[HofstraJet]

Apologies in advance since I know the answer is in the forums, but I'm under the gun to get an answer and don't have time to do my normal research.

My sister just moved and needs to install her Epson PowerLite Pro Cinema 6030UB in a pretty bright living room. The projector will be ~15-20 feet from the screen and the seating area ~12-15 feet from the screen.

Any suggestions on the best screen to get so she can use the projector in that room?

The screen must be motorized and will be surface mounted on a 13.5' high ceiling. The screen location is 10' wide. Screen doesn't need to fill the entire space.

Screen should be acoustically transparent as the center channel will go behind it.

All thoughts, comments, and ideas are welcome. Let me know if any additional details are needed.

Thanks in advance.

 

[Seegs108]

If she can, she may want to reconsider a different projector. To fight ambient light you want as much lumen output as possible from the projector and in a relatively color accurate mode, the 6030 isn't really all that bright.

As far as a screen suggestion, you could look into a Black Diamond screen from Screen Innovations. These tend to help quite a bit when ambient light is in the room.

 

[Javs]

If she can, she may want to reconsider a different projector. To fight ambient light you want as much lumen output as possible from the projector and in a relatively color accurate mode, the 6030 isn't really all that bright.

As far as a screen suggestion, you could look into a Black Diamond screen from Screen Innovations. These tend to help quite a bit when ambient light is in the room.

How do the black diamonds or slate screens hold up compared to other white screens if say you watched in relatively dark conditions? I know they quote them as great for fighting ambient light but do they also perform well in ideal environments?

My room is 80% light treated, I can get it dark but during some scenes the light bouncing off the screen lights up my white ceiling and opposite wall and in turn washes out my image a tad. Was thinking a slate screen would help but also want to make sure if down the track I ended up being able to fully light treat it would still be a really great and optimal image.

 

[Seegs108]

There is no need for one if you have light control and well treated surfaces in your theater. Black diamond screens will degrade the picture. A nice quality matte white unity gain screen won't. Due to the heavy optical coatings on the black diamond screen, the image can take on a "grainy" appearance especially with higher brightness content/movie scenes.

 

[stanger89]

Apologies in advance since I know the answer is in the forums, but I'm under the gun to get an answer and don't have time to do my normal research.

My sister just moved and needs to install her Epson PowerLite Pro Cinema 6030UB in a pretty bright living room. The projector will be ~15-20 feet from the screen and the seating area ~12-15 feet from the screen.

Any suggestions on the best screen to get so she can use the projector in that room?

The screen must be motorized and will be surface mounted on a 13.5' high ceiling. The screen location is 10' wide. Screen doesn't need to fill the entire space.

Screen should be acoustically transparent as the center channel will go behind it.

I think she should consider selling the Epson and getting a "TV". She's got about the perfect storm working against a projector setup.

Bright room, this is the first and biggest problem. It's very hard to get anything projected to look good in such conditions. Remember what the screen looks like with the projector off is what your black will be. You need lots of light to get good perceived contrast. You can get an ambient light rejecting screen, but the screen alone will be the cost of a large, good LCD (though bigger).

Which brings us to the second big problem, you say she needs an AT screen, well this rules out ambient light rejecting screens and high gain screens. You'll be looking at a ~1.0 or less gain screen with AT, so the screen won't be helping with the projector brightness or rejecting ambient room light.

So if by "a pretty bright living room" you mean lightly colored with lots of ambient light during viewing, I think you're essentially a lost cause, sell the Epson and get a big LCD.

Now, if you mean the room has light decor, but viewing will be light controlled, then it doesn't really matter much. Since you need AT, I'd look for a woven screen in your budget. Seymour AV makes some great AT screens, I'm sure there are others.

 

[HofstraJet]

Thanks, everyone. Looks like it is a bad idea to put the projector in this room, which was my original inclination but thought it might be possible (I'm not very current in projectors). I'm going to explain it to her and have her put the projector in the other room where she was going to get a plasma and have her get an LCD for the bright room. The other room is an interior room with one small window which is easily light controlled.

 

[Mike Garrett]

Apologies in advance since I know the answer is in the forums, but I'm under the gun to get an answer and don't have time to do my normal research.

My sister just moved and needs to install her Epson PowerLite Pro Cinema 6030UB in a pretty bright living room. The projector will be ~15-20 feet from the screen and the seating area ~12-15 feet from the screen.

Any suggestions on the best screen to get so she can use the projector in that room?

The screen must be motorized and will be surface mounted on a 13.5' high ceiling. The screen location is 10' wide. Screen doesn't need to fill the entire space.

Screen should be acoustically transparent as the center channel will go behind it.

All thoughts, comments, and ideas are welcome. Let me know if any additional details are needed.

Thanks in advance.

Only AT screen that I know of that works well with ambient light is a Stewart FireHawk microperf. Would need to see pictures of the room (set to how you would use it) to even know if this screen would work for you. If you have a lot of windows and no coverings, then front projection will not work during the day.

 

[HofstraJet]

If you have a lot of windows and no coverings, then front projection will not work during the day.

That describes the room well.

Glad I asked the question before getting invested in the project.

Once I have the specs on the new room, I will post again asking for screen advice.

Thanks again everyone. I love how helpful everyone is in this forum. I'm not as active as I used to be around here, but I know this is the place for answers.

 

[Mike Garrett]

That describes the room well.

Glad I asked the question before getting invested in the project.

Once I have the specs on the new room, I will post again asking for screen advice.

Thanks again everyone. I love how helpful everyone is in this forum. I'm not as active as I used to be around here, but I know this is the place for answers.

Maybe I should have said not practical. You could get a screen like a DNP with 08-85 material and a high lumen 3-chip projector and get a pretty decent image in a room with a lot of windows, as long as we are not talking direct sun light, but this would be an expensive way to do it. Also it would not provide near as good of an image as you would get with less lumens, if you could knock down the ambient light.

 

[stanger89]

But the DNP doesn't come in an AT model that would work with a speaker behind the screen right?

 

[Mike Garrett]

But the DNP doesn't come in an AT model that would work with a speaker behind the screen right?

My comment was more for a correction, from where I said a front projector can't work in a room with a lot of ambient light. I supposed you could get a microperf FireHawk and hit it with a ton of lumens, but it is not a practical solution to the problem and still the image suffers compared to a dark room.

 

[stanger89]

Right that's sort of what I was thinking, you can deal with ambient light (to a degree) OR have an AT screen, but not both.