Just thought I'd share my recent experience (and current testing) with ya'll here...
My wife and I have been searching for the ultimate screen to go with our new Sony VPL-HS20. So far, we have tested the following:
Sample Name and approx. size
Carada High Contrast Gray - 8"x10"
Carada Classic Cinema White - 8"x10"
Carada Brilliant White - 8"x10"
Da-Lite Cinema Vision - 6"x6"
Da-Lite High Contrast Cinema Vision - 6"x6"
Da-Lite High Power - 6"x6"
Stewart Grayhawk - 2'x3'
Stewart Firehawk - 2'x3'
Stewart Studiotec 130 - 2'x3'
Rustoleum Metallic Aluminum - 2'x2' (hardboard)
Rustoleum Blossom White Satin - 2'x2' (hardboard)
Rustoleum Auto Primer Light Gray - 2'x2' (hardboard)
Misty Evening - 2'x2' (hardboard), 4'x3' (Do-Able)
Soon to be tested:
50% Misty Evening 50% Silver Metallic - 2'x2' (hardboard)
75% Misty Evening 25% Silver Metallic - 2'x2' (hardboard)
50% Misty Evening 50% White Opal Pearlescent - 2'x2' (hardboard)
75% Misty Evening 25% White Opal Pearlescent - 2'x2' (hardboard)
40% Misty Evening 35% White Opal Pearlescent 25% Silver Metallic - 2'x2' (hardboard)
For those of you not interested in spending over a week playing with samples and testing.... or who would just like to hear me rant, below you will find comments on each of the materials tested. These comments are a composite of my opinions, and those of my wife (the ultimate judge). The movies we tested each material with are Matrix Reloaded , American Pie, Lord of the Rings Fellowship of the Ring, and Final Fantasy The Spirits Within. Each test was approximately 10 minutes in length for each film, and generally involved us going through the chapters and pausing it on various scenes. Unfortunately, this is not very scientific, so consider the results to be purely subjective in nature. For reference, all tests were conducted in complete darkness (except for the lighted Sony remote control). The projector is setup with mostly defaults for film mode, Lamp on Low, Iris On.
Carada High Contrast Gray 0.8 Gain
Matrix Reloaded - WOW. Very nice. Dark scenes look amazing on this material. If I were presenting only dark films, this would be the material of choice (and budget).
American Pie - Is it supposed to always look overcast? Crushed whites, dull skintones... overall a very disappointing experience. I couldn't watch the entire movie on this material.
Lord of the Rings Fellowship of the Ring - Once again, the dark scenes look incredible. In the light scenes, you can "see" the gray. Overall, not very appealing.
Final Fantasy The Spirits Within - Not bad. A very dark movie to begin with, this material really helps bring the blacks way down.
Carada Classic Cinema White 1.0 Gain
Matrix Reloaded - Too bright. Everything that should look black looks gray. Isn't Trinity wearing black vinyl? With this material, you'd wouldn't know.
American Pie - What? The sky is really blue? You mean the actors aren't all suffering from a horrible stomach bug? Hey - check it out guys, there's color again! This must be what it was like to watch the first color tv broadcasts...
Lord of the Rings Fellowship of the Ring - Much better! All the daytime scenes look correct. Too bad the dark scenes look washed out and without detail...
Final Fantasy The Spirits Within - I'd give this a neutral rating. CGI is a lot more forgiving material for a white screen than film is.
Carada Brilliant White 1.4 Gain
Matrix Reloaded - Unwatchable. That's it.
American Pie - Brilliant. Like watching a giant television set.
Lord of the Rings Fellowship of the Ring - The daytime scenes look incredible. Very much the "110" Plasma" feel to it. The nighttime scenes look miserable.
Final Fantasy The Spirits Within - Very similar to the CCW above. Not as bad of an effect as on film, but still not great to watch.
Da-Lite Cinema Vision 1.3 Gain
Matrix Reloaded - Much more tolerable than the two white Carada screens. Has a beige look to the material that seems to help blacks without crushing whites too much.
American Pie - Very good. Watchable - not bad in the evening scenes.
Lord of the Rings Fellowship of the Ring - Very watchable. Could use a little help during some of the extremely dark scenes, but overall good.
Final Fantasy The Spirits Within - Best so far on this film. Much better at keeping dark scenes dark, but giving a little more punch to the colors.
