're got a really small screen size.

Nice to hear that N8/N9 works for you. Different projectors and different room conditions will give us different results for sure. I've avoided a top coat for now. I'm relatively satisfied with what I have now, and my GF already thinks I'm crazy for painting the wall so many times. I'd still like to get an N8-like framed screen eventually though. I just don't want to spend a large amount of money.

I've also noticed that masking would really, really help to... well... mask the not-so-black black borders, for movies that don't fill up the 16:9 aspect ratio.