Viewing a good movie in a darkened room is an immersive experience. The image and sound command your full attention. Nevertheless, large numbers of potential buyers avoid projectors because they don't want to watch television and video in a completely darkened room. Many are infrequent moviegoers whose reference viewing environment is a domestic space, not a darkened theater. (There's an audio equivalent to this. I know audiophiles—audiophiles—who prefer watching movies with mono sound because they've been watching movies on their television so long that they consider surround—or even 2-channel stereo—to be a distraction!)

Projector manufacturers are well aware of this marketing problem. They also know that if they could overcome it, they might dramatically increase their sales.

As a major manufacturer of consumer projectors, it's not surprising that this problem drew Sony's interest. Their new ChromaVue screen is designed to overcome it. Informally dubbed the "black screen" by web-crawlers, it's actually a very dark gray, not black. In addition, it's available, so far, in a single, rigid, non-retractable size: a modest 80 inches diagonal or about 70 inches wide.

ChromaWhat?
But there's more here than meets the, ah, eye. The ChromaVue screen is treated with a multi-layer coating that is said to provide "image contrast more than five times better than conventional white screens in the presence of surrounding light."

It does this by reflecting the light only at certain primary red, green, and blue wavelengths, but not at others. In other words, it reflects light from projectors (which project only red, green, and blue) while rejecting light at other wavelengths.

This is a clever solution, though it does have its limitations. Depending on its source, ambient light contains a broad spectrum of wavelengths. Inevitably, some of them will overlap those of the red, green, and blue coming from the projector. So some ambient light—though by no means all—will be reflected along with the image, degrading it.

The red, green, and blue light spectra should be the same for all projectors. But we know from our measurements that it varies due to a number of factors, including variations in internal filters, color wheels, and projection lamps. And not only are the color primaries slightly different for HDTV and standard definition, some projector manufacturers (Sony included) also provide two different settings for their color primaries—normal and "enhanced."

Because of the color-primary issue, Sony advertises the ChromaVue screen as designed for use with their VPL-HS51 Cineza LCD projector, but they indicate that it's also suitable for other projectors using UHP lamps. This includes many consumer models, though presumably the xenon lamp in the Qualia 004 SXRD projector would not qualify.

Lights On!
To provide a fair test, Sony sent me a new sample of the Cineza for use with the screen. Since a wall mount would not work in my setup, I suspended the ChromaVue from the ceiling, using the holes in the upper corners of the frame.

Of course, the big question is, does it work? The answer is yes—and no.

I performed the review with three different lighting arrangements. In all cases, the light source was three recessed ceiling canisters (about 255W total) located behind the viewing area. These lights were used full on, faded to about half brightness, and full off (completely dark room).

To put this in some sort of useful context, with the lights full on, I could easily see everything in the room (though the area around the screen was fairly dim, since all the lights were at the other end of the room). I could see what I might be eating, carry on a conversation with visual feedback, and read relatively easily—though I wouldn't want to digest War and Peace by this light. In the half-bright setting, there was still plenty of light to navigate around the room, eat without a bib, and see friends and neighbors. But reading was difficult, and while knitting was in, needlepoint was probably out (I didn't try either!).

I also compared the ChromaVue's image to the one from a Stewart Studiotek 130 screen, with the same three room ambient light settings. My Studiotek is retractable and mounted about 4 inches in front of the ChromaVue, so I could drop it quickly for comparisons—both full screen and half-and-half.

Except as noted, the projector was the Sony Cineza LCD, in its Low lamp setting and iris set to Auto. The projector's video controls were not changed for any of the tests (I had previously confirmed that the same settings were appropriate for both the black and peak white levels on both screens). Nor were the zoom and focus controls altered when transitioning to the Studiotek, which measures 78 inches wide. (Obviously, the image didn't fill the larger Studiotek as it did the ChromaVue. Also, the projector's depth of field was wide enough so that the 4-inch difference in distance to the two screens did not cause the image to look out of focus on one or the other.)

I should also mention that I also noticed a slight sparkle from the ChromaVue that appeared to come from its slightly coarser screen texture compared to the Studiotek, but it was only consistently visible when I called up the bright projector menus, not on normal program material.

The Test Material
Often you have to dig deep into your CD bin, DVD rack, or HD material, to learn the secrets of an audio or video product that's under review. But sometimes you learn what you need to know from one well-chosen piece of program material. The ChromaVue fell into the latter category. I chose Stargate Atlantis: Rising, a feature-length introduction to a new television series, as a source. This is a surprisingly good anamorphic DVD transfer of a well-photographed show—better than some feature films. It also has a useful mixture of bright and very dark scenes. (It's also a good story with a good cast, though you need to know at least a little about the series it was spun off from, Stargate SG-1 to follow it easily.)

