The official Elite screen thread.

Anyone have the EZ frame screen???

How do you like its performance??

How does the frame look??

It is hard to tell in online pictures!

I have a Da-Lite PermWall from a few years back in my HT, but was helping someone else install a new HT using a Panasonic 700 with and Elite EZ Frame Screen last weekend. The frame is great on the Elite screen (far better that the lower end Da-Lites), but the screen material was flawed to the point of not being usable. It had several scuff marks that were unacceptable. The good sections of the screen looked very good with dark scenes, but showed some banding on bright scenes. I don't know if this would go away after the screen was hung for a period of time (we had just on rolled it and the banding appeared to be from how it was packaged..not sure). When the salesman involved was contacted, he insisted that this has never happened before, so a new screen is on its way. We will have to wait and see on this one.


More Info:
http://www.projectorreviews.com/review.asp?reid=48
http://www.avsforum.com/avs-vb/archi.../t-433219.html

I have a 100" ELite 16:9 pull down Screen that was thrown in for free with my 4805 projector. Frankly for free you cant beat it, there are a few waves in the screen, but when the room is darkened you can only see them, and just barely in extremely bright scenes. I will probably eventually buy an electric tab tensioned screen to use once I get my theatre/entertainment room all set up in the base ment, but for now just using the projector on the cofee table with the screen mounted from the ceiling in front of the entertainemnt stand works great.

Screen number two arrived the other day. At first it looked OK, but we couldn't hang it because the new screen required 7 clips where the old one had 6 on each side. Once the clips arived and it was mounted in the frame, it was clear that this screen is simply not worth the money. The new screen had foot prints on it (don't ask me how that happens) and just didn't look right on bright scenes (you could see the screen pattern). It is being sent back and a Da Lite screen is going to be used in its place.

Sorry to see the problems with these screens. I have a 94" electric and have been very pleased with it. I have had it for over a year now without any problems. This is my first screen so I can't compare it with the other companies, but I think it was well worth the price.

I am interested in an electric screen for my new projector (either Infocus 4805 or Sanyo z3) and would like some feedback on the VMAX electric screens. They are very affordable but how is the quality and how would they work with each of my short list projectors, which will be ceiling mounted.

the vmax electric that i've been using for several months has developed modest waves, in the classic V shape. This has been attributed to roller sag on other threads. Other than that, its been reliable, and the adjustment for drop height is nice.

Any word on when the new tensioned screens from Elite will be available?

my one seems to short out some how and i got a 1.2 model

Anyone have experience with this screen ? Is there a better portable solution for around the same cost ?

ELITE SCREENS F84XCH1

I have had the F84XCH1 (a.k.a. Elite ez-Cinema Plus 84") for a little over a month now. I am using it for a home theater setup. I went with a portable model because I want to be able to bring the projector and screen out on movie nights and then hide it all away once the show is over. I really like it. The spring mechanism for pulling up the screen makes it effortless. And its easy to adjust it up and down to fit the various widesrceen formats. The case is all black so there are no light reflections there.

One thing that I do notice with mine is that if I raise the screen too high it begins to loose some of its tension so the screen isn't quite as flat at the lower right. This isn't a problem for me because I don't need to raise it that high. But if you plan to use it for portable presentations where you will need to raise the screen near to the top of its rise (over 30" or so) you may get a bit of waviness at the edges. But then again it may be just my unit.

Let me also say the I like the way the F84XCH1 works much better than tripod type screens. I have used a few trypod screens and they are often a pain because of how much floor space the tripod takes up. The F84XCH1 only needs the width of the screen and about a foot of depth. And its pretty stable. Since the heaviest part is on the floor it seems much less likely to fall over than tripod screens.

