Wall colour for projector

[db10]

Hi all

I’m putting a projector into our lounge as the main tv. I’m planning to get quite a bright projector as there are quite big windows. What recommendation do people have for the colour of the wall which the picture will be on - i would prefer not to pain the wall with the screen white paint, but rather something that looks more “normal” when the projector isn’t on

I’m not massively hung up about picture quality etc. The windows have shutters so pretty much black out the room when shut if that makes a difference?

Thanks for the advice in advance !

[voram]

How much are you spending on the projector?

[techguyone]

db10 said:

Hi all

I’m putting a projector into our lounge as the main tv. I’m planning to get quite a bright projector as there are quite big windows. What recommendation do people have for the colour of the wall which the picture will be on - i would prefer not to pain the wall with the screen white paint, but rather something that looks more “normal” when the projector isn’t on

I’m not massively hung up about picture quality etc. The windows have shutters so pretty much black out the room when shut if that makes a difference?

Thanks for the advice in advance !

put a drop down projector screen in, then your wall can be any colour you want.

[Pixelpeep Z4]

unless you are spending a decent amount on the projector, expect the picture to never be bright enough across its entire size in anything other than the dead of night.

Also, make sure this is a secondary way to watch tv in the living room. As in, have a standard qled for general viewing. If you thought about 'just' using a projector.

They do projector specific paint for walls, which helps. not sure if you knew that.

[FarmyardPants]

Bright projectors (say 3000lm+) are usually designed for office use and will have a poor contrast ratio - the black parts of the image will be grey, giving a washed-out look.

This can be mitigated to some extent by using a grey paint instead of the usual white. There is a lot of discussion on AVForums about paint colours to use.

But as stated above you are unlikely to achieve good image quality whatever paint you use. People use TVs during the day and home cinema projectors in a dark room for good reason.

[C n C]

+1 for getting a drop-down screen. Projecting on a wall would be a compromise - especially if it is using non projection screen specific paint.

The other thing to consider is what colour are you going to have the other walls and ceiling. For the best projected image, the rest of the room should be in as dark a colour as you can get away with, as even with blacked out windows, light reflecting from the projected image will bounce around the room, and if the whole room is a light colour, this will massively impact the contrast of the image.

[Sporky]

FarmyardPants said:

Bright projectors (say 3000lm+) are usually designed for office use and will have a poor contrast ratio - the black parts of the image will be grey, giving a washed-out look.

3,000 ANSI-L isn't bright. 10,000+ is bright.

For any projector, contrast is defined much more by the ambient light level than anything else. Lens contrast is typically several thousand to one, whereas 10:1 on screen looks pretty darned good, and 20:1 looks spectacular.

[OldSkoolRS]

Sporky said:

3,000 ANSI-L isn't bright. 10,000+ is bright.

For any projector, contrast is defined much more by the ambient light level than anything else. Lens contrast is typically several thousand to one, whereas 10:1 on screen looks pretty darned good, and 20:1 looks spectacular.

I wonder if you might be mixing up ANSI contrast rather than on/off contrast? Even so when I made some room changes and went from about 75:1 ANSI contrast to nearly 250:1 (measured off the screen) there was a huge difference and 75:1 looked pretty poor and washed out. I can't remember the specs off hand now but my JVC X7500 is something like 50,000:1 native (depending on throw/zoom/iris settings) with the option to use a dynamic iris for even more contrast, but some side effects, so it's up to the user to chose which they prefer.

I'd also second the suggestion of keeping a smaller TV to use for day to day. Watching everything on a big screen in semi darkness soon wears thin and loses it's appeal. The lamp life will be shortened if you keep turning a projector on and off a lot in a short time too. Obviously the higher use will add up to more hours as well, so if you do go ahead with this, look into the bulb prices: They never last as long as suggested and you might end up using it in high lamp if viewing during the daytime (which uses the lamp up faster too).

[page3]

Pixelpeep Z4 said:

unless you are spending a decent amount on the projector, expect the picture to never be bright enough across its entire size in anything other than the dead of night.

