Selecting Your Home Theater Projector Screen

The large selection of projector screens available in all forms and in different projection screen materials is in itself a guarantee that there is always a suitable projector screen for your home theater needs.

Unfortunately, many simply opt for the first home theater screen they find that suits their budget without researching through the available products to find the best match for their application.

Yet choosing the right combination of screen array and projection surface for your home theater is essential for optimum viewing results.

...not only!

It is one thing selecting a front projector screen for a business presentation, and another if what you are after is a home theater solution.

In the home theater, we are concerned not only with the visual impact of the projected image but also with the overall sound quality. Why?

The type of screen material and the screen placement with respect to your speakers can do a lot to help you get even more wrapped into the movie action. The use of acoustically transparent home theater projector screens as further detailed below, together with the correct placement of speakers with respect to your projection screen surface, can do a lot to help support the overall home theater sound.

Selecting the right Home Theater Projector Screen

Despite what many may think, choosing the right combination of home theater projector screen array and screen fabric is a rather straight forward process. Just follow through the step-by-step instructions detailed below to select the right combination of screen array and screen surface for your home theater application.

Step 1: Determine the Screen Type

Fixed Screen Systems are the simplest and most straight-forward home theater projector screens. Usually, these are found among the more serious home cinema installations.

Generally, all attention is focused on room design and equipment performance, while less attention is paid to 'hiding' equipment, so permanently mounted home theater projector screens are more often installed.

The screen fabric is stretched onto a finished aluminum or wooden  frame and attached with snap fasteners, creating a smooth, wrinkle-free surface.

This type of front projection screen is typically installed to 'float' several inches off your wall. If the room dimensions permit however, this distance should be increase to accommodate the placement of the center speaker behind the screen.

Placing the center speaker behind the home theater projector screen would lead to a greater sense of dept to your home theater sound and would render your home cinema experience even closer to that enjoyed at movie theaters.

However, acoustic transparent screens brings with them a number of design challenges since a projection screen is not just an acoustic transparent fabric and its primary role of delivering a great image should not be compromised. This implies that the micro-perforated surface should be such as to:

[1] reduce the light penetrating through the screen material since any light reflected from behind the screen may impact the image contrast,

[2] reduce light loss due to the screen surface texture, and

[3] should not introduce artifacts in the projected image.

Point 3 in particular is important as when an image that is composed of a regular geometric pattern such as dot patterns from LCD and DLP video projectors, is projected onto a surface that itself contains a surface pattern of comparable spacing with that of the projected image, moiré artifacts will result in the projected image. Moiré is the resultant ripple-like pattern in image presentations produced when two geometrically-regular patterns are superimposed on each other. Such artifacts degrade image quality and are therefore undesirable.

Equalization in the form of low pass filtering of the video signal can be used to remove moiré artifacts but the use of such filtering techniques - especially when applied uniformly to the image, may result in noticeable reduced image resolution.

It is interesting to note here that today, micro-perforated projection screen surfaces are either PVC perforated or woven type. Both have their pros and cons with respect to image and sound quality. PVC perforated have a higher tendency to produce moiré and would often require equalization. However, with correctly designed perforations, PVC perforated screens would not need equalization - meaning that they can still deliver great images from high definition 1080p video projectors without producing moiré.

Elite's AcousticPro1080 home theater projector screen fabric referred to above does not require equalization; it achieves the right characteristics to deliver a crisp clear image without any artifacts while maintaining acoustic transparency by making use of a side weave mesh pattern and coated fabrics. Instead, Stewart Filmscreen MicroPerf perforated screens avoids the moiré problem completely by rotating the screen material so the perforated grid does not interfere with the projector pixel grid.

Portable Projection Screens and Tripod Portable Screens are more of a tight budget solution for facilities with multiple presentations or training rooms rather than for home theater use. These can be folded, stored and moved from room to room whenever the need arises.

