The Right Projector Screen Can Save You Money!

At LCDProjectorCenter.com we concentrate very much on lcd
projectors, so why am I writing about projector screens? Quite
simple really. Buying your lcd projector in isolation from the
screen without considering how they work together is likely to
cost you more and give you less than perfect results.

How can picking the right projector screen save you
money?

One of the biggest challenges when choosing an lcd
projector is getting the right brightness for the room you
are going to be using it in. For home use you can usually darken
the room. This means you can buy a cheap lcd projector, often
saving many hundreds, if not thousands, of dollars.

But often darkening the room significantly is neither possible
nor desirable. Buying a higher specification projector will give
you a brighter image, but it’s probably cheaper to buy a high
gain projector screen. The quality lcd projector may cost you a
thousand dollars more than a dimmer model, whilst quality
projector screens that enhance the image brightness and clarity
are only a few hundred dollars more.

Projector Brightness and Screen Gain

The brightness of an lcd projector is given in ansi lumens.
Typical values for home theater and business presentation use
are 500 to 3000. The higher the number, the brighter the picture
will be. At the low end a darkened room is essential, whilst at
the very top end acceptable results are possible with higher
light levels. The current generation of home use projectors are
typically in the 1000-1500 range.

The gain of a projector screen is the increase in brightness of
the image produced compared to a flat matt white screen. This is
given as a simple number, eg 1, 1.5, 2 etc. A gain of 1 means
the image is the same brightness as on a flat matt white
surface, whereas 2 means the image is twice as bright.

As an example, if you decide you need about 1500 lumen to get an
acceptable quality picture, you could buy a projector with that
rating and worry about the screen later. Or you could buy a
cheaper 1000 lumen model and match it to a projector screen with
a gain of 1.5. This would give you an effective image brightness
of 1500 lumen at a reduced cost.

Very High Gain Projector Screens

Typical cheap projector screens have gains of between 1 and 1.2.
Gains of 1.5 to 1.8 are achieved with high quality perlescent
finishes at about double the cost. If money is no object and you
need the maximum gain possible then you need a chromatically
matched projector screen.

Gains of up to 4 can now be achieved with matched projectors and
screens. An lcd projector only transmits 3 narrow wavelengths of
light in Red, Green and Blue. A matched projector screen is
covered with material that reflects only these wavelengths.
Almost all of the ambient light is absorbed or scattered, so the
projected image appears very much brighter.

The Downside of High Projector Screen Gain

Whilst projector screen gain might help you use a cheap lcd
projector in brighter rooms than it could cope with on its own,
there are 3 trade-offs. These are the viewing angle, color
shifting and uneven brightness.

High gain projector screens limit the viewing angle. For a
screen with a gain of 1 the picture appears high quality out to
about 50 degrees from the projector. But at a gain of 1.5 that
viewing angle is reduced to about 35 degrees. Over 2 and the
viewing angle is down to around 25 degrees, making it much more
difficult to layout your room.

Color shifting happens due to the surface properties of the
higher gain screens. A true white screen will render colors
accurately. By trying to manipulate the way light reflects, a
high gain screen can cause a shift in some of the colors. This
is rarely a reason not to buy, unless you really do need the
colors to be spot on.

The biggest impact a high gain projector screen has on image
quality is the change is brightness from the center of the
screen to the edge. There can be up to 30% difference at gains
over 2. This is usually not too much of a problem, but it does
become far more noticable the higher the viewing angle.

Conclusion

A little research and a bit of leg work could help you make
great savings. Treat the projector screen as an integral part of
your system and buy it together with your projector. Visit
stores and insist on demonstrations with a variety of lcd
projector and screen combinations.

Choosing a good quality, moderate gain (1.4-1.6) projector
screen can decrease the cost and increase the performance of
your system. A cheap lcd projector can produce a bright, clear
image at higher than expected light levels. So whilst your
projector screen may cost more, overall you save.</p

Nick Summers
http://www.articlesbase.com/technology-articles/the-right-projector-screen-can-save-you-money-2742.html