To curve or not

I've been thinking more about getting a curved screen as of late. In speaking to Stewart about it, only about 1% of the screens they sell right now are curved. However, they expect to see a huge increase in curved sales, possibly getting as high as 20% of their business within the next year or two.

I also understand that Dennis (HT guru) installs a ton of curved screen in higher end rooms.

As I understand it, curved screens work particulary well with scope set ups (another huge trend) and with higher gain screens but if I'm misguided on this, please let me know.

I'm trying to fully understand the benefits and drawbacks of such a set up and that is what I would like to have this thread discuss. Let me start with some comments and questions. I'd really like to hear from those that have a curved screen or have seen one.

The benefits I see with the curved screen are as follows:
-reduced hot spotting with gain screens
- screen curve avoids cross reflection (all projected light is transmitted to the audience)
- looks "cool"
- improves image uniformity

Drawbacks?
-Added cost
-difficulty in figuring out optimal curve radius
- not sure about impact on viewing cone - expand it from the far side but reduce it from the near side?

Miss anything?

Have an update. After speaking to a Stewart product expert, he reminded me that this screen will remove pin cushion effect with an anamorphic lens.

He also said that it effectively widens the viewing angle. I was originally concerned about loss of viewing angle on the near side but it's not a factor because the radius is not high enough to offset the adavantage of the viewer being directly in front of that portion of the screen. You do gain on the far side because of the angle of the screen.

EDIT: didn't see Denis's post before I submitted this

In terms of determining the correct radius, it depnds mostly on your anamorphic lens of choice. So in my case, I will contact Prismsonic to get the info that Stewart will need to determine approriate radius.

Other interesting fact is that the non-masked version of the screen is far less expensive than the cine-curve screen so give up hope if you saw that $18k quote. Further, given the structure of the screen, lace and gromut, it will likely be relatively easy to wedge in some masking. BTW, the screen border with this method of fixing the screen to the frame is 6". This screen must look realy cool!

Hi GScott, I'm still learning about all of this and I am not familiar with the Torus screen. Who makes it?

I'm not sure about the answer to your second question. Hopefully others will pipe in on it.

Hi Art, added benefits include:

-widens viewing cone - particularly useful for those with a high gain screen

-Reduces/removes hot spotting

-More uniform color

-screen curve avoids cross reflection (all projected light is transmitted to the audience) enhancing perceived contrast especially if screen is close to the wall or walls are light colored

- Looks cool

So needless to say, Torus is an acoustically reflective hard material - yuk. As it is, I don't even like a regular screen between myself and the diffusors at the front of the room because of the slap echo it creates - although it's a very minor issue in the grand scheme of things.

Dennis or others - any disadvantages?

When going from a 16:9 screen to a scope screen, I loved it and would never go back to 16:9. How about you folks out there that have gone to a curved screen - would you ever go back, why or why not?

I wouldn't do it because from what I undersatnd, the radius of the curve is important to the implementation of an effective curved screen. If you compromise on that, you may not like it plus you have compromised your audio. In terms of audio, I have a curve at the front of my room but it's the opposite of what the Torus is because you want to diffuse the sound not gather it and beam it at the listener.

Love your theater and the screen does look very impressive! I'm curious, did you have frame options?

The reason I ask is that the Stewart guy I was talking to said that they normally suggest securing screen with lace and gommat which results in a 6 inch border. Your border looks closer to 3 inches.

Art, I have two primary motivations to go curved

First, I want reduce/remove hot spotting. On a 120" wide sope screen, Ruby is not bright enough and I don't want to go with a DLP 720p 3 chipper so I need a 1.5 gain screen. I hate hot spotting so I don't think this high gain screen would be a realistic option for me without the curve.

Second, to have more of the light from the projector come back to viewers and not bounce off of the sidewalls. I don't want to paint my walls black and so I view this as the next best thing to increased perceived contrast.

The pin cushion benefit is only minor because I use a long throw. The other benfits are "icing on the cake".

Here is the reponse I got from Prismsonic regarding the question of appropriate radius using their anamorphic lens:

[i]"This really depends on so many things that it is impossible to say any number. However, I have experience of curved screens. I made one from the painted mdf plate. From that I can say that you don't need to have an exact radius, in order to get a good result."[i]

Hmmm, not exactly the response I was hoping for.

Dennis, I'm assuming that you will disagree with the above statement but please confirm. I would assume that the correct radius is needed to fix pin cushion. Is the correct curve radius also a function of screen gain?