Screen issues (1 Viewer)

[Adam_Bailey]

I have a number of questions about buying a screen for an HT that I'm 'building'.

The room I have is small, the wall I'd be projecting on is 9.5 feet and it's 11.7 feet deep. My first pass plan would be to try to fit an 8 foot screen. This gives about 34 to 43 degree viewing angles in the back. Are there any reasons why I should look at a smaller screen--visual reasons?

A screen that big would mean I would almos be forced to put the center channel behind the screen. I'm not opposed to this, might even be fun. But right now, the only factor making me think smaller is this, it would certainly be easier to keep the center channel outside.

The next question I have for now, is what brand I should buy. Do you really see a big difference between an image on a Stewart screen vs. Da lite? I've heard the difference is night and day, but one source used to work for Stewart and the other is prone to exaggerate.

There is nothing more I'd love to do then compare various screen/ projector combos but finding that retailers don't really put that stuff on the floor much.

Does anyone know of a place in southern california that displays projectors and screens? I'm currently leaning toward DLP, 3-4K range.

 

[Neil Joseph]

Is your planned screen an 8ft (diagonal) 16x9???

Are there any reasons why I should look at a smaller screen--visual reasons?

Yes. You may (or may not) notice the pixel structure from that distance. As far as field of view and fatigue from watching a large screen from that distance, you are at the top of the range of screen sizes and I would not go any bigger. Demo your projector choices from 10.5ft away and see if this is acceptable.

 

[Doug_B]

If you are talking about an 8' wide screen and the viewers can be as close as 10' away, then my calculation does show a subtended angle of about 43 degrees. 43 degrees is large and beyond the angle that I have seen recommended. 36 degrees is about as big a recommendation as I've seen, and 30 degrees is the one I have seen the most. Do try to see examples if possible.

Also, some will say that there are video quality tradeoffs for micro-perfed screens (which may depend on the type of proj used), which are used in front of a center channel speaker.

Doug