[edan]

I don't actually intend to use the Vinyl Roller shade I purchased from Home Depot yesterday for $30, but my Epson 6500UB should arrive tomorrow and I was searching for ideas on what to use for a temporary screen surface. I can't paint a wall because A) wife would kill me and B) I have no such suitable wall. I'm going to use "queen size white flannel sheet" and the "vinyl roller" for experiments.

Update Jan 7th, 2009


I got my 6500UB today, and out of desperation, tried to use the 6mm white room darkening shade I purchased last week. Here are my initial thoughts:


1. Hotspotting? Certainly none that I can see, other than the waves, #2


2. Waves? omg yes. After much gnashing of teeth, I finally just pulled up the screen from the base of the fireplace, and put some books on the top of the mantle to hold it up there. Maybe I just need to troll around for techniques for tightening cheap retractables

3. There are some lines in the screen, like little folds, about every 6-8 inches, that I can only really see on the right hand side of the screen. They're the most noticeable in brighter scenes, and only when I'm looking for them. But pretty annoying when I do see them.


I'd rate the lines as the most annoying thing, perhaps enough to prevent me from wanting to continue to use it temporarily. I'll see what my wife says. Heh, she's the decisive one. She's also told me she wants the screen to fit on the mantle (70" wide) and a gray screen to help combat ambient light because she wants lights on. So my search has gotten easier, unless I can can convince her bigger would be better ... But that seems unlikely

So my question perhaps has moved to interesting ways to mount a retractable on a fireplace mantle, but I'm going to give it a few more days

End Update, and actual mini review



In the end, I'm probably going to go with a commercial retractable, but I've been pouring over Tiddler's threads on various ideas for painting cheap retractables (not as cheap as mine, but cheaper than Da-Lite Design Countour), and I think my big question at the moment is still more of a DIY question anyway.


Here are some room pics to describe my problem. This is the view directly from the couch. The room is 12 ft wide, so from couch to front of fireplace is about 11.5 ft, a little shorter if I have to push the screen in front of the bookcase on the right. The ceiling is 7'11. The top of the mantle is about 63" high.

https://flic.kr/p/3158946040 ​

(The white balance is a little off, the mantle is white, not offwhite.)


I could call this thread, "No, Really! Who says you need a dedicated home theater room?!" My WAF challenge is to make sure the room doesn't look like an office training room with a proj, and not an altar to the God of Consumerism and Media. That's why I'm taking the Projector Challenge--hopefully I can hide everything when we aren't watching. This is another view from the couch, to the existing 27" Sony CRT and my 3 L/R/C Mirage OmniSat Micros.

https://flic.kr/p/3158116877 ​

You can see the missing spot from where our cable box used to be and my sad little attempt at an HDTV antenna (insufficient gain of another kind, in this case).


I'm shooting for a screen between 70" (the width of the widest part of the mantle) and 85" wide, in other words, between SMTPE minimum and THX recommended viewing angles. I'm just going to go 1.78 ratio because it seems easier. With the projector mounted most likely on the back wall near the ceiling, my throw will be about 11.5 ft too. At these screen sizes, with Art @ projectorreview's lumen numbers , I get pretty decent numbers for ft lamberts just using (screen area in ft) / lumens; 21 at the lowest for calibrated Theater Black at 85" wide, and 107 at 70" wide in Dynamic. Yes, my ceiling is white, but with such a pitifully (picayune, indeed) small screen, I hope light has to far to go to the ceiling. White carpeting, too, but we can put a dark blanket on the floor if it's too bad.


ANYWAY, I've been struggling (enjoyably, mostly) with the challenge of how to mount a retractable screen reasonably invisibly, and where to put my three L/R/C speakers. I was thinking ceiling mount for a long time, with a ~ 40" screen, I figured I needed about 30" of drop, which was well within what SeymourAV would do if I needed a "cheap" retractable AT screen. I was starting to think about building a box on the ceiling to hold some lights, so it would look like a box to help illuminate pictures on the mantle, but now I'm leaning towards a "mantle mount."


