Folks,

I am looking at a decent screen for my new home theater and am confused with choices. I don't want a cheap screen but not an expensive one either. If needed, I will replace it with a new screen after three years.

Here is my home theater room description:

Room: The room is 11' x 17' in size. Walls have been painted in dark red color.
Ambient light: There is absolutely no source of ambient light in the room.
Projector: Sanyo PLV-Z2000 1080P

My screen would be 103' diagonal (fixed frame).

One local vendor is recommending Draper Fisher screen. However, another vendor (whom I have started to like more) swears by Vutec. He says that Vutec is same as Stewart at 1/3 the price. His recommendation is to go with Vutec Vu-Easy series. He thinks Vutec Silverstar is an overkill for a perfectly dark room.

Do you guys agree with his assessment? What would you recommend given my situation?

Also, I have been told that if the room is absolutely dark, as in my case, I must go with white screen and not gray one. Is this right?

Thank you in advance for your help.

Regards,
Vrushali

Make sure the celing is painted flat black. This will improve black levels. Also grey screens improve contrast and blacks and you can use them in a completely dark room.

You should scope out the Screens forum, rather than the projectors forums, since there is a huge amount of info there. Screens are like cars: once you figure out your minimum performance requirements, whether you go for extreme performance or affordability is a personal choice rather than a scientific result. And then you can pick gray, silver, white or other colors too. Unlike cars though, the color does affect screen performance. ;)

In a dark room, you can use both white or gray, AFAIK, though the gray screens aren't rejecting ambient light, and so aren't as much a factor, IMHO. In a brighter room, grays are recommended to counter the ambient light, but you need an even brighter projector to make up for it as a result, so sometimes a white screen happens to work best due to the projector.

It really is heavily "IMHO" and "YMMV"-oriented. But what do I know, I'm just lurking here...

shinksma

DIY WA Designer Art (or Grey) for under $150 for a 120". Check out the laminate thread under "Screen" if interested. Thats what I have and am proud of my handiwork, considering this was my first handyman project ;-).

Frag

"...though the gray screens aren't rejecting ambient light, and so aren't as much a factor, IMHO. In a brighter room, grays are recommended to counter the ambient light..."

shinksma

You are contradicting yourself here. Are gray screens rejecting ambient light or not?