We have purchased a projector screen, but we're trying to find alternatives for a screen that will be cheap. What materials do you recommend using to use for a screen (we're thinking large size, around 4 feet tall) and, well, any other suggestions regarding setting up a home theater with a projector. Thanks.

Make your screen out of Black Out Fabric, which you can buy at a store like Jo Ann Fabrics. It's very cheap and works great. If it's wrinkled when you buy it, you can iron it, but just remember to put a towel or some other piece of fabric in between your screen and the iron.

Here's a blueprint of the screen I made:



here's how it hangs from the ceiling:



Here's a bottom corner, you can see how I stitched the 'dowel' into the screen material.



I used galvenized steel pipe for the 'dowels' because they don't sag at all when supporting the screen and the weight of the lower pipe. One thing I would change if I did it again (and I might, eventually) would be extend the lower dowel to 84" long, and don't sew up the ends. It makes the edges of the screen curl in a little. The cost of the screen was about $30.

A lot of people use parkland plastics . It's relatively cheap as well.

I've also heard of people using a mixture of behr white and grey paints.

thanks a lot guy...these ideas will definately work for me.

cool post Paul

And once you've finished the screen, don't forget to build yourself a nice masking system with curtains and black velvet.

Nice Josh! I wish I could do that! My screen gets taken down when not in use, plus its in my parent's house, so I can't change the room to make it more 'home theaterish'