The DSI Blog

Enjoy the Home Theater Experience, Even if You Don't Have a Batcave

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There is no better way to enjoy your favorite movies and TV shows than to watch them on your private home theater system. The big screens and earth-shaking sound systems available today blow away what is available at the local cineplex.

But, there has been a catch...to enjoy the best home theater experience, you must have a big screen. The only way to get a large screen affordably is with a front projection system. The good news...due to recent projector and screen technology upgrades, you can now use large screens (bigger than 80" diagonal) in rooms that have a lot of ambient light, such as great rooms, family rooms, and multi-purpose media rooms.

(To learn what is the best screen size for your application, see the post: 'How Big a Screen Do You Need for a Home Theater or Media Room?'.)

In the past, you were required to have an absolutely pitch black room to have a watchable picture on a large projection screen. As projectors became brighter, the picture became watchable even in media rooms with some ambient light. But the picture was always compromised...after all, you can't "project" the color black. Picture contrast is one thing that makes a huge difference in picture quality, and the "blackest black" you will see with a projection screen is the color of the screen itself. Most screens are a white color, but when the room is dark like a batcave...voila!...the screen is now "black" and the picture has high contrast.

Now, thanks to new projection screen technology, you can have a decent, very watchable picture even with a lot of ambient light in the room. This is possible due to new screen technologies that reject as much as 90% of the room's ambient light. The "catch" is that the viewing angle is reduced...meaning if you are seated too far off to the side you will see reduced brightness on the edges of the screen. This opens up the possibility of having a front projection system in almost any application...you may consider this option instead of a flat panel (which would you rather have, a 50" or a 110" screen?).

Below are some links to projection screens using ambient light-rejecting technologies...click on the links below to learn more about each manufacturer's screen. You will quickly see a bewildering amount of choices...for help in choosing the right projector and screen for your home theater or media room, give us a call at 866-692-8489.

  - Stewart Filmscreen – FireHawk G3
  - Screen Innovations – Black Diamond
  - Da-Lite – High Contrast CinemaVision
  - Vutec – SilverStar
  - DNP – SuperNova

DSI has many years of experience and several audio video design awards to back up our custom home theater & media room designs. One example is the custom media room shown at the upper right...this home cinema (located in a luxury high-rise in Los Angeles, CA) contains a motorized Stewart Filmscreen that descends out of a hidden pocket, and the carefully-selected screen material gives the lucky client a very watchable picture, even when a lot of light comes in from that amazing view.

Below is a video of Screen Innovation's Black Diamond screen which gives an effective demonstration of how this new ambient-light rejecting screen technology compares to the standard 'white' screens. Enjoy...