Thanks KillRob - eventually I realized that this is a native 16:9 screen and my BenQ6200 is a native 4:3. So I ended up ordering the DA-LITE 83316 Deluxe Insta-Theater. I'll be using it for the dual purpose of movies and pc games. I hope I'll be as happy with this as you are with the F84XCH1 .

i have a 100inch 16x9 pull down, no waves and better than any low end draper. best deal for $200 cdn

I have a 106" EZ frame screen mated with the Panasonic 900. I have been using the combo for about 3 weeks. First projector and screen for me. So far I am extremely happy with the performance/value of the screen. I paid about half the price as a similar sized Carada grey screen. I am very happy with the fit and finish of the frame. The velvet material they use for the frame soaks up the light overspill very nice. As for the screen material...very very occasionally I notice a bit of hot spotting where you can see some of the pebble texture of the screen in an area about 1 foot in diameter. I must stress that this is very occasionally and seems to be only on very brightly lit backgrounds (ie shots of Tatooine or Hoth). I can honestly say that 95-98% of the time the screen does not attract any attention to itself. I am sure there are many screens out there that do not exhibit this type of hotspotting and would be a more accurate screen. However for me the value of the screen (fixed frame, velvet covered, high contrast grey) just could not be beat at this point. I personally have absolutely no itch to upgrade this screen. Mark me as a happy Elite owner.

I have the EZ frame also and see the imperfections in the screen in light scenes. As you stated, most of the time the scenes are not light enough to see this. I did however send in my complaint to Elite and I will be getting replacement material this week. I was told by the rep that they have made another material change to eliminate this condition. I will report back early next week with my findings. Material should be in my possession by the weekend.

Although this problem can be seen, I would not have preferred to spend the extra hundreds of dollars of a different brand. It's certainly not that BIG of an issue to me. If the material turns out to be better, I will let you know and you may want to consider getting newer material through the warranty program from Elite.

Last, this is a very nice screen for the $$. The frame is absolutely beautiful. Other screens that are only a few hundred more have a dreadful looking frame, like that Da-Snap. To get a frame like this, you are talking about another thousand bucks. Not worth it for my budget. I can deal with a little imperfections in light scenes (almost white scenes) for this price.

Hi,
I purchased an Elite Home series screen (Home100iwh) along with 12V trigger (homedct12) and for some reason the setup did not work.

I tried to hook up the 12V trigger to the screen twice and each time the circuit in the screen blew up and the screen stopped functioning.

I also tried to work with their technical support but no help. they also couldn't figure out why it is happening and suggested me to NOT use 12V trigger with the screen.

Only reason I baught this model because it supports 12V trigger as opposed to VMAX.

Just wondering if anyone had similar experience?

I replaced my screen last night with the naterial that was shipped to me from Elite under warranty. I see the same thing as JTL mentioned in this thread. There is a hot spot that can be seen in very bright scenes directly in front of where you sit. This is not seen 90% of the time and it is not unbearable. There has definitely been an improved in the material since what was shipping back in June. Elite stated this change was made about 1 month ago. The date on my box was September.

Material differences: The material is vinyl with a grained surface. The surface on my older material has a shallow/soft grain. The newer material now has a heavier/deeper grain. My background is engineering from another industry, but I am quite familiar with graining in other applications. Deeper grains definitely hide impurities that could otherwise be seen in plastic parts. I can see how this same logic can apply to screens.

My opinion: If you have budget concerns, get the Elite screens and put the money into the projector. I had a Benq 7700 and replaced it with a Optoma H78. The extra money put into exchanging the projector was well worth it. I can't say a screen different screen would improve the picture that much at all.

Note: Keep in mind that the material for the the EZ frames is not the same material used in the electric screens, pull downs, etc. for Elite. This review is stricly for the material of the EZ frame. I also read a review that stated hot spots is common for vinyl materials. It's something they can reduce and make less noticeable, but it is difficult to eliminate altogether.

tinyv, thanks very much for your follow up post regarding your screen material. I would also classify the grain on my screen as "course or deeper". I think my screen shipped on Oct 19 or 20 so I would suspect I have the new material but I can't be sure as I have never seen the other material.

Thanks again

Jim

Could someone with a 92" EZ frame measure the overall width? I need a frame that is exactly 86" wide. Also, how does the screen material compare to Da-lite HCCV material. This is my main concern with this screen (screen material, hot spotting).

I would like to give a review I have from the VMAX100UWV model. That's the 100" electric 4:3 model in black casing.

