Sources for large projection screen

spenserh

Active Member
We are currently projecting movies on our 26x52 Cyc (viewable area is much smaller), and the labour cost of moving the Cyc from it's home US to a line set DS (not to mention the wear and tear on the Cyc) has us considering the purchase of a dedicated screen for movies. I'm also hoping that a dedicated projection fabric will have high screen gain, allowing us to get some more life out of the $1000+ projector lamp.

So far, I've looked at the Rosebrand PVC screens. Are there other options I should be looking at?

Hoping to get something than can be folded and stored when we need to clear all the line sets for large productions.
 
We bought 16' of just plain 'ol muslin from Rosebrand in a 22' length for a recent production of Rocky Horror and were pleasantly surprised at how well it showed a projection. In fact, we kept it up after the show to use for our story hour and subsequent needs. Inexpensive and no seams!
 
Depending on how your house is set up, you may want to avoid high screen gain. Generally speaking, the higher your gain, the narrower your viewing angle. This is why most movie theaters have a very narrow house.
 
AV Stumpfl is a well known manufacturer for screens:

https://avstumpfl.com/

Their distributor for Canada is Theatrixx Technologies Inc:

http://www.theatrixx.com/en/

Depending on how your house is set up, you may want to avoid high screen gain. Generally speaking, the higher your gain, the narrower your viewing angle. This is why most movie theaters have a very narrow house.

I don't know of any recently constructed movie theaters that have narrow houses. All the ones that I know are quite broad actually. But they do have low gain screens. In the old days, when high gain screens where a must, there were probably no alternatives to narrow houses.
 
I don't know of any recently constructed movie theaters that have narrow houses. All the ones that I know are quite broad actually. But they do have low gain screens. In the old days, when high gain screens where a must, there were probably no alternatives to narrow houses.

Most of the megaplexes around me are still narrow audience, where the seating area is roughly the width of the screen. Some of the high capacity theaters are not. I'm sure that some of that has to do with maximizing capacity in the room. Another reason that narrow cinema audience structure has been desirable is that it works better with 3D cinema. Of course, that is a completely separate can of worms.
 
Thanks for all the input guys. This is looking like it is going to have to go out for Tender based on some of the pricing I have seen.

Our audience is pretty wide as the theatre of kind of a wedge shape. Does anyone know of any resources that might provide some insight on how much screen gain is too much?
 
If yo are looking at traditional screen material, look for the viewing angle. Match that with the seating area. This is measured from the center. This will likely result in a gain of 1.0 or less.
 
Most manufacturers will let you get a small sample of the screen material you are looking for, you should be able to test different kinds of screen with that. I know with rosebrand you can order it right through the website, with Gerriets and some others you may have to contact them directly.
 
We are currently projecting movies on our 26x52 Cyc (viewable area is much smaller), and the labour cost of moving the Cyc from it's home US to a line set DS (not to mention the wear and tear on the Cyc) has us considering the purchase of a dedicated screen for movies. I'm also hoping that a dedicated projection fabric will have high screen gain, allowing us to get some more life out of the $1000+ projector lamp.

So far, I've looked at the Rosebrand PVC screens. Are there other options I should be looking at?

Hoping to get something than can be folded and stored when we need to clear all the line sets for large productions.

Hey @spenserh I'm in London Ontario and could give you my contact to give me a shout.
There are a lot of screen options out there, I am familiar with some and some of the best installers etc in the area. Personally I'd give Horizon Solutions a call and talk to Dan, they are our local dealer for us at the Grand Theatre (and the Palace Theatre where I am TD (a community theatre)) and really are the best installers around. Not that I'd typically call out a specific company. Feel free to send me a message for further suggestions or whatever.
 
Dazian's has a IFR rated polyester fabric called Janus. The Janus series comes in several colors and can be sewn in to large sizes with hidden seams. They have a grey that supports contrast very well and has excellent color rendition when used with laser projectors like the Panasonic RZ and RQ series. The metal halide projectors shift a bit green on this fabric so you will need to tweak your color settings.
It has a very wide viewing angle by the nature of the tight fabric weave.
 

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