It's hard searching for "fireplace mount" here because that's usually someone putting a flat panel above their fireplace. I'm trying to decide if I could mount a good looking retractable case directly to the top of the mantle (which limits me to 70" wide), or if it would be "easy" enough to build some sort of "mantle extension" that would go on top of the existing mantle, and perhaps be a little wider to accommodate a wider screen. The top section is just over 4" high, but I probably don't want to cover the decorative part of the mantle.


Any thoughts from the masters of DIY? If my 6500UB does come tomorrow (I never got a tracking number, so who knows), I'll post some followups with my results from "white flannel sheet / blanket" or perhaps even take the plunge with the DesignerView(TM) Vinyl Roller Shader. If movies only look good at night in the end, that will be OK with me

Thanks so much to everyone for their hard work and information sharing, and happy new year! I'll check back tomorrow to see if any of this made sense, too

 

[chumbucket]

So this isn't a review of the Home Depot vinyl shade?

 

[JeffHurt]

Great title!

 

[tiddler]

I also set out to prove that it was possible to integrate the projector and screen into a living room setting to create an actual "Home Theater". Dedicated rooms are not really a home theater IMHO. They are private theaters that happen to be implemented in a room that is part of a house. So we are on the same path to prove that front projection is a viable option for integration into the home environment.


First of all, I would like to suggest a better choice for a temporary screen. Get some BOC (blockout clothe). Also get 4 1"x2"x8' and some 1" screws or nails. BOC usually comes in 54" wide bolts. You will be covering 1.5" top and bottom with the 1"x2" so you would have a height of 51" left. So you could make a screen 90.7" wide (without side borders). The 1"x2"s are used top and bottom. You would simply pull the cloth tight and sandwich the top and bottom edges between two 1"x2" and nail/screw them together, with nails/screws every 6" to 10" apart. This temp screen can be rolled up when not in use and simply hung from two hooks in the ceiling.


Your choice of the Epson 6500, which has lens shift will give you a lot more options for locating and and making it less conspicuous in the room. I was forced to ceiling mount my Optoma HD72. I wish that Epson had stuck with their very attractive case design used on the previous projectors. The Epson 720 would look quite nice against my ceiling in place of the HD72 in these photos:

Click these two thumbnails to see the full size image.



Now back to your situation: I would be more inclined to go with your original idea of ceiling mounting the screen. If the screen is mounted on the mantle I suspect it will end up being too low. I would suggest building a valance along the lines of what I did:


Click thumbnail to see full size image.


Instead of the valance spanning between the wall and the ceiling beam, you should make end pieces that go back to the wall, and have decorative pieces that run down the wall to the floor. The wiring could then be run back to the wall and down to the floor behind the vertical molding pieces.


Another approach that might be easier to implement, would be to purchase (or build) two narrow tall book shelves. Then suspend a valance between them. These tall narrow book shelves would also provide a place to set your speakers. Or you could build speakers into them. The valance could be as simple as a box that sits across the top of the book shelves.


Looking at your photo of the fireplace, I would think the screen will not cover much of the fireplace. This gives an nice option for soft ambient lighting. The fireplace itself probably gives off some light. Since it is coming from behind the screen it will not fall directly on the screen. This would provide some back lighting.


One problem to deal with is the placement of the center channel speaker. I had the dual problem of having the center channel reasonably placed for both my RPTV and the screen, so I know how this can be a bit of a problem. In your case the ideal location is in the area where the fireplace is.


Here is something to keep in mind. If you take two 4 ohm speakers and connect them in series you get an 8 ohm speaker. Therefore you could place a 4 ohm 6" coax car speaker in the shelves on either side of the screen. This will place the voices dead center of the screen. You could build front speakers into the book shelves and then use your small speakers for surround speakers in a 5.1 or 6.1 setup.


If I was in your shoes I would go with the wider size of screen. You mentioned 85" wide which would be a 98" 16x9 screen. I would be inclined to go with a 106" screen and enlarge the black borders. The 106" screen will already have 1.5" - 2" borders. The screen area would be 92" wide. (92"-85")/2=3.5" of additional border space. If the original border is 2" that would result in 5.5" borders. You could chose to go with 4" borders and have a slightly larger screen area. I found that the change from the original 1.5" borders to 4" borders really seemed to enhance the look of the screen with an image projected on it.


