What is the best acoustic transparent screen currently? - Page 3

Hey guys,

I've also been thinking about getting an AT screen but throught it was pretty straighforward.... after reading this thread I see I might have to re-consider this. Since my budget is not high I was looking at the Elite screens people on the forum have said are a good value/deal for the price. I see they had an AT one and that was the one I was going for.... but given the PJ I'm looking into buying, my seating distance, etc etc I'd like someone with experience to point me in the right direction.

The PJ I plan on getting is the BenQ W1070 (I read about the W1070ST and according to my investigation, using calculators, etc I am better off with the regular one... although now I'm doubting I did that right lol).

Room is small (11.3' x 14') and my seating distance is going to be at 8.3' or max I can push back the screen 10" and have my viewing distance at 9.1'.

I don't have any windows and will have full light control, meaning I can go FULL dark. I know this is important as well.

And this is the screen I looked at: http://www.amazon.com/Elite-Screens-ER100WH1-A1080P2-Projection-Screen/dp/B008M11YBS although I would like to try and go with as big as possible and I think I could fit in 110, even 120 hah

But yeah, thats my question for all the experts.... cause if AT is just not worth it in my case (due to the screen being a value item and/or audio/video quality issues), then I'd just get one of the other Elite screens that are not AT and place my towers to the side of the screen and the center below, tilted upwards so it hits ear level.

Thanks!

hey DJ Frost, the 100 inch Elite that is motorized and with the same AT material costs quite a bit less, same thing really (better, actually, if you ask me).

I own the Benq w1070 and am considering getting this. I really need AT for my room setup, even if I wanted to place my center above the screen or below it, my left and right just will not fit, I need them to be behind. Too bad the same elite screen costs 80 bucks more for us in Canada. doh. I'll let you know how it turns out when I get mine.

Oh wow, I didnt know there were more models and was just looking at that one page Amazon had with various selections (and only one of them being AT). Oh and don't feel too bad about those $80... I'll probably end up paying the same having it shipped to Panama.

Is it this one? Elite Screens ELECTRIC100H-A1080P2 Spectrum Projection Screen (100 Inch 16:9 AR) $279.98 over at http://www.amazon.com/Elite-Screens-ELECTRIC125H-Projection--125-Inch/dp/B000Q87LM6

I also see Amazon has on backorder (1-4 weeks) the 125 inch AT over at http://www.amazon.com/Elite-Screens-ELECTRIC125H-A1080P2-Spectrum-Projection/dp/B0093E81FA which is I think the size to look for if I go AT.

But yeah, I'd like to hear what experienced HT owners or techies on this subject of screens/PJs can say about lower end AT screens VS another one of their lines.

And why are the motorized ones cheaper? I would have thought it was the other way around.

Probably the frame is well built. I've decided to buy this one instead : Accuscreen 106.

It's acoustically transparent, has great reviews on amazon, is available to me at my local best buy here in Toronto Canada, and fits the recess I have in mind for it perfectly. Then I can put my Klipsch THX Ultra2 stands I have already, behind it and have my couch go length-wise down my living room, install rear speakers for 7.1 and have a better sound field, and also set up my anamorphic lens I have coming soon. I'm going to mask the top and bottom of the accuscreen to make it cinemascope aspect ratio, since 2.35:1 screens, especially AT ones, seem to be double the price of 16:9 ones.

NB if you ever plan on going 'Scope with the BenQ, the anamorphic mode doesn't work perfectly in 3D frame packing, only SBS. I think a future firmware update should fix that though, but who knows. It is a known bug but it's anyone's guess whether BenQ will even bother fixing it. The amount of people with 850$ projectors and anamorphic lenses is probably nil (well, soon to be 1, i.e. me). I'm all about getting the best bang for the buck, but I want a good setup too. Getting a 16:9 screen seems like a no-brainer, since most sources are 16:9 to begin with.

OOps, I realized the accuscreen I was looking at wasn't acoustically transparent, it's the fixed frame one that is. doh
Edited by RLBURNSIDE - 3/9/13 at 5:46pm

FYI I just ordered the 100 inch electric A1080P2 from amazon. The 125 was literally double the price here in Canada, and cheaper than anything else that was retractable, acoustically transparent, and would actually ship to me. As a bonus, my company's paying for it as part of my relocation fund, so I get it for free basically. I'll let you know how it looks/sounds!

