I come to those knowledgable in the field of a/v to assist with my pipe dream.
I recently moved into a loft with massive wall space - about 14-feet high and width well beyond that. It was one of those things that immediately made me think of buying a projector for HD TV and movie viewing when I first saw the place. However, adjacent to that lovely wall space is a window that is 10-feet high and about 25-feet wide, and it lets in lots and lots of light (although very little of it is direct sunlight). The window is covered by a pair of fairly thin, white rolling shades, so even when the shades are down, it only cuts the light by maybe 50%. As we are renting, I don’t have any thoughts of replacing the shades with anything that would provide black-out coverage.
I’m wondering if there’s any projector out there that can overcome that much light without setting me back five figures (or anything close to that expensive). I don’t have my hopes up, but I thought it worth asking.
Can’t help with the projector question, but I’ll bet you could make a folding screen to block most of the light. Maybe sheets of Styrofoam hinged with duct tape and sprayed attractive colors?
You get a high-gain screen, but that cuts your viewing angle.
Even with that screen and a bright projector, the ambient light will reduce your black level.
I have a projector setup, and it’s awesome, but I can control the ambient light.
I used to date a guy who had a projector setup in his…oh, 12-foot-long living room. Along one wall was a huge window which he didn’t have covered at all. Lots of trees in the way but still, it let in plenty of light. I don’t recall the viewing experience being that bad with his modest projector and screen…especially since by winter time, it was dark most of the day anyway.
Do you really have to darken the entire room, or just the wall you’ll be projecting the images on? I think a folding screen to block the window light from the wall you’ll be projecting on might do it. Keep the receipt when you buy the projector. If the wall is still too light, just return it.
Really bright projectors are really expensive, and still don’t quite drown out the very bright light of the sun. Even if you’re renting, you can just spend $20 to $50 on some blackout fabric and safety pin it to your existing curtains. You can also get cheap projector screen fabric and just hang it over the window, making your own screen frame or rolling it up afterward.
I posted Amazon links, but this stuff may or may not be cheaper at your local bulk fabric store (or maybe Michael’s? Home Depot?)
Short answer no, we’ve used HD projectors for our home tv for 10+ years and IME when you’re tlking about home projectors, if you have windows you need blackout curtains or it will be washed out. It will be visible but the image quality will be poor. You also have to turn off room lights, that might seem like an obvious thing to say but just don’t overlook light bleeding from other rooms as well.
Blackout curtains aren’t hugely expensive (you can buy them at Target) but if you have unusually shaped large windows it can get up there for the fabric yardage.
There is no projector even physically possible that can overcome ambient light like that. The darkest black will always be as bright as the wall is when the projector is off.
That doesn’t mean that you can’t use it in that situation, but it won’t look good.
How important is it to you to have movies/whatever look good during the daytime?
I’ve seen projector/screen combos where the projector uses very narrow spectral features for its red, green, and blue, and where the screen is reflective only to those exact wavelengths. The net result is that the projected image shows up just as brightly as if it were on a white screen, but under ambient light, the screen appears black. They cost more than normal setups, of course, but I imagine not as much as one that just plain overpowers the Sun.
Even with a high contrast gray screen, ANY ambient light washes out the screen. On a projector screen, contrast is decreased with any unwanted light hitting the screen. This includes light from the projector itself reflecting off the screen, then off of surfaces and walls in the room, and back onto the screen. Your black and dark areas become lighter. Hence, washed out.
I have a Panasonic AE8000 pushing 2,400 rated lumens onto a high contrast gray screen in a small theater room with walls painted black, a room filling black rug, and a deep brown reclining couch. I also have dark brown drapes hanging on the walls making the room a light absorbing black hole. There is total light control. Even like this, the screen gets noticeably washed out if the door is open to the hallway.
IMHO, you will be sorely disappointed. Heed the advice of the previous posts.
There is an old trick used my nocturnal types for the black-out and cheapskates for the cooling in bright sunlight:
Aluminum foil taped to the glass - make sure the tape stays on the frame - not on a painted surface, which it might harm. If alcohol won’t remove the tape residue when it’s time to move, acetone will (which also must be kept off painted surfaces.
Yes, I have foil - with viewports for myself and kitty.
Remember the rear-projection TV’s? There was a reason the corner of the store where they were displayed was darkened.
They couldn’t produce enough light to be visible in normal roomlight.
Getting anything on a rear-projection is difficult. Getting rear projection on a solid wall is going to be a real trick!