Image Width: The size of a screen is measured not by its diagonal, as with TVs, but by its width. One of the most common mistakes for home cinema beginners is using a screen that is too wide. This results in not being able to see the entire image at a glance, making watching films very tiring. There's a reason why no one wants to sit in the front row at the cinema. A rule of thumb is that the screen width should be about half the viewing distance. With a viewing distance of 4m, a 2m wide screen would therefore be optimal.
Aspect Ratio: For beginners, you should definitely choose a 16:9 screen. This allows for good playback of all film formats. Specialists also like to use an anamorphic projection lens with their projector to achieve a 21:9 aspect ratio. However, these lenses cost well over €1000 and are therefore only recommended for high-end projectors. If you opt for 21:9 playback and own a very high-quality projector, you should rather use a screen with automatic masking right away.
Gain: Gain describes the directional effect of the screen. A white sheet of paper has a gain of approximately 1.0. The light is distributed evenly in all directions. A screen with a higher gain has the property of radiating more light straight forward. This significantly increases the image brightness. However, the directional characteristic creates major problems: the screen no longer appears evenly illuminated, and the colors are reproduced inconsistently. Since today's home cinema projectors are all bright enough, a screen for home cinema use should have a gain of less than 1.5. There are also grey screens with a gain below 1.0. According to the manufacturer, these allow for a better black level. However, since the maximum brightness is also lower, the maximum contrast remains unchanged. For beginners, a white screen is generally more suitable, as projectors are calibrated for a "matte white" fabric.
Screen Drop: Roll-up screens are often mounted directly on the ceiling. To still be able to project the image at eye level, many screens have a drop, also known as "blackdrop". This black fabric allows the screen to be pulled down to a comfortable height despite ceiling mounting.
There are currently 3 widely used screen types:
– the manual pull-down screen
– the motorized screen
– the fixed frame screen
A simple manual pull-down screen is inexpensive to purchase and very easy to install. However, the flatness of most inexpensive pull-down screens can rarely be described as "good". Especially roll-up screens wider than 2m very often curve at the sides. This creates geometric distortions in the image, which can be very distracting.
Motorized screens generally have significantly better flatness, but are considerably more expensive to purchase and install. Especially the power supply for the motor can be a challenge. A loose cable is anything but nice. And an in-wall power supply for the screen motor costs a lot of time and money.
A permanently installed fixed frame screen offers excellent flatness and is cheaper than a motorized screen of comparable quality. If you are handy, you can even build the frame for the screen yourself and stretch it with a high-quality fabric. However, a fixed frame screen is often difficult to integrate into many rooms.
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