CurtPalme.com Home Theater Forum

deronmoped · Joined: 03 Nov 2006 Posts: 1154 Location: San Diego

So after using a high gain silver DIY screen for a few years and doing a lot of research I have now ended up with a High Power screen.

When I first started to build my HT one thing big on my list was a super large screen. Now most people recommend much smaller screens then what I wanted. For most people this would be smart, it easier, less money, works better for most viewing environments.

To make a overly large screen work for me the way I decided to go was to build my theater around the screen, not build the theater then make a screen work in that environment. With the silver screen, I of course ceiling mounted the PJ, had to cut a hole in the rear wall as I could not get the PJ far enough back, blacked out the theater with black velvet, speaker position was not ideal, seating had to be as far back as I could get it. Now I was never completely happy with my 161" 16X9 curved silver 4+ gain DIY screen, do not get me wrong, it was awesome, it was just that I could never get the silver paint perfect. I got it real close to perfect, but when you want the screen to be invisible at all times in all images, you know how that goes. Not even manufactured screens are perfect, let alone the DIY screens.

So with my last attempt to paint a perfect screen, it came close, but with different problems. This is where I decided I was wasting a lot of time on my screen and started to look at other screen materials again. I liked the reviews on the HP, bright, disappears, hides flaws and you can clean it. The reason I did not go with it the first time around was, it was not as bright as the silver with the PJ ceiling mounted, could not get it seamless and $$$.

Well I made the decision to go with the HP and started to look into getting the material to build my own screen. I figured I could make a killer fixed screen cheap, wrong, Dalite wanted more for the material then what it would cost me for a electric screen, about twice as much. So I bought a 159" Cosmopolitan, it arrived without too much damage from shipping it. This thing was huge, I totally forgot to check to see if I could even get it in my theater, duh. Well it made it. I had to cut up my old fixed DIY curved drywall screen to get that out. Was pretty easy to install the electric screen, a couple of adjustable brackets, level and position the screen and hook up the electrical.

Now I have a 10PG CRT PJ and you will hear that a CRT will not take full advantage of what the HP has to offer, this can be true if you are locked into your PJ or seating locations. The HP is sold as having a viewing cone of 25 degrees which is pretty narrow. What I'm doing so I can work with this is, I've moved my PJ down off the ceiling to just over head banger height and now I working on moving the seats up. Right now the seats are still on the floor, my eyes are within 42" of the center of the tubes and the image is plenty bright. I could leave the seats where they are at and I would be totally happy, but it does get noticeably brighter as I get closer. It looks like you will see maximum brightness within two feet. Moving the seats up onto a platform actually works real good for me. What I'm going to do is build a platform that will act as a sub woofer/shaker, added backrest for floor seating for kids and get me into the the hot spot for brightness.

I really like this HP a lot, it's quite a bit brighter then my old silver screen, it's advertised as 2.8 gain in a 25 degree viewing cone, I thinking that this 2.8 gain must be measured at the edges of the 25 degree cone and it just goes up from there. The HP's brightness out past the viewing cone is not so bad, my old silver screen would drop off real quick, 3 seats wide is ideal seating, but adding more would be OK. The screen is absolutely invisible, I love this, this is what I could never get my old screen to do. The screen I got from Dalite has all kinds of waves in it, but you can not see them, other screens have to be perfect. I like the fact that I can clean the screen, as I know it will collect dust over the years. Having a roll up screen is another plus, protects the screen from those chocolate/oil covered fingers.

Deron.

stefuel · Posted: Wed Oct 17, 2007 9:31 pm Post subject:

OK, I musta had my head in the sand for a while. What the heck is a "HP" screen?

**AnalogRocks** · Posted: Thu Oct 18, 2007 12:14 am Post subject:

HP=Horse power, Hewlett Packard, Holy Poop, or High Power. I think it's the last one. Wink

garyfritz · Joined: 08 Apr 2006 Posts: 12088 Location: Fort Collins, CO

No, I think it's "High Priced." Smile

(Which is what they used to say the "HP" in Hewlett Packard stood for, back when I worked for 'em...)

CZ Eddie · Joined: 23 Mar 2006 Posts: 1601 Location: Austin, TX

Deron, how many HP threads are you going to start? What happened to the last one?

oliverg · Posted: Thu Oct 18, 2007 3:35 am Post subject:

I found a place in Australia that sells really nice screens for 1$ NR - I've bought 4 of them @ $52 AUD (about $40 US). They are 92" diagonal 16:9. or they also have 100" 4:3

Local delivery was $25. Flat Matte 1.2 gain.

Before I got the first one, I thought it was going to be junk. I couldn't have been more wrong, these things are built like tanks and the Nulon like material is great for CRTs

Dave Lister · Posted: Thu Oct 18, 2007 5:37 am Post subject:

deronmoped · Joined: 03 Nov 2006 Posts: 1154 Location: San Diego

Eddie

I usually start a new thread if I want to get peoples attention or I have added quite a bit. If I just use the old thread it probably does not get revisited by people.

My Electric 16X9 159" screen was $850.00. It's a lot of money, but I was spending so much time messing with my DIY screen that I could have bought 5 of the HP's.

Deron.

oliverg · Posted: Thu Oct 18, 2007 8:36 am Post subject:

Are you talking about the Draper HP screens that always seem to be selling on eBay for NR?