Projector will be ceiling mounted at about 7 feet. Ceiling are 7.5 feet. Seating postion is about 15 feet from screen. Projector will be about 13 feet from the screen and the screen will be right up against the ceiling. Ceiling are black and walls are dark blue. The projector will be about 3 feet above eye level. Going for a 119" screen. No ambient light and complete darkness. Room is narrow 12 feet and 25 feet long. Most viewing will be dead center to the screen.

Now Ive been trying to decide between the High power and Cinema Vision for the last week and can't come to a decision. I am concerned that the HP will not add much gain with my ceiling mount, but other then that it seems very good. It has no screen texture or sparklies.

Im also concerned that the HP will raise my blacks too much. Does the Pearl have good enough blacks that the HP won't raise them to much. I want solid blacks and would rather sacrifice brightness if the blacks are raised to much.

My main concern with the CV is a lack brightness at a 119" size and screen texture. Can anyone confirm that the CV material does not have sheen, texture, sparklies, etc. I want a very clean image. Will the CV give me better blacks?

My main criteria would be.

1. No screen texture
2. good Black Levels
3. Uniform evenly lit picture/brightness
4. Contrast

Alot of questions! Screen section would be a better place for this.

HP is not an option for you.

Go with the Pearlescent material and move your projector back a bit. Finally there is always tradeoffs, dont expect perfection.

I have a Pearl with a 119" HP. I have my Pearl mounted close to dead center on the screen about 1 foot above head height. I love it. In a dark room it feels almost plasma bright. It makes going to the 'real' movie theater a disappointing experience because the images are so dim by comparison.

First of all, what will be your primary viewing material? I have HD-DVD, Blu-ray, and Dish Network. I would estimate my HD viewing at greater than 80%. My point being, my seating is 11.5 feet from the screen and I wouldn't want to be any further away. What's the point of having a big screen if you are going to sit so far back it looks like a postage stamp? With the Pearl and HD material the picture is clear, sharp, and captivating from up close.

If you were to move your seating closer, perhaps you could mount the Pearl lower behind the seating. Mine is about 13.5 feet from the screen and sitting on an wide equipment rack I got from Ikea. (See the link below for a couple of pictures of my configuration.)

I think you will find the blacks plenty dark on the HP. Well, they aren't perfectly black, as I can see a shadow of my hand when I put it in front of the screen when black is being displayed, but within a movie it is not objectionable. You will however want some kind of masking system to cover the top and bottom of the screen when showing 2.35:1 aspect ratio movies, it will definitely enhance the picture quality.

Hope this helps.
Duane

I'll be mostly watching Blu Ray and HD DVD. The problem is I cannot mount the projector to far back as my basement has a bar and dancefloor :eek: including one of those disco reflecting balls :eek: :eek: behind me. I can probobly get the projector to about a foot infront of me and if I get a different mount I might be able to drop it to 2.5 feet above my head.

I have the CV mated with a pearl and I don't see any screen texture or sparklies that you mentioned. The black level and contrast is excellent. Overall I'm pretty happy with this screen material.

its late and I didnt see if you wrote where the projector would be in respect to the ceiilng. In anycase, with HP, the projector must be table mounted or slightly above your head. Anything else and you lose the gain. At that point you might as well get the CV or as Tryg mention get the Pearlescent which is a 1.5 gain screen

I have a 133" (diag) Hi Power in the following setup:

- Pearl is 7' off the ground (on bottom of a soffit. rest of ceilings are 8')
- PJ lens 14' from screen (min throw)
- Seating is ~12.5' from screen
- PJ is ~3' above my head

I love it. Plenty bright, good black levels, no sparklies/grain.

scaesare, thanks for the input. Your setup is similar to mine with almost the same viewing angles. You are happy with your setup, but people keep saying that with your setup it wouldn't work very well. What was your previous screen? and how much more gain did you acheive by going with the HP.

I looked at the Video Spectra, but I believe it has visible texture to the screen. Anyone with a Video Spectra (pearlcent) care to comment.

scaesare, thanks for the input. Your setup is similar to mine with almost the same viewing angles. You are happy with your setup, but people keep saying that with your setup it wouldn't work very well. What was your previous screen? and how much more gain did you acheive by going with the HP.

I looked at the Video Spectra, but I believe it has visible texture to the screen. Anyone with a Video Spectra (pearlcent) care to comment.

I realize that I'm not getting the full 2.8x gain the Hi Power is capable of at my seating positions. The picture is brighter if I stand up with my head directly under the PJ.

That having been said, I'm still getting significant gain at my seats. Even though I'm not "ideal" for a retro-reflective screen from a gain standpoint, it's still better than a unity gain screen, as per my tests with some white printer paper.

There is some brightness variation as move side-to-side in my theater, but it's only noticeable if you are moving. The advantages of gain, off-axis ambient light rejection, and no sparklies or sheen make it a winner for me. If you have a pull-down screen, add "wave masking" to the list.

I did not have a previous screen at this location, but do have a matte screen that I played with. I bought the Hi Power completely on recommendation, and am happy I did. I also knew it would be throwing light back at the PJ mount location and planned accordingly for dark/flat ceiling finishes.

The more I've been reading here at AVS and other forums I find alot of people recommend the Carada BW for use with the Pearl. While Carada does not ship from Canada, they do ship to Canada at around 134.00 for a 118" screen. This will bring me to just over a 1000.00 for the screen. It seems the Carada does not have any visible screen texture and has a gain of 1.4. The thing that scares me about HP is the problems with it raising Black Levels. If the HP raises everything inculding Blacks for a better white, I think I would rather have darker blacks with slightly lower whites. I watch alot of movies that are really dark.

Alot of the screen shots I've seen with the HP confirm that it washs out black levels. While the HP looks brighter it kills the blacks it all screenshots Ive seen. Does it basically come down to Whiter whites =HP or better blacks=Carada BW. Ive read a few threads comparing the Dalite CV and Carada BW and it seems most people favour the Carada. Id really like to thank everyone for their input.

I think Im close to pulling the trigger on the Carada. Good choice?

For what its worth I have a ceiling mounted Pearl and a motorized 106" Da-Lite Hi Power screen. I knew from research that this wasn't the ideal setup, but I'm very happy with the results. I saw a setup with a ceiling mounted Sony pearl and a Stewart Firehawk screen, and I prefer my setup.

It's my understanding that when you use a ceiling mounted projector, you lose some of the gain, but it's still a highly reflective screen. I also liked the fact that the material is good about not having waves, which is important since I did not want to purchase a tensioned screen because of the added cost.

I also liked the fact that the material is good about not having waves, which is important since I did not want to purchase a tensioned screen because of the added cost.

That is one of the HP's big wins - it's impressive how effective it is at hiding waves. As far as gain goes, I have a PJ 30" above my head with a screen 12' away. The picture does get brighter when I stand up, but seated it is definitely brighter than the old blackout cloth screen I still have mounted behind it. I would prefer to mount the PJ directly above my head, but young kids make that idea hazardous! :)

this thread is a month old, so the OP may have already made his decsion- if not I would have suggested to go to a fabric store and buy several yards of blackout fabric and some 1"x2"s and make his own screen

1. No screen texture CHECK
2. good Black Levels CHECK
3. Uniform evenly lit picture/brightness CHECK/?
4. Contrast CHECK

for the first several hundred hours , at least, brightness should be more than adequete (I have mine on low lamp at the moment)- after that it's either switch to high lamp mode or look for a higher gain screen.

but for issues of uniformity, lack of a distracting texture, and no impariment to black levels- i think the BO fabric works exceptionally well (and all at a cost of about $40...including the wood for the frame)