Topic: Ideal lumens (brightness) of a projector for a totally dark room

[jimi]

Dan, have you calibrated the PJ? Might be surprised with the results. 

Also what screen and what gain is urs? Maybe can get a grey screen with low gain to give u nice blacks and reduce the overall glare.

Other than that you might need ur cataracts done *joke*

[desray]

Although the spec mentioned that the lamp has 2 modes, standard or boost mode. But I can't find anywhere in the manual mentions these modes.

I'm not sure what is IRIS. I don't see any mentioning of IRIS in the manual.

What is the make and model of your new DLP projector? There is only a few options and you should be able to easily get to the Lamp mode settings. Make sure its in Std mode. Should be easy lar...

[DanDon]

Dan, have you calibrated the PJ? Might be surprised with the results. 

Also what screen and what gain is urs? Maybe can get a grey screen with low gain to give u nice blacks and reduce the overall glare.

Other than that you might need ur cataracts done *joke*

Not calibrated and I find the colour out of the box is good as compared to my previous pj. I had tried to learn on how to calibrate a pj but cannot grasp the understanding of it using a DVE calibration disc.

Screen is 85" 1.3 gain matt white. I understand a grey screen would reduce the brightness and increase the black level. But not sure by how much. 

[desray]

Not calibrated and I find the colour out of the box is good as compared to my previous pj. I had tried to learn on how to calibrate a pj but cannot grasp the understanding of it using a DVE calibration disc.

Screen is 85" 1.3 gain matt white. I understand a grey screen would reduce the brightness and increase the black level. But not sure by how much. 

A greyscreen in your case won't help to bring down the brightness level except to enhance the black levels. A gain of 1.3 is common for most Matte White screen...a properly calibrated projector will usually reduce the output by a fair margin.

I think you should get the ND2 filter if you dun intend to do any calibration. Even if you perform the basic DVE calibration...chances are it may still be too 'bright' for you...as you need to play with the bias and gains of the RGB spectrum.

[DanDon]

A greyscreen in your case won't help to bring down the brightness level except to enhance the black levels. A gain of 1.3 is common for most Matte White screen...a properly calibrated projector will usually reduce the output by a fair margin.

I think you should get the ND2 filter if you dun intend to do any calibration. Even if you perform the basic DVE calibration...chances are it may still be too 'bright' for you...as you need to play with the bias and gains of the RGB spectrum.

Thanks for the info and advice. 

I checked that my lamp is in standard mode. I'll play around with the adjustment of other parameters and see if it would help.

My guess is that I'll get the ND2 filter.

[TheMachinist]

Aiyoh you still haven't calibrated your PJ yet. Then I am sure it is trowing all its power in the Standard mode. 
I guess yours is the BenQ W1200 as it is the only new full HD non 3D DLP PJ at 1800 lumes, searched by ProjectorPeople.com   

You try the calibration here http://www.projectorreviews.com/benq/w1200/calibration.php. I am using User3 with BC off, and gives me very good natural color and brightness image. No eye strain. I also noticed that if the Gamma is turned up to 2.0 it starts to make the edges and white spots brighter and hence the over all contrast gives me eye fatigue. But at Gamma 2.2 it settles to natural image with no eye stain.

[jimi]

Not calibrated and I find the colour out of the box is good as compared to my previous pj. I had tried to learn on how to calibrate a pj but cannot grasp the understanding of it using a DVE calibration disc.

Screen is 85" 1.3 gain matt white. I understand a grey screen would reduce the brightness and increase the black level. But not sure by how much. 

Sorry to be misleading, I didn't mean that a grey screen in itself reduces the brightness- it is the gain that is important. Was just thinking that if u had some room lights on the screen would not seem so glaring as your pupil would be more closed down (basic physiology) so the grey screen would help with the black levels with the room light on-- sorry I didn't write that more clearly.

Color calibration, as others have suggested, is important. Des knows far more about this but colours and contrast and brightness are intimately related. After calibrating my PJ the brightness dropped quite a bit, but when the room is pitch black then it all makes sense.
You can borrow my calibration disc- dead easy to use (and hence v crude) but it will get you in the ballpark to give you an idea.

[alf]

How best to do this , is to share the brand and model of your projector. The screen brand and model also ,
guys here will have some experience to share .

Base on the lumen alone will not be able to know the key function on the menu of the projector . The screen gain on a Matt white generally should not be that high .
 
The player that you are using will be also critical on the whole set up .

Enjoy your set up
 

[DanDon]

You can borrow my calibration disc- dead easy to use (and hence v crude) but it will get you in the ballpark to give you an idea.

Which calibration disc is that? Hope it's user's friendlier than DVE.

[jimi]

Think it's spears and M.

You have the DVE? Wouldn't mind trying it out.

[DanDon]

Think it's spears and M.

You have the DVE? Wouldn't mind trying it out.

I have DVE. Will try it out. 

[alf]

Which calibration disc is that? Hope it's user's friendlier than DVE.

There only a few calibration disc available ( bluray type ) , Spear & Munsil , Disney wow , THX in Teminator 2 Sky net edition all this using a blue filter only .DVE is in bluray and it comes with 3 colour filter RED , GREEN & BLUE . The basic calibration needs only five steps :

A) Brightness
B) Contrast
C) Colour
D) Tint
E) Sharpness

The older DVE ,  Avia I , Avia II , Monster are in DVD which are not ideal for bluray calibration .

I have all the disc and found that the DVE bluray version is the most easy to use .

Hope that helps

[DanDon]

There only a few calibration disc available ( bluray type ) , Spear & Munsil , Disney wow , THX in Teminator 2 Sky net edition all this using a blue filter only .DVE is in bluray and it comes with 3 colour filter RED , GREEN & BLUE . The basic calibration needs only five steps :

A) Brightness
B) Contrast
C) Colour
D) Tint
E) Sharpness

The older DVE ,  Avia I , Avia II , Monster are in DVD which are not ideal for bluray calibration .

I have all the disc and found that the DVE bluray version is the most easy to use .

Hope that helps

Thanks for all the info.

I had tried to use DVE blu-ray disc to calibrate my previous projector but I just couldn't understand the procedure. Anyway, I'll try to use it again.

Cheers!

[alf]

We are blesses to be caught in the Analogue or film like picture ( American preference ) and Digital picture ( Japanese and Korean preference )

That's why you look at the different mode set up by the projector manufacturer on the projector side .

Select one of the mode that you most preffer and start from there .

If it is still not to your visual preference than check the blu player set up mode and try the diffrent set up .
The mid level unit might just have 2 to 3 that you can select . Those higher end will have the individual just like projector menu .

You have to go back and re check all the same steps again once to change the bluray setting .

The DVE with the tri colour filter will let you have better control over the colour setting .

Generally after i use the basic set up , i will use the advance to double . Usually it will be almost there .

Fiddle around and see the difference .

Enjoy your set up

[DanDon]

After using the projector for a few discs, I seem to get use to the brightness. Since I have an existing UV filter and bought a ND2 filter, I tried them out to see the effect.

Hope my findings are useful to the users who have high lumen projectors. 

Without any filter


With UV filter: the brightness decreases a bit without affecting the white and details


With ND2 filter: the brightness decreases substantially and increases the black level but it affects the white and some details are lost