[Showoff]

Can anyone give me a good reason why I shouldn't buy the Optoma Panoview screen for an Infocus IN80 projector?

Optoma Panoview DE9092EGA from here at £287.95

From the looks and spec it's identical to the Grandview Cyber Series Electric Screen from here at £525.00 so almost half the price!

Other option I was looking at is the Beamax 95" from here at £610.51, but again at more than twice the price of the Optoma why is it so much more?

Thought's and experiences with any of these screens appreciated.

Thanks.

[blenny]

The Beamax screen you have linked to is the "better"!! 1.5 gain electric screen which they produce. I have no experience with these screens (looking for one myself at the moment) but from looking I think the Beamax 'M-Compact' is closer/more equivalent to the Panoview (but no remote included with the Beamax). It is £362 from Stone Audio.

[tiddler]

If you look at the literature for the Optoma and the Grandview they are identical. I mean exactly the same identical, right down to the material diagram and the location of the connectors etc. I suspect the Optoma is just a relabeled Grandview.

I see the Beamax is a higher gain screen material. That would make the inevitable V waves more apparent in the image. IMHO, stay away from higher gain materials unless it is a fixed frame or tab-tension screen.

I can't find any information on an InFocus IN80 so I can't comment on it's brightness.

[Showoff]

Originally Posted by blenny

The Beamax screen you have linked to is the "better"!! 1.5 gain electric screen which they produce. I have no experience with these screens (looking for one myself at the moment) but from looking I think the Beamax 'M-Compact' is closer/more equivalent to the Panoview (but no remote included with the Beamax). It is £362 from Stone Audio.

A higher gain doesn't mean a better screen, as long as you can get your room as dark as possible then the lower the gain the better, see below ripped from a web site which explains gain really well:

Is high gain good?
It is easy, and wrong, to jump to the conclusion that a high gain screen must be preferable to a low gain screen. After all, higher reflectivity means a brighter image and a brighter image seems like a good thing, right? The problem is that there are some downsides to higher gain in a home theater environment.
First, as just noted there is a trade-off between gain and viewing angle. A 1.0 gain screen diffuses light evenly in all directions. Thus seating can be placed in a wide viewing angle relative to the screen and all seats will afford a similar viewing experience regardless of the angle of view. With a high gain screen the brightness of the image increases to those seated in the center, and diminishes for those seated at the outside. Furthermore once you move off center axis the relative brightness of various portions of the image can shift quite dramatically. Thus a high gain screen can put limitations on the number of optimum viewing seats you can have in your theater.
Second, a high gain screen does not typically reflect red, green, and blue equally. So it can generate color shifts in the image that are noticeable as you move around the screen viewing it from different angles. Once again, the image looks different to each viewer depending on where they are seated.
Third, any screen with a gain higher than 1.0 has some degree of hotspotting. That is, when viewing the screen from a center position, the middle portion of the image will appear brighter than the edges. On screens under 1.3 gain or so this is not very noticeable, but as gain increases beyond 1.3 it can become a real distraction.
High gain screens have a definite place in the world. In conference rooms and classrooms where you want some lights on and most of the seats can be positioned within the screen's narrow cone of reflectance, high gain screens can be quite effective in boosting image brightness. However, the videophile looking for the optimum image quality in a home theater environment will usually want to opt for a low gain screen.

Therefore I'm happy with the gain of 1.0 on the Panoview. I'm not sure though if the gain value is the only difference with the 2 Beamax screens I assume not? Anyone?

Originally Posted by tiddler

If you look at the literature for the Optoma and the Grandview they are identical. I mean exactly the same identical, right down to the material diagram and the location of the connectors etc. I suspect the Optoma is just a relabeled Grandview.

Exactly! Shocking isn't it...

Originally Posted by tiddler

I see the Beamax is a higher gain screen material. That would make the inevitable V waves more apparent in the image. IMHO, stay away from higher gain materials unless it is a fixed frame or tab-tension screen.

Agreed.

Originally Posted by tiddler

I can't find any information on an InFocus IN80 so I can't comment on it's brightness.

Brightness is 1300 Lumens (ANSI, max), 1100 (ANSI, typical) Full spec of the IN80 here.

Thanks.

[Showoff]

I purchased the Optoma Panoview DE9092EGA from here for £305.20 including VAT and delivery and will let you know my thoughts once it's all set up.

[eddieexporter]

Any update on the screen mate?

[Showoff]

Hi eddieexporter,

Sorry, not put it up yet as I plan to build a false wall and ceiling to house all the av gear, I'm hoping to get it built in the next few weeks, I'll update this thread once it's up.

[Showoff]

Quick update to the thread.
Finally got this screen up and running and it looks great. I can't comment on on how the picture looks on it as I haven't got the projector up yet, but the build is well under way so hopefully won't be too long (though I have a busy few weekends coming up).

I'll let you know my final thoughts on the screen once everything is working and I can fully test it out.