Portable projector screens in particular are mostly used by the traveling presenter. These screens fold into neat, compact cases and are ready to use in seconds. They are smaller (by design) than most other projection screens.

Wall mounted 'pull-down' projection screens can be mounted to the wall, to the ceiling, or even installed in the ceiling itself. The manual version is significantly less expensive than remote controlled electric screens; the latter however can be raised and lowered at the touch of a button.

A retractable home theater projector screen - in particular if it is mounted in a false ceiling - can easily be concealed when not in use, rendering it the ideal solution in those situations when a dedicated room is not available for your home theater setup.

Step 2: Decide on the Screen size

To obtain the best in projected image performance, it is important to determine the correct image size for a truly immersive movie experience. Ideally, the screen size should occupy a minimum of a 30° field of view for the audience.

The rule of thumb here is to use a home theater projector screen whose width is approximately half the distance separating the screen to the front row of seats, (i.e. a viewing distance that is equal to twice the screen width.) This however depends on the projected image resolution since with standard definition projections, the viewing distance should be increased. 

For a more detailed discussion on the optimum viewing distance and screen size, please check our TV Viewing Distance article.

Directly related to the screen size is screen placement. In general, screen placement should be determined according to the sight-lines of the installation. This should allow all members of the audience to see all parts of the screen in an unobstructed manner.

Step 3: Identify your Screen Format

To select the appropriate format - or projection screen aspect ratio - for your home theater application, you need to identify the type of video signal you will be viewing most. Many in the home use the 16:9 (1.78:1) since most video content for the home entertainment market comes in HDTV.

But it is worth taking note that there are a number of other common formats; these include:

Anamorphic (Cinema-Scope) 2.35:1

Letterbox Video: 1.85:1

HDTV: 1.78:1

Standard video format (NTSC and PAL): 1.33:1

The diagram below depicts the differences between these picture formats:

Step 4: Choose the right Screen Surface

There are a number of factors which must be considered when choosing a front projector screen surface that best meets the needs of a custom installation. Seating configuration, video projector type, and ambient light are all factors that must be put into the overall equation.

This also explains why all major projector screen manufacturers offer a diverse selection of screen surfaces to meet the needs that arise out of the different environments.

The subject of projector screen surface selection is vast and often too technical in nature for most home theater users. Luckily, most projection screen makers offer some form of online calculator to help you determine the right projection screen fabric for your application. However...

The accuracy of these online projector screen calculators is dependent on your correct interpretation of the requested information. Having a basic knowledge of the different home theater projector screen surfaces and available fabrics is therefore always an asset worth having as it will help you pick up the right screen material.

We cover the subject of selecting an appropriate projection screen surface in the second part of this series of home theater projector screen guides, where we discuss Projector Screen Surfaces and Fabric Selection. This guide also explains the criteria that should be taken into consideration to arrive at a most suitable screen surface for your application.

 

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...but the screen surface alone is not everything! There are other items to consider when setting up a front projection screen setup.

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Screen Borders and Screen Drops

A suitable home theater projector screen is a crucial element in any home theater setup. But there are two other important accessories one has to consider when setting up a projector screen: black masking borders and screen drops.

Black Masking Borders are a standard feature found on most front projection screens available from major screen suppliers.

Black borders enhance the perceived brightness of the projected image on the screen. The human eye perceives the image to have more contrast and a sharper picture with brighter colors. Borders also allow the projected image to 'bleed-off' the screen for a professional presentation.

Drops are available on most wall and ceiling electric screens. The 'drop' is that extra fabric added to the top or bottom of the screen to adjust the screen surface to within normal viewing heights. Drops used in the home theater and home entertainment applications are normally matt black in color.

In general, masking borders and drops are set to match a fix screen format. However, it is also possible to find electrically operated adjustable masks that can be used to alter the projection screen aspect ratio to suit a different video format; a case in point is when viewing standard video onto a home theater projector screen that has been designed to accommodate HDTV viewing.