The Official Stewart Film Screen thread. - Page 46

but you'll have those lights (and all light/lights) off during the movie, right? if so, I would go with the studiotek - I wish I would have. I have the firehawk, and it's fine, but I think my image would be a little brighter with my current projector (jvc rs2).

having said that, I don't know much about the epson, but as long as it has a good contrast ratio, I would think you'd want the studiotek. (but if you decide you want a firehawk, like if you'll have light in the room, let me know if you want to buy one that's 107" wide (123" diagonal)! )

More then likely I will have the lights on but will have them at a very dim setting, just enough to illuminate the globe. I would love to go larger than 110 diagonal but unfortunately I am maxed out on height in this room.

okay, with any light on you'd probably want the firehawk.

but, can I ask why you want to have them on at all, especially since it sounds like you won't have them on enough to light the floor (but it will be enough to light the screen)? just curious, you may change your mind once you get to that point, and it's your ht to enjoy as you see fit!

I think i am just going for the overall ambiance, I mean when you go to any regular theater they always dim the lighting but leave the lights on just slightly. Id have to go back and look again but when I set the lights to movie mode (ie dim the lights to the point where just the globe is illuminated) I don't believe the lights are hitting the ground and i dont think they are bright enough at that point to be picked up by the screen.

Updated with a little better picture of the sconces

I just purchased a Stewart Studiotek 130 screen from another member of avsforum (just received it yesterday and upon unpacking found that the screen material was folded, not rolled. I plan on contacting Stewart for advice but was hoping someone on here would know if the fold marks will disappear, possibly with a hair dryer (it's a 110" screen and was folded into about a 16" square during shipping). It's the snap style screen with Luxus frame. Any advice would be greatly appreciated. Thanks

I cannot say for sure but it's possible by putting it onto the frame the folds will disappear over a little time.

The hair dryer might help but I won't recommend it since I don't have any experience with whether that might cause problems.

I would be annoyed with the seller, unless that folding was disclosed up front and factored into the sale and you had a reasonable plan (fixing it or replacing it). But that's just my opinion.

I recentley purchased a used Stewart screen and had excellent luck contacting Stewart with a few questions I had. Give them a ring I am sure they have seen/responded to your situation in the past.

Good luck.

I played around a bit with my screen samples - small ones unfortunately. I have a totally light controlled room and currently use the ST130 in my set up. First thing about the ST-100 snow matte material is that even it has some tiny sparklies when viewed from several inches away. Though not that my eye picked up from further away.

Pixel resolution was very clearly better on the ST-100 vs the other screen samples that had gain, e.g. the firehawk etc. Though the difference between the ST-100 and the ST-130 was pretty marginal in that respect.

I was actually expecting the ST-100 material to look a bit more washed out than the ST-130 material, but to my surprise it consistently looked a tiny bit better in contrast. Only looking at the sample (which can be quite misleading) it was the best material I've seen. One day I might try this material....

FWIW...

Before I got my Stewart ST-130 material I was using a 105" diagonal sheet of neutral gain screen material, taped on to my wall (obviously not permanent). It fell down countless times and looked incredibly rough each time I picked it up from the floor- completely folded and wrinkled. Yet again and again those wrinkles essentially disappeared when I simply taped it up again. If I had actually stretched that material on to a frame I'm sure it would have been totally flat.

I suspect your screen material may be more robust than you think, and once put in a frame I'm betting it will look fine, especially with a projected image.

Can anyone tell me if the Stewart ST-100 material would be ok for 3D?

Thanks

Thanks for the reply. I was mainly concerned about the "polarization" issue, where some screens (brightness aside) seem to be less suitable than others.

Polarization is a big issue if you are using a passive 3D system, with active 3D it is not a problem. If using a passive 3D system the best choice for 2D/3D would be the 5D material. With active 3D any of the other screens will work fine and pick the one that is best for your situation.