Also, make sure this is a secondary way to watch tv in the living room. As in, have a standard qled for general viewing. If you thought about 'just' using a projector.

They do projector specific paint for walls, which helps. not sure if you knew that.

I don’t agree. We’re now over 10 years without a television in the house. The projector is our only screen, and it’s fantastic. For general stuff who cares about a bit of lost contrast. For everything else it’s reduce light where possible.

Would never go back. A screen emitting light just doesn’t seem natural any more.

Op, we use a permanently mounted fixed 16x9 screen. You’d be surprised how it disappears in to the background when not on. People tend not to even notice it!

[Sporky]

OldSkoolRS said:

I wonder if you might be mixing up ANSI contrast rather than on/off contrast?

I do commercial AV - we measure full white vs black on a chequer board, so it's actual image contrast. I've seen people (usually projector manufacturers) measure the black with the projector off, and white with it on, to get a better number, but we're concerned with the achievable contrast in use. There's an upper limit for that in my world - over 20:1 is essentially impossible without a fancy screen surface, and past 30:1 is uncomfortable - we might turn off any lights playing onto the screen, but we can't plunge the room into darkness.

That said, we're moving away from projection where possible, to flat panel or tiled LED.

[Tony1963]

A few years ago a friend was looking into painting a wall for projecting movies onto. In the end, for the price of the recommended paint, he was better off buying a decent screen.


If you can’t do it properly, don’t bother.

[Sporky]

If Screen Goo is still the recommended stuff then I'd definitely go for a proper screen instead - as you say, it'll be cheaper, and you'll very likely get a better image too.

[MidlandsBoy]

I have a very budget setup and anyone that sees it is very impressed. only a true projector 'expert' would question the contrast ratio or lumen output.

I project straight onto a thrice painted white wall with black surround. Screen size is approx 110" and the resolution is only 1080p but When i watch movies and play games on it I am very happy with the overall effect.

The room is fairly dark though. And direct sunlight on that wall is a big no no.

[FarmyardPants]

Sporky said:

FarmyardPants said:

Bright projectors (say 3000lm+) are usually designed for office use and will have a poor contrast ratio - the black parts of the image will be grey, giving a washed-out look.

3,000 ANSI-L isn't bright. 10,000+ is bright.

For any projector, contrast is defined much more by the ambient light level than anything else. Lens contrast is typically several thousand to one, whereas 10:1 on screen looks pretty darned good, and 20:1 looks spectacular.

What I meant was, there are office projectors and home cinema projectors. They have different designs for their respective use cases.

Office projectors tend to be 3000+ lumens (and yes, that includes 10k lumens) - they are usable in a lit room and/or with light walls, but don't work well in a dark room with low ambient light owing to the high black floor of the projector itself. You could use a Neutral Density filter in front of the lens but this only helps to a small degree.

Home cinema projectors tend to be ~1500-2200 lumens with a low black floor. This is plenty bright enough for a dark room but not enough for daytime use.

The point being that you need two projectors to cover both use cases (or a TV for daytime).

[JEA1K]

If you're planning to use as a TV and during the day, you'll be better off with a UST (ultra short throw) projector which will work much better with greater levels of ambient light.

I would always recommend a screen of some description however to get a decent surface ...

[Sporky]

FarmyardPants said:

What I meant was, there are office projectors and home cinema projectors. They have different designs for their respective use cases.

Office projectors tend to be 3000+ lumens (and yes, that includes 10k lumens) - they are usable in a lit room and/or with light walls, but don't work well in a dark room with low ambient light owing to the high black floor of the projector itself. You could use a Neutral Density filter in front of the lens but this only helps to a small degree.

Home cinema projectors tend to be ~1500-2200 lumens with a low black floor. This is plenty bright enough for a dark room but not enough for daytime use.

The point being that you need two projectors to cover both use cases (or a TV for daytime).

Ah! Gotcha. Sorry, I missed the point entirely there.