The results fell into place fairly quickly. First, I took a look at the DVD main menu on the ChromaVue. With the lights full on, the menu was crisp and well-defined. There isn't a lot of inherent contrast in the menu, so I didn't feel the need for additional punch or saturation. With the lights reduced to half brightness, the image was slightly richer, but not all that different. Turning off the lights completely did cause the image to "pop" a bit more, but largely because it was now surrounded by darkness (the eye now enhancing the subjective contrast). The difference between full on and full off was not at all dramatic.

Still watching the menu, with the lights full on, the Studiotek looked merely okay; the ChromaVue beat it out in snap and 3-dimensionality. At half-level ambient light, however, the test was much closer, though the ChromaVue was very slightly punchier. The Studiotek did gain the advantage with the lights full off, but it was very close, and I can imagine some users not having a preference or even preferring the ChromaVue.

Bottom line: the ChromaVue did have an advantage with lights full on, but the result was largely a draw with the lights low or off.

Next I moved on to chapter 2 of the film, a well-lit interior scene with close-ups of the main characters standing around a table talking. This time I started with the Studiotek. With the lights full on, it was watchable, but the image was seriously compromised in blacks, color saturation, and 3-dimensionality. With the ChromaVue, the blacks looked a little crushed, but the image definitely had more contrast than on the Studiotek.

At half room brightness, there was a dramatic improvement in the Studiotek 130. Much of the image snap returned, the picture now had noticeable depth, and colors were well saturated. The ChromaVue was also clearly better-looking than it had been in full room lighting—in fact, it looked better than most far-smaller RPTVs. It was pretty much a toss-up between the two screens with this level of room lighting on this material.

With the lights full off, the ChromaVue was slightly improved, but the improvement was more striking on the Studiotek, now in the totally dark environment for which it was designed. Under these conditions, it was the winner, though not by a huge margin. I could enjoy the image from the Studiotek at half room brightness without feeling deprived, but I would still be aware that I could get a substantial improvement going to a totally dark room.

Finally I moved on to chapter 5, which opens with a dark scene of soldiers exiting the Stargate. Then it transitions to a very dark shot as they move across a field at night. Being inherently dark and very low in contrast, this is probably as difficult an image for a projector to handle as any you're likely to encounter in most films.

With the room lights full on, the first shot looked fair on the ChromaVue, but the subsequent darker scene was virtually indecipherable—I could barely make out the shapes of the soldiers. The Studiotek was even worse. But I would not enjoy watching this sort of material for very long with this much room lighting on either screen.

At half room brightness, the ChromaVue improved dramatically. It still had limitations, but I could at least follow the action and make out most or all of the soldiers in the shot. The Studiotek was inferior at rendering these details while maintaining a "dark" look to the scene.

With the lights full off, both screens looked fine. The Studiotek's shadow detail was very slightly better, but both screens showed traces of the slight gray fog that plagues most digital projectors, even this LCD model with its auto-iris function. The fog was more evident on the white Studiotek than the inherently darker ChromaVue.

With the ChromaVue working well on medium and bright scenes, particularly in subdued room lighting, the obvious question is, would it work better on those very dark scenes if the auto iris was switched off? With the lights full on, the dark scene was still no fun at all to watch. Turning the projection lamp up to High brought out more detail, but in both cases, the image was still rather gray and flat-looking.

Things changed only slightly in half room brightness. In all cases, turning the auto iris off simply made the projector look like an ordinary LCD projector, with a pasty gray cast. It was irritating to watch. Turning the auto iris back on darkened the image; there was less shadow detail, but at least it didn't look like someone on the production crew had accidentally turned on the set's safety lights.

In other respects, I found little to complain about in the ChromaVue's image quality. It does have an inherent effect on the color temperature, but it's small—certainly smaller than the shift that might be produced by the added room lighting. Purists will complain about this, but a video purist is unlikely to use the ChromaVue as his or her primary projection screen in the first place.

How does the ChromaVue work with a different projector? I tried it briefly with a Yamaha DPX-1200, and it worked just about as well as with the Sony Cineza. Flesh tones weren't technically perfect, but they were believable, and other aspects of its performance didn't differ substantially from the previous description.

Conclusions
Keep in mind that there are an infinite variety of interior lighting schemes that might be used with the ChromaVue. In the setup I used, it can provide an improved image over a high-quality white screen. But with the most difficult program material, which plays an important role in many films, you'll need to keep the room lighting well subdued, even with this screen. The ChromaVue certainly can't be expected to compete with bright sunlight. You'll still get the best image any projector is capable of providing by using a good, conventional screen in a totally darkened room. But if your room's ambient light can't be completely controlled, and you have a suitable projector, the ChromaVue might help you see a better picture under less-than-ideal conditions.

Highs and Lows

Highs
- Enhanced contrast with room lighting
- Good basic image quality
- Usable with projectors other than Sony's, but check first for compatibility

Lows
- Room lighting must still be limited for acceptable results on dark scenes
- Relatively high gain results in some hot-spotting, screen illumination less uniform than with a good, low-gain white screen
- Currently available in only one size