Paint sheen for multi-purpose HT room w/ plasma

[kalrith]

I've read some info on avsforum and have also gleaned some info from this article. Here's my situation. My wife and I just bought a new house, and we're going to repaint the walls in all of the rooms. We have picked an orangish-bronze color for the livingroom/HT room. I would say it's got a medium darkness level. We like semi-gloss paint especially for its durability and ease to clean (we have 3 dogs), but we'll consider satin paint if it will make a big difference in PQ.

I remember reading about using a dark flat/matte paint for projector rooms, but I couldn't remember reading much for plasma rooms. I have a Pioneer 5080, and it will be centered on a 17-foot-wide, 10-foot-tall wall with no doorways or windows. Because of that, I assume the wall color and sheen could make a big impact on PQ. I also plan to purchase some bias lighting to put on the back of the TV, so this light will shine on the wall behind the TV. It will not be wall-mounted. There is a big window in the room, but we will have good light control, so it shouldn't add any reflections.

We definitely won't go with flat paint or a darker paint; however, we have to choose between semi-gloss and satin (satin is less reflective). Will there be a big difference in PQ between these two sheens? If not, then we'll just go with the semi-gloss.

Thanks for the help!

Cliffs: Will using less-reflective paint on the walls make a large positive impact on the PQ of a plasma TV?

 

[selfy]

From a quick read of your article

Select a color for your walls that is darker than your screen, and use a flat, matte or eggshell finish to minimize reflection of ambient light and projection light.

Which was what my gut feeling was telling me. I think what you want is something that can diffuse the light quite readily and quickly. If they have good samples you can do an overkill test with a flashlight in the store.

And then you do just what you think I mean. Shine it on the samples and see which sample has less reflectiveness or maybe more appropriately which has less sharpness in the reflected light shape (less "ovalness" if you shine from an angle around 45 degrees to the sample).

Might have to vary the distance from the samples to try a trade study approach on how they react and how far away they become virtually the same. Of course, the store will have some light that might affect this, but I suggest trying the test anyways.