Da-Lite Screen Material Review
21 - 40 of 99 Posts
Joined
·
14,897 Posts
Silver Matte Conclusions
The Silver Matte is another fiberglass material. Therefore there's no need for any motors or tensioning. The price for a 100" Cosmopolitan 16:9 screen is $950.
It has the same household attributes as the others - flame retardant, mildew resistant, and washable.
This screen has been touted as "perfect for situations where a silver surface is necessary for polarized 3-D projection".
On that note and in light of the above pictures, I'm going to visit this post once I talk to Da-Lite on Tuesday or Wednesday. Expect something then.
The Silver Matte is another fiberglass material. Therefore there's no need for any motors or tensioning. The price for a 100" Cosmopolitan 16:9 screen is $950.
It has the same household attributes as the others - flame retardant, mildew resistant, and washable.
This screen has been touted as "perfect for situations where a silver surface is necessary for polarized 3-D projection".
On that note and in light of the above pictures, I'm going to visit this post once I talk to Da-Lite on Tuesday or Wednesday. Expect something then.
Joined
·
14,897 Posts
The High Power
![]()
2.8 gain - 30 degree viewing angle according to the webpage but the sample sheet states the the 30 viewing angle/cone symbol =
One other thing to note, There will be no 'Bugs!' shots. I had to take the projector down from the ceiling to do this review as well as move the DVD player. That was enough! :gah: As stated in the descriptions in the first post this is a retro-reflective surface. Don't know what that is? Check out this post. It's in the Gain and other confusing topics thread started by Bill. Why haven't you read that yet?!?!?!?
We'll start off with some space shuttle shots from the DVE Disk. Six shots - three at zero and three at thirty.
Click on each thumbnail for a full size image!
Moving on to Nemo
2.8 gain - 30 degree viewing angle according to the webpage but the sample sheet states the the 30 viewing angle/cone symbol =
These are the shots that will be taken three per image - high ambient, moderate ambient, and no ambient. There will also be an additional six shots per image for some - three at 15 degrees off-axis and three at 30 degrees off axis. Lotsa photos folks!
One other thing to note, There will be no 'Bugs!' shots. I had to take the projector down from the ceiling to do this review as well as move the DVD player. That was enough! :gah: As stated in the descriptions in the first post this is a retro-reflective surface. Don't know what that is? Check out this post. It's in the Gain and other confusing topics thread started by Bill. Why haven't you read that yet?!?!?!?
We'll start off with some space shuttle shots from the DVE Disk. Six shots - three at zero and three at thirty.
Click on each thumbnail for a full size image!
Moving on to Nemo
Joined
·
14,897 Posts
The High Power Conclusions
Cost for a 100" Cosmopolitan 16:9 screen: $1117
The High Power screen boasts a 2.8 gain with a viewing angle of 30 degrees. You've got to be thinking, as i was, "What's the catch?" Well the catch is this, high gain retro-reflective screen with a narrow viewing cone. If you cannot fit within the tight specs than turn around and pick out a Video Spectra, Pearlescent, or whatever.
Retro reflective, let's dwell on that for a bit. This means that the projected image directed at the High Power screen is directed right back along the path it came on. Meaning that your projector has to mounted within the vertical viewing angle of the viewers. In layman's terms we're talking about table and shelf mounts mounted close to the height of the viewers. The High Power is constructed of tiny glass beads 9 microns in diameter embedded into a white vinyl field and covered by a thin elastic top layer. Glass beads = retro reflective. So rule number one - no ceiling mount unless you're going to hang it down far enough to knock your head on it.
Narrow viewing cone. Normally I wouldn't dwell on this but it appeared to me that the picture dropped off quite a bit at 15 degrees off axis and quite a bit at 30 degrees off angle. This is the first of the Da-Lite series that have exhibited this tendency. Now how is viewing angle determined? First let's discuss the difference between viewing angle and viewing cone. Viewing cone is a term for double the viewing angle - if you were to draw it out on paper it would resemble a cone. Viewing angle is the angle derived from axis - perpendicular from the screen. On to how it's determined. Viewing angle is determined from the angle in which gain drops 50%. So with a gain of 2.8 and a viewing angle of 30 degrees, the gain at the 30 degree line is 1.4. My head sits on my couch roughly 14 feet back and the left edge (where my wife sits) is at the edge of the 30 degree cone. Rule number two - This is for theater rooms that are large and have seating farther back than mine.
Ambient light. The High Power with it's high gain is touted as a ambient light screen. Why? Well it's retro reflective. And that retro reflectivity sends the ambient light that hits the screen back along the path in which it came. You can take a look at the pics and decide whether it does it well enough on your own. One thing to keep in mind though, the pictures with max lighting on is so ridiculously bright that no on would ever consider having that amount of light in their room while watching a projected image. It's the middle shots you should look at. And then move down to the next post and you can compare them to Silver Matte.
My overall opinion of the High Power was that it was a limited screen with limited usefullness. I realize that a lot of people have this screen and absolutely love it. I also have to believe that these folks have theater rooms that are much larger than mine.