Da-Lite High Contrast Cinema Vision 1.1 Gain
Matrix Reloaded - Very good. The blacks still aren't as black as I'd like them to be, but it is a world of difference.
American Pie - Gives everyone a sort of sickly pale to their skintones. This may be something that can be calibrated around. Other than that, the colors are still more vivid than the previous "High Contrast" material.
Lord of the Rings Fellowship of the Ring - Good material for this movie! While it is a little bit darker than the regular Cinema Vision, it fixes the problems in dark scenes nicely. I could sit back and enjoy this.
Final Fantasy The Spirits Within - Too be honest, I didn't watch much of this film on the HCCV. The few scenes I viewed looked fine. Nothing extraordinary, but very good overall.
Da-Lite High Power 2.8 Gain
NOTE: This is a retro-reflective material. We were viewing from within the correct viewing cone. Ceiling mounted projectors may have different results than our table mounted test.
Matrix Reloaded - One word: No. For reasons that I do not understand, colors look HORRIBLE. Explosions look greenish instead of orange or red. For me, this material is not a fit.
American Pie - Everything looked very bright. Even after altering the brightness on the projector to try and compensate, this material seems to be overkill. Colors were nice and punchy, however.
Lord of the Rings Fellowship of the Ring - There still seems to be some color shift with this material. Perhaps someone can explain how to make the colors look right on it....
Final Fantasy The Spirits Within - Untested. By this point, we were through with testing the High Power. I know that many people on this forum own and enjoy the high power material - it must be a calibration issue with my setup that caused the color issues...
Stewart Grayhawk 0.95 Gain
NOTE: My Home Theater dealer was kind enough to allow me to demo some very large samples of this material. I admit that the sample size can affect the way images are perceived (by not having a larger field of view to evaluate). As I've mentioned before, my opinions are very subjective, and should be treated as such.
Matrix Reloaded - Very nice. Not much difference between this and the Carada High Contrast Gray. Overall, this material is excellent for dark(er) films
American Pie - I wouldn't say this is my favorite material, but I think Stewart has an edge up on other gray screens. The colors looked much better on this material than Carada or Da-Lite's high contrast screens.
Lord of the Rings Fellowship of the Ring - Very good for most of the movie. Too dark and washed out for the opening scenes in the Shire. Much like going to the theater - a little darker than you may be used to on TV, but something you could adjust to in little time.
Final Fantasy The Spirits Within - I ended up watching about 30 minutes on this screen. Very nice.
Stewart Firehawk 1.35 Gain
NOTE: My Home Theater dealer was kind enough to allow me to demo some very large samples of this material. I admit that the sample size can affect the way images are perceived (by not having a larger field of view to evaluate). As I've mentioned before, my opinions are very subjective, and should be treated as such.
Matrix Reloaded - Wow. One of the best materials yet for this movie. It gives dark scenes their "blacks", yet skintones are excellent. I could watch this all day. Very vivid with colors.
American Pie - Just a tad dark. A good example is when they are out on the field all the white jerseys look like they need to be washed (which is probably true!). Compared to a white screen, the whites are slightly crushed. On the upside, the skintones are incredible. This is the first gray(ish) material I have seen that can deepen the blacks without ruining skintones and color.
Lord of the Rings Fellowship of the Ring - About 45 minutes into the film I decided I to proceed with further testing. It felt like being in the theater. I am really impressed with this material!
Final Fantasy The Spirits Within - Brief testing with this film, as by this point I knew I liked the material. Really good black levels, and once again the colors jumped out at you (such as the blue eyes in the helmets).
Stewart studiotec 130
NOTE: My Home Theater dealer was kind enough to allow me to demo some very large samples of this material. I admit that the sample size can affect the way images are perceived (by not having a larger field of view to evaluate). As I've mentioned before, my opinions are very subjective, and should be treated as such.
Matrix Reloaded - And this material costs more than Carada's or Da-Lite's white because? Basically the same. As Tryg has pointed out before, white material is white material. And it shows. Blacks were gray, colors were good.
American Pie, Lord of the Rings Fellowship of the Ring, Final Fantasy The Spirits Within - White material is white material. If you choose to buy a Stewart Studiotek screen, you are either buying it for the a) Name or b) Frame. Not because it is anything a) better b) different.
