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Best Screen for the HS10????

1K views 21 replies 13 participants last post by  Xander 
#1 ·
Can you help me with the best screen choice for a basement HT, 90-100 inch??
 
#3 ·
The HCCV is good if you don't need a pull down screen.


Which pull down screen would you recommend? the HCMW? or Da-mat? or ???
 
#5 ·
Firehawk looks gorgeous, whether you're up to spending that much on a screen is up to you. HCCV is the poorman's version of the Firehawk, certainly not as nice but a good grey screen (not too dark).


You should try some different samples or DIY projects, to see whether you're more interested in deepest blacks (requiring the grey screens), or brighter, punchier images (requiring white screens with higher gain numbers than the grey units).


There's no consensus- there's guys using Grayhawks (very dark), up to Hipowers (very bright), all with great success. They offer so many flavors because we all have different needs/priorities.
 
#6 ·
instead of spending $2000 on a screen why didn't you just add those $2000 toward buying better projector ??? No matter how much $ you spend on a screen, it will not increase your image quality as drastically as higher quality PJ ...


Go out and don't spend more than $500 on a screen . This said, buy HCCV .
 
#7 ·
There is so much debate over this grey vs white screen issue and my latest take on the subject is that you should only worry about using grey when you have ambient light. In a totally light controlled environment white seems to be the way to go.


I had a grey screen with my previous AE100 and didn't like the resulting washed out colors. I've stuck with white since my TW100, AE300 and HS10 since I think I prefer the nice colors while sacrificing a little black.


My HS10 is looking pretty good right now in total light control on a white screen.
 
#9 ·
Quote:
Originally posted by Xander
There is so much debate over this grey vs white screen issue and my latest take on the subject is that you should only worry about using grey when you have ambient light. In a totally light controlled environment white seems to be the way to go.


.......

Or you can have both great ambient light rejection and a white screen--use a High Power. Sorry I am part of the High Power cult and we are required to post five High Power recommedations a week :).....
 
#10 ·
I almost want to pull back my comment above that I'm happy with the slightly less black levels. I watched Blade II tonight and the black level was terrible. I watched this movie on my AE300 just before selling it and I honestly do not remember it being this bad :( Last night I watched Red Dragon and I really thought the black levels were acceptable. Now, I'm confused - gosh, maybe I should investigate the grey option...
 
#11 ·
I have the HCCV 92" and the blacks look pretty decent - but due to construction in the adjacent room I still have to calibrate the unit and install the factory filter. The Masters this past weekend was AWESOME in High Def. You could see the bugs on the green - we almost started a drinking game :)


As for cost, whichever you decide on, buy the fabric itself from AVS, and build your own frame and mount it on the wall. You'll save a lot of cash. My fabric, complete with Velcro stitched along the sides was two hundred and change (and the other piece to mount on your fame). Frame cost maybe $75. I bought some beveled trim and angle brackets from Home Depot, and covered the assembled frame in velvet from Joannes fabric store. The velvet really takes care of any image bleed.


The whole thing took a couple of hours to do, and it looks as good as any other fixed frame I've seen.


If you decide to go fixed frame, give AVS a call anyway, their prices are very competitive.
 
#13 ·
I painted my screen grey last night and initial impressions are that it was much better than the white. Blade II actually became watchable :) Black levels were really much better imo. The only problem is that it is almost impossible to paint smoothly wihout blotches - I've painted the thing about 15 times now using a roller, so I should know :) The problem I'm having is that I cannot buy DaLite HCCV locally and AVS won't ship overseas. One of the local dealers yesterday said that he could order it from the US and it will take betw 6-8 weeks and he couldn't gurantee the price :(. I might now try to find some silver bridal silk...
 
#14 ·
JJay, is your HS10 ceiling or table mounted? My understanding is that Hi-Power is for table mounted setup because the screen reflects to where the light comes from. My HS10 is ceiling mounted and I don't know whether Hi-Power would be "better" than the HCCV. I prefer bright images but I'm real reluctant to give up any blacks. I have a DIY Parkland screen. This is my first PJ and although I really like the bright beautiful image, I am quite surprise that the blacks is not that good.
 