The ST-100 is a top notch screen and will have the best detail of any of them but you lose contrast very fast due to light reflecting off the wall, ceiling, and other surfaces back to the screen. If your room is not close to the ideal black bat cave so to speak it wouldn't be the best choice but if it is close to that ideal environment this screen rocks as long as you have a bright enough projector. A screen with some gain like the ST-130 or FH to reduce those reflections from hurting contrast would be a better choice for most installations.

Anytime you have a screen with gain the coating to make that gain will somewhat skew/blur the pixels as light is being bent to direct the light in a given direction. Nobody has beat physics with this. A screen that distributes light evenly in all directions will cause the pixels to be clearer and more defined. You have a good eye if you noticed these difference with the ST-100 compared to the other screens.

I have a reflections 170 screen with microperf. It is 120" and is in total light controlled room with 14.5 feet viewing distance. I can still see grain and I think it is the microperf. I am using the JVC RS55 and the throw is at 14.5 feet as well. I have black carpet and black ceiling. I was informed if the room was light controlled that you would not be able to see the microperf past 12 feet. Would like to hear some feedback. No lights on in the room and no windows and doors shut.

So, have you seen the ST-100 in good conditions? And does it deliver? For instance, vs the ST-130, is there any detectable increase in clarity, or contrast (as some claim), or realism? Is the screen really "invisible" once projected upon?

Thanks,

I have seen the ST-100 in a lab near us, at Stewart's facility and in my house. The lab is all black with black velveteen on many surfaces. It does deliver increased clarity which is noticeable compared to other screens, The JKP screens are a close second. I doubt contrast changes much though. ANSI contrast would change depending on the room conditions. I'm not sure I would call it "invisible" but it is like a reference speaker it tells it like it is.

When in that perfect room the room does seem to disappear as there are no reflections for your eyes to focus on.

Thanks BobL.

For me the room is supreme, so I keep trying to edge toward the "black box" capability when I'm viewing movies. In my view, a super dark environment is not only better for maintaining projected image quality, it also makes for a more intense, immersive, cinematic experience.

We are replacing an Electriscreen we put in about 12 years ago (reconfiguring room and going with a stationary 2.35:1 rather than a retractable 16:9) and need some help pricing the used screen. We can't seem to figure out even which model on Stewart's website is their current equivalent...

Screen material: Ultramatte 150
Model number: SR-AH 92 (45" x 80")
Serial number: 99 SRA 98XXXXX

It's the tab-tensioned motorized drop-down screen. We have the 12V screen trigger interface.

It's been gently-used in a dedicated theater room programmed to roll it up with room off (so it's clean from fingerprints and wear and tear that come from a screen hanging around, etc.).

Any suggestions for how to price it? Any idea what the current equivalent model is?

Anyone heard of Silver Screen Home Theater? This shop is selling cheap screens in Videogon. Wondering if it's reliable.

looking at the Stewart ST-130 to pair with a Sony HW30.... My room is completely light controlled with a white ceiling and tan walls. Question I have is we will be using the projector for gaming and will need some ambient light for that. Is the ST130 a good option or will the image wash out too much with some ambient light. I currently have a Carada classic cinema white which is OK, but the image is not great. It handles ambient light well.....

I wouldn't want to use a 130 with a white ceiling even in a totally dark room. But the bottom line is that the I don't think the 130 will be a big change in that kind of environment for you from what you are currently using, especially with ambient light.

Don't get me wrong, it's one of the best screens on the market, but not for all use cases.

what would you recommend? The image on the Carada is nice and bright, but my issue is that the screen has vertical striations running down the entire screen making the picture less than prime looking. I chalk that up to being a "low cost" issue.

Sounds like a warranty issue on the Carada. I don't want to tell you not to get a Stewart Screen. I love mine. But I'm not sure it's the solution. Have you tried the Carada thread, or even talking with the manufacturer directly?

yeah.... there are a few that notice the striations. Carada is sending me a replacement screen when they get a new lot in. They seem to think its a manufacturing issue where the screen comes out on rollers. It almost looks like stretchmarks! Kind of odd looking. I appreciate your honest opinion....

