Hot take: Spending $50 on blackout curtains beats any fancy screen upgrade

I was setting up my basement theater in Austin last month and the street light outside was ruining every dark scene no matter what I did with the projector. After three failed attempts at DIY blackout panels with cardboard and tape, I finally dropped $50 on proper blackout curtains from Target and it fixed everything for a fraction of a new screen. Has anybody else found a cheap fix that did way more than you expected compared to spending big on gear?

2 comments

2 Comments

sanchez.mary9d ago

Paint flat white on the wall behind the screen worked better than any pricey screen I tried.

adams.taylor5d ago

Respectfully, @sanchez.mary, I had the opposite experience. Flat white paint gave me terrible hot spotting and a dull image, especially in a darker room. A cheap-ish silver ticket screen (around $100) fixed all that for me, way better contrast.