Rustoleum Metallic Aluminum 7? Gain
Unwatchable due to hotspotting. Lots of fun to spray paint, though! I tried this as an undercoat to a Misty Evening layer, and my wife swears she can see more vibrance in the colors. As a top coat, it is horrible. Very difficult to spray a perfectly even coat of this stuff!
Rustoleum Blossom White Satin 1.x Gain
Not bad, but hard to spray. I won't be giving individual movie comparisons, as this is a white "material" just like an of the professional ones. Not 1/10th as good as the pro materials, but the same color! I strong advise against spray painting any screen unless you have extensive experience (read: years in da 'hood). I do not. It did not come out well. End of story.
Rustoleum Auto Primer Light Gray
Great grey color. Unfortunately, plagued by the same problems as the above two - nearly impossible to spray. Helped a little when used as a base coat on a Misty Evening test. It helped lower black levels ever so slightly.
Misty Evening
OMG. First off, even though CMRA and I have not seen eye to eye on some things, if we ever meet in person I owe him a beer! This stuff is incredible! Ok, maybe not incredible, but when you factor in price it comes pretty close. I will let my wife's comments sum it up "That looks better than any of the others, why do we have to buy a screen?". Now, she said this before I put the Firehawk up, which she agreed was marginally better.
Matrix Reloaded - Looks great! Not quite as dark as the firehawk, but skintones look good. Defintely watchable. As a mater of fact, we did watch about an hour of it before moving on with the testing.
American Pie - Excellent! Blue skys, white jerseys. Better white levels than the Firehawk on this film, but not quite as good in the dark scenes such as the party. I love the colors on this screen! Very vivid.
Lord of the Rings Fellowship of the Ring - It could stand to be a tad bit better in the darkest of scenes, but it really shows off in bright scenes. The opening scene in the Shire was as vivid and beautiful as on my 51F500 Hitachi.
Final Fantasy The Spirits Within - Very good. This material seems to bring out colors in CGI in ways the other variations of gray can't come close to. The blue eyes (soldiers helmets) that I mentioned earlier looked almost 3D.
Conclusion? I haven't one yet. As you can see, I have more samples to test out. I can say this - if you have $2k burning a hole in your pocket, go buy a Stewart screen and enjoy it. If you have
My wife and I have been searching for the ultimate screen to go with our new Sony VPL-HS20. So far, we have tested the following:
Sample Name and approx. size
Carada High Contrast Gray - 8"x10"
Carada Classic Cinema White - 8"x10"
Carada Brilliant White - 8"x10"
Da-Lite Cinema Vision - 6"x6"
Da-Lite High Contrast Cinema Vision - 6"x6"
Da-Lite High Power - 6"x6"
Stewart Grayhawk - 2'x3'
Stewart Firehawk - 2'x3'
Stewart Studiotec 130 - 2'x3'
Rustoleum Metallic Aluminum - 2'x2' (hardboard)
Rustoleum Blossom White Satin - 2'x2' (hardboard)
Rustoleum Auto Primer Light Gray - 2'x2' (hardboard)
Misty Evening - 2'x2' (hardboard), 4'x3' (Do-Able)
Soon to be tested:
50% Misty Evening 50% Silver Metallic - 2'x2' (hardboard)
75% Misty Evening 25% Silver Metallic - 2'x2' (hardboard)
50% Misty Evening 50% White Opal Pearlescent - 2'x2' (hardboard)
75% Misty Evening 25% White Opal Pearlescent - 2'x2' (hardboard)
40% Misty Evening 35% White Opal Pearlescent 25% Silver Metallic - 2'x2' (hardboard)
For those of you not interested in spending over a week playing with samples and testing.... or who would just like to hear me rant, below you will find comments on each of the materials tested. These comments are a composite of my opinions, and those of my wife (the ultimate judge). The movies we tested each material with are Matrix Reloaded , American Pie, Lord of the Rings Fellowship of the Ring, and Final Fantasy The Spirits Within. Each test was approximately 10 minutes in length for each film, and generally involved us going through the chapters and pausing it on various scenes. Unfortunately, this is not very scientific, so consider the results to be purely subjective in nature. For reference, all tests were conducted in complete darkness (except for the lighted Sony remote control). The projector is setup with mostly defaults for film mode, Lamp on Low, Iris On.
