But since they cost upwards of $200 a gallon, they already blew our target budget for a $100 screen. Other companies make paints they claim are formulated for home theater screens. But for this project we wanted to keep total screen cost under $100, and Goo costs more than that. Previous testing with Goo showed that it is perfectly color balanced, and an impressive product. Goo Systems makes a great (and very popular) paint product. Of course, there are paints out there that are specially designed for home theater. Would it be possible to find a perfect replica? Since white paint should have a gain of about 1.0, the same as the Studiotek 100, we set out to see how close we could come to replicating the performance of the Studiotek 100 with white paint. But with today's high contrast models, we favor the use of white screens unless you have chronic uncontrolled ambient light. Gray screens were invented to compensate for the low contrast projectors of years past. But it is not a paint we would recommend for optimum home theater performance. On its own, due to its increased black level, it may look fine if you don't have anything to compare it to, and the deep black creates an impressive sense of contrast under the right circumstances. It certainly is not showing you what the projector is putting out. Overall, the Behr Silver Screen paint does not deliver a balanced image. Red and yellow color saturation is the most muted, and white highlights appear as subdued grays. On the Behr gray paint, flesh tones looked horrible, appearing dirty or ash-colored in comparison to the Studiotek 100. But the compromise of the yellow is more noticeable. If you mix gray and blue you get a grayish blue.
Imagine, what do you get when you mix gray with yellow? You get a grayish yellow. But the Behr Silver Screen kills color saturation, and it appears to reduce vibrancy in the warmer end of the spectrum. That, in itself, is not a problem if you have a small enough screen or a bright enough projector. The Behr image was 27% dimmer than the Studiotek 100. Unfortunately, that's not what 99% of one's viewing subject matter consists of. The Behr Silver Screen is the perfect solution for people who watch rolling credits.
In scenes with a black background and white highlights such as rolling credits, the paint showed a higher contrast image and a much more solid black. The one advantage the Behr Silver Screen had over the Studiotek 100 was black level, which is expected from gray paint-the darker the screen, the darker the black level. Illuminating these two surfaces with a variety of test patterns and video clips revealed significant differences in contrast and color balance. We painted a test board and mounted it in front of the Studiotek 100. So we started our evaluation with the popular Behr Silver Screen formula. Many people are interested in gray screens and paints due to their increased black level. Since white paint will have a gain of about 1.0, the Studiotek 100 is a good benchmark against which to compare our results. It has absolutely no color bias, no gain, with a pure smooth finish that reflects the maximum amount of image detail. That, to us, is the Stewart Studiotek 100, a perfectly neutral 1.0 gain white screen that reflects back exactly what the projector puts out. We will look for a good paint solution because it is easy, cheap, and it doesn't warp and ripple over time like fabric screens can do.įirst, if we are going to build a great screen, we need a standard of perfection to compare it to.
#MEDIA ROOM PAINT HOW TO#
So for hobbyists with a creative, DIY bent, let's focus on how to paint the perfect screen for under $100. When you spend less than $1,000 on a projector, you don't want to spend big bucks on a screen to go with it.
#MEDIA ROOM PAINT 1080P#
Since 1080p home theater projectors have dropped below $1,000, the demand for inexpensive screens is bigger than ever. Please DO NOT buy the Sherwin-Williams ProClassic Smooth Enamel Satin Extra White, # B20 W 51, which was recommended in the article as written in 2011. We have not done any further retesting or searching for an alternative paint to recommend. EDITOR'S NOTE (FEB 19, 2018): Sherman Williams has changed the formula for the paint recommended in this article.
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