Projector and Screen recommendations

Kirkus,

Thank you, thank you, thank you. You addressed issues I've been concerned about in planning for front projection. I had been planning for the horizontal center of a 45" X 80" (92" diagonal) 16 X 9 fixed screen to be at eye level. Now I wonder if the center might better be a bit above eye level. My plan is for a ceiling mounted projector, most likely a Sony VPL 50/60 but maybe one of the new JVCs. The viewing angle is very narrow, and a Firehawk screen seems attractive. We do not wish to sit in complete darkness, but need very little ambient light.

db

>We do not wish to sit in complete darkness, but need very little ambient light.

You might consider installing some narrow beam (~10 degree) 2" spot lights aimed at your seating area combined with remote controlled dimmers. 120V PAR-16 bulbs are available if you look around so you don't even have to use expensive low voltage fixtures. They'll give you enough light to eat by, fidget with the remote controls etc. but wash out the screen much less than if you raised the ambient light in the room to get the same amount of light where you want it.

Some development has been done on "black" screens that are even more light rejecting than the Firehawk; when I get around to setting things back up I'll probably do that for the flexibility in light control.

Kirkus, thanks for your wealth of knowledge on screen choices. It will help. I will now have to research the apropriate projector to match a screen.

Drew, thanks for the info on directional lighting.

Most of the "high-def gray" screen I can find on the web are 0.8 gain. I also have a Mit 4900 and run it in low lamp mode 99% of the time, wondering if 0.8 gain is sufficient in a dark but not completely light control room?

where can one find a gray screen with 1.0 gain? I am torn between pull down and fixed frame right now... also torn between adding a solid state amp to do 2.1 or buy a better receiver for 5.1/7.1 in the future. I don't need surround sound, but kids love them. a decent solid state amp will easily cost more than a good receiver, but even a good receiver like Pioneer Elite can't drive my Sonus Faber Amati well.

The classic calculation for screen brightness is:

Projector Lumens / Screen area (sq. feet) * screen gain =
Brightness (in foot-Lamberts, or fL).

Target brightness is 12-15 fL in a darkened room, maybe around 20-ish with a little ambient light. But here's the catch -- projector "ANSI Lumens" specifications are so hyped and inaccurate, that a good rule of thumb is to take the projector's ANSI lumen specification, and use ONE QUARTER of this advertised value in your calculation. No kidding, those numbers are really that unrealistic.

Grey screens with gains above 1.0 are made by Stewart (the aforementioned "Firehawk"), and Da-Lite ("High-Contrast Cinema Vision") - I'm sure there are others, too.

Oh and I would personally prefer watching movies with a good two-channel "music" system than a typical receiver-based surround system. But that's definately a preference thing, some people feel the opposite.