your video is outdated. majority of the movies apl lies below 10% apl. so contrast ratio below 10% is more important. you can check that info online, there is a statistics chart which shows it. many reviewers measure these contrast ratios at all apl levels now. the new jvc nz700 and 500 can achieve almost 500:1 ansi contrast at 50 % apl level. so it is better than many dlp projectors. also many new Chinese triple laser projectors can give you calibrated 2500 lumens with 100% rec 2020 color with around 15000:1 dynamic contrast (500:1 ansi) at just 2000$. which can easily compete with many lower end christie and barco projectors at just 5 % of their cost.
The easiest way to look at your room is to have all lights off and with a pencil beam torch and a cone around to have no side light spill and shine the beam on to your room, away from your screen, you will see what lights up your screen if you face the screen to see you can see where your problem areas are
I love your videos, real every time I increase my knowledge. Since I repaint my cinema room in nearly black it increase my enjoyment to watch movies. Parts of the Front area are covered in Adamantium Audio Dark Acoustic Fabric. This is the blackest black that you can get. This Fabric is a game changer in improving contrast and black levels.
The largest upgrade I ever saw was in 2010. I had a benq w6000 which at the time I thought shot an amazing image. I covered the ceiling and walls 6’ out with black velvet, the floor under the screen was just 4x4 mats wrapped in velvet and the rest of the room I painted super dark. It was incredible, I could not believe I was looking at the same projector.
I bought a old Runco Q750 led projector a couple of years ago and it was so satisfying to watch and decent blacks. Those older .95 DMD DLP’s had excellent contrast and and 1080p content looked excellent. With an EZCOO hdmi splitter with 4K to 1080p downscaler it looks even better. After playing with for a while I went back to my RS640 and was blown away but it could be only because my JVC can do inky blacks and I do remember a scene in Dune where the Runco looked better. I still have the Runco and don’t think I will ever get rid of it.
I am currently renovating our home theater this video explains somewhat my plan. The front area close to the screen to me needs to be as dark as possible while on the rest of the room I can be more flexible with other colors and textures etc.
I liked your room design comments. If everything is black, you might as well sit in a cupboard. A starting point might be similar to first sound reflection. (ceiling, walls, floor near the screen) Cruella might be a good movie to test black and white. It's dark, and characters wear a lot of black and white.
Yes Hollywood films tend to average below 10% apl these days. 5% is not uncommon. So low level intrascene contrast matters a lot, and ANSI, which is 50% apl, which almost never occurs in Hollywood movies, and therefor matters less. And, alas, these two numbers - low apl and 50% apl - don’t track linearly. Great ANSI doesn’t mean great mixed contrast at 5% apl, and vice versa.
That comment about having a slightly greyer colour to outer space to help see more stars reminds me of how Stars Wars uses grey instead of black for the colour of outer space.
With all this concern about black and white levels and peak brightness, I am trying to create a list of the various technologies and what their nits or lumens typically are. I am wondering if micro LED or flatscreen TVs are brighter than projectors or not, and what projectors are really the kings. Also wondering if there is any point in worrying about it. Put a projected image next to an open window. Would you want the image to be as bright as the window? Think real hard about it. Such an image would light up your room exactly as much as if you did open a window with sunlight pouring in. Now take that down a few stops with some neutral density filters. Easier on the eyes, can better see all of the detail, and same ratio of black to white levels. So what would the correct standard be? I think the range of values in a scene are taken care of by the DP, and easily visible on a good projector adjusted properly to be able to see all of the values that can be projected, from black to pure white without concern about the pure white being sunlight bright with the black turned off. Project it, look at it, and make a judgement about the point at which any more expense or pursuit becomes preposterous.
I have noticed some reviewers starting to give more holistic contrast measurements across different APLs. It's very helpful. After having done your videos with Dwayne (who is known to have some unorthodox opinions), it would be interesting to see a conversation with Kris Deering to get his take on all of this.
Unless your room is velvet, you need a ALR screen. Especially new ALR technology like fresnel. The worse your room is you need a fresnel ALR The better your room is, but still not velvet, probably Lentircular ALR. If you have velvet walls, ceiling and floor, then grey with 0.8 gain or so. Id never get a white screen. You cant project dark grey on white. It will never be black. Dark grey on dark grey might look black.
Sounds like you need better projector not display lol, I get proper blacks out of my JVC in white screen with whitesh sort of floor + white ceiling. There's more to Projectors than just black level
I recently painted my room black added black carpet and black ceiling draperies. Improved my projector immensely.
Wished I could do that but my projector is in our family room! So that’s not happening!
