Big Big Screen
Stewart Filmscreen's Cabaret and StudioTek 100 combine for a 130-inch big-screen experience.

I scoff at your puny big screen. I am amused by your 42-, 50- and 60-inch TVs. These are not big screens. These are just TVs. Go big or go home as people I don't like often say.

But go big I have, with a 130-inch diagonal screen.

OK, in all fairness, that number is a bit misleading. After all, this is a 2.35:1 screen. The 16x9 (1.78:1) portion, which is what you would really compare to an HDTV, is merely 103 inches. Now we're entering the upper end of the flat-panel world.

But 130-inches! That's ten feet wide. Now I'm not saying everyone should get a ten-foot-wide screen. Wait, yes I am.

Life-size is for wimps

Close-ups, whether of actors or athletes, result in heads that are around four-feet tall. Eyeballs the size of a puggle. Puggles the size of a giant schnauzer. And if you think for a moment that this is anything but awesome, you’re really missing out. Ten feet!

It takes a certain kind of maniac to use a projector as their sole display (this maniac, for example). Light is always a concern. Room lights and sunlight wash out the image. I recommend drapes (motorized or not) and automatic lights to combat this. But even if you don't use it as your sole display, there is nothing more involving, more engrossing or more cinema, than a projector and a screen in your home.

Stewart makes pretty much any size, style or type of screen you can imagine. The Cabaret (and Americana, see sidebar) offers a solution for those who don't want to mount a fixed screen, but don't want to cut gaping holes in their ceiling for a drop-down screen. As you can see from the pictures, the Cabaret mounts to the wall, with the screen rolled up inside. It comes in pretty much any color you can think of to match your wall or décor.  

For this review, I did something that I don't think any of you will do: I installed it myself. I did this just to see what the steps were.

The Cab comes pre-built in a long skinny box. Your neighbors will wonder if you're taking up the high jump, or if you finally got that telephone pole you’ve always wanted. It took a friend and me the better part of an afternoon to get the screen up on the wall. I would estimate it would take a qualified installer about 20 minutes.

You have to understand, I'm a writer and my friend's a musician, so the fact that we figured out 1) which end of the drill faces the wall, 2) what a stud is, 3) where a stud is and 4) what the little bubble between the lines means, is nothing short of miraculous. I will say this, holding the 135-pound Cabaret above your head while your cohort attempts to secure it to the wall is best left to those whose idea of exercise is more than sitting or watching the sports.

The Cabaret only needs two mounting points. These are in the form of brackets that slide so you can find studs to mount the screen to, and still be able to adjust the cabinet horizontally to center it where you want it. Each end of the screen has its own bubble level built in, so your installer can be sure the screen is level. After mounting the screen, we stepped back elated at our handwork. It was short lived. Anyone standing in the room can plainly see the screen isn't level in the slightest. A quick check reveals that, no, the screen is perfectly level. In fact, it's the only level thing in the room. Gotta love SoCal building standards.

An option on the Cabaret and the Americana is RGB LED lighting along the top. This is so much cooler than it sounds. You can have any color you want turn on when the screen ascends/descends, or you can just use it for colored mood lighting.

There are multiple options for controlling the screen as well. Wired remotes can be installed in the wall (they're exactly the size of a light switch). These also have a built in sensor for IR remotes. It's all RS-232, so whatever controller system you may have at home will certainly control the screen and LEDs.

I've used drop-down screens before, but the mechanicals on this one are a step above. They’re quiet, with just a low purr as the screen quickly goes up and down. The screen will be down before any part of your system is ready to use it.

One quirk: The controller for the LEDs and the controller for the screen mechanism are stored in opposite ends of the Cabaret casing. This includes the wires for the eternal remotes and the power. Not a big deal, but there's an extra step in running power and RS-232 to both sides (or running the wires from one side to the other) that I wasn't expecting.