Manual projection screens - a buyer's guide
Manual projection screens are the most popular projection screens around. Here's a guide on how to select the right one for your home cinema.
- Price - Prices can range from 50 euro to hundreds of euro's, depending on features, brand, size and screen fabric. Unfortunately, price is not always an indication of quality, but you should allocate about 200-300 euro / dollar for a medium-sized good screen.
- Size - The right size depends on whether your projector can accommodate the required size (there's usually a tool on the projector manufacturer's website or go to www.projectorcentral.com) and the viewing distance. You should be seated at a minimum of least the distance of the diagonal of the projector screen (for example, for a 92" diagonal screen, you should be seated at a minimum of 92")
- Screen fabric - From the different types available, matte white can be used in most rooms, preferably in a dark / light controlled environment. High contrast (grey) fabric can be used in rooms with a lot of ambient light, to improve the perceived colour depth. Make sure your projector has enough light output (ANSI lumen), as the projected image might otherwise be too dim.
- Housing - Choose a housing which is easy to fix to either the wall or the ceiling. Select a model which has a housing that allows flexible placement of the brackets. This makes the installation a lot easier and less time consuming.
- Black borders - Black borders on a projection screen help increase the perceived image brightness. Choose a screen with this feature and your movies will look a lot better.
Last but not least, make sure you buy the screen from a reputable retailer. This will help you when something goes wrong with the screen and a good retailer will be able to help you find the right screen for your room and projector.
If you have not yet found a manual projection screen with all the features mentioned above, have a look at the award winning R-series manual projection screens.