Cost for a 100" Cosmopolitan 16:9 screen: $1117
The High Power screen boasts a 2.8 gain with a viewing angle of 30 degrees. You've got to be thinking, as i was, "What's the catch?" Well the catch is this, high gain retro-reflective screen with a narrow viewing cone. If you cannot fit within the tight specs than turn around and pick out a Video Spectra, Pearlescent, or whatever.
Retro reflective, let's dwell on that for a bit. This means that the projected image directed at the High Power screen is directed right back along the path it came on. Meaning that your projector has to mounted within the vertical viewing angle of the viewers. In layman's terms we're talking about table and shelf mounts mounted close to the height of the viewers. The High Power is constructed of tiny glass beads 9 microns in diameter embedded into a white vinyl field and covered by a thin elastic top layer. Glass beads = retro reflective. So rule number one - no ceiling mount unless you're going to hang it down far enough to knock your head on it.
Narrow viewing cone. Normally I wouldn't dwell on this but it appeared to me that the picture dropped off quite a bit at 15 degrees off axis and quite a bit at 30 degrees off angle. This is the first of the Da-Lite series that have exhibited this tendency. Now how is viewing angle determined? First let's discuss the difference between viewing angle and viewing cone. Viewing cone is a term for double the viewing angle - if you were to draw it out on paper it would resemble a cone. Viewing angle is the angle derived from axis - perpendicular from the screen. On to how it's determined. Viewing angle is determined from the angle in which gain drops 50%. So with a gain of 2.8 and a viewing angle of 30 degrees, the gain at the 30 degree line is 1.4. My head sits on my couch roughly 14 feet back and the left edge (where my wife sits) is at the edge of the 30 degree cone. Rule number two - This is for theater rooms that are large and have seating farther back than mine.
Ambient light. The High Power with it's high gain is touted as a ambient light screen. Why? Well it's retro reflective. And that retro reflectivity sends the ambient light that hits the screen back along the path in which it came. You can take a look at the pics and decide whether it does it well enough on your own. One thing to keep in mind though, the pictures with max lighting on is so ridiculously bright that no on would ever consider having that amount of light in their room while watching a projected image. It's the middle shots you should look at. And then move down to the next post and you can compare them to Silver Matte.
My overall opinion of the High Power was that it was a limited screen with limited usefullness. I realize that a lot of people have this screen and absolutely love it. I also have to believe that these folks have theater rooms that are much larger than mine.
Joined
·
14,897 Posts
[BANANA]The Da-Lite Shootout!!![/BANANA]
That's right folks it's time for a shootout. One is not sold as a home theater screen and the other is a 'highly' touted home theater screen! I decided to do this because out of all the samples that I've viewed from Da-Lite, the one that really caught my eye was the Silver Matte. It had better whites than the white pegboard behind it and it did a great job in ambient lighting. The problem was, they don't sell it as a home theater screen. Why? I'm not sure and it being a holiday weekend I can't ask until Tuesday. So look for added remarks then.
To take side by side comparison shots of two different colored screens would only do one justice. Therefore I have taken two sets of shots one with the projector's brightness and contrast adjusted for the High Power. And one set with my Fashion Gray settings which appeared to work fine for the Silver Matte when projecting DVE's DVD PLUGE w/gray & bars and the reverse gray ramps. The other main thing to note is that for the High Power shots the projector was setup on a end table to take advantage of the retro reflective properties. And the projector was ceiling mounted for the Silver Matte calibrated shots.
There will be six shots per row. The left three are Silver Matte calibrated images. The right three are High Power calibrated images. They are of close to the same image within a second or so.
Click on each thumbnail for a full size image!
30 degrees off axis
15 degrees off axis
On axis
That's right folks it's time for a shootout. One is not sold as a home theater screen and the other is a 'highly' touted home theater screen! I decided to do this because out of all the samples that I've viewed from Da-Lite, the one that really caught my eye was the Silver Matte. It had better whites than the white pegboard behind it and it did a great job in ambient lighting. The problem was, they don't sell it as a home theater screen. Why? I'm not sure and it being a holiday weekend I can't ask until Tuesday. So look for added remarks then.
To take side by side comparison shots of two different colored screens would only do one justice. Therefore I have taken two sets of shots one with the projector's brightness and contrast adjusted for the High Power. And one set with my Fashion Gray settings which appeared to work fine for the Silver Matte when projecting DVE's DVD PLUGE w/gray & bars and the reverse gray ramps. The other main thing to note is that for the High Power shots the projector was setup on a end table to take advantage of the retro reflective properties. And the projector was ceiling mounted for the Silver Matte calibrated shots.
There will be six shots per row. The left three are Silver Matte calibrated images. The right three are High Power calibrated images. They are of close to the same image within a second or so.
Click on each thumbnail for a full size image!
30 degrees off axis
15 degrees off axis
On axis
21 - 40 of 99 Posts
