CurtPalme.com Home Theater Forum

[johnsmith808]

I finally got my G70 mounted on the ceiling with Unistrut, eye bolts and pipes method. Used the 4 chain technique to get it up there. I had my wife hook two chains at a time while I tilted the pj up front, then back. Very simple.

I am using a Da-lite High Power screen, which is a retro-reflective screen. With the pj on the ceiling, the image just didn't pop. I had contrast up to 65 and it just seemed very dull. When I stood up close to the level of the lenses, I was blown away! Since retro-reflective screens bounce light back where it came from, the closer your eyes are to the lenses, the brighter the image will be. The pop reminded me of high bright a crt rptv is.

So, I decided to lower the pj to just a foot or so above sitting height. I know this sounds odd, but man does the image pop now. I have the contrast on only 50, and it is like watching a 106" Plasma tv! The contrast appears to be over 2 times as high due to the major screen gain. It is truly a site to behold.

If you have never used your crt with a high power screen, you may not know what your pj can really look like. It is simply vibrant, with the perceived intra-scene contrast jumping way up Of course, you will need to mount just above your head, which does look pretty lame, but then again so does a 160 lbs pj hanging from your ceiling.

I had my previous dlp projector mounted at eye level as well and it did not have the image pop like the G70 does now.

I am so glad I gave crt another chance. The G70 throws an incredible image. The dynamic range of the image is simple mind boggling with the high power screen. The gain on the screen is upwards of 3.1. Without this screen gain, I can honestly say I would not be happy with the brightness of the G70. With it, I couldn't be happier.

So if you are feeling like doing something crazy, and want your one pj to be as bright or brighter than a stack, get yourself a Da-lite High Power screen, mount the pj just above your head and enjoy your pj like you never thought was possible.

Of course, the wife issue might be a problem. Alternatively, if you table mount your pj, it will also enjoy a huge gain in brightness as well.

[Zebu Fellenz]

Could you post some pictures. I was thinking of possibly using a HP with my G70, how would the gain be if the G70 was roughly 2' above your eyes to center of the lenses. I really don't want to lower the G70 but I could build risers on the seats to accomplish the same thing.

Cheers

Erik

[HaydnG90]

Gain drops off dramatically once you're outside the narrow optimal viewing angle. I has using my HP with a floor mounted BG808S and loved it. I noticed very little hotspotting with this material. My G90 is secured to the ceiling now and looked terrible from the seating position which obliged me to go for the Studiotek 130. I do miss the punch the high gain produced.
Has anyone tried the Vutec Silverstar and how does it look with a 9" CRT. Much hotspotting?

[johnsmith808]

I just measured to see my eye level in relation to the center of the lenses. It is about 18". So 24" wouldn't be too much off. You will still get a good amount of gain. However, be warned. Once you see the potential of the HP screen, you will be tempted to get as much gain as possible.

Initially I had it set up 20" higher, so the total was around 38". It just didn't cut it, especially when I stood up and knew what I was missing.

I'm sure you know that moving horizontally or vertically away from the pj lense will result in lowered gain. I think the Da-lite website might have a gain chart if I remember correctly.

The other benefit of the a retro-reflective screen is that it reduces the amount of stray light bouncing off walls, floor and ceiling. Instead it shoots it back to you. Of course if your wall behind the pj is white, you might be in trouble.

I will try to post some pics as soon as I can.

[johnsmith808]

Here's some pics. The one with the moon is closer to the pj with the gain, and the other is taken close to the ground, which might be closer to no gain.

Look at the picture with Shrek's eye visible through his eyelid. A mistake I never noticed before.

The brightness just makes everything pop! You can see my pj hanging above my sofa. Can't believe how I convinced the wife to do this. I will probably have to move it on special occasions though. Oh well, it's worth it.

[Zebu Fellenz]

[Zebu Fellenz]

John,

How wide is your screen, I'm really thinking of getting a HP 92-96" wide to use with my G70.

