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Ideal Screen Size for Theater? 2.35:1 or 16:9?

For you screen guys out there...

My dimensions are 16x43ft and part of that space is a pool table and full bar.  I will have one row of theater seating about 13-15 feet from the screen.  I am looking to mount and recess (hide) the screen in the rafters.  My question is this, what brand should I use? and what size screen should I get?  The screen will go across the 16 ft span. Projector is undetermined at this point but will be a good one.  The windows in the area can be "blacked out" I am also thinking of doing an acoustically transparent screen.  Thoughts? 

Also, should I do 16:9 or letterbox? I will use it about 75% for TV and sporting events and 25% on movies.

Thanks,
mgould
auxinput
2,920 posts
 

Another point. If you are sitting 15 feet away from the screen, it is recommended that the screen size be about 10 feet wide (a good size would be 120" wide by 67.5" high for a 16:9 screen). This gives you the recommended 36 degree viewing angle for the actual movie screen. See this page:

http://myhometheater.homestead.com/viewingdistancecalculator.html

If you used a full 16 foot wide screen, the recommended viewing distance would be 24-1/2 feet away - referenced as "Recommended THX Viewing Distance (36 degree viewing angle)".

mgould OP
11 posts
 
Aux- 
Thank you for the info.  
I have 15.8 feet available to me for width but I think I will go with something smaller.  I was thinking around 11 feet wide plus or minus a foot.  I have had people (in the business) try and talk me into a 100 inch diagonal screen to which I say, I would rather just do a 90 inch TV and forego the cost of screen and projector.  Since I am doing the projector, why wouldn't I go bigger?  
I have the ability to control the light in the room so I don't think it will be too bad with ambient light.  There will be some light from the sides and rear but not too bad.  I think in order to do the larger screen with my speakers (48 inch high) I need to have acoustically trasnparent material or else the screen will go all the way to the ceiling which seems too high.

I think I should probably do the 16:9

Are the grey or black superior to the white in any aspects other than ambient light rejection?  

Also with gains of 1.5+, do you see any bright spots in the center or banding issues of any type? or any hot spots?


Stewart keeps coming up as the brand of choice for serious people looking for a nice screen.  I have looked online at screen innovations and their 7 series motorized looks sweet.  Do you or anyone else on here have experience with any of the other screens not named stewart?

Also- what do you guys use for projectors? And, are you happy with it and its performance and reliability? 

auxinput
2,920 posts
 

I don't think the grey/black are superior to white in general.  They have more resistance to ambient light.  The grey screens are designed to reflect light that is directed straight at the screen (i.e. straight line from the projector), but do not reflect light coming from the sides (i.e. reflections off the side walls).  So, if you are concerned about ambient light, choose the grey.

In your situation, with some concerns about ambient light, I would go with the Greyhawk from Stewart Filmscreen.  It has a very wide viewing angle (almost as wide as my Studiotek 130), but less gain.  The Stewart Greyhawk is more expensive, but it has 12% more gain than the grey screens from Draper and Da-Lite.  When using grey screens, I would try to squeeze out as much light output as possible.

I use a Sony VW95ES (which, in my opinion, was the last excellent 1080p projector Sony made) that outputs 1000 lumens.  I have a 7-2/3 foot wide screen (92") in a completely dark room and the 1000 lumens is just enough to give good light output once calibration from Lumagen Radiance is completed.  In you room, I would recommend at least 2000 lumens (or as much as you could get) because of the larger screen and lower gain Greyhawk.  A 10-11 foot screen is really huge for a common project, plus the lower gain screen means you really need a lot of lumens!  What's your projector budget?

gregkohanmim
153 posts
 
Auxinput clearly knows his stuff so this is more a question than a recommendation from me, but I was thinking..  I have a 100" screen and 1080p projector that I bought for a project a couple years ago.  While it's OK, the one thing that pops into my head is that it looks like you're doing a dedicated theater room, aren't there specific paints that you could use on your viewing wall that allow for any size and format and thereby essentially "future-proof" the room?

Only raising this question since if I were to set up a dedicated dated HT room for projected video, I would want to research this option thoroughly.  

Aren't there great paint options available these days for larger screen viewing sizes that rival physical screens?

Would love to know.

Greg

auxinput
2,920 posts
 

I remember reading about usage of different paints about 5-6 years ago.  I think it was over on AVSForum.  I never did any experimentation with paints.  You might not have the amount of gain that a specific screen material would have (I don't know).  Also, you would have to make sure you used a perfectly flat surface.  Many residential houses nowadays have textured walls.

One thing to keep in mind is that you really need to have a border or some way to black out the entire area surrounding the screen.  There is much light that would reflect off the front wall, event though the projector is primarily aimed at the screen.

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