Tweet Posted September 29, 2014 Share Posted September 29, 2014 (edited) Having dealt with all of this in the past in my 'bat cave', and its all black....even the speakers are painted black, any reflection of light into the eye is a distraction and mars the visibility of the on-screen image. One of the best 'light traps' one can install are black curtains running parallel to the screen,so that the curtain visually frames the screen when seen from the sitting position. A number of these can be staggered throughout the room and can be padded to help with room acoustics, as such one does not need to paint the walls and the ceiling black if one does this. If the veiwing situation includes windows they will likewise need to be screened off too. It is surprising in a fully darkened room how distracting a little a ray of light can be , so any curtains need to be full length to the floor plus enough to seal off any light passing under it. A fully darkened room with only the active screen being visible is a captivating experience and is simply a beautiful window into the virtual reality of movies. C.M Edited September 29, 2014 by Tweet Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jutta Posted September 30, 2014 Share Posted September 30, 2014 I had planned to have a large black block out curtain recessed in to the bulkhead that covers the screen an part of each side wall slightly. Then draw this, either manually or motorised, to then cover the window wall. That will have three narrow slot windows on it. The other side wall to be covered in a dark mural of some sorts. B&W street or city scape or movie related. Unsure. But I can see it in my head. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
oztheatre Posted September 30, 2014 Share Posted September 30, 2014 +1 for black curtains too as painting is not the greatest job in the world! But ceiling is paramount too so can't do much else other than pin black velvet to it. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Owen Posted September 30, 2014 Share Posted September 30, 2014 That can't be right. Having a recess or shadow box around your screen is the same as moving your walls closer to the screen. If you have black walls and ceiling and have them further away from the image you get less reflections again as the light has to travel further to hit the walls and ceiling and further to bounce back onto the screen so the light dimishes the further it has to travel. The light hitting the recess, if your walls and ceiling are the same colour then it will work better because it's further away. If I take my black walls and place them closer to the screen the light bounce is worse not better. The ideal solution is no walls or ceiling ie projector and screen in a paddock with no lights at all, nothing to bounce onto of off. The ultimate is obviously an all black room, black velvet covered walls, ceiling. floor, furnishings etc. However thats not practical and not related to the question I was answering, which I should have quoted for clarity. Reading back over this thread and thinking about doing something with corflute and velvet for improving contrast on scope movies. Anyone think recessing the screen will make much difference compared to a decent width 'border' around the screen? Aze A wide black border or even a black wall behind the screen is nice but it does stuff all for the actual image as it does nothing to reduce light reflections and improve ANSI contrast. A black velvet covered recess on the other hand makes a HUGE difference in an otherwise normal room (not everything black) if it is reasonably deep and can shade a large proportion of the room from light reflected off the screen and therefore back to it. Its not a subtle difference it really bloody obvious, ANSI contrast is dramatically improved and distraction from illuminated walls in ones peripheral vision are can also be removed. Good black velvet reflects bugger all light, thats why it looks so black. Light doesn't care how far it travels before it is reflected, and since the amount of light reflected by black velvet is so low it makes stuff all difference if the velvet is close to the screen or far away on walls, ceiling, floor. Not only that but a few metres of velvet placed in a close fitting recess has a similar effect to covering a large proportion of the room in velvet which would require 10 times the material and is often not acceptable in a living room. In combination with a dark rug covering the floor between the screen and the viewer you can get a really good result without resorting to a full black painted, velvet covered bat cave. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
oztheatre Posted September 30, 2014 Share Posted September 30, 2014 Do you have any photos of what that would look like? I dont think it would have WAF compared to darkening the whole room. I guess for living rooms it might be the go and best way to improve things but if you have a dedicated room, black everything is the best option. There's always going to be the 2 types of rooms - living dual purpose and dedicated rooms. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
IMDave Posted October 1, 2014 Share Posted October 1, 2014 (edited) edited below. Edited October 1, 2014 by IMDave Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
IMDave Posted October 1, 2014 Share Posted October 1, 2014 Goddamn it. Wish I'd never opened this thread. Something I'd never really paid any attention to has now become a major distraction. So the project begins. Limiting the ceiling/side wall light reflections. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
oztheatre Posted October 1, 2014 Share Posted October 1, 2014 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
IMDave Posted October 1, 2014 Share Posted October 1, 2014 http://www.avsforum.com/forum/24-digital-hi-end-projectors-3-000-usd-msrp/1465053-black-theater-improvment-thread-once-you-go-black-you-never-go-back.html Only a lazy 1000+ post thread to read through. Why didn't I know about this when I was in the "build" phase. Would have loved to have built the recessed screen as that would have had the highest WAF. Now looking hard for fidelio velvet to no avail. Trying to come up with some sort of retractable "tent" with "flaps" Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
