Feb
28
Screen Gain 101
Filed Under Front Projection
If you’re new to the front-projection world, at some point in your research, shopping or browsing you’ll stumble on the term “screen gain”. You’ll want to know what this is and how it applies to different rooms and projectors before proceeding down the front-projection path to home theater nirvana. Screen gain is the measure of how reflective the screen material is, or in the broader sense, how much light the screen reflects back into the room and ultimately to your eyes.
Typical screens are rated at gains from 1.0 (neutral gain) to 1.2, 1.3 and beyond. There are even some negative gain screens designated as 0.8 and alike. Generally speaking however all you have to remember is that a 1.3 gain screen should appear brighter than a 1.0 gain screen, at least from the same manufacturer. Although rare there are cases where one manufacturers 1.0 gain screen could appear brighter than another’s 1.2.
I generally advise my clients to stay away from the ultra high-gain screens if they have the ability to control the light in the room, i.e. make it completely dark. Typically the low-gain screens present less off-axis viewing irregularities and in many cases just plain look better than their high-gain counterparts, when paired with a bright enough projector. Of course if you can’t control the light in your room at all times of the day, a high-gain and or high-contrast gray screen may be just what the doctor ordered.
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