Here are some ilustrations of some of my thoughts:

In the following drawing I added two round 4 ohm speakers to make up the center channel. Connected in series these two 4 ohm speakers make an 8 ohm center channel.


Bellow the center channel speakers are a pair of 6x9 front facing and two round side firing speakers. These are connected in series to make up the 8 ohms on each side. They form the main front speakers. By facing the smaller speaker side ways you can widen the apparent sound stage. You could put the larger 6x9 on the sides also. Then the front area would be free to mount some family photos.

For what it's worth those are my ideas.

 

[edan]



Quote:
Originally Posted by chumbucket /forum/post/15437603


So this isn't a review of the Home Depot vinyl shade?

My title is tongue-and-cheek, and will probably prevent me from getting the help I desperately need

Well, that and my inability to focus, write intelligently, etc...


But here's some more info on the "screen" ... It's 6 mm "room darkening", white, and the largest size was 73.25" wide and 78" high. If you wanted to just use the material *cough*, they did have 50" wide and 78" high, but I really wanted the retractable part. They did also have 12 mm vinyl for about $40, but I thought I would start with the 6mm.


To complete my facade of a review, here are some pics of how the screen came from Home Depot. Thankfully, it fit in my Jetta without even having to put the seats down:

https://flic.kr/p/3160137128 ​

(Note serious hotspotting on wood floor, definitely not suitable without painting)

https://flic.kr/p/3160140016 ​

Unfortunately, I just called AVS and there was a shipping date mixup, so I won't get my projector until next week. That's a bit of a downer, but I'll come back once my spirits have lifted

 

[tiddler]



Quote:
Originally Posted by edan /forum/post/15438587


Unfortunately, I just called AVS and there was a shipping date mixup, so I won't get my projector until next week. That's a bit of a downer, but I'll come back once my spirits have lifted

When you described your room colors and choice of the 6500, I wondered why you did not go for the 6100. The 6100 is brighter and you need to go with a gray screen. I realize there are some other benefits to the 6500 that may have attracted you though. I'm sure the 6500 will also work well but in your type of situation one should chose brighter over higher contrast.


P.S. Is my previous post the kind of help you were looking for?

 

[Harpmaker]

I too was hoping for a review of using the window shade.

I actually picked some up at Walmart some time ago, but never got around to testing them except for color neutrality. They really aren't that bad; the white shade is about N9.5 and was about 5 RGB points low in Blue, and the gray shade was about N8.5 and 5 point high in Blue.


The big question is if they will hotspot or not.

 

[edan]



Quote:
Originally Posted by tiddler /forum/post/15438713


When you described your room colors and choice of the 6500, I wondered why you did not go for the 6100. The 6100 is brighter and you need to go with a gray screen. I realize there are some other benefits to the 6500 that may have attracted you though. I'm sure the 6500 will also work well but in your type of situation one should chose brighter over higher contrast.

I didn't look too closely at the 6100, probably partially because of my inner snob. I did read the thread on "Why a brighter projector doesn't need as much contrast" but I thought the somewhat small 1800 vs 1600 lumen difference wasn't worth missing out on:


1. Reon HQV processor--maybe I won't HAVE to buy a new DVD player, even though I want to find a used PS3 or one of the new BR players with Netflix. And maybe it will make my Wii look better.


2. Inorganic vs organic panels--I thought I saw that the 6100 had an organic panel that might not last as long as the 6500's inorganic.


3. I saw a lot of posts about projectors being crap with high ambient light. I thought that at night, with all the lights off, the high contrast ratio would pay off. Maybe.


4. I thought with my throw distance and adorable little screen size (I could barely find screens that were 65" HDTV diag

) that I would have plenty of light. Hopefully.

Quote:
Originally Posted by tiddler /forum/post/15438713


P.S. Is my previous post the kind of help you were looking for?

Yes, it is exactly the kind of help I am looking for!!!

I was feeling guilty for not playing with my two year old "DVD Remote" and didn't notice that my "screen packaging" pictures had crossed with your drawings. Now it's just taking me a while to digest it all

You say I need to go with a gray screen... I've read a lot about gray screens and ambient light, and it seems unclear-gray even--to me. Do you really think my situation demands a gray screen?