#15 ·
Quote:
Originally posted by Xander
I almost want to pull back my comment above that I'm happy with the slightly less black levels. I watched Blade II tonight and the black level was terrible. I watched this movie on my AE300 just before selling it and I honestly do not remember it being this bad :( Last night I watched Red Dragon and I really thought the black levels were acceptable. Now, I'm confused - gosh, maybe I should investigate the grey option...
Xander,


What kind of calibration have you done to your HS10? What lense/filter are you using?


Just curious. My HS10 is on the way, and now you've got me worried.... :(
 
#16 ·
Xander, the grey screen situation in Aus (and sounds like NZ too) is really appaling. You can get a ****** for less than AUD$1k, but greys are 3 to 6k.


The excuse of the local manufacturers is that the material needs to be tensioned so that include the full tensioning rods and the whole lot which adds plenty of dollars. I can't see why they can't just paint their matt white stiff fibreglass models with a slightly grey paint; they have to paint it white anyway, whats the difference?


I'd love to experiment with mine but I can't risk trashing a $1k screen.


I'm keen to hear what you find out.


Scottpe, don't foget that Xander is a seasoned PJ veteran and has very high standards; his unwatchable is probably the average persons sensational! See for yourself and judge. Personally I'm happy with white screen and CC40R.
 
#17 ·
scottpe, don't listen to my comments, you'll be very happy with the image, whatever screen you're using :). I've now fitted the CC40R filter and have completed the first part of Smart III that gets the colors right (big improvement imo and I would advise getting Smart III to any HS10 owners). I still have to work on the contrast, etc. As said in my last post above, I thought the grey screen did look beter as far as blacks go and it did not appear to effect the colors that much (if any). The HS10 image is starting to look very good...


Builty, I require a 3m x 1.65m piece of Da-Lite HCCV and the local pricing (after phoning around some more today) is about NZ$650. The problem is that nobody has it in stock right now (when I want it :)) and I have to wait 6-8 weeks. Bridal Silk (which you can get in a nice silver/grey satin) comes maximum 1.5m wide. I have to fix the screen right now since the grey painting is too uneven - I might borrow a friend's spray gun tonight as an interim solution until the HCCV material arrives in this part of the country.
 
#18 ·
Hi guys, I've been thinking about getting the Da-Lite HCMW pull down screen. It is apparently the HCCV equivelent in pull down.


When I queried Tasman Screens (?) a couple of months ago about importing a 106" screen, I was quoted around the NZ$800 mark. My plan is to get this screen and if the "ripple" effect ends up bugging me too much, I plan to make a frame and stretch the material over it.


What do you think?
 
#19 ·
Jonny, you had better check in the screens forum as to whether anyone has done this successfully yet. I'ts a lot of money to put on trial :). I'm wondering whether the pulldowns might have a slightly thicker version of the material that might make it slightly more difficult to stretch around the corners of a frame? I looked at the sample HCCV material at Glenn's place and it is very thin and flimsy - to thin for a pulldown I'd say.


I bought some silver/grey silk material (NZ$34) from the local fabric shop (the 150cm wide could actually be stretched to about 165cm so the size was ok) and put it up over my existing screen on the drywall using drawing pins all the way around. It is slightly darker (more silver) than the grey paint used yesterday and caused the picture to be too dark in my opinion. I adjusted PowerDVD's video setting up from [Natural] to [Vivid] and that looked much better. The blacks definitely look better, as stated earlier.


I think I might go with this setup for a while and see what I think after a week or so. I want to complete the projector calibration first this weekend.
 
#20 ·
Xander I wonder if we have the same silk material? I originally made my screen the exact same way as you by using drawing pins all the way around. The grey silk was just about perfect for my old Panasonic 4:3 as it seemed to have a bit more light output (1200 in low power mode) than my HS10 and now I am finding that the grey is perhaps just a shade too dark for the HS10 to produce a vivid picture. The blacks are superb though, compared to the white 'blackout' material I tried for a few days.

What I need is something between the blackout and the grey silk...
 
#21 ·
My suggestion is to use a moderate to high gain screen and issue sun glasses to those folks who are obsessed with black levels. A friend who forgot his normal glasses recently watched The Fifth Element with his prescription sun glasses and raved about black levels. Perhaps a CC40 tint might also be worth a try in the spectacles...
 
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