Mods that transform your HT. Some are cheap.

[Lightguy]

Thought I would post results in our HT that made a big differance;

1; Paint the walls AND ceiling above the screen in a flat dark color. Does not have to be black. On my ceiling I used a flat dark purple. Side walls are a Chocolate brown. Back wall is dark "theatre" red. You would be amazed at the improvement in image contrast. Like doubling (or more) the price of the projector. The contrasts IMO look nice when the lights are on. They blend well with the;

2; Dark carpet on the floor in front of the screen. Once again it does not have to be black. Dark patterned rug to match the rest of the dacor. Cheapest easiest mod to kill reflected light and sound.

3; Sound absorbtion panels. ATS acoustics has pre-fabbed panels or you can DIY if you are handy.Six 2x4' panels turned my echo chamber room into a amazing sound stage.

4; Sub woofer. They are not cheap but make a big differance in enjoyment.

5. DaLite high power screen. You have to mount the projector just above the top of your head but WOW ! Its like veiwing a huge plasma TV. I mounted my projector on a back wall adjustable rack. HT is primarily a visual experiance. Put you money into a great screen. Projectors come and go. Do it.

[ajoker2c]

5. DaLite high power screen. You have to mount the projector just above the top of your head but WOW ! Its like veiwing a huge plasma TV. I mounted my projector on a back wall adjustable rack. HT is primarily a visual experiance. Put you money into a great screen. Projectors come and go. Do it.

Ive been preaching this screen material for awhile. Biggest improvement Ive had in my HT. Projector is approx 22inches above and 1foot behind head and the brightness and contrast has improved dramatically with 1600 lumen projector.

[psg]

Don't high-gain screens have trouble with black levels?

[ajoker2c]

Don't high-gain screens have trouble with black levels?

From my experience with Optoma HD65 and earlier H31 I had problems with black levels with older H31 and 800 lumens. With 1600 lumens on the hd65 (1600 is not all that high compared to newer models now) the difference in contrast and black levels are night and day with this screen. Da-Lite 110' model C manual pulldown is what I'm using. The added brightness from my experience has not taken away from percieved black levels. Ambient light is the biggest culprit for that and lower contrast.

It's retro reflective so any light source behind you lowers everything. There is a high power/high contrast Grey available now that appears to resolve that but have not seen one in person.

The only issue I see coming up with these screens is the narrow optimal viewing cone. All my seating is within the screen width so its minimal here

[Lightguy]

From what I have seen black levels are fine and I am very particular. What you gain in vividness more than makes up for any few %'s of black.

No screen delivers solid black. IMO the surrounding light conditions hense, darkening the wall/ceiling/floor (and BTW darkening helps with low reflective screens, even the grey ones), and projector contrast ratios are more culprits in low black levels than the DaLite's reflectance..

I have had zero issues with veiwing cone problems. IMO these issues are exagerated if the projector is positioned as it should be. Seeing is believing.