» 05 Mar 2019 16:06
Dear Ladies and (probably more often) Gentlemen,
My name is János, I am from Hungary, and please forgive me for not using French on your forum, but unfortunately I am not good at that at all, and you are the only forum having the knowledge I am looking for.
I have a situation in which most of you are quite experienced.
I have a Benq W1090 like forum member Calagan and an all white living room (white ceiling is 50 cm from top of the screen, one white wall is 10 cm from that side of the screen). Also I have a wife who would definitely not tolerate packing the whole room in cinema-grade black velvet.
When the projector is on, even at 700 hours on the bulb and a Hoya ND2 filter in place, it is so bright that you can actually read a book in the room. The screen is standard white, 2m base. Projector is around 2.9 m from screen, seating distance is 3.2 m from screen. I am planning to go for a Radiance 0.8 of 2.15m base.
Actually using Smart Eco (and I would definitely recommend this mode to everyone, if you can tolerate the higher noise of the fan, since contrast is really boosted in dark scenes without much pumping effect: my wife actually does not allow me for switching back to Eco), I am quite okay with DLP blacks in dark scenes. Also very bright scenes are quite nice: although black levels are elevated, perceived contrast is still good, since whites pop even more.
BUT
There are certain scenes between these two categories that are just simply awful to look at. It is usually only a few seconds, but really distracting. It is the situation, when the image is actually quite bright, but not an absolutely daytime-scene bright, more like a late afternoon bright. E.g. in the very last Game of Thrones episode, LITTLE SPOILER ALERT when after a little fight on the beach, Theon walks into the sea for some refresh. Compared to my still excellent Hd Ready Panasonic plasma, the contrast holds quite well during the fighting on the beach, even when Theon stands up after the fight, and the much darker next scenes taking part in Winterfell are also nice contrast-wise. However that 20 seconds when Theon is walking past the boats and into the sea are downright annoying, everything is flat, washed-out and without dimensionality. On the Panasonic plasma, this is otherwise a very nice-looking scene.
I guess it is not the projector's contrast, since darker scenes are quite nice (and I know that this little DLP is not a JVC LCOS design inside), I am almost sure that the problem is the white-wall light pollution. In very bright daytime scenes I think the same light pollution washout happens, but it is not bothering. In case of those strongly lit daylight scenes I guess the brights are so high that the brain focuses much more on them than the poor blacks, so perceived contrast is still okay. However these medium lit screens are not bright enough to pop, but bright enough to reach such a high light reflection level, that scenes are washed out by the lights bounced back from the white surfaces.
So I have a less than ideal situation, and the only factor I can change is the screen (my wife stays, I really love her).
Now my many questions:
Do you think that Radiance 0.8 would combat this reflected light pollution?
Is it good against light coming from the side walls and from the ceiling/floor as well? Also, is it a problem if my back wall - the one opposite to the screen - is also white?
Is the room still lit up by reflected light? In my present setup, my side wall and the ceiling is practically shining when there is a bright content on screen.
Is short-throw projection problematic with this ALR screen material? The Benq W1090's maximum lens throw is 1.5x the image width, but I am projecting from even a closer distance. I have read in many articles (e.g. in that very good German ALR comparison article), that ALR screens do not go well with shorter throw projectors, a minimum of 1.6x projection distance is usually advised. In my case projection distance would be around 1.3x, while seating distance (which is also important because of the directivity of these screens) would be about 1.44x. The projector is ceiling mounted. Do you think that this projection distance is too short? What can the bad effects be? Ugly hot-spotting?
Speaking of the latter, is hotspotting problematic with this screen?
Is the viewing cone satisfactory? Can 4-5 people enjoy the pictures at the same time from a viewing distance of 1.44x screen width or the uniformity for the people at the sides would be too bad? The half gain angle should be around 45 degrees, resulting in a 90 degrees viewing cone, but I do not know what the situation is in practice. Is the picture okay viewed from the side or does it dim too much?
Does anyone have experience with the non-tensioned Screenline Slim chassis? It is cheaper - and more importantly for me, less wide - than the Wave Tensioned model, but I am not sure if without tensioning, waves of the fabric are an issue or not.
How noisy is the motor of the screen? Is it distracting to retreat the screen late at night when children are sleeping upstairs or it is not much of an issue?
What is BDC? I saw it used many times in relation to the Radiance screen.
I am really thankful for all your help in advance!
You all have a very nice day and merci beaucoup!
János