 

[tiddler]

Here is a quick lesson on why gray screens are useful:


In these two photos there is a matte white panel on the left side, and a matte gray panel on the right. In the first photo all lights were turned off. In the second photo I had some lights on in the room. Note that when the lights are all off the gray is almost the same as the white, however, when you have some ambient light the gray is much better than the white.




If you will never have lights on, you will completely block all windows, and you will paint the walls and ceiling darker colors then a white screen will work best. If you will want some ambient light at all, or you will be sticking with the lighter wall colors then, I would suggest you buy or paint your screen a light neutral gray. I will also suggest you stay away from any of the higher gain gray screens. A matte gray will work best on a retractable and should not show any waves or grain.


As far as comments you have seen about the whites being dull or gray on gray screens, I can tell you that unless you put a white screen beside the gray the whites look white. I have a fairly dark gray painted retractable and this guy's white shirt almost hurts my eyes to look at.




I also have a much dimmer projector than you are getting. I think if money was not an issue I too would have gone for the 6500 over the 6100.

 

[edan]



Quote:
Originally Posted by tiddler /forum/post/15440425


Here is a quick lesson on why gray screens are useful:

The pictures are pretty convincing. May I add that I appreciate that your screenshots for the most part do not look "perfect" and I find that adds a needed sense of realism... I saw so many *awesome* screenshots of Pioneer 720P Kuros, but never really liked them at Tweeter ...

Quote:
Originally Posted by tiddler /forum/post/15440425


If you will never have lights on, you will completely block all windows, and you will paint the walls and ceiling darker colors then a white screen will work best. If you will want some ambient light at all, or you will be sticking with the lighter wall colors then, I would suggest you buy or paint your screen a light neutral gray. I will also suggest you stay away from any of the higher gain gray screens. A matte gray will work best on a retractable and should not show any waves or grain.

lol! It is so kind of you to describe your opinion so ... descriptively. I can be such a prick, I would be tempted to just say "Do you really need gray in your suboptimal room? Um, YES!" On a related note, what's "high gain gray?" I'm leaning toward Da-Lite's with CSR, I notice their Cinema Vision (CV) and High Contrast CV are 1.1 and 1.3 gain. That doesn't seem high gain (HP, SS) but maybe that's high for gray.


I appreciate the feedback on the whites, too. I suppose the best test would be for me to compare it with some painted materials myself ... But honestly, I'm just looking for a base level of "awesomeness," it doesn't have to be *perfect* ... I can't "fix my room" anyway

Quote:
Originally Posted by tiddler /forum/post/15440425


I also have a much dimmer projector than you are getting. I think if money was not an issue I too would have gone for the 6500 over the 6100.

I'm glad to hear you say that ... you were making me think I should order a 6100 and compare them at home, and I'm sure I would get WAF push back on spending anymore time on this business ...


such as right now... we need to watch a movie ... now ... and I could do this later...


thanks much!


p.s. How would I rollup a BOC stretched over a wooden frame? Use big clips from office depot? Maybe use PVC pipe for the frame so I could take it apart?

 

[tiddler]



Quote:
Originally Posted by edan /forum/post/15443516


On a related note, what's "high gain gray?"


p.s. How would I rollup a BOC stretched over a wooden frame? Use big clips from office depot? Maybe use PVC pipe for the frame so I could take it apart?

If a matte white has a gain of 1 then anything gray would be less than 1. To try to restore some of the brightness some sheen or reflective particles are added. This leads to graininess or in the case of excessive sheen, texture or waves become very apparent in the image.


The simple interim BOC screen I was suggesting would only have the 1"x2" sandwich bars top and bottom. This is not a DIY retractable but more like a huge BOC scroll. You would simply roll up the BOC by rolling the top or bottom bar by hand.


At least don't use a white flannel sheet. Get a high thread count cotton sheet. The flannel will probably give you a very fuzzy image. However a piece of BOC will cost a lot less and work better.

 

[edan]



Quote:
Originally Posted by tiddler /forum/post/15444353


If a matte white has a gain of 1 then anything gray would be less than 1. To try to restore some of the brightness some sheen or reflective particles are added. This leads to graininess or in the case of excessive sheen, texture or waves become very apparent in the image.