Awesome! Yeah let us know... cause I might have to settle for a smaller size than 120" due to my room size

The tricky thing for me is that ideally I could fit in a 106" 16:9-er in the area I have planned for it, but there are no 106" in AT material that are also retractable, that could drop down in front of the exit to my balcony. I want to place my speakers behind and they would fit perfectly there, and allow me to do a proper 7.1 setup because my living room is much wider than it is long, so I can then rotate my couch and sit much farther away, but I also have a wide-angle lens coming in soon, so I needed to calculate where to place my projector so I could fit the entire width into a 2.35:1 aspect at 100", which ends up forcing me to put the zoom at 1.03 and the distance at 8 feet, for a 16:9 image of 75" (3/4 of 100), so that the width is re-stretched out to fit the 87" original (back up from 65" which is for the 75" diagonal). Anyway, blah. I'll give a mini review once I get it set up.

What I'm trying to say is, once you've decided that 16:9 AT screen is the best bang / buck, then you decide when you want to use some anamorphic lenses, so you can do a constant image width with masking on the tops and bottoms (in case your room is width-limited and not as height-limited). Anyway, I'll be glad to have a decent AT 16:9 screen, as I can always sell the projector and screen and mount as a combo later on, or keep it for a second player in a multiplayer gaming room (or even the bedroom!! rar rar). haha. I would kill to be able to watch vids in bed. That would be the ultimate decadence.
Edited by RLBURNSIDE - 3/16/13 at 6:03pm

You're right, but I'm getting an a-lens anyway without paying for it (per se), and the screen dimensions of my 16:9 screen are only due to the width limitations of my current apt, which I plan to move from into a huge loft again within the year, so I will build a curved AT screen then and either sell this one or do something else with it. My screen was subsidized, so it's no big deal to use it for now. I couldn't afford a huge 2.35:1 AT screen for 5x the cost. This temp setup is more just to be able to use my a-lens, because, well, why not? I'm a tinkerer by nature so I love fiddling with tech. Plus my A-lens will get good use because I'm officially a projector aficionado for life.

I'm putting it up tomorrow, but with some small temporary speakers until I get my mains fixed (some static popped the tweeters when I turned on my amp). I had to pick up some concrete drill bits and bolts to properly install everything.

I got it installed, it wouldn't go back up the first time so I got worried. There is some moirée and it's a little disappointing, but I think there is no way around that, the weave is just in a certain direction, diffraction patterns are visible. I will try to put up my blinds behind it (where my balcony is), and on my side walls, and hopefully that will cut down on the the moiree.

Anyway, the screen looks good other than that, it's better than my wall and if it weren't for the distracting pattern on white backgrounds (I wonder if there's a way on the Benq to compensate for that), I'd give it two thumbs up. As it is now, I need this screen to stay here, despite its flaws, because there simply isn't another AT electric screen less than double the cost of this one. If I had to do it again, I would probably just get a super cheap non AT manual screen and the build my own when I move back into a decent sized place with a dedicated theater setup.

Damnit, the screen needs a "lift" before it will go up, the motor isn't strong enough to lift it consistently from all the way down. Arrrrgh. Not sure I want to return it for that, but it's still annoying.

EDIT : Problem is intermittent. I see only a couple others had the same issue on amazon, hope it's not too late for an exchange.
Edited by RLBURNSIDE - 4/6/13 at 5:32pm

Actually, the moiree is pretty bad, I'm thinking of going to go with a manual Elite screen for 130$ that's not AT, purchased at Best Buy locally, or maybe the electric but non AT one. I was really looking forward to getting it all finalized. I guess the quest never ends.

Not sure if it's moiree, but apparently you have to leave the screen down for a week and the lines and waves are supposed to go away, reading the amazon reviews helps.

Apparently I'm a dumbass, after adjusting the screws into my concrete ceiling to make all the levels, level, th image is now perfect. I love it! Too bad it has to go back, there's no way I'm settling for a retractable screen that doesn't retract reliably, from day 1. Especially not for > 400$ CDN

the "moiree" I was describing earlier was just the fabric being pulled to one side by the weight of the bottom bar, since the whole thing wasn't level. human error
Edited by RLBURNSIDE - 4/6/13 at 9:21pm

Oh man!

Just a thought... Could the un-levelness of the screen have contributed to the retracting function of the screen?

Yeah I thought about that, but it was at most a few degrees off, and if the motor can't handle that from the start, how can it be expected to last ?

Tonight I'll be trying to clip on some tarp clips to some bunjee cord and see if tab tensioning the screen will remove the waves, there's a good chance it will, I think. I'm pretty sure that it's perfectly level, and it's been hanging down for four days now, so hopefully the diagonal waves are a byproduct of the screen not being tight enough. But I found an easy fix:

ttp://www.avforums.com/forums/projector-screens/458820-diy-tab-tensioning.html

which I will be trying out tonight. If the waves are gone, I think I can be happy with this screen, until I get the bug to replace the material to a 4k one in maybe a year or two (assuming the motor still works). But regardless, I'm returning this one, can't stand the motor not working. I thought I may have damaged it inadvertedly by having it go down not 100% level too, but that's absurd, it was quite good. The wavey lines go away when the projector goes out of focus, or when I zoom in a lot, so I think it's probably just the combination of the screen and the projector that causes it. I like my image sharp, there's no way I'm diffusing / unfocusing to get rid of the waves...assuming they are Moire but I will confirm that tonight.

