HDTV Screen – High Quality and Very Low Cost - Page 8

Hello all

First time poster long time lurker.

I am going to be purchasing a Sony 10HT soon, and was dreading picking out a screen, and then I came across this thread.

I have read alot on here about how to assemble the frame which will be very helpfull thank you everyone.

But here's the question, is everyone happy with the results? How does the screen perform? Will it be a good screen for the pj I have chosen (Gain and whatnot)?

Thanks in advance.

SG

There have been some posted pictures earlier in this thread. Take a look at them.

How about using a mirror rail bracket (what holds heavy, large mirrors in bathrooms) on the bottom of the screen to support the weight and keep the screen from sagging? One could be used on the top also, with a thin, double sided tape to hold the edges and middle section...then the edges could be covered as desired and the screen could be easily removed, if need be...

Anyone try this? I would but I just started my theater room construction, plus my 5x10 sheet is still in transit...

Secant

Ron
I know this is off-topic, but did you have a chance to compare the 10HT to the PLV60? If so what did you think? I'm torn between the two, I can get them for about the same price.

Thanks
SG

Just wanted to let everyone know that you cannot just use any sheet of white plastic. Last week I came across a product called Komotex. It was appealing because it was 5 x 10 and it was available locally and .125 inches thick. The price was very close the the Plas-tex everyone is talking about, so I gave it a try.

Can you say hot spots. Komotex was a bust. Don't use it.

I have ordered a 5 x 8 sheet from Parkland a couple days ago. You tell them you want the plastic for the projector screen and they know exactly what you are looking for. Apparently they have been filling quite a few orders. Before I placed the order though I got a damaged 4 x 8 sheet from my local Home Depot for about $6.00 to try just a a trial run.

I was impressed. No hot spots. A nice even picture. We taped a Da-Lite Da-Mat screen sample on the rough side of the Parkland plastic and we could not tell a difference between the screen sample and the plastic. For the record Da-Mat has a gain of 1.0

Until I read this thread, I was ready to send Da-Lite couple hundred dollars just for material. Cannot wait until the 5 x 8 sheet gets here.

Wow! Living in Elkhart, IN has its rewards. I knew there had to be a benefit! I drove to parkland plastics after work today and picked mine up.

Here is what I am thinking, someone please stop me if I am about to really screw up.

I plan to staple this to the back of a 1X4 wood frame/border so that the frame holds it tight and finishes it off nicely. The screen would be basically against the wall and the wood trim will be over it. I saved big money at Menards and purchased the premium 1X4 lumber (it was the only thing that wasn't banana shaped in the wood area)

My question is this: Will the recessed nature of my design pose a problem? The screen will be sitting behind the frame (but firmly attached to it). The other thing, will I be able to pull it tight enough so that it doesn't droop in the middle?
The frame will get a flat/satin black.

In case I am not being clear, here is a poor illustration of what I want to do:


<-wall------------------------------Projector

|X
|
|
|
|
|X

____________________________________
|=screen
x=1x4 lumber

-Garrick

I'm a bit worried for all the ppl who are not gluing their screens down.

Two things can cause trouble: a) Plastics can stretch and sag over time. b) Plastics have a thermal coefficient of expansion that's quite different from any subatrates. So in temperatures different from ounting temp, could be bowing.

Best to use 3M spray adhesive to combat both problems.

Ok. I can see that. But what is rigid and flat with 5X8? Everything out there is 4X8, and I don't want seams, since i am not an expert woodworker.

Any ideas?

Thanks,
Garrick

centaur,
I think with the larger sizes, gluing the material to the wall would be a good idea and using a spray adhesive the application would be very even. I assume that you would apply the adhesive to both surfaces for maximum effectiveness.

Garrick,
Your plan is about the same thing I did except we used window casing for the frame but you plan should work well.

Mike

Thanks Mike,

I was just worried about the recessed nature of this design with shadows. The screen material would be 1/2" behind the front of the border/frame. Your frame was very thin near the screen edge, so it blended nicely.

I did notice a some bulges and waves in the material even after it laid flat all night. It doesn't want to curl anymore, but there are some uneven places. I have waves with my current screen, so I really don't want waves with the new screen.

I guess the worst case scenario is that I proceed with the current idea, and if I get waves, glue it to something flat. (just not the wall)


-Garrick

I will be bying my parkland plastics screen tonight and was wondering if you use the smooth or the slighlty textured side for projection? Thanks

From what I've been reading in this thread, it's the slightly textured side.

The answer is no, no light gets through at all. It is a sheet of very opaque, white plastic, about 1/16" thick. I don't know from where these translucency concerns are arising.

You can use whatever glue you want behind the screen, even black silicon, and it makes no difference. I used clear GE Silicon II wall & window adhesive ($4.47 for 10 ounce tube from Home Depot), zig-zagging it all over the panel I mounted the Plas-Tec Poly Wall on. I made two screens, both "portable" so I can move them into different rooms. There is no evidence of "glue lines" at all on either of them.

Tom

OK guys, help a newbie DIYer. Trying to build a frame for the Parkland Plastic. Using 2 1/4" molding, simple tapered stuff. Mitre cut it to 45 degrees.

What's the best way to fasten the corners? Tried corrugrated joint fasteners, but had a real tough time maintaining a proper 90 degree join angle. Staples don't hold well enough. Is there some special corner bracket I can get ?

You carpenters out there ... what's the trick?

TIA.

Bob T.