So, any gray screen over a gain of 1 could be trouble in your opinion? Black Diamond's screen calculator says their 0.8 screen is too dim if I run Theater Black1 mode and only get 500ish lumens, but somehow I doubt I want to spend that much

I guess this isn't the most important question at the moment anyway. If I can get decent results from the actually rollable BOC screen that will buy me endless time to research screen materials ...

Quote:
Originally Posted by tiddler /forum/post/15444353


The simple interim BOC screen I was suggesting would only have the 1"x2" sandwich bars top and bottom. This is not a DIY retractable but more like a huge BOC scroll. You would simply roll up the BOC by rolling the top or bottom bar by hand.

Aww, duh, yeah, ok. I got confused because you said four 1x2's, and apparently didn't read where you said "just attach top and bottom"

Quote:
Originally Posted by tiddler /forum/post/15438419


First of all, I would like to suggest a better choice for a temporary screen. Get some BOC (blockout clothe). Also get 4 1"x2"x8' and some 1" screws or nails. BOC usually comes in 54" wide bolts. You will be covering 1.5" top and bottom with the 1"x2" so you would have a height of 51" left. So you could make a screen 90.7" wide (without side borders). The 1"x2"s are used top and bottom. You would simply pull the cloth tight and sandwich the top and bottom edges between two 1"x2" and nail/screw them together, with nails/screws every 6" to 10" apart. This temp screen can be rolled up when not in use and simply hung from two hooks in the ceiling.

I'm really loving the BOC idea now, because it's wider than I will probably go, and if I can roll it up behind the couch, it should be WAF approved. And I can build it that wide and see if we both end up liking it that big anyway

And now I get why I need four 1x2's ... sandwich... right ... you can lead a horse to water, sheeesh. Would you suggest chains of some kind to try adjusting the height?

Quote:
Originally Posted by tiddler /forum/post/15444353


At least don't use a white flannel sheet. Get a high thread count cotton sheet. The flannel will probably give you a very fuzzy image. However a piece of BOC will cost a lot less.

Thanks so much for your help. It's nice to know that I am on the same path as at least one AVSforum user of trying to integrate a "home theater" into a truly multipurpose room

 

[tiddler]



Quote:
Originally Posted by edan /forum/post/15445098


Would you suggest chains of some kind to try adjusting the height?

I was thinking of something like that.


It also occurred to me that if you rolled the screen up on the bottom bar, then a simple loop over the ends of the top and bottum bar would hold the screen up out of the way. Or as you say you could hide it behind the couch.

 

[edan]



Quote:
Originally Posted by tiddler /forum/post/15438713


P.S. Is my previous post the kind of help you were looking for?

As I said before, yes! My biggest question has been, how do I make the screen and proj fit in the room without too many changes. Rising the bar higher, I'd even like to possibly improve the room for the screen in a way that will look good without the screen, so I don't have to leave it if we move

I wrote up a whole big response yesterday, but I thought it was too rambling. I will try again here

Quote:
Originally Posted by tiddler /forum/post/15438419


Your choice of the Epson 6500, which has lens shift will give you a lot more options for locating and and making it less conspicuous in the room. I was forced to ceiling mount my Optoma HD72. I wish that Epson had stuck with their very attractive case design used on the previous projectors. The Epson

Lens shift was key feature for how I went from "Hmm, how about a projector!" to the Epson. Unfortunately, I may have to ceiling mount or high wall shelf mount anyway, to keep the projector away from my own toddler and esp visiting toddlers

And I like the 1080UB's look better too, but not enough to miss the 4000 hr bulb.

