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Thursday, 03 August 2006 00:02 |
I am reading many forums since 2 weeks (home cinema-fr.com, www.avforums.com, www.homecinemachoice.com) and reviews
to better understand how to choose the right screen for my Panasonic
PT900-AE. I am more or less installed in my new apartment, but in order
to profit of the biggest room (6.4m * 3.6m), I have to use a wall with
either windows or a door in the middle. Time to shop for a screen
instead of using the white wall...
A lot of companies are selling screens, and if You do not take care,
You'll end up very quickly with a 200euro screens, which are per see
not bad, but really not adapted for home cinema.
You will find a lot of tutorials and guide on the Internet helping You
choosing the right screens. Stewart being the Rolls-Royce brand of
screens (but it start at 8000CHF)
The 3 major parameters are:
- Screen Gain
: The
ability of a screen to direct incident light to an audience. A flat
matte white wall has the gain of approximately 1. Screens with a gain
less than 1 attenuate incident light; screens with gain more than 1
direct more incident light to the audience but have a narrow viewing
angle. For example: an image reflecting off a 10 gain screen appears 10
times brighter than it would if reflected off a matte white wall.
Curved screens usually have larger gain than flat screens.
- Viewing Angle: Screens
do not reflect equally in all directions. Most light is reflected in a
conical volume centered around the "line of best viewing". Maximum
brightness is perceived if you are within the viewing cone defined by
the horizontal and vertical viewing angles.
- Your budget: we can not all buy a Stewart Firehawk (anyway it is optimized for DLP not LCD).
The presence of black band to hide eventual artifacts created by the
projector (but it can be solve by software), the transparency of the
screens is also important....
At the end, I was reading user experience of cheap screens which
develop waves after a period of time, mechanical mechanism
problems and so on...I was able to retains 3 models:
At the end, I was reading user experience of cheap screens which
develop waves after a period of time, mechanical mechanism
problems and so on...I was able to retains 3 models:
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A mechanical DaLite, Da-Lite Model C "CSR" 16:9 198x353cm - manual
which should be the best screen quality of all 2 screens below (screen material only).
The Model C™ with CSR is a manual wall or ceiling mounted screen with
Da-Lite's Controlled Screen Return (CSR).
CSR is a feature offered exclusively by Da-Lite to assist in the quiet
controlled return of the screen into the case. |
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Exclusiv home has a tensioned system (seems to be the latest
development for avoiding waves in the middle of the screen and still
having a rolling screen: the best of the 2 world)
It has also SOMFY motor, IR remote controller and a price tag of 1980CHF or 1300 euro. It uses a vinyl screen of gain 1.0.
In fact it is a screen build by Grandview (Grandview Crystal Screen Co of Canada) http://www.grandviewscreen.ca/Products/LargeFlatSeriesTabTension.htm
They are originally out of China and they have decided to add a supply warehouse in Canada. Sariaa is having the same model here: http://www.saaria.com/projectiontechnology/tabtensionscreens.htm
All 3 Brand sell the SAME model, so do not loose time to look at characteristics and choose the one which is cheaper.
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The last option is the DIY (Do It Yourself), and voila a good link if you have a wall big enough:
http://www.bigscreenforums.com/forum_topic.cfm?which=6316
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Last Updated ( Monday, 07 August 2006 12:33 )
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