Big Pictures in Bright Light

We front-projection enthusiasts have a problem: We have to walk around in the dark.

We love front projectors for the cinematic atmosphere that their large images create. But the screen that you use with a projector does not discriminate between light from the projector and illlumination from other sources, such as room lighting and windows. If there's other light in the room, the screen will reflect it along with the projected video. Thus, the picture washes out. It might be watchable-barely-but it certainly will not be good.

Split-screen photos showing a matte white screen in normal room light versus a Screen Innovations Visage. (Click image to enlarge.)

So we turn out the lights. Sure, we can use spotlights and downlights to illuminate the room a little bit, but it's never the kind of comfortable, casual experience most families prefer for an average night of TV watching, video game playing, or DVD viewing.

Now there's a new type of screen that promises to bring all the advantages of front-projection video to brightly lit rooms. It uses a special material designed so that it reflects only light that comes at it directly, as it would from a front projector. Light that comes at it from an angle, as it probably would from a room light, is not reflected. You get a great front-projection image without having to turn the lights down.

At least that is the theory.
THE BIG DIFFERENCE
West Coast Contributing Editor David Birch-Jones and I—hardcore front-projection fanatics both—decided to try out a couple of these new screens. We were primed for a long afternoon of evaluating different screen materials-and we were especially happy to be in an environment where we could actually see to take notes. But even the manufacturers of these screens admit that the performance distinctions between them are subtle. In fact, the material used in the two screens we were able to get in—a DNP Supernova and a Screen Innovations Visage—is the same, manufactured by DNP and supplied to Screen Innovations on an OEM basis. The most significant difference between these screens is actually what goes around them: the bezel.

DNP's Supernova is the only screen of its type currently available in a roll-up model that retracts when not in use. (Click image to enlarge.)

DNP offers bezels in two satin finishes—black or aluminum—and also offers a retractable (roll-up) model. The bezel is thin and slightly curved, styled to make the screen look like a plasma TV. There's a downside to the design, though: With the aluminum-finish bezel DNP supplied us, room light reflects off of the bezel and distracts us from the picture. So it's a trade-off: You get the cool plasma look but the viewing experience is not as pleasant. If you like that look, we'd strongly recommend going for the black bezel-which adds $70 to the $2,039 cost of a 72-inch, aluminum-bezel model.

The Screen Innovations Visage, on the other hand, looks like a traditional projection screen. Its bezel is about double the width of the Supernova's. The Visage we received is covered in a bluish-black ultrasuede-type material that does a good job of absorbing light. The viewing experience is better without the distracting reflected light around the bezel, but the look is not as sleek as the Supernova's. However, Screen Innovations offers your designer 14 finish options: 10 muted, dark colors of the ultrasuede material, and four wood finishes. A 72-inch ultrasuede model costs $1,999.

Xscreen goes for the plasma look, too, with a thin, gloss-black bezel. The standard version of the Xscreen is similar to the DNP and Screen Innovation products, but the Xscreen Plus is a whole new thing entirely. It mimics not only the look but the functionality of a plasma TV. It includes speakers and a slim switcher/processor component. The processor uses a PixelWorks video chipset to convert all of your video sources to a high-definition digital HDMI signal that feeds your projector. Just as you might plug all of your source components—your DVD player, your satellite receiver, etc.—to the back of your plasma TV, you can plug them all into the Xscreen Plus's switcher/processor. It also provides amplification for the speakers. The switcher/processor attaches to the back of the Xscreen Plus; controls run along its side. The controls (and the included universal remote) can be set up to work your projector and other devices in your system. An 80-inch Xscreen costs $1,699; the Plus option adds $1,300.

To our knowledge, Sony's HCS-W80 ChromaVue is the earliest entry in this field, and it is also the plainest. It has a thin, matte black bezel with a rectangular profile. An 80-inch 16:9 model lists for $1,999. Sony has discontinued the HCS-W80, but at the time of this posting, the screen was still available through various merchants.
THE RESULTS
Based on our experience with the Supernova and the Visage, we think these screens do a great job of filling the niche between a plasma-equipped media room and a dedicated, darkened home theater. We were thrilled to see deep blacks, saturated colors, and brilliant whites, even with the room lit up enough for my middle-aged eyes to read small print. For front-projection enthusiasts, it's a liberating experience, like walking without crutches for the first time after a couple of months in a cast.

Even movies with lots of dark scenes, such as King Kong and Star Wars, Episode III: Revenge of the Sith, looked good, although the brighter the movie, the better the result. Pixar movies such as Toy Story, with their bright images, practically popped off the screen. Screen brightness starts to fall off once the viewer moves more than about 30 degrees off-axis from the projector, but for most rooms that total viewing angle of approximately 60 degrees will be quite adequate.

Planar's Xscreen has a built-in video/audio switcher, video scaler, and stereo audio amplifier. Just add a projector and speakers and you've got an A/V system. (Click image to enlarge.)

However, these screens can reflect some room light, depending on how your lighting is arranged. Somewhat surprisingly, the best performance we got was in a daylit room. As long as the sun is not streaming in, the diffuse daylight has practically no effect on the screens.

When you add room lighting, though, you have to take care. Any light positioned near the projector will wash the picture out. We also encountered a problem with a globe-type lighting fixture mounted on the ceiling a couple of feet back from the screens. And a torchiere lamp sitting on the right side of the room, reflecting off the ceiling, substantially reduced the contrast in the upper right corners of the screens. Downward-pointing lamps and table lamps, on the other hand, gave us plenty of room light but had little effect on the picture. All this means is that, as with any video projection system, you have to put a little bit of thought into the lighting design of your room.

The price of a 60-inch plasma TV has fallen to as little as $5,000-comparable to the cost of one of these screens and a decent DLP projector. David and I agree that at the 60-inch size, we would prefer the plasma TV. But at sizes of 70 inches and larger, the prices of plasma climb by an order of magnitude or more, while the prices of these screens rise at most a few hundred dollars. So at 70-inch-plus sizes, these new bright-room screens make an awful lot of sense. You can now create a comfortably illuminated media room with a screen that practically fills an entire wall-all for the cost of a mere TV set.

DNP Supernova
www.supernovascreen.com

Screen Innovations
www.screeninnovations.com

Planar
www.planar.com