Shipping - it's huge - box is 9.25 feet long. The thing was packaged incorrectly so the end cap that has the mounting hole on it was broken because it wasn't placed properly in the styrofoam. I called Elitescreens and they have some very awesome tech support/assistance. I was impressed. My new end cap is being sent to me as we speak. For now I have it suspended with coatwire - yeah I know ghetto, but it works

OK so for the screen... setting the vertical limit took me a day before I got to it because the instructions online (nothing useful in the box) and I found out I don't have a type C which is what tigerdirect said it was... oh well - I don't care I suppose - I have a type A according to the instructions. Now that it is set - the thing is absolutely worth every penny - I would have paid double for it. Absolutely wonderful.

Pros:
Electric motor is quiet and stops where you set it at.
Mounting hardware isn't ugly - and wires can be hidden fairly easily.
Screen is bright white and really looks great.
The Smell!

Cons:
Motor is slow - takes approx. 42 seconds for screen to lower and another 42 for it to raise back up. I really don't care about this as long as it keeps working though!
White matte seems to have a type of oil on it in a few spots so things look shinier than they should when white light hits it.... I will be cleaning it soon (once I get the proper mounting hardware)
RF and IR remotes do not work reliably. But I trained my MX500 remote to use the IR codes and it works like a champ everytime. Basically the remotes don't always sense that you pushed the button - they both have build in LEDs but they don't always light up when you hit the button - I think perhaps the circuit board underneath might be out of place or something.
OK - so I like the smell - but my wife doesn't appreciate it at the same level as I do. It's fading already - only had it down for about 10 hours now.

I am using an Optoma EP719 to shoot an image onto this screen and I love it.

The screen material is thick enough that my super bright blue LED from my Tenor case (HTPC) does not shine through - that's impressive - BUT the material is also so thick that IR signals do not find their way to my components behind the screen either. To get around that I had to order some Xantech stuff - which should be here tomorrow.

I love the screen and would buy it again even if something else comparable was within the same price range by another brand. Elitescreen's service was beyond my expectations.

Plus, no other motorized screen comes close to the price OR quality.

I hope this helps someone in their decisions with these awesome screens.

Thats very odd. I have the 96" home series and lowering and raising takes only about 6-7 seconds each. Have you asked customer service to see if it should take that long.

The VMAX and the Home series use different motors. The VMAX motor is quieter than the Home motor, but considerably slower.

My VMAX100UWH (100" 16:9) takes just over 30 seconds for drop/rise.

[quote=Gleep52]I would like to give a review I have from the VMAX100UWV model. That's the 100" electric 4:3 model in black casing.

Gleep52:Thanks for a great review. I'm considering replacing my DIY wall mounted screen (viewing area 45"Hx82"Wx92"Diag from 12feet.) with the Elite VMAX100UWH 16:9. My concern is the Infocus SP4805 lens C/L is only 3" from the drop ceiling. The SP4805 is angled up slightly, so that it projects a top screen viewing edge that is 7-1/4" below the ceiling. Since the Elite VMAX100UWH specs 18" of Black Drop at the top, can I adjust the screen to just display the 7-1/4" that I need, instead of the entire 18" top mask, or does it automatically drop the full 18"with no fine adjustments?


TIA,
sgibson

Anyone with the Elite VMAX100UWH ??


TIA, sgibson

I have the VMAX100UWH. Both the top and bottom stop positions are adjustable with an appropriately sized allen wrench.

hi there,

I purchase my first projector this month the Panasonic AE900, and of course didnt bother to calculate throw distance, so the 92" Dalite screen I had from my parents home was too small.

I purchased the VMAX120XWH, and have to say i am a bit disappointed, During bright scenes or fast camera movement, I seem to be able to see the texture of the screen itself. am i doing something wrong?

thanks,

saj

Le Fou,

Thank you very much for the info! That helps narrow my choice for replacing DIY screen with an affordable motorized 16x9 screen. What's your thoughts on viewing quality with the VMAX100UWH? Any waves, hot spots?
Regards,
sgibson

I just picked up the 92" diag. screen, looked a little cheap at first, slight waving, but once I projected my 4805 it looks great even as close as 10ft.