I have seen a lot of talk on here about people who are very satisfied with using both the Da-Lite High Power and the Stewart StudioTek 130 screens, and I assume that this is PRIMARILY due to the fact that they "already had these screens".

I am looking for feedback from people who have compared either of the above screens with the Firehawk G3, which was developed "specifically" for these new 1080p projectors. The reason why I am curious is the fact that the HC and ST130 screens are (I believe) "white" screen material, and the G3 is a "gray" screen to enhance black level performance, while still rated at a 1.25 gain.

In another thread, several people used small "samples" of screen material to compare the image reflection quality with the RS-1, and the general consensus was that the COLORS were more vibrant and/or more "accurate" with the ST130 material than the other samples that they were comparing it with. Since the screen material IS white, I can understand how this might be, but how does this compare to the G3 with appropriate color adjustments???
It would seem to me that given the fact that your black level should be enhanced by the gray screen of the G3, and yet the gain is similar, it SHOULD give better performance WITHOUT a noticeable loss in image brightness.

I have been using a PLV-70 with a Da-Lite high contrast .8 gain screen. When I make the jump to the RS-1, I want to making changing my screen material as painless as possible. So, I have 2 options:

1. Order a Da-Lite HC screen as a direct replacement for my existing high contrast screen. If I order it in the same size, it should simply "snap on" to my existing frame and the change will take "minutes".

2. Custom order a G3 or ST130 that will snap on to my Da-lite frame. This will (undoubtedly) be more expensive, but if the G3 is going to give me better black level performance with "the same" reflectiveness, then the extra cost does not bother me.

Any feedback???

Lee

I have seen a lot of talk on here about people who are very satisfied with using both the Da-Lite High Contrast and the Stewart StudioTek 130 screens, and I assume that this is PRIMARILY due to the fact that they "already had these screens".

I am looking for feedback from people who have compared either of the above screens with the Firehawk G3, which was developed "specifically" for these new 1080p projectors. The reason why I am curious is the fact that the HC and ST130 screens are (I believe) "white" screen material, and the G3 is a "gray" screen to enhance black level performance, while still rated at a 1.25 gain.

In another thread, several people used small "samples" of screen material to compare the image reflection quality with the RS-1, and the general consensus was that the COLORS were more vibrant and/or more "accurate" with the ST130 material than the other samples that they were comparing it with. Since the screen material IS white, I can understand how this might be, but how does this compare to the G3 with appropriate color adjustments???
It would seem to me that given the fact that your black level should be enhanced by the gray screen of the G3, and yet the gain is similar, it SHOULD give better performance WITHOUT a noticeable loss in image brightness.

I have been using a PLV-70 with a Da-Lite high contrast .8 gain screen. When I make the jump to the RS-1, I want to making changing my screen material as painless as possible. So, I have 2 options:

1. Order a Da-Lite HC screen as a direct replacement for my existing high contrast screen. If I order it in the same size, it should simply "snap on" to my existing frame and the change will take "minutes".

2. Custom order a G3 or ST130 that will snap on to my Da-lite frame. This will (undoubtedly) be more expensive, but if the G3 is going to give me better black level performance with "the same" reflectiveness, then the extra cost does not bother me.

Any feedback???

Lee

After I got my RS1, I decided to swap out my Firehawk for StudioTek 130. I much prefer the StudioTek. To me, it goes like this. If there is ambient light in your room, consider the Firehawk. But if you are watching in the dark, the image on StudioTek is smoother with less grain, and whites are whiter.

I purchased the Firehawk G3 for my RS-1 specifically because I do not have a dedicated room, and the room has white ceilings, with tan walls and carpet, so ambient light was an issue even though it wasn't direct from windows/light. Plus, I wanted the ability to keep some light on for entertaining guests for Superbowl parties and the like.

I am very happy with the results and so is everyone that has seen it. The blacks are stunning and it gives me flexibility. Plus, when it's dark, the picture looks plenty punchy to me and the whites look great too.

If I had a dedicated dark roon, I would go for the other white screens you mention, but with my situation the G3 was the best bet and I love it.

Good luck in your decision.

Thanks for the feedback. My theater is "very dark", and has completely controlled lighting. It would (obviously) be MUCH easier for me to purchase a Da-Lite "High Power" screen and be done with it. Does anyone have an opinion comparing the StudioTek 130 and the Da-Lite High Power with the RS-1???

Lee

My personal opinion goes like this:

- in an ideal theater (a bat cave with zero light sources other than the projector and zero reflective surfaces ie. black walls/ceiling/floor/furniture) a solid matte white screen will be the best choice. In this situation, you get back exactly what the projector is putting out.

Everything else from there is about compromise.

As soon as you introduce any ambient light (be it from windows, lights on in the room or even just the displays and LEDs from other components), then you begin to diminish the full abilities of the projector and a matte white screen begins to look a bit washed out.

When you introduce reflections (from having light colored walls/ceiling/floor/furniture) the effect is much the same.

It now becomes a matter of the degree to which the ambient light or reflections are affecting the reflected image off of the screen. I break it down like this:

- in cases where the image still looks bright and the whites are still satisfyingly white and the highlights in images still have plenty of 'pop', but the image just looks a little bit washed out (probably due to low ambient light levels or moderate reflections), then a grey screen makes the most sense. The grey screen will lower the black level giving you relatively higher contrast and help to restore the appearance of the image, making it no longer appear to be washed out.

- in cases where the entire image looks a bit dim, a high gain sreen makes the most sense to me. In this case, there is probably moderate or high ambient light or lots of reflections. Simply put, this is a bad room for a projector in absolute terms and a rather heavy compromise is needed. There's simply no way to get good black levels and contrast in this situation, but you can still make the image 'watchable'. In such a case, what you need most is brightness because if even the birght areas of the image and the whites and highlights look dim, then there's really nothing that's going to even look 'watchable'.

- the last case is where you want to put your speakers behind the screen, in which case, an acoustically transparent screen is obviously needed. There isn't a huge amount of choice in AT screens. In such a case, I'd be more worried about audio performance than anything else, so I personally wouldn't go for a perforated or even micro-perforated screen which would introduce combing effects and distort the audio. Ruben over at SmX screens felt exactly the same way and he also wasn't satisfied with the lower gain of most woven AT screens, so he developed a woven AT white screen with positive gain and is selling it through the SmX website now. All that said, for optimum video performance, a bat cave would still be necessary.

The final thing to note is that most people (without really thinking about it) respond more favorably to a brighter image. Most people don't have a total bat cave for a theater. The trick is to figure out which of the above situations I described most aptly describes your situation.

In general, I'd say this:
- if your theater is a bat cave, get a matte white screen

- if your theater is very dark, but not quite a total bat cave, go for a white screen with some gain - something like the Studiotek130 or the Carada Brilliant White

- if your theater has some noticable reflections or very low ambient light, but the image is still plenty bright, go for a grey screen. One with some gain like the FireHawk will help to keep the image bright, but if you've got brightness to spare, that may not be necessary

- if your theater has obvious reflection of ambient light issues and the entire image is looking a bit dim because of them, get a high gain screen to at least make the image 'watchable'.

The final note is that a lot of people really only have minor reflection or ambient light, but the image is only barely bright enough. That puts them in a tough spot. Going for the grey screen will help get a better black level, but the overall brightness could drop even further, making the entire image a bit too dim. This is why a lot of people love the High Power so much. Like I said, most people respond favorably to a brighter image. To go for a grey screen, I'd say that you really have to have brightness to spare. Otherwise, you'll probably prefer the overall brighter image of the high gain screen.

Hope that helps!

Jon