Quote:
Originally Posted by tiddler /forum/post/15438419


Now back to your situation: I would be more inclined to go with your original idea of ceiling mounting the screen. If the screen is mounted on the mantle I suspect it will end up being too low. I would suggest building a valance along the lines of what I did:

The mantle is 63" high and 70" wide, so I thought a 70" wide and 40" high screen (a 81" HDTV is bigger than what I've dreamed of for years) would be a nice size and good height. Trolling these forums for a while, of course I want bigger than 70" wide now

I saw your valance before and liked it, and was a bit lost as how to integrate a valance in the middle of my room. So, kudos to you for having an idea:

Quote:
Originally Posted by tiddler /forum/post/15438419


Instead of the valance spanning between the wall and the ceiling beam, you should make end pieces that go back to the wall, and have decorative pieces that run down the wall to the floor. The wiring could then be run back to the wall and down to the floor behind the vertical molding pieces.

It's taken me a while to think about how this might work, and I've started to get some ideas from googling around for decorative fireplace moulding and such. Now, I liked the idea of putting two bookshelves on either side of the fireplace (for ease of wiring and speakers), but it's just too big I think.


That was what my wife thought of the cool mockups you did, too: "Whoa, that's too big" or something close

Now, partially I think I just need to ease into things a bit. Last night, while watching the latest Indiana Jones, she acquiesced and admitted, grudgingly, "this would be better bigger." Baby steps

My last ceiling mount idea was to build a box to put on the ceiling, and the box would have recessed lights and hopefully look like it was designed to light up pictures / artwork / paraphernalia on the mantle. It would extend out about 1 ft from the wall (the top of the mantle is about 8 in), be as wide as I could get away with, and deep enough for the lights and to hide the screen.


Integrating my light box idea with your valence connecting to the side moulding idea is starting to coalesce in my brain a bit. I saw this picture of fireplace moulding that continued floor to ceiling and that helped.


The biggest problem with side bookshelves is that we have the entertainment table with the 27" TV on it in the corner. Someday, that TV will die and I can buy a midsized LCD/Plasma that I intended to go on it

If you look in one of my original room pics, you can see that setup, and there's really no room on that side for a bookshelf. However, bookshelves, to my book loving wife, could still be key

I'm just not sure it would work without kicking the corner TV stand out the door.


The big question in my mind after this weekend is how high the screen should go. If after using the your neat ez-BOC screen for a while we determine we want a huge screen that starts at basically the ceiling, I'd be VERY tempted to get an AT screen so I could mount my center channel behind it. I have to worry about gain / etc again, but that just seems way easier.

Quote:
Originally Posted by tiddler /forum/post/15438419


Here is something to keep in mind. If you take two 4 ohm speakers and connect them in series you get an 8 ohm speaker. Therefore you could place a 4 ohm 6" coax car speaker in the shelves on either side of the screen. This will place the voices dead center of the screen. You could build front speakers into the book shelves and then use your small speakers for surround speakers in a 5.1 or 6.1 setup.

That is a very cool idea! I mean, I'd rather use my existing speakers (it's already 6.1 with rear L/C/R behind the couch at about 6ft up), but I was thinking maybe nice car speakers in series would be cheaper than expensive flat speakers and could sound good. As I think about how to incorporate some kind of new moulding along the sides of the fireplace for wiring / aesthetics, I was thinking I could still use this idea.

Quote:
Originally Posted by tiddler /forum/post/15438419


If I was in your shoes I would go with the wider size of screen. You mentioned 85" wide which would be a 98" 16x9 screen. I would be inclined to go with a 106" screen and enlarge the black borders. The 106" screen will already have 1.5" - 2" borders. The screen area would be 92" wide. (92"-85")/2=3.5" of additional border space. If the original border is 2" that

Well, I found a place with 54" wide BOC, so I thought I'd make get it at least 91 to 93" wide (to possibly cover the left/right edges with wood later) for the 90.7" by 51" 16x9 screen. So I will at least be able to test your suggestion of stepping up that larger, and I like your idea of going with a wider overall screen size and thicker border.


For other ideas, I saw some "floating shelves" at Crate & Barrel last night, and I thought they looked kinda like a retractable screen case. I had the idea that I could ceiling mount the screen casing and use the floating shelves to create similar "lines" so it could hopefully blend in better than just a box on the ceiling.


Like I said before, I think the biggest thing is determine the size my wife and I both want, and then we'll know how high we can put it, which seems pretty critical to deciding whether I should hack up my mantle so I can mount the proj there, or figure something else out entirely.

Quote:
Originally Posted by tiddler /forum/post/15438419


For what it's worth those are my ideas.