Really loving hearing you talk about video.
your video is outdated. majority of the movies apl lies below 10% apl. so contrast ratio below 10% is more important. you can check that info online, there is a statistics chart which shows it.
many reviewers measure these contrast ratios at all apl levels now. the new jvc nz700 and 500 can achieve almost 500:1 ansi contrast at 50 % apl level. so it is better than many dlp projectors.
also many new Chinese triple laser projectors can give you calibrated 2500 lumens with 100% rec 2020 color with around 15000:1 dynamic contrast (500:1 ansi) at just 2000$. which can easily compete with many lower end christie and barco projectors at just 5 % of their cost.
Black velvet curtains are amazing for mixed used rooms!
The easiest way to look at your room is to have all lights off and with a pencil beam torch and a cone around to have no side light spill and shine the beam on to your room, away from your screen, you will see what lights up your screen if you face the screen to see you can see where your problem areas are
I love your videos, real every time I increase my knowledge.
Since I repaint my cinema room in nearly black it increase my enjoyment to watch movies.
Parts of the Front area are covered in Adamantium Audio Dark Acoustic Fabric. This is the blackest black that you can get. This Fabric is a game changer in improving contrast and black levels.
Matt have you considered the micro LED video walls?
The largest upgrade I ever saw was in 2010. I had a benq w6000 which at the time I thought shot an amazing image. I covered the ceiling and walls 6’ out with black velvet, the floor under the screen was just 4x4 mats wrapped in velvet and the rest of the room I painted super dark. It was incredible, I could not believe I was looking at the same projector.
I bought a old Runco Q750 led projector a couple of years ago and it was so satisfying to watch and decent blacks. Those older .95 DMD DLP’s had excellent contrast and and 1080p content looked excellent. With an EZCOO hdmi splitter with 4K to 1080p downscaler it looks even better. After playing with for a while I went back to my RS640 and was blown away but it could be only because my JVC can do inky blacks and I do remember a scene in Dune where the Runco looked better. I still have the Runco and don’t think I will ever get rid of it.
Sounds like you’re becoming a video guy. 🎉
Pretty fun with projection right?
I am currently renovating our home theater this video explains somewhat my plan. The front area close to the screen to me needs to be as dark as possible while on the rest of the room I can be more flexible with other colors and textures etc.
would you please share your opinion regarding the new projectors such as Valerion VisionMaster and NexiGo Aurora Pro MKII
I liked your room design comments. If everything is black, you might as well sit in a cupboard. A starting point might be similar to first sound reflection. (ceiling, walls, floor near the screen)
Cruella might be a good movie to test black and white. It's dark, and characters wear a lot of black and white.
It's the mullet design principle. Business at the front, party at the back. (front 1/3 dark/distractions removed, rear 2/3 creative/style).
Yes Hollywood films tend to average below 10% apl these days. 5% is not uncommon.
So low level intrascene contrast matters a lot, and ANSI, which is 50% apl, which almost never occurs in Hollywood movies, and therefor matters less. And, alas, these two numbers - low apl and 50% apl - don’t track linearly. Great ANSI doesn’t mean great mixed contrast at 5% apl, and vice versa.
That comment about having a slightly greyer colour to outer space to help see more stars reminds me of how Stars Wars uses grey instead of black for the colour of outer space.
Someone needs to somehow invent acoustically transparent fresnel screens.
With all this concern about black and white levels and peak brightness, I am trying to create a list of the various technologies and what their nits or lumens typically are. I am wondering if micro LED or flatscreen TVs are brighter than projectors or not, and what projectors are really the kings. Also wondering if there is any point in worrying about it. Put a projected image next to an open window. Would you want the image to be as bright as the window? Think real hard about it. Such an image would light up your room exactly as much as if you did open a window with sunlight pouring in. Now take that down a few stops with some neutral density filters. Easier on the eyes, can better see all of the detail, and same ratio of black to white levels.
So what would the correct standard be? I think the range of values in a scene are taken care of by the DP, and easily visible on a good projector adjusted properly to be able to see all of the values that can be projected, from black to pure white without concern about the pure white being sunlight bright with the black turned off. Project it, look at it, and make a judgement about the point at which any more expense or pursuit becomes preposterous.
I have been building a table because of this very point as I am upgrading my epson 10500 it's difficult to find a lot of 1%,2%,5%,10%,20% APL results
I have noticed some reviewers starting to give more holistic contrast measurements across different APLs. It's very helpful.
After having done your videos with Dwayne (who is known to have some unorthodox opinions), it would be interesting to see a conversation with Kris Deering to get his take on all of this.
Unless your room is velvet, you need a ALR screen.
Especially new ALR technology like fresnel.
The worse your room is you need a fresnel ALR
The better your room is, but still not velvet, probably Lentircular ALR.
If you have velvet walls, ceiling and floor, then grey with 0.8 gain or so.
Id never get a white screen. You cant project dark grey on white. It will never be black.
Dark grey on dark grey might look black.
Sounds like you need better projector not display lol, I get proper blacks out of my JVC in white screen with whitesh sort of floor + white ceiling.
There's more to Projectors than just black level
like the channel. Christi is the best.