Higher gain Screen, is it worth it?

[vonzar]

What benefits come from getting a higher gain screen. I was looking at the grey wolf II 120" fixed frame 1.8 gain screen. Is this a good screen? I am getting the panasonic ae2000u and I went to projector central and did the projection calculator, and it said that with a 1.0 gain screen I could place my projector 15 feet away from the screen, which is almost exactly where I need it. But when I change the screen gain to 1.8 a message comes up in red that says Recommended image brightness for rooms with ambient light. So does that mean that if I don't have ambient light, the screen will be a bad thing? Will I have to change the brightness on the projector to accommodate? What does a higher gain actually mean for image quality? Is there a difference? I am making my first ever screen upgrade since my brother gave me his and my first projector upgrade since I bought my in72 (my first projector) at the same time, so I don't have much experience in this field. Any help would be appreciated as I will be purchasing the screen and projector in the morning. Thanks

[ryoohki]

Well higher gain have a downside. It's limited to a cone viewing. Some retro reflective screen limit the placement of the projector itself. I'am a big fan of the High Power Da-lite screen material myself because it's one of the only screen material without any screen texture. Screen Texture make me crazy.

[vonzar]

I went ahead and got the elite ezframe cinegrey. Hopefully that should be good. From what you say, it sounds like that was the right choice, because I wouldn't want to have to worry about placement of the projector. Thanks for your replies ryoohki, to both of my posts.

[ryoohki]

Originally Posted by vonzar

I went ahead and got the elite ezframe cinegrey. Hopefully that should be good. From what you say, it sounds like that was the right choice, because I wouldn't want to have to worry about placement of the projector. Thanks for your replies ryoohki, to both of my posts.

Yes! any screen is a great choice it only depand on you're choice. I like it brith. A high power screen makes thing as brith as they could be. I already have a screen (cheaper) but will upgrade to a Dalite HP in 2 month max..

[welwynnick]

A unity gain screen (gain = 1.0) is the usual benchmark for projection quality. This has no directional characteristics, meaning that light projected onto the screen is reflected (scattered back) in all directions. This means you can see the picture on the screen from any position in the room. But more importantly, you can see the light reflected back from every part of the screen.

Imagine the opposite of a unity gain screen, which is a mirror. This has almost infinte gain, and will do no scattering, just preserve the reflected direction of every beam that strikes it. In that case, you won't see a picture on the screen at all - you will only see a reflection of the very bright light from the projector.

A high gain screen is somewhere in between those extremes. 1.8 is a moderate gain, and I'd expect you to see some localisation of the projector, rather like watching the high gain screen on a rear projection TV. You would lose brightness off-axis, but worse than that, the screen won't be uniformly bright. You'll be somewhat aware of the position of the projector, and the picture will be brightest where the screen is tending to reflect the beam at you.

High gain screens use glass beads to achieve a higher degree of directional gain (perhaps gain = 4 or 6) but these are extreme and very undesirable for HT. Most people would probably be happy with up to 1.3 or 1.4 gain from their screen, but not with 1.8.

Also remember that its not just distance that determines the brightness of the picture, but the size of the screen as well. Max brightness is achieved with the PJ zoom set to shortest / widest setting, as the apperture is largest. This is slightly worse for contrast and slightly best for brightness. its a compromise, but not a hugely significant one. Screen size itself is most probably important.

Nick

[m_tyson]

I love my High Power. 2.8 gain, no texture, no sparklies, no hotspotting, and I can watch sports in the day with the lights on and change projector settings for an awesome nighttime movie picture too.

[ryoohki]

Originally Posted by m_tyson

I love my High Power. 2.8 gain, no texture, no sparklies, no hotspotting, and I can watch sports in the day with the lights on and change projector settings for an awesome nighttime movie picture too.

The nasty thing with projector and that the bulb is hot for the first.. 200 hours.. after is down the drain slowly but surely and stabilize at 1000-1200 hours. That's why i liked higher gain screens. You can but the projector is LOW mode and -40 Iris if you want at the start.. and slowly up the Iris as the bulb diminish it's brithness or put the lamp in normal mode... and you'll still have a great puchy picture..