DVD Josh

The wife has agreed to a projector, but is demanded a pull down screen. HD capable of course, widescreen of course.

Sdallnct

Well there are to many variables. Heck you don't even say what size you want! What PJ do you have? What kind of light control in the room? Some generalities

-white = good all around
-grey = better blacks
-silver = brighter

I built my own screen. But of course it is fixed, not retractable. Starting planning on building a new screen for my new PJ, but again it will be fixed.

Monoprice just started to carry screens and I'd pretty much buy anything from them. Here is one example,

http://www.monoprice.com/products/pr...ormat=2&style=

DVD Josh

I am not sure of the PJ yet, but probably any HD capable one. The wall on that side of the room is 12 feet long, and my speakers are one foot across, so probably 80-90" screen is plenty big. I may even go as small as 76", depending on how the room works out.

Sdallnct

76" is to small, IMHO. When I built my first screen I used a pencil to write on the wall and marked out 70", 80" 90" 100" and 108" diagonal. Because of my set up 108" is literally the biggest I can put. At 70" my wife said "that is plenty big". At 80" she thought is was "bigger then we needed". At 90" she thought that "it is silly". At 100" and 108" she would not even talk to me. I settled on 94" and now that we have had it couple of years, she is thrilled we did not go smaller and now with my HD pj she is not hesitating about me building a new 104" screen. You get use to the size REAL quickly.

The screen material you pick is based on many a factor. A low output PJ or poor light control in the room might benefit from a "super bright" or silver screen. If you have plenty of light control and/or your pj doesn't have as good as black levels as you would like, a grey screen might be the way to go. But this is just in general and your personal preference is typically a deciding factor.

I'd suggest going over to AVS and checking out their screen forums. Even their DIY forums. They have lots of photos of folks trying different materials and/or screen types.

X

Unless you just want to pay a few hundred dollars now until you upgrade (and you will want to upgrade quickly), don't bother with anything that isn't tensioned.

DVD Josh

X, would you please tell me what you mean by "tensioned"?

Lethal Nemesis

I have a Da-Lite High Power, and it seems to do pretty well when it comes to waves. If you can't afford to get a tensioned screen, the HP might be worth a look. That is, unless, you decide to go with a fixed frame instead of a pull down (then you wouldn't have to worry about waves).

X

Here's a comparison for electric screens. The same thing applies for manual ones, except they're cheaper.

Non-tensioned:
http://da-lite.com/products/product.php?cID=29&pID=38

Tensioned:
http://da-lite.com/products/product.php?cID=29&pID=39

The tensioned version eliminates waves.

DVD Josh

So then, I should really consider a motorized screen?

X

Not necessarily. There are tensioned versions of manual screens too.