I am purchasing Screen Goo to make a projector screen. It is being used in the main living room of a condo which is being shared by college students. Therefore, I’m not looking to spend too much and I heard Screen Goo was the best value for the money.
Screen Goo comes in 3 different types, Reference White, High Contrast, and Max Contrast. These are, respectively, white, light gray, and darker gray.
I have a 200 ANSI LED projector with 2000:1 contrast ratio (LG HS201Slim purchased off Amazon). 200 lumens may not sound like much, but it is brighter than my old projector (Optoma EP719) which was 2000 lumens. I scrapped the old projector because the LED projector’s lamp lasts 10x longer.
I use the projector both in complete darkness (and yes, we can get complete darkness in the room even in the middle of the day) and in bright ambient light from the center fan light and kitchen lights. No sunlight ever enters the room, although some daylight does if we open the curtains.
We currently do not have a screen, but the wall it shines onto has a white chair rail with the wall light gray above it and dark gray below it. In darkness, the picture quality is really good, but it is completely washed out if we turn on the light.
Even though Max Contrast is the best for bright rooms, the Screen Goo guy I talked to said I can only use Reference White because my projector isn’t bright enough for the grays. However, the projector is working fine right now on both the light gray and the dark gray paint on my wall, so I’m questioning his expertise.
Anybody who is knowledgeable about LED projectors, could you help me figure out what color I should actually use? Thanks!
Reference White
I think you should trust the Goo Systems guy. These folks have been doing this for years and I have found them to be experts in their field. Keep in mind that the colors of white and gray that Goo uses are not the same as normal paint. Goo uses 3 layers and there’s texture, color and gain to consider and they factor that into their product.
Though your 200 lumins may be brighter than people would expect it is still not on the level of a 2500+ lumins projector. You should go with the reference white. If you do decide to go with the light gray, I don’t think you’ll be super disappointed either. I have that on my wall and I have no ambient light which works great but. . . I also have a 1700 lumins projector.
If you have the opportunity, I would also suggest mounting the projector, then project the perfect size image that you want and border it with a simple 3″ moulding painted flat black. It’s cheap but it really finishes off the “theater” experience.