I received an interesting suggestion the other day. I would like a scope screen, but we also watch a lot of broadcast TV. I currently have a Microperf 10' x 6' Studiotek 130. The suggestion was to go to a 12' x 6' screen, since that would accommodate a 12 x 5 ft scope size, that can revert to the 10 x 6 that we like. I was thinking of the new Stewart Reflections 170, since we want the gain for an eventual 3D setup. We are currently sitting 15 ft. away, but if I'm making these changes, I would move the screen to about 10 ft. away. We have very good light control, and I'm getting rid of the white ceiling and green wall behind the screen, in favor of a medium gray ceiling and a deep blue background, to help the contrast. Any thoughts. Oh, my current projector is a DPI highlite 260 HC.

David

This post is to Mark Haflich , hoping he shows up to answer:

Mark,

Thanks so much for commenting on the performance of your new Studiotek 100 material. It's very intriguing for me as I have the ST-130 material (love it) but as good as it is, my ideal is to get that "screen disappearing" effect you describe with your ST-100 snomatt.

(I now have an 8" x 11" sample of the ST-100 material. Comparing it to my ST-130, the ST-100 has obviously less blurr from optical coating when looking at pixels close up. From a distance, at least with this sample, the brightness difference seemed negligeable (there, but not terribly big difference). It's also been pointed out in some reviews of the ST-100 that due to the subtle hotspotting nature of the ST-130, darker as you move away from the centre of the screen, the overall measured difference of the entire screen surfaces of an ST-100 and ST-130 are not as far off as the gain rating suggests (as the ST-100 remains bright corner-to-corner).

So I hoped the impact of the brightness drop would be somewhat mitigated by this fact. Though, you do note definitely seeing a brightness drop.
(I have to consider these things since I sometimes view images at 130" diagonal 16:9 or 118" wide scope).

I am just about at "bat cave" performance for my room, in terms of employing dark fabrics to cut all room reflections, which is another reason why I'm considering the ST-100 material. Another thing is I absolutely LOVE even image brightness, and viewing angles that are unrestricted, for which the ST-100 no doubt excels.

Still, I admit I'm kind of surprised you found the ST-100 made such a noticeable difference over the ST-130, but it's nice to know that a performance gain in my system is a future possibility (switching to the ST-100). Any additional comments or insight you have on your new screen material would be welcome.

BTW, when you said your wife thought it was "like viewing the disc for the first time" was that a comment comparing your new ST-100 material vs your ST-130, or a comment on the Sony 1000 projector's performance?

Thanks.

Hi Rich. She had seen the Sony before on my 130 but not on the Snomat. My 130 was GII also not GII. The picture was a tad dimmer to my eyes but not a huge drop and I could easily negate it with menu settings (opening the iris up).

The biggest difference was the absolute light uniformity accross the screen and a complete absence of texture. The screen material just was gone.

David Shapiro. What is your throw using full scope width. You need a long throw to avoide hot spotting with high gain screens and 1.7 is a compromise for 2D in order to boost 3D brightness.

I agree to my eyes, with samples only, the ST100 only appears to be slightly dimmer to the 130. With my samples I could discern what Mark describes. The 100's lack of shimmer from the .3 less gain translates into a very sharp solid looking image with the perception of more detail. I wish the 1000 could handle a 141" wide scope ratio ST100, and it still may, but not sure I am willing to take that chance.

Yeah,

I had a 104" diag 16:9 screen of the Carada BW material. Jeff Miere - "umr" - had measured his BW sample at 1.03 gain and his ST-100 sample at 1.02 gain, so in terms of gain a negligible difference. I loved the Carada but at least with my previous projector when I was using it (Panny AE900) I appreciated a bit more gain on the ST-130. I wonder what type of quality difference there would be between the ST-100 and the Carada BW.

If the ST-100 would be visibly better than my ST-130 I might go for it and deal with the slight light drop.