Often, when shopping for a projector screen, people find that they are confused by which screen surface would work best for use with their projector. One of the basic misconceptions with screen surfaces is that you need a special screen surface to enhance your projectors image. If you just bought a projector within the last year or so, rest assured, the picture quality will be superb. Projectors on the market today have the brightness (lumens) and contrast that you need to give you an outstanding picture.

Maybe you’re thinking “Why do I need a projector screen then?” We’ll there are several reasons why you want a projector screen but one of the main points is that a screen is going to give you a uniformed surface without any discoloration to the image that you will commonly get from a plain wall or a bed sheet.

What is "Gain" and how does it effect my screen?

There are some inherent qualities that make up the differences in screen surface types. The first is gain. We’ll what is gain? Gain is the reflective quality of the screen material. Gain affects your image by simply making it appear brighter. Back in the old days they would use shards of glass in the screen (glass beaded surface) to make the overhead transparency projectors brighter. Since then the screen manufactures have developed other alternatives for higher gain in screens. The downside to a surface with more gain is that your viewing angles become narrower, so there is a give and take to getting a screen with increased gain. If you get a screen with too much gain for your situation it can produce a hot spot in the middle of your image. A hot spot will be a blue circle in the middle of the screen, and who wants that, right? “Then when would I need a screen with higher gain?” You need a higher gain screen when the lumen output (brightness) on your projector is not adequate enough for your room. Though a higher gain screen will help if you have an older projector to increase the brightness remember there are limitations to what it can do for your image. Sometimes the only solution will be to fork over the money and upgrade your projector to get your desired results.

Do I need a grey screen as opposed to your basic white screen?

The other question that is asked “Do I need a grey screen as opposed to your basic white screen?” The grey screen came about because the early adopters of LCD and DLP projectors had poor contrast. This was especially true for the home theater enthusiast. The black levels were more grey than black. That is not the case anymore; a majority of the projectors being sold now have adequate to superb contrast in the projectors. If it is a home theater projector bought in the last year or two then it will definitely have adequate enough contrast. Most of those have a minimum of a 5000:1 contrast ratio. That should be adequate for most but if you are a home theater enthusiast who still desires the deeper blacks the grey screen is good alternative. One realization that people conclude from a grey screen is that it darkens up the overall image, not just the blacks. If your projector is not very bright it can make the image hard to see and who wants that? I would recommend getting a grey screen if you have no less than 1800 to 2000 lumens on your projector. For the non-home theater application (churches, business, education etc..) I would strongly suggest not going the grey screen route, because you are typically displaying to a wide audience (viewing angles) and the display screens are much larger than a home theater environment. When displaying on a large projection screen you are more than likely pushing the projectors brightness and getting a grey screen would only enhance the dimness of the image. If you go down the grey screen route, I would get a grey screen with a gain of 1.3 – 1.8 to offset the grey surface. Da-lite has a screen surface for their tensioned screens that handles this task nicely, the High Contrast Cinema Vision Surface.

What screen surface works best with a lot of ambient light in the room?

Another question that gets asked is “What screen surface works best with a lot of ambient light in the room?” We’ll our suggestion is to buy some curtains, but if you’ve priced curtains out lately they are rather pricey. For many churches this is not really an option for their stain glass windows. Also realize there is no AV equipment set up to combat ambient light, mother nature will win that battle every time, but here are some suggestions to combat the ambient light issue with concerns to the screen material. You will want to go with a low gain screen, because the higher the gain the more reflective the screen and you don’t want that. Also remember that the only light that you will be concerned with is the light around the screen area. The lighting in the rest of the room will not affect your image all that much. So maybe installing some dimmer light switches for the room or the lighting zone above the screen area can help as well.

Which screen surface is the safe bet if I’m not sure what to choose?

“So which screen surface is the safe bet if I’m not sure?” The answer is Matte White. The next time you see a screen in a church, business, or home it more than likely will have a Matte White surface. Ninety percent of all the projector screens on the market are Matte White surfaces