Please keep them coming

I need all the help I can get. The projector is due to come Weds, so hopefully I can put the ez BOC screen together and get some feedback Weds night or Thurs

I may still even put up the Home Depot vinyl shade for fun, as I think I can take it back even if I try it out

 

[edan]

Update: I bought four 1x2 "whitewood" boards in 8 ft lengths yesterday ($4.42, woot), but the store I had planned to buy the BOC from ($7.50/yard, FWIW) only had about 2 linear yards aka 72" x 54". I'll either try another fabric shop tomorrow or just order from the ladies at Calico Corners since they were quite helpful.


So, for everyone clammering for a review of the 6mm vinyl room darkening shade, I may have some screenshots tomorrow. I may even try to post some "high dynamic range" pics (like http://www.flickr.com/groups/hdr/ ) so no one complains that my super deep blacks are just crushed

 

[kbgl]



Quote:
Originally Posted by edan /forum/post/15480858


Update: I bought four 1x2 "whitewood" boards in 8 ft lengths yesterday ($4.42, woot), but the store I had planned to buy the BOC from ($7.50/yard, FWIW) only had about 2 linear yards aka 72" x 54". I'll either try another fabric shop tomorrow or just order from the ladies at Calico Corners since they were quite helpful.


So, for everyone clammering for a review of the 6mm vinyl room darkening shade, I may have some screenshots tomorrow. I may even try to post some "high dynamic range" pics (like http://www.flickr.com/groups/hdr/ ) so no one complains that my super deep blacks are just crushed

Most cameras will crush the blacks or blow out the whites. A friend of mine had some nice photos from a vacation that I displayed on my screen. The screenshots I took looked nothing like what I saw. Oh well!

 

[edan]



Quote:
Originally Posted by edan /forum/post/15480858


So, for everyone clammering for a review of the 6mm vinyl room darkening shade, I may have some screenshots tomorrow. I may even try to post some "high dynamic range" pics (like http://www.flickr.com/groups/hdr/ ) so no one complains that my super deep blacks are just crushed

Quote:
Originally Posted by kbgl /forum/post/15491651


Most cameras will crush the blacks or blow out the whites. A friend of mine had some nice photos from a vacation that I displayed on my screen. The screenshots I took looked nothing like what I saw. Oh well!

Did you check out what High Dynamic Range photography is all about? In a nutshell, you take at least 3 pictures. One is underexposed, so you get better dark detail. One is normally exposed, so things too bright are blown out, and things too dark are totally lost. One is overexposed, so you lose all shadow detail but you don't blow out the whites.


Then you combine them all using high end software like Photoshop or a number of specialized programs. You can get some really wicked looking results, and I thought it might be interesting for screenshots to address the "crushed blacks" problem. But I'm still a n00b.


I'll put my quick review up in post #1 ... I'm too tired to post my crappy pictures

 

[kbgl]



Quote:
Originally Posted by edan /forum/post/15492116


Did you check out what High Dynamic Range photography is all about? In a nutshell, you take at least 3 pictures. One is underexposed, so you get better dark detail. One is normally exposed, so things too bright are blown out, and things too dark are totally lost. One is overexposed, so you lose all shadow detail but you don't blow out the whites.


Then you combine them all using high end software like Photoshop or a number of specialized programs. You can get some really wicked looking results, and I thought it might be interesting for screenshots to address the "crushed blacks" problem. But I'm still a n00b.


I'll put my quick review up in post #1 ... I'm too tired to post my crappy pictures

I just think that it's easier to use pictures with less range.

 

[edan]

I posted some pics of my first try at hanging this vinyl shade in the DIY retractable screen thread: http://www.avsforum.com/avs-vb/showt...1#post15538081


When I have a chance, I'll post some more photos of how it looks with my 2nd attempt at mounting, which looks a lot better (much less wavy, still stinky roller marks presumably from being left rolled up with its wooden bar for too long).

 

[Steve Scherrer]

Incidentally, the home depot roller blind was my very first retractable screen, which lasted all of one night. For various reasons I found it to be a very poor screen material. It is too thin, and those lines due to the bottom bar - never got rid of those!