2. home-theater
  3. 129366-81422

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
 

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.

mgould OP
11 posts
 
As for projector, I am looking at the sonys, epsons and wolfs.  I am not opposed to using other brands but they are the ones I am most familiar with.  Sony is what I would really like due to the fact that they are 4k but their cost is somewhat out of control.  But the main fact is that I am looking at 2000 lumen+ if I can afford it.  


mgould OP
11 posts
 
Greg- 
I have seen some theaters projected on the painted walls.  They don't look that bad.
These are my reservations with white painted walls for projectors.
You are limited to white.  If you want to paint your other walls a different color, the one you project on would have to be white. It would look odd to me.  Also, I'm sure the white paint used would not look good in a room as it would look very sterile like a hospital.  
More to discover