I used little 1" flat corner brackets that are used to hold framing together and some really tiny brass finishing screws for mine. Holds really strong.

Good luck.

Juno =0)

Where can I get a 5' x 10' sheet?
Lowes? Home Depot?

I live in Virginia by the way. Isn't the company in VA somewhere?
I'd like to try it as a curved screen

Parkland is located in Indiana. The local Lowes and Home Depot did not carry this panel. You can order the 5'x8' or the 5'x10' directly from Parkland. Their number is posted earlier in this thread.

Juno, thanks for the advice. I'll see if I can find such beasties.

Anyone used KBK goo on their's? I think for for light material such as this, a floating screen hanging might be the best. That would be two pieces of would trim clamped together at the top edge and same on the bottom--no holes in the plastic. There are several ways to do this. Then hang the screen by wires and screw eyes coming out of the top of the wood. The free hanging should create a very smooth surface. Clamping each corner only and stretching a wire to the left and right to hang it might create more uniformity as well.

Has anyone tried a curved screen. (Search the forum). Curved plastic should have a better uniformity as well, plus a slight gain, some improvement for crt lens curvature focus, and better ambient light rejection.

Bob

its probably not quite the same, but i've got a giant painted sheet in my living room drying its way towards becoming my new screen.

its ultimately going to be a 20 foot wide 10 feet tall screen. it'll be framed eventually, but its going to start its life simply carpet taped onto my wall.

the whole things painted in ultra-super-matte ultra-super-white acrylic paint. $14 a can, and a two can job. i ironed the whole sheet flat then did a standard paint job with a roller.

i've got a couple generic 60 inch wide projection screens on stands here. the material sample i did of the screen looked just about level with the projection screens. the color is a bit less sharp, in a comfortable way.

Damm, what are you going to use for a projector ?

actually, the projector is also a do-it-yourself job. i've got a viewsonic vg150 lcd monitor and disassembled the whole thing. i used a bell and howell 388a overhead projector for most of the optics work. just put the lcd down on top of the view area.

the bulb is standard DYS/DVS/BHC bulb. 600 watt metal halide. Can usually be found for about $9. and it puts out 17,000 lumens. 750 hours, if i remember right.

the whole thing is considerably bigger than your standard projector and uses two squirrel cage fans to cool it. but - aside from a faint whir and a quiet flow of air - its remarkably silent, gives me 1024 x 768 (a limitation of the $250 display panel i'm using) and is so bright that i can project without any problems onto a 20 foot by 10 foot viewing area and still have some decent ambient light on. oh, and it costs me $350.

i'm hoping to make a more advanced version using a zoom optics setup. currently i'm limited to adjusting the distance between the projector and the screen for resizing the image. also, a bigger fresnel would be nice. i'd like to put a nice 1600x1200 or better res matrix into the system, but i'd need a fresnel big enough for those 18.1 inch screens.

matt

oh, sheets done by the way.

looks great. of course, the only thing i have to compare it to is the wall and an unpainted sheet, so of course its going to look better.

the difference is like night and day though. i thought my setup was pretty good before, but now it almost hurts looking at the old setups. the main difference is the the darker scenes, which are now crisp and clear, no longer hazy and indistinct.

i'm going to have to repaint it though. it evidently didnt like getting snowed on. the paint didnt quite dry normally because of the snow.

matt

HT Bob84: in stage, we always just find some scrap wood and cut out triangles for the corners of such dilemnas. standard right angle triange, with typically around 4 inches length on the non-hypotonoos sides. then just line everything up and screw through the triangle down into the wood your mounting down. viola, everythings mounted down.

make sure your triangles are on the BACK of your screen too.

matt

I would love a picture of your setup. I can't picture it in my head.

By the way, my 5X8 sheet had some rather large bulges and waves in it that I had to flatten, so I glued it to 2 pieces of masonite using the recommended adhesive. I should be ready to mount it tonight.

You can't see the seam between the two picecs.

Just my 2cents.

-Garrick

myren: thanks. I found another answer: a corner clamp, brand name "pony", purchased at the local Sears Hardware. Using that to hold the 90 degrees, I screwed in angled brackets both on the back and on the edge (a belt-and-suspenders approach.)

Yeah, I could have been neater with my miter cuts, but a little wood filler seems to have covered over the matter. I'll let it dry, then paint the whole mess flat black. Since I used metal corner brackets for the edges, I'll have to paint those too, or they'll shine from the projector. Maybe I should have just stuck with the rear hardware.

Now to decide on how to fasten the plastic to the frame.

Do I mount the plastic first, perhaps on some Celotex foam insulation board like someone suggested here? Or leave it alone?

Then do I staple, nail, or glue the plastic (with/without a backing) to the frame? If there's no backing, how did people keep it flat while applying it to the back of their frame?

I see a variety of methods mentioned here. Anyone tried a method they would NOT recommend?

Couldn't find this material in Australia, so wandered the hardware store and Voila!! I have just installed linoelum on the wall for the screen - using the bottom side! Check it out - dense white, reflective and surprisingly similar texture as seen on genuine Stewart screens. The width is 2 metres and length is up to you. Colour, contrast, brightness is very acceptable @ US$15 per metre! Simply marked out image size on wall with some overlap (1") and used a staple gun to attach. Next step is to build a wood trim frame. Look at a few lino' samples as each have different backings and less obtrusive designs on top side (less likely to show through)What a laff - Stewart screen quoted to me in Australia at over $6,000 and put this up for only $120 including materials!