I became a member here now because I found out that this seemed to be the place on the web with the largest number of people using and knowing much about the ReAct material, which is one of the materials I'm considering for my new screen. It's a long story, but please bear with me:
I have a cabin where I'm moving in a little more than a year when my youngest move out to go to the university, and I'm going to put up a full projection home theater in the living room/kitchen/dining room. At home I have a dedicated home theater (with aCRT projector that I've had for around ten years, with color filtered and very good tubes). It has dark, matte burgundy floor and walls and a matte black ceiling. So I'm used to the "image hanging in thin air at the end of the room" effect. The screen is a Draper tab tensioned with the vinyl white standard material, and it's so broad that it almost covers the end of the room - around 260 cm. The final 20 cm on each side are covered by black velvet curtains. So it's really a batcave. The cabin? Not so much... Check out the windows on this thing:
The screen will be on the left side wall. As you see it's not really made for viewing in the daytime. But I do have blinds on all windows, so it gets pretty dark. Still not completely dark. But I'm not buying a screen for watching movies in the daytime. That would be too much to demand since I'm very much a fan of real black. In my home theater I literally can't see my hand in front of my face when Galadriel voices the beginning of "Fellowship of the Ring". That's not possible no matter what I do, since I won't be going CRT now. I'm planning to use a JVC DLA-X500R. And here's the interior it has to fight with:
Sorry about the very Christmassy feel on the picture pointing away from the screen placement. Oh, and the ceiling isn't done, partly because I need to put up the screen first and party because I have waited for almost two years with that so I can get the Atmos speakers correctly placed! But the ceiling will be as white as the walls. You can also see the blinds above each window, they are controlled by RollerTrol motors.
The screen will go all the way from the left front tower to the right front tower, 230 cm (220 viewing area if I choose to go with borders - that's another thing I haven't decided yet). Behind it I will have very dark grey, almost black, curtains. That's the only thing I've managed to negotiate. I'm a married man, and some things I just can't get. So the rest of the walls and ceiling will be white. Period. It is possible to have black blinds on each side wall so I can cover the 150 cm closest to the screen, but I'd prefer not to, it would look a bit untidy when not in use, since the ceiling is angled towards the side walls, and there is no way to hide them in a nice way.
I have to use the Euroscreen Sesame because the screen has to be completely built-in, and this is the only screen I have found (within a reasonable price) that has a cassette only 10 cm high. That way I won't have to touch the plastic sheet (don't know what that's called in English, but it stops hot, moist air getting from the room and up in the insulation when it's cold on the top of the insulation, and it gets pretty cold here at times) and the insulation. As you can see I have built the ceiling at 250 cm and then lowered the beams to 240, which is the standard in Norway. That gives me room for ceiling speakers and cables without having to mess too much with the plastic sheet.
So that was the background for the question. I hope that should be pretty well explained. The question itself is really easy, given the background: Should I go for a ReAct 2.1 or a Vision Grey, or what? I watch a lot of dark movies (horror, action, LotR) and I love my 3D (Hobbit, Marvel, more action and horror). And details in dark scenes are very important to me. That's one of the main reasons for choosing the JVC DLA-X500. I would really like to watch sports as well, like the upcoming WC in Nordic skiing next month, and that will be watched with more ambient light since it will be daylight outside. But at the same time that's very bright images anyway. Another thing to consider is the viewing angle. Will both sides of the couch (which will be around 4 meters from the screen) have a good view, or is that going to be a problem?
I'm guessing that with the white walls and ceiling ReAct would be a good choice. I just don't know how that works with 3D, and I have heard from (supposedly) informed sources that the material may be prone to speckling in bright areas (like snow, I presume). So what do you guys think would be my best alternative for this setup?
I have a cabin where I'm moving in a little more than a year when my youngest move out to go to the university, and I'm going to put up a full projection home theater in the living room/kitchen/dining room. At home I have a dedicated home theater (with aCRT projector that I've had for around ten years, with color filtered and very good tubes). It has dark, matte burgundy floor and walls and a matte black ceiling. So I'm used to the "image hanging in thin air at the end of the room" effect. The screen is a Draper tab tensioned with the vinyl white standard material, and it's so broad that it almost covers the end of the room - around 260 cm. The final 20 cm on each side are covered by black velvet curtains. So it's really a batcave. The cabin? Not so much... Check out the windows on this thing:
The screen will be on the left side wall. As you see it's not really made for viewing in the daytime. But I do have blinds on all windows, so it gets pretty dark. Still not completely dark. But I'm not buying a screen for watching movies in the daytime. That would be too much to demand since I'm very much a fan of real black. In my home theater I literally can't see my hand in front of my face when Galadriel voices the beginning of "Fellowship of the Ring". That's not possible no matter what I do, since I won't be going CRT now. I'm planning to use a JVC DLA-X500R. And here's the interior it has to fight with:
Sorry about the very Christmassy feel on the picture pointing away from the screen placement. Oh, and the ceiling isn't done, partly because I need to put up the screen first and party because I have waited for almost two years with that so I can get the Atmos speakers correctly placed! But the ceiling will be as white as the walls. You can also see the blinds above each window, they are controlled by RollerTrol motors.
The screen will go all the way from the left front tower to the right front tower, 230 cm (220 viewing area if I choose to go with borders - that's another thing I haven't decided yet). Behind it I will have very dark grey, almost black, curtains. That's the only thing I've managed to negotiate. I'm a married man, and some things I just can't get. So the rest of the walls and ceiling will be white. Period. It is possible to have black blinds on each side wall so I can cover the 150 cm closest to the screen, but I'd prefer not to, it would look a bit untidy when not in use, since the ceiling is angled towards the side walls, and there is no way to hide them in a nice way.
I have to use the Euroscreen Sesame because the screen has to be completely built-in, and this is the only screen I have found (within a reasonable price) that has a cassette only 10 cm high. That way I won't have to touch the plastic sheet (don't know what that's called in English, but it stops hot, moist air getting from the room and up in the insulation when it's cold on the top of the insulation, and it gets pretty cold here at times) and the insulation. As you can see I have built the ceiling at 250 cm and then lowered the beams to 240, which is the standard in Norway. That gives me room for ceiling speakers and cables without having to mess too much with the plastic sheet.
So that was the background for the question. I hope that should be pretty well explained. The question itself is really easy, given the background: Should I go for a ReAct 2.1 or a Vision Grey, or what? I watch a lot of dark movies (horror, action, LotR) and I love my 3D (Hobbit, Marvel, more action and horror). And details in dark scenes are very important to me. That's one of the main reasons for choosing the JVC DLA-X500. I would really like to watch sports as well, like the upcoming WC in Nordic skiing next month, and that will be watched with more ambient light since it will be daylight outside. But at the same time that's very bright images anyway. Another thing to consider is the viewing angle. Will both sides of the couch (which will be around 4 meters from the screen) have a good view, or is that going to be a problem?
I'm guessing that with the white walls and ceiling ReAct would be a good choice. I just don't know how that works with 3D, and I have heard from (supposedly) informed sources that the material may be prone to speckling in bright areas (like snow, I presume). So what do you guys think would be my best alternative for this setup?
Last edited: