Projection Screen Reviews

Performance
Setup
Value

AT A GLANCE
Plus
Screen fully retracts when not in use
IR and RF remote controls
Very good value
Minus
Slight slackness at screen’s bottom edges when extended

THE VERDICT
The Elite Screens Kestrel is a well-made, reasonably-priced, and easy-to-set-up option for those who want their projection screen to disappear when it’s not in use.

Plenty of custom solutions have been developed to house ultra-short throw (UST) projectors, a category designed to beam bright, living-room friendly images from a position just a few inches away from the bottom edge of the projection screen. The main ones are furniture-grade cabinets with an interior compartment for stowing away the projector so it remains out of sight both in use and when powered off.

Performance
Setup
Value

AT A GLANCE
Plus
Highly immersive image from 123-inch screen
Easy assembly
Five-year warranty
Very good value
Minus
Requires high brightness projector for best performance

THE VERDICT
If you're looking for an ultra-large screen to pair with your ultra short throw projector, the DarkStar UST 2 Efinity offers impressive performance and value.

With ultra short throw (UST) projectors available from a growing list of companies including Epson, LG, Hisense, Optoma, Vava, and now Samsung, it's clear that the category has become firmly established. That's no surprise given the ergonomic and screen real estate- per-dollar benefits such models offer, but getting the best picture quality from a UST setup requires a specific screen pairing. We've frequently discussed ambient light rejecting (ALR) screens in Sound & Vision and have reviewed a fair number of them. But a UST projector requires a specialized type of ALR screen—one like the DarkStar UST 2 Efinity from EPV Screens.

AT A GLANCE
Plus
Designer colors and mounting options
Rechargeable battery option allows varied placement
Silky smooth, silent retractable operation
Minus
Tab tensioning less robust than competitive retractable screens
Price may deter some

THE VERDICT
The Solo Pro 2 offers a highly flexible alternative to standard motorized screens. And when paired with the company's Slate 1.2 screen material, it provides satisfying viewing in elevated light conditions, and excellent results in lights-out theater mode.

Austin, Texas, that state's vibrant capital city, houses many cultural icons. For Millenials (not me), it means the South by Southwest film, music, and tech festival. For Formula 1 racing fans (ok, I confess...) the Circuit of The Americas is— finally—the home of a United States Grand Prix. And for music devotees of any age (y'all count me in), Austin's official motto, "Live Music Capital of the World," says it all.

Performance
Setup
Value

AT A GLANCE
Plus
Highly affordable
Good uniformity
Quality construction
Minus
Time-consuming to assemble

THE VERDICT
The VApex PRO is a great option for anyone looking to put together a home theater on a budget without cutting corners.

Recent advances in projection screen technology have created a shift in home A/V from cave-like theaters that block out every last drop of light to open spaces that integrate with the rest of the living environment. For screen manufacturers, a main mission over the past few years has been to design models capable of withstanding some degree of ambient light while delivering good image quality over a wide viewing angle. Known as ambient-light-rejecting (ALR) screens, these do exactly what their name suggests: cancel out the impact of lamps, overhead lighting, and undraped windows so that the light you see reflected off the screen is primarily what’s beamed at it by the projector.

Performance
Setup
Value

AT A GLANCE
Plus
Exquisite color rendering
Solid black level with a tremendous sense of image depth
Glare-free viewing with sensible ambient light level
Minus
Pricey compared with Elite’s traditional screen materials, though in line with or cheaper than some other ALR solutions

THE VERDICT
No misgivings apply to this multi-layer, firm-surfaced material. Every atom of detail in the source reflects back with seemingly free, bonus lumens. If there’s color shift at extreme angles, it’s only measureable, not noticeable.

High light-output capabilities and receding prices in the DLP and LCD projector camps have recently broadened the application possibilities for two-piece projection video. One facet of design garnering prominent attention from screen manufacturers is ambient light rejection (ALR) technology, which allows a projector/screen combo to function as the big-screen TV in a multipurpose room the way a flat-panel TV might—though at a potentially much larger size.

Performance
Setup
Value

AT A GLANCE
Plus
Pristine image with no obvious artifacts
Nearly perfect brightness and color uniformity
Minus
Performance hinges a lot on room
May not provide the gain needed to achieve desired brightness

THE VERDICT
The StudioTek 100 provides the most accurate picture I’ve ever seen from a screen at home. While it demands a truly dark viewing environment—and a bright projector—it’s worth the effort if you want the best image possible.

Your video playback system is like any other part of your home theater: It is only as good as its weakest component. In the last five years, massive improvements have been made in both video sources and playback systems, but we’ve also seen a huge growth in the options for projection screen materials. There are new designs that bring great flexibility, allowing customers to do front projection in rooms that they never would have considered before. But most of the time, just like with fancy video processing, these new, exotic materials give you one thing but take away another, imparting visible artifacts to the image such as sparkles, texturing, and hotspotting.

Performance
Setup
Value

AT A GLANCE
Plus
Excellent picture quality
Competitive with Stewart’s upmarket designs
Minus
Varied sizes and configurations but no custom options

THE VERDICT
Stewart Filmscreen’s Cima lineup offers fewer options than the company’s long-respected but more expensive designs, but it makes Stewart’s pristine image quality now available to a wider range of buyers.

What can one say about a projection screen? Quite a lot, actually. A screen is much more than a bedsheet or the nearest white wall. While it can’t improve the quality of a projector, it can, if poorly designed, most certainly degrade it.

Screens can be solid or (mostly) acoustically transparent. They can be white or various shades of gray (the latter often incorporating special treatments designed to improve performance in a less than ideally darkened room). They’re available in a wide range of gains—1.0 for more or less neutral performance or higher values to enhance brightness from a less than torch-like projector and/or a super-large screen.