The US companies tend to dominate, with Stewart and Da-Lite perhaps being the best known. (Image credit: Stewart Filmscreen) Who makes projector screens?įor what is a decidedly niche market, there are a surprisingly large number of projector screen manufacturers. One thing’s for sure, nothing says cinema like a big scope ratio screen. This side masking can take the form of magnetic panels you manually attach, or motorised masking that automatically moves into place when needed. If you decide to go the 2.35:1 route, you might also consider side masking for 1.85:1 movies or 1.78:1 TV and games – when you cover or include portions of a screen to temporarily adjust its aspect ratio. You can do this manually, but if your projector has a lens memory you can change the aspect ratio at the press of a button. So if movies are your primary interest, then you could consider a 2.35:1 ‘scope’ ratio screen, and zoom the image out on widescreen films to fill the screen. Things get a little more complicated with movies, which use either a 1.85:1 or 2.35:1 aspect ratio. For modern TV broadcasts the aspect ratio is 1.78:1, and if you’re planning on using your projector for catching up on your favourite show, watching the big match or playing games, then a 1.78:1 screen makes perfect sense. There is one other factor to consider when deciding on a projector screen, and that’s the aspect ratio. (Image credit: Stewart Filmscreen) What is the best aspect ratio for a projector screen? These screens tend to have a low gain because of the tiny holes, and be careful they don’t adversely interact with the pixels of the projected image. This uses either perforations or a weave to allow the front speakers to be placed behind the screen without affecting the sound quality. If you want to replicate the cinema experience, you could consider an acoustically transparent material. The only downside is when sat off-centre you can see brighter patches in the image called ‘hot spots’. It isn’t actually brighter, but this type of screen can be very useful with dimmer projectors. So a negative gain screen reflects less light directly back to the viewer, but also reflects ambient light away from the viewer.Ĭonversely a high gain screen, which has a gain of more than one, uses tiny reflective beads on its surface to angle the light back towards the viewer, making the image appear brighter. The gain of a screen relates to how reflective it is, and a gain of one just means the screen reflects back the light that hits it with no changes. Reflected light will wash out the blacks and ruin the contrast ratio, so this type of material is designed to bounce the reflected light away from the viewer, thus drastically improving the perceived blacks and overall contrast.ĪLR screens often appear gray, and are sometimes referred to as ‘negative gain’ screens. However, in a room where there are reflections from the walls or ceiling, an ambient light rejecting (ALR) screen is best. The simplest and cheapest material is white vinyl, and in a room with good light control this should be fine. Whether you go for a fixed frame, electric or pull-down projection screen, the most important component is the material it’s made from. (Image credit: Stewart Filmscreen) What are projector screens made of? It obviously takes up a lot more space, and might look out of place in a lounge, but if you’re putting together a dedicated room this is the obvious choice. It’s also easy to install: you just assemble the frame, attach the screen material and hang it on the wall. It also doesn’t take up much space but, as with manual screens, it needs to be tensioned at the sides for a flat and even surface area.Ī fixed frame screen will usually deliver the best results, and it doesn’t need to be massively expensive either. But unless it is tensioned (held taught) at the sides, any undulations on the screen’s surface will drive you nuts, especially with sports where the camera constantly moves from side-to-side.Īn electric screen is more expensive and trickier to install, but if the screen and your projector both support 12V triggers, it can automatically come up or down when you turn the beamer on. It’s easy to install on the floor or ceiling, is retracted when not in use, and is usually cheap. There are essentially three types of projector screen: manual, electric, and fixed frame.Ī manual screen is simply pulled up or down when needed. (Image credit: Seymour AV) What are the different types of projector screens?
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