/sigh, why is life never simple.

Any updates on this?

I sent my screen back to Amazon, and my non-AT Elite 100" electric screen should be arriving today.

Thing is, the moire wasn't there all the time, if I had the image zoomed out i.e. smaller (but still in focus), the moire was gone. I just think I need to wait for the 4k material, and since the Elite non-AT version costs 1/2 the price and has the same mechanics (hopefully with a working retractor motor this time! knock on wood), then when I get ready to upgrade to 4k maybe I'll do a DIY using the same shell with some 4k material and my own tab tensioning hack to keep the screen straight. Heck, I might even do the tab tensioning anyway, all you need are some tarp clips and bungee cords.

It's also quite possible that it's because I have a DLP that's causing the moire with the weave of the screen. I tried adding some tension and the moire didn't go away.

You have the BenQ 1070 right?

Aye m'lord. Got my screen tonight, too bad I'm too bloomin' tired to install it. Ahh well, watching Game of Thrones can't wait.

any update on the non AT Elite screen vs the AT one? I'm in the market for a 100 inch screen to use in my man cave with a ceiling mounted LG PA75U 700 lumen LED projector, and a pretty elaborate 7.1 surround system. The screen will drop down in front of a 61" Samsung flat screen, flanked by a pair of Thiel 3.6 speakers. It's the positioning of those Thiels that makes me want to find a reasonably priced AT screen that actually still produces a decent picture.

That little 3.1 pound LG projector throws a surprisingly bright and vivid picture. Just using it temporarily on a tripod with an 80" Epson Duet portable tripod mounted screen, I have been blown away at the image quality. Now I'd like to have a more permanent installation with a bigger screen.

My setup really requires the AT screen.... I think I might have to shell out for the sable framed one. Damn, it went up in price in the last months though

What other companies make nice value AT screens?

I would have to say that the best AT-material currently at sale, must be Screen Research Clearpix 4K. This material is very sound transparent, and even though I have not performed any measurements yet, but based on early impressions, I believe the 0,75dB loss as stated by the MFG, is realistic.

The gain is supposed to be 1.0, but It's probably a bit less, as goes for most AT-materials. The structure is not superfine (approximately the same as Clearpix 3) as e.g. SE Enlightor 4K, but it's finer than other vinyl-based AT screens.
Edited by anbjornk - 5/5/13 at 11:38pm

Good and valid points

I would probably be more correct if I was to say that the Clearpix 4K material is the best all-round woven material. I have also tested the EN4K, and it's a very fine material for sure. If higher gain is required though, micro-perf is probably the best solution.

What about the new Micro-perforated MultiPix™ 4K Sonic White 1.3:

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MultiPix™ 4K Sonic White 1.3 is the acoustically transparent version of the MultiPix™ 4K White 1.35 material. Screen Research’s proprietary MultiLayer™ technology allows the performance of MultiPix™ screen materials to be optimized for a variety of applications. The primary goal of MultiPix™ 4K Sonic White 1.3 is to allow the proper placement of front loudspeakers behind the screen in an environment having some ambient light.

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Features
•Micro-perforated white screen material with high gain performance

•Proprietary MultiLayer™ technology
•Designed for 4K Ultra-High resolution videoprojectors
•Excellent off-axis colorimetric response
•Recommended for Active 3D applications
•Perfect color balance and white field uniformity with no hot spots
•Compatible with low ambient light conditions
•Resistant front surface
•ISF certified

The MultiPix™ 4K Sonic technical data sheet are available at this link.

MultiPix™ 4K Sonic screen material are available immediately with all our screen models with the exception of the Reference LeWing line.

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Prestigious Award Won by the MultiPix™ 4K Screen Materials

Screen Research’s ISF-certified MultiPix™ range of screen materials provides a variety of solutions for positive gain requirements and ambient light conditions. MultiLayer™ technology structure is made by gluing together different layers of materials. As the front surface of the screen material is not coated or painted, it is extremely resistant and durable, allowing the screen to be easily cleaned without the fear of ruining its advanced optical characteristics. The unique MultiLayer™ design provides the enhanced gain required for lower powered projectors and multi-purpose room use whilst maintaining perfect color balance and white field uniformity.

The technical data sheets of the other MultiPix™ 4K existing materials are available at these link:
•MultiPix™ 4K White 1.35
•MultiPix™ 4K Grey 1.3