Projection Screen Paints - Goo Systems

You can definitely save considerable money over an off-the-shelf fabric projection screen solution, by simply painting your own projection screen.

While up to a few years, your only way forward in this direction was to experiment, specially formulated screen paints are now readily available from a number of manufactures. Projection screen paint solutions like Paint-On-Screen and Goo Systems offer a full range of paint products, ranging from pure white, to a variety of gray shades designed to help improve image contrast.

Painting your own screen is relatively easy - just applying the paint by roller like any other water-based wall paint; some screen paints with a silver base however, require the paint to be sprayed.

Is it really worth painting your own Projection Screen?

Projection screen paints do not come cheap in comparison to standard acrylic wall paint, and despite that these are targeted for the home theater on a budget, expect to spend close to $200 in paint products - depending on the selected screen finish - for approximately 1 liter of base coat and another liter of top coat; this paint quantity will suffice to cover a 100-inch diagonal 16:9 screen area.

To this you have to add the black matte paint for the screen mask/border and any labor costs should you decide to subcontract someone else to do the job for you. Labor costs may eventually make the whole project unfeasible since these will vary depending on the work necessary to ensure that the surface is completely flat and free from defects.

In other words, if you really want to enjoy the financial benefit associated with projection screen paints, you have to paint your own screen. And this is fundamental.

And would standard acrylic wall-paint make the grade?

This question follows out of the rather high price associated with specially formulated projection screen paints in comparison to the acrylic wall paint you buy from your favorite hardware store. We have only tested Goo Systems white projection screen paint for the purpose, so what follows applies mainly to Goo.

Goo Systems 'CRT White' top coat acrylic screen paint did definitely produce superior image quality to that obtained using a high quality white acrylic wall paint we bought from the local hardware store. In particular, the Goo Systems painted surface did produce a clearly brighter projected image, and an overall image quality that is very much in line with the performance of more expensive white fabric screens from other major brands.

In this respect, the ordinary white acrylic paint did not make the grade even though for some, the projected image may still be acceptable considering the price difference between the two.

Note: We did not compare the performance of Goo Systems 'grey' projection screen paints with acrylic wall-paint. Specially formulated gray projection screen paints are generally even more difficult to mimic than white paint. The reason is that you can never know the exact 'color' of the black tint used by the paint mixers to come up with their gray wall paint.

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Goo Systems 'Screen Goo' Line of Projection Screen Paints in detail

Goo Systems have a full line of specially formulated projection screen paints, branded as 'Screen Goo' that will allow you to use your wall as an effective fixed-frame large projection screen solution!

The product line consists of a set of specially formulated high reflective acrylic coatings designed specifically for the projection TV and video industry.

Aimed in particular at the budget-restricted home theater, Screen Goo acrylic projection screen paints will allow anyone to transform a smooth paintable surface into a quality projection screen.

Screen Goo is made from a quality acrylic base with no filler materials - which partly explains the expensive price tag. The term 'filler' is often used in the paint industry to indicate the use of cheap additives whose sole purpose is to increase the volume of the paint.

Goo System projection screen paints are simple to apply by either roller or spray. Note however that a roller coated surface and a sprayed surface will behave differently since the resultant screen gain and viewing angle will be different due to the resultant different top-coat texture. This means that the coating process should be taken into account when choosing the right projection screen paint for your application.

Furthermore, when applying projection screen paints on large surfaces, it is essential to ensure that adjacent areas do not start drying up as otherwise it will be impossible to obtain an even application. This is something that can easily happen in a dry environment. Screen Go range includes a retarder additive for the purpose - Goo Flow Release - to help slow the drying time for an even finish.

In the end, good results depend on spreading Screen Goo projection screen paint evenly and consistently over the entire projection surface.

Screen Goo Projection Screen Paints Product Information

The line of Screen Goo projection screen paints includes five different paint finishes designed to meet different video projection environments. These projection screen finishes come as a basecoat - top coat pair in that each finish require a corresponding basecoat which you have to apply. Basecoats are significantly less expensive and help lower the overall project cost.

CRT White: This is a high gain projector screen paint with a maximum gain of 1.8; screen gain remains above 1 up to a full viewing cone of approximately 110 degrees.

Digital Grey Lite:   A derivative of the 'digital grey' projection screen paint for improved black levels, but with a higher screen gain of 1.4; screen gain remains above 1 up to a full viewing cone of 90 degrees.

Digital Grey: Maximum screen grain of 1.2; screen gain remains above 1 up to a full viewing cone of 90 degrees.

Ultra Grey: This comes with reduced gain of 0.9 and a viewing cone of around 110 degrees.

Ultra Silver 3D: This is a new high reflectance silver coating especially suited for polarized 3D projection. It can also be used under a very bright environment, where deep shadows and black tones are generally not so critical. Unlike the other four screen paints, the Ultra Silver 3D projection screen finish has to be sprayed.

The CRT White finish is ideal for dark environments while the 'grey' line of reflective coatings produce better contrast control and deeper blacks in environments with a higher level of ambient light; the use of neutral gray shades ensure that color accuracy is not affected. The perceived high contrast effect is achieved as the gray finish effectively lowers the black levels in the projected image. Projected images would not look as bright as with the CRT White but image brightness is not much reduced with the Digital Grey Lite and Digital Grey projection screen finishes.

The Ultra Grey is best suited for projection environments with a high level of ambient light and powerful projectors.

The chart below depicts the screen gain versus viewing angle for each of these projection screen finishes:

Image courtesy of Goo Systems

Goo Systems has also engineered an interesting rear projection screen coating designed to provide exceptional results in both home and business applications. Any rigid transparent surface can now be cost effectively transformed into a high quality dual-sided projection screen.

Potential uses for projector screen paints include home theater installations, retail point-of-purchase displays, conference rooms, and large venue displays such as concert halls, arenas, and houses of worship. In reality, applications are limited only by your imagination.

Features include:

- Very good color fidelity

- Excellent gain with minimal hot spotting

- Good horizontal and vertical off-axis characteristics

- Easy single-step application

- Affordability

Finding the right projector screen paint:

For this purpose, Goo Systems has set-up a Product Calculator to help you determine the right Screen Goo for your requirement.

Concluding remarks:

Projection screen paints, while more expensive than standard wall paint, do provide a significant improvement in projected image quality over traditional simple DIY projection screen solutions like the use of a stretched piece of blackout fabric or regular acrylic wall paint.

Rather, with patience and little practice, Screen Goo product performance can be made to come close to that supported by fixed-frame fabric projector screens. In particular, Goo's CRT White performance comes very close to that supported by the more expensive white screens from major brands.

When it comes to video projector screens, your budget is the limit. But if what you are after is the biggest screen for your budget and you know how to correctly use a paint roller or spray gun, painting your own video wall with some specially formulated projection screen paint is an extremely effective and affordable option.

By selecting an appropriate projection screen paint to match your video projector,  specially formulated paint solutions like that provided by Goo Systems reviewed here can help you get comparable results to more expensive fixed frame fabric screens for the fraction of the cost. You would not get acoustic transparency with a painted screen, and it would take more time to complete than putting up an off-the self product. But overall, the painted screen represents good value in terms of cost per square foot and an attractive solution to the budget-restricted DIY home theater enthusiast who is looking to transform a wall - or in that case any smooth surface - into a quality projection screen.

For more information on Goo Systems Projection screen paints products, please check out the following Goo Systems projection screen paints product sheet.

Screen Goo paints are available online from B&H PhotoVideo

 

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