Home Theater Projector: Choosing the Right Screen Surface Material
If you thought it was tough figuring out the right projector for your home theater, entertainment system, or business you may be more surprised that it can be just as tough to choose the best screen types. Different screen surfaces work better with different home theater projectors.
Factors like your budget, type of room, among other things help you determine whether you need a pull-down or motorized screen or fixed model. So, which projector screen surface should you choose to achieve the best overall video performance?
You basically have the following choices [minus any of the exotic high grain or rear screens]:
• Standard Matte White Finish: Gain of 1. [No additional gain and about as bright as a pure white painted wall]
• High contrast Gray: These screens enhance contrast and improve blacks. [a slight loss of gain but some have positive gain (.7 - 1.1)]
• High Contrast White Surface: [1.1 - 1.5 gain]
• High Gain Screens Without High Contrast: [1.3 - 2.0 gain]
As stated earlier there are other types, but we’ll focus on these four.
Your projector’s technology and contrast performance, viewing angle, and room ambient light are important when selecting the correct screen surface.
For the most part, LCD home theater projectors have a lower contrast. So, high contrast gray screens are typically a good starting point. Low contrast means that the projector produces weaker blacks. Blacks come out as dark gray. So, a
high contrast gray surface keeps the brighter areas of an image about the same as with matte white. However, dark areas seem darker. High contrast gray screens work well with Panasonic AE700u, the Sanyo Z2, and Z3, Epson Home 10+ and Mitsubishi HC-3 projectors. They also work well with expensive units like the Sanyo PLV70.
In most cases, a high contrast white surface serves DLP home theater projector [single chip] owners. These projectors have made strides in contrast over LCD projectors [under normal operation] and give a slightly brighter image than gray ones.
If you have a theater that you can get completely dark, or close enough, your screen size becomes important. If you use a small screen [92” diagonal or less] you have more than enough brightness. So, consider going with an HC gray versus HC white.
Uncommon projectors like the LCOS projectors sit around the middle. Their contrast is better than LCD buy cannot match DLP. So, HC Gray is typically the most advantageous. However, you’ll want to do some investigation of your own.
Higher gain screens provide more brightness and reject ambient light hitting the screen from the side. So, these kinds of screen are ideal for rooms with a bit more ambient light. However, there’s a trade-off. The image is dimmer if you
view the screen from off center. If you have seats off to the left or the right of the screen the hi-gain screen’s gain lowers. If you are far enough off from the center it is dimmer than a screen without gain. This is the reason why
screens with gains of 1.5 or higher aren’t viable for most home theatre setups. The viewing angle is limited. When gains are higher than that you notice difference in brightness between the left and right of the screen when seated
off center.
Most of the low cost motorized and pull-down screens are available in matte white without high contrast or high gain. That keeps costs down and do a decent job but expensive screens with higher contrast are usually better. However, you
want to spend your money on a decent projector not so much on a screen.
The thing you must know is that screen selection can be confusing. So, make sure you do your homework, ask your sales consultant questions, or get with a custom installer to prepare your theater. They can help you make a good projector choice, screen choice, ambient light issues, and seating arrangements.
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