IMDave Posted October 1, 2014 Share Posted October 1, 2014 (edited) Thanks Rich, but I must be missing your point. Sorry. My room is painted in much darker colours than the both those photos, and as my sig. shows I'm using one of your wonderful 130" scope screens. It's the bloody reflections that are the killer. I would think even flat/black paint would show something. Velvet sounds like the only product to kill that. Edited October 1, 2014 by IMDave Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
oztheatre Posted October 1, 2014 Share Posted October 1, 2014 Thanks Rich, but I must be missing your point. Sorry. My room is painted in much darker colours than the both those photos, and as my sig. shows I'm using one of your wonderful 130" scope screens. It's the bloody reflections that are the killer. I would think even flat/black paint would show something. Velvet sounds like the only product to kill that. Yes sorry I thought your room was lighter coloured walls then your photo looks like they're dark. You really cant kill all of it unless you use fidelio velvet or something similarly black, even then, you get some visible light, but god I love my velvet ceiling, I ran 2.4 metres deep right across the front of the room, the screen surface is about 90mm from the ceiling so it works great and was a must do. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
IMDave Posted October 1, 2014 Share Posted October 1, 2014 http://www.avsforum.com/forum/24-digital-hi-end-projectors-3-000-usd-msrp/757920-improving-ansi-cr-my-ht-some-experiments-obervations.html Here's a great AVS thread from back in 2006. The guys tests a series of mods and the resultant improvement in ANSI contrast. Fidelio black velvet 500mm out from the screen seems to give great results. As can be seen from my photo, the frame sits about 90mm under the ceiling cornice, and from there the reflected light just spills upwards and onward. Can't seem to find any local sources of fidelio velvet.( Even a couple of US stockists are out ). Next best thing??? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bassmaniac69 Posted October 1, 2014 Share Posted October 1, 2014 It's a bit hard to tell from your photo (and maybe you have mentioned it) but is your ceiling dark/black? I was looking at doing my ceiling in velvet and actually got some black (non velvet) material to put on the roof as a tester and actually went with the Roscoe black paint instead. For me painting was a lot easier and cheaper than putting up a shed load of velvet Here's a photo during the day after I painted, I'll have to take some shots of it running so you can see the amount of reflections that I don;t get now thanks to it. I believe it's not as great compared to velvet but TBH it's almost perfect for my needs so I'm very happy. Note I was able to use the material for the floor - it's just loose at the moment but I'm planning on wrapping some pads with it when I get a chance. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
oztheatre Posted October 1, 2014 Share Posted October 1, 2014 http://www.avsforum.com/forum/24-digital-hi-end-projectors-3-000-usd-msrp/757920-improving-ansi-cr-my-ht-some-experiments-obervations.html Here's a great AVS thread from back in 2006. The guys tests a series of mods and the resultant improvement in ANSI contrast. Fidelio black velvet 500mm out from the screen seems to give great results. As can be seen from my photo, the frame sits about 90mm under the ceiling cornice, and from there the reflected light just spills upwards and onward. Can't seem to find any local sources of fidelio velvet.( Even a couple of US stockists are out ). Next best thing??? I have the exclusive on fidelio for our majestic screens in Australia so nobody else can get it.. well that's what I'm told haha. Full width rolls are expensive at, now over $1800 per 34 yard roll (1200mm wide). I had 3 full rolls here, sold 2 of them for 1500 each about 18 months ago. The other I used myself. Shame they can't make a paint that black! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
IMDave Posted October 1, 2014 Share Posted October 1, 2014 Well at that price it looks like fidelio velvet is off the list. Bassmaniac, yes the wall/ceiling colour is hard to tell from the photos. It was more to show how much light was reflecting up. In fact the ceiling is similar to the darker wall panel in Rich's left photo, and the walls are a dark brown, similar the Rich's right photo. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
oztheatre Posted October 1, 2014 Share Posted October 1, 2014 Well at that price it looks like fidelio velvet is off the list. Bassmaniac, yes the wall/ceiling colour is hard to tell from the photos. It was more to show how much light was reflecting up. In fact the ceiling is similar to the darker wall panel in Rich's left photo, and the walls are a dark brown, similar the Rich's right photo. It's very expensive, those full roll prices are cost! My rolls are then shipped half way across the US to get slitted into coils and have a peel off paper backed glue put on. Then shipped on a pallet by air, I normally spend around 15K-18K each order! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
oztheatre Posted October 1, 2014 Share Posted October 1, 2014 That eagle velvet from spotlight should be ok, it's around $40 a lineal metre. At least you wouldn't need a full roll. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
IMDave Posted October 1, 2014 Share Posted October 1, 2014 That eagle velvet from spotlight should be ok, it's around $40 a lineal metre. At least you wouldn't need a full roll. Thanks Rich, I'll look into it. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
pezz1503562352 Posted November 3, 2014 Share Posted November 3, 2014 Anyone used velvet flocked wallpaper? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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