FP screen , +$$$ = better pic - fact or fiction?

Bdgregory, thanks for the info.

The best picture quality will typically come from a simple and inexpensive matt white screen IF AND ONLY IF:

1. Your projector has enough light output for the screen size you choose

2. You can completely control the light in the room and make it dark.

3. Your screen surface remains perfectly flat, e.g. doesn't warp or wave over time

A matt white screen has the best off axis viewing, most natural colors and no hotspotting.

The reasons to buy a more expensive screen:

1. You want a motorized screen (convenience + the ability to hide the screen)

2. Tab tensioning, which will keep the screen flat forever.

3. You need more light gain so you get a 1.3 (or higher) gain screen.

4. Your projector has very high light output and can benefit from a high contrast gray screen.

Thanks all for the input. I cetainly don't have money to burn, but generally I find that I'm best served by buying the best valued item that I can justify. A good example is that all of my stereo gear, as well as some of my video gear (AV Receiver) are now all approx. 15 years old. I stretched a little financially when I bought them, but they've served me well and have never had any piece of this system repaired. Now I'm ready for an upgrade. I've started by separating two channel from AV and I've replaced the two channel gear and am looking forward to replacing the AV equipment and am trying to sort through my questions with your help.

Just a note when balancing projector vs. screen budget. Projector technology/quality improvement is still on a moderately steep climb while prices are dropping. I'm thinking screen technology is fairly mature (but I'm no expert here.) What I did a year ago was buy the best screen I could afford (a DaLite acoustically transparent tab-tensioned hi-contrast gray motor controlled, 110".) I bought a Panasonic 720p projector (even though 1080p was out, why pay for bleeding edge?) which was several hundred dollars less than the screen.

The philosophy here is, I should never have to upgrade the screen (cuz it would be a b!tch to sell/ship here or on Videogon!) but will most likely upgrade the projector down the road. I did pick this screen material based on the current projector and the only thing I would do differently is go with a white/higher gain screen. My room can be made totally dark, but even with the default light output, most scenes are on the dark side.

With all that said, I am quite pleased with the end result. Picture quality is very good with OTA HD broadcasts, as well as DirecTV HD, and Santa brought a Toshiba HD-A3 HD DVD player, but it's too early to tell how great it is. It does upscale standard DVDs to better PQ as the AVS forums attest.

This replaced a Sony 65" RPTV 16x9 HD which was a big acoustic mass (mess) between my main speakers. The projector hanging from the ceiling and the screen that rolls up into the ceiling take no floor space. The only downside is the setup (2-channel and home theatre combined in the same space) limits my placement of the main speakers. Overall it works well.

Mike