Help improving the Contrast of my new Epson TW10H (grey screen?)

[YamahaClavinova]

Hi everyone,

I have had my new Epson projector for over a month now. I had been waiting
years before finally getting one so when it arrived i had a grin bigger than
a Cheshire cat!

For the 450 pounds i paid for it i have to say i am very happy indeed with
its performance and it comes with a 3 year guarantee to peace of mind is there too. I was a little wary before purchase as to if i'd actually
be dissapointed with the image, especially having read all the wonderful
posts about these new generation projectors, but i have to say i was pleasantly surprised. The colours produced are very vivid and the image nice and sharp which is good considering its relatively low resolution.

Now, contrast ratio, which has a big influence on the overall image quality and depth is quoted at 800:1 for this PJ. Since this is my first PJ i have no basis for comparisson but generally speaking it's fine. it's only in dark scenes that i feel the limitations of the CR affect the depth of the image. Although again, for 450 quid its amazing!

I am therefore looking to get the best out of this PJ and to improve the perceived contrast ratio.

So far i haven't really tinkered with the settings of the PJ - it's still at the factory preset parameter values.

I have built an 80" white screen so i project it onto that and the room i use is in complete darkness.

I have been thinking about experimenting with a grey screen as i have read that these can improve the contrast of the image. Having searched on Google i know that grey screen material is commercially available but is ridiculously expensive! Having built my own 80" screen for less than a tenner which is just great, i want to go down the DIY route.

I was wondering if any of your guys have experimented with grey screens and if you have any tips for me? I thought about going to the local DIY shop and getting a few shades of grey paint mixed and painting a peice of flat board just to see what the results would be like.

I have looked in vain for cheap grey material which is why i'm thinking about toying with shades of grey paint.

Any help / comments appreciated!

 

[fatgit]

I have the TW10H, and I eventually settled on a fixed screen using some blackout curtain material that is a slight grey, the screen is 86inches horizontal 16:9.

Whilst the blacks aren't deep black, they are better than on a white screen, and white levels are pretty good too.
One thing I cannot recommend enough is the use of a black velvet (or similar) border, as this also helps.
I find that 9/10 the blacks appear at least as black, if not blacker, than our cheapo Proline 32inch CRT, so I'm happy with it (until I end up seeing a demo of a better model and the upgrade bug strikes)

 

[YamahaClavinova]

good news that the grey material improves the black levels. I was worried that the gery colour of the material might affect the colours and whites displyed on the screen.

i couldn't find any grey material at the local Dunelm (huge material warehouse) but i'll keep my eyes open for some.

At the moment my screen doesnt have the balck borders but i will eventually install some once i have found the perfect shade of grey to use for the screen.

Did you have to tweak the brightness / colour settings etc?

 

[Lucas]

I run mine on a matt white screen and although blacks could be better I find that 9/10 times I don't notice it.

I've had it for about 6 months now and it clocked over 500hrs so the lamp is slightly dimmer and maybe this helps the black.

Interestingly I now find that CR is slightly better especially after calibrating using DVE or the THX optimiset patterns found on some DVD movies.

I think you will get much better CR by changing the factory settings.

 

[maxiboy]

I would first use a calibration dvd- this will mean that you are making full use of the available contrast. Obviously you need to make sure that you are using "Theatre Black" mode.

The alternative to using a grey screen is to use a photographic filter. A ND filter will apparently cut down the light output and so give better blacks but obviously at the cost of the whites. I assume that this will not affect the actual contrast ratio.

You could also use a CC (colour correction) filter. This can improve the actual contrast but you need a way of finding out what colour you actually need to correct which seems to get quite technical.

I too have started wondering if there is a cheap way of improving contrast. Has anyone actually used filters with the Epson?