[Nashou66]

Unless you curve it HP screens are not well suited for CRT unless you are going to be the only one watching. I had a dalite 2.0 gain and took it back the 1.3 i have now is perfect from me.

Athanasios

[Zebu Fellenz]

[Nashou66]

you may be right, but what is the difference? they have a small viewing cone. Like I said if your the only one watching its great but move a few feet to either side and it goes way down in watchability.

nashou

[Zebu Fellenz]

Oh I thought you were referring to hotspots common with other high gain screens, yes I'm aware of the color shift and loss of gain as you move out of the viewing cone, but as long as I get the best seat it doesn't matter to me

[betel]

Since it appears the projector is at apprx screen vertical center, the image should be close to square on the tube face. I imagine this really maximizes phosphor usage. Couldn't live with it hanging that low though.

[johnsmith808]

The High Power I have is 106" 16x9 screen which is 92" wide. I don't think you can compare the High Power to to many other screens in it's price range. It's a really one of a kind product. It has the gain with very little side affects.

As for the viewing cone, as long as you are within in the screen width, it's pretty watchable. I think close to the edge of the screen the gain is close to 1.0. Anyway, let's face it. Not too many people care as much about picture quality as we crt owners, so shouldn't you mainly worry about what you see? Let me tell you, just imagine what a gain of close to 3 can do to your crt image. It's like running your contrast to 150, without blooming and ruining your tubes in 100 hours. By the way, those shots were with contrast at 50.

The thing about a lower gain screen is that it's great if you need people to enjoy the exact same brightness wherever they are sitting. But that also means that the light is also bouncing in every angle as well, which is bad for intra-image contrast if your room is anything but a bat cave. I have white carpet ,and a white ceiling. With this set-up, hardly any light bounces to those areas. I had a da-lite matte white screen, and my room would completely wash out the image.

The only better screen at rejecting ambient light that I had was the Optoma Graywolf. However, the gain was half that of the High Power, and the screen was slightly gray with a noticeable texture and hotspotting. The high power is pure white and smooth, no hotspotting that I can tell, less color shift, plus it's washable with a damp cloth. I did that with the Graywolf and an area was permanently ruined.

Yah, I know it looks really lame with the pj that low, but I just wasn't happy at all with it up higher. If you ever had a high power screen and knew what you were missing by not hanging the pj lower, it would be very hard to resist doing this as well. It's as if I have a digital crt projector. The other options would be to table mount or build risers for you seating.

It would be awesome if I had some mount that could drop to an exact height, then raise when necessary. I would think something like that would be pretty costly though.

[Zebu Fellenz]

John,

So what you're saying is that the picture is still watchable if you're sitting close to the edge of the screen? Do you notice any major colorshift moving side to side? Is you're HP a pulldown or fixed frame?

Also are you running your G70 with ABG enabled or disabled?

Sorry for all the questions, I just want to make sure I get the right screen the first time.

Thanks,

-Erik

[Nashou66]

Here is my 159" diagonal 1.3 DaLite screen. Marquee 8500(Hd144's)



Oh and contrast at 50!!!!


Athanasios

[deronmoped]

I went the Hi Power route myself after having a Curved Silver screen for years. The silver screen allowed me to have the PJ on the ceiling, had a little more gain, no real hot spotting and some defects that would show up in certain images. With the HP I dropped the PJ so it was 36" above my head, the gain does go up a little as I get closer, anything closer then about 24" away and I do not really notice any difference. It does color shift quite a bit, but it's only really noticeable if you are walking back and forth. The surface of the screen is extremely good at not being there. Some screens, especially high gain ones can have a texture or flaws that show up.

Really if you think about it, it's the same exact problem as audio. I spent hours and hours setting up the audio and you end up with one seat in the theater that would have really good sound. Sit in any other seat and the quality of the audio is pretty poor compared to the main seat.

Anyways, who's seat is the best seat in the house?

Deron.

[garyfritz]

[Nashou66]

[garyfritz]

Yeah, if you blend, you want NO gain of any kind. Plain old 1.0 gain is best.

[johnsmith808]