Carada High Contrast Gray 0.8 Gain
Matrix Reloaded - WOW. Very nice. Dark scenes look amazing on this material. If I were presenting only dark films, this would be the material of choice (and budget).
American Pie - Is it supposed to always look overcast? Crushed whites, dull skintones... overall a very disappointing experience. I couldn't watch the entire movie on this material.
Lord of the Rings Fellowship of the Ring - Once again, the dark scenes look incredible. In the light scenes, you can "see" the gray. Overall, not very appealing.
Final Fantasy The Spirits Within - Not bad. A very dark movie to begin with, this material really helps bring the blacks way down.
Carada Classic Cinema White 1.0 Gain
Matrix Reloaded - Too bright. Everything that should look black looks gray. Isn't Trinity wearing black vinyl? With this material, you'd wouldn't know.
American Pie - What? The sky is really blue? You mean the actors aren't all suffering from a horrible stomach bug? Hey - check it out guys, there's color again! This must be what it was like to watch the first color tv broadcasts...
Lord of the Rings Fellowship of the Ring - Much better! All the daytime scenes look correct. Too bad the dark scenes look washed out and without detail...
Final Fantasy The Spirits Within - I'd give this a neutral rating. CGI is a lot more forgiving material for a white screen than film is.
Carada Brilliant White 1.4 Gain
Matrix Reloaded - Unwatchable. That's it.
American Pie - Brilliant. Like watching a giant television set.
Lord of the Rings Fellowship of the Ring - The daytime scenes look incredible. Very much the "110" Plasma" feel to it. The nighttime scenes look miserable.
Final Fantasy The Spirits Within - Very similar to the CCW above. Not as bad of an effect as on film, but still not great to watch.
Da-Lite Cinema Vision 1.3 Gain
Matrix Reloaded - Much more tolerable than the two white Carada screens. Has a beige look to the material that seems to help blacks without crushing whites too much.
American Pie - Very good. Watchable - not bad in the evening scenes.
Lord of the Rings Fellowship of the Ring - Very watchable. Could use a little help during some of the extremely dark scenes, but overall good.
Final Fantasy The Spirits Within - Best so far on this film. Much better at keeping dark scenes dark, but giving a little more punch to the colors.
Da-Lite High Contrast Cinema Vision 1.1 Gain
Matrix Reloaded - Very good. The blacks still aren't as black as I'd like them to be, but it is a world of difference.
American Pie - Gives everyone a sort of sickly pale to their skintones. This may be something that can be calibrated around. Other than that, the colors are still more vivid than the previous "High Contrast" material.
Lord of the Rings Fellowship of the Ring - Good material for this movie! While it is a little bit darker than the regular Cinema Vision, it fixes the problems in dark scenes nicely. I could sit back and enjoy this.
Final Fantasy The Spirits Within - Too be honest, I didn't watch much of this film on the HCCV. The few scenes I viewed looked fine. Nothing extraordinary, but very good overall.
Da-Lite High Power 2.8 Gain
NOTE: This is a retro-reflective material. We were viewing from within the correct viewing cone. Ceiling mounted projectors may have different results than our table mounted test.
Matrix Reloaded - One word: No. For reasons that I do not understand, colors look HORRIBLE. Explosions look greenish instead of orange or red. For me, this material is not a fit.
American Pie - Everything looked very bright. Even after altering the brightness on the projector to try and compensate, this material seems to be overkill. Colors were nice and punchy, however.
Lord of the Rings Fellowship of the Ring - There still seems to be some color shift with this material. Perhaps someone can explain how to make the colors look right on it....
Final Fantasy The Spirits Within - Untested. By this point, we were through with testing the High Power. I know that many people on this forum own and enjoy the high power material - it must be a calibration issue with my setup that caused the color issues...
Stewart Grayhawk 0.95 Gain
NOTE: My Home Theater dealer was kind enough to allow me to demo some very large samples of this material. I admit that the sample size can affect the way images are perceived (by not having a larger field of view to evaluate). As I've mentioned before, my opinions are very subjective, and should be treated as such.
Matrix Reloaded - Very nice. Not much difference between this and the Carada High Contrast Gray. Overall, this material is excellent for dark(er) films
American Pie - I wouldn't say this is my favorite material, but I think Stewart has an edge up on other gray screens. The colors looked much better on this material than Carada or Da-Lite's high contrast screens.
