Projector Screen size

D8ve4

Established Member
Joined
Feb 17, 2016
Messages
364
Reaction score
143
Points
116
Age
39
Location
England
Afternoon all,

I hope this question is best placed in the building section. Projector noob query…I’ve no experience whatsoever setting them up at this point in time.
I’m planning on installing a projector and am riding the fence on 2 different screen sizes.
The question is how close to the side walls of the room can the image be without compromising picture quality?

The larger screen would mean that the distance between image and side wall and ceiling is approx 22cm.
Walls and ceilings are intended to be treated with velvet flocking rather than paint. Holler if you need more info.

Best regards,
Dave
 
If the walls are going to be dark/black flock and not very reflective, then you can go wall to wall if you like. Black velvet is very non reflective and even with as screen up to the side walls you won't see the walls and the effects on the image won't be noticeable. With black velvet, when the lights are down and a movie playing, the side walls disappear and make the image look like it is on a wider back wall rather than up against two side walls, so the image has the impression it is floating in space - provided you don't have other things visible in view, such as speakers - they need to be either behind the screen or covered in black velvet too. Otherwise they will light up during brighter scenes and can be a distraction. Floor and ceiling are also weak points for reflections so should be treated in the same way.

Seating distance and viewing angles are important so even with a smaller screen, you can have the image look the same size as a larger image just by having your seats a little closer. All theatre construction guidelines work on viewing angles, not physical screen sizes etc.
 
Upvote 0
Afternoon all,

I hope this question is best placed in the building section. Projector noob query…I’ve no experience whatsoever setting them up at this point in time.
I’m planning on installing a projector and am riding the fence on 2 different screen sizes.
The question is how close to the side walls of the room can the image be without compromising picture quality?

The larger screen would mean that the distance between image and side wall and ceiling is approx 22cm.
Walls and ceilings are intended to be treated with velvet flocking rather than paint. Holler if you need more info.

Best regards,
Dave
it would help if you showed room dimensions and distance from seating to proposed screen
when I started out I had a 6 foot wide electric screen
I now have a 10 foot wide fixed screen
I would say go as big as you can but you have to get the seat to screen ratio right
 
Upvote 0
Thanks so far!
The room dimensions 8m by 4.5m.
Viewing distance from first row to screen approx 4.3m.
 
Upvote 0
This is awesome advice to hear btw, that the side walls disappear. I think I’m used to a higher than average vert. viewing angle. I really must learn how to measure that🧐
 
Upvote 0
Thanks so far!
The room dimensions 8m by 4.5m.
Viewing distance from first row to screen approx 4.3m.
You also need to decide if you want a 16:9 or scope screen there are arguments for both also if you want an acoustically transparent screen?
there are various calculators online for screen size but @Peter Parker is the expert in this field so hopefully he will advise
 
Upvote 0
Good shout! I forgot to mention I’ve chosen to go with a 2.4:1 AT screen.
Anybody have a good recipe for baffle wall construction?
 
Upvote 0
Baffle wall info:


I just used two layers of 18mm MDF and everything was screwed together so it could be easily removed when I move house. Otherwise I would have used a layer of plasterboard and Green Glue as well. 1" of Linacoustic is recommended for the baffle wall over in the US, but I found 40mm Acoustic foam has similar NRC values and used that instead.

You can angle the left and right speakers along with the left and right sides of the baffle wall if necessary. I'd recommend compression drivers with waveguides as they direct the audio towards the audience more than the walls, floor and ceiling, and have a more cinematic sound (IMHO) as that's what commercial theatres use. If you're on a budget, some Behringer B215XL speakers work very well, and go down to about 40hz in a baffle wall. There's a long thread over on avs if you're interested.

If you're into DIY, you can build a simple screen frame and stretch/staple the screen material over it. The cheapest AT material is Spandex, with a layer of white over black. There is a new AT material from XY screens (weave, not perf) that is said to be excellent and although more expensive than Spandex, represents good value. Have a read here and over on avs for more info. I think this is the stuff:


Otherwise, Seymour XD and UF materials get good reviews, though with XD the weave can be seen by some people from 11ft or closer, whereas UF is fine down to around 6ft.

There are various guidelines for 'optimum' immersion viewing distances, and a good rule of thumb is to sit around the same distance from the (scope) screen as the screen is wide (that gives approx a 50 degree horizontal viewing angle for scope, and 40 degrees for 1.85). Experiment with that as a starting guide. Another rule of thumb for that is to sit around 2.4 x the screen height back from the scope screen. They're just guides but that's not unlike sitting midway in the seats in a commercial theatre.

You can use a simple online right angle triangle calculator to work out the angle from your (seated) eyes to the top of the screen - ideally no more than 15 degrees is recommended or neck ache can set it after a while. 35 degrees is the absolute limit.
 
Upvote 0
Hi Peter, a quick thank you for you reference to the above. This is going to prove to be invaluable for the build. Thanks buddy!
 
Upvote 0

The latest video from AVForums

Is 4K Blu-ray Worth It?
Subscribe to our YouTube channel
Back
Top Bottom