Lord of the Rings Fellowship of the Ring - Very good for most of the movie. Too dark and washed out for the opening scenes in the Shire. Much like going to the theater - a little darker than you may be used to on TV, but something you could adjust to in little time.
Final Fantasy The Spirits Within - I ended up watching about 30 minutes on this screen. Very nice.
Stewart Firehawk 1.35 Gain
NOTE: My Home Theater dealer was kind enough to allow me to demo some very large samples of this material. I admit that the sample size can affect the way images are perceived (by not having a larger field of view to evaluate). As I've mentioned before, my opinions are very subjective, and should be treated as such.
Matrix Reloaded - Wow. One of the best materials yet for this movie. It gives dark scenes their "blacks", yet skintones are excellent. I could watch this all day. Very vivid with colors.
American Pie - Just a tad dark. A good example is when they are out on the field all the white jerseys look like they need to be washed (which is probably true!). Compared to a white screen, the whites are slightly crushed. On the upside, the skintones are incredible. This is the first gray(ish) material I have seen that can deepen the blacks without ruining skintones and color.
Lord of the Rings Fellowship of the Ring - About 45 minutes into the film I decided I to proceed with further testing. It felt like being in the theater. I am really impressed with this material!
Final Fantasy The Spirits Within - Brief testing with this film, as by this point I knew I liked the material. Really good black levels, and once again the colors jumped out at you (such as the blue eyes in the helmets).
Stewart studiotec 130
NOTE: My Home Theater dealer was kind enough to allow me to demo some very large samples of this material. I admit that the sample size can affect the way images are perceived (by not having a larger field of view to evaluate). As I've mentioned before, my opinions are very subjective, and should be treated as such.
Matrix Reloaded - And this material costs more than Carada's or Da-Lite's white because? Basically the same. As Tryg has pointed out before, white material is white material. And it shows. Blacks were gray, colors were good.
American Pie, Lord of the Rings Fellowship of the Ring, Final Fantasy The Spirits Within - White material is white material. If you choose to buy a Stewart Studiotek screen, you are either buying it for the a) Name or b) Frame. Not because it is anything a) better b) different.
Rustoleum Metallic Aluminum 7? Gain
Unwatchable due to hotspotting. Lots of fun to spray paint, though! I tried this as an undercoat to a Misty Evening layer, and my wife swears she can see more vibrance in the colors. As a top coat, it is horrible. Very difficult to spray a perfectly even coat of this stuff!
Rustoleum Blossom White Satin 1.x Gain
Not bad, but hard to spray. I won't be giving individual movie comparisons, as this is a white "material" just like an of the professional ones. Not 1/10th as good as the pro materials, but the same color! I strong advise against spray painting any screen unless you have extensive experience (read: years in da 'hood). I do not. It did not come out well. End of story.
Rustoleum Auto Primer Light Gray
Great grey color. Unfortunately, plagued by the same problems as the above two - nearly impossible to spray. Helped a little when used as a base coat on a Misty Evening test. It helped lower black levels ever so slightly.
Misty Evening
OMG. First off, even though CMRA and I have not seen eye to eye on some things, if we ever meet in person I owe him a beer! This stuff is incredible! Ok, maybe not incredible, but when you factor in price it comes pretty close. I will let my wife's comments sum it up "That looks better than any of the others, why do we have to buy a screen?". Now, she said this before I put the Firehawk up, which she agreed was marginally better.
Matrix Reloaded - Looks great! Not quite as dark as the firehawk, but skintones look good. Defintely watchable. As a mater of fact, we did watch about an hour of it before moving on with the testing.
American Pie - Excellent! Blue skys, white jerseys. Better white levels than the Firehawk on this film, but not quite as good in the dark scenes such as the party. I love the colors on this screen! Very vivid.
Lord of the Rings Fellowship of the Ring - It could stand to be a tad bit better in the darkest of scenes, but it really shows off in bright scenes. The opening scene in the Shire was as vivid and beautiful as on my 51F500 Hitachi.
Final Fantasy The Spirits Within - Very good. This material seems to bring out colors in CGI in ways the other variations of gray can't come close to. The blue eyes (soldiers helmets) that I mentioned earlier looked almost 3D.
Conclusion? I haven't one yet. As you can see, I have more samples to test out. I can say this - if you have $2k burning a hole in your pocket, go buy a Stewart screen and enjoy it. If you have