I need a bit of Euroscreen advice - ReAct or not...

Mastiff

Novice Member
Joined
Jan 7, 2015
Messages
7
Reaction score
0
Points
26
Location
Norway
I became a member here now because I found out that this seemed to be the place on the web with the largest number of people using and knowing much about the ReAct material, which is one of the materials I'm considering for my new screen. It's a long story, but please bear with me:

I have a cabin where I'm moving in a little more than a year when my youngest move out to go to the university, and I'm going to put up a full projection home theater in the living room/kitchen/dining room. At home I have a dedicated home theater (with aCRT projector that I've had for around ten years, with color filtered and very good tubes). It has dark, matte burgundy floor and walls and a matte black ceiling. So I'm used to the "image hanging in thin air at the end of the room" effect. The screen is a Draper tab tensioned with the vinyl white standard material, and it's so broad that it almost covers the end of the room - around 260 cm. The final 20 cm on each side are covered by black velvet curtains. So it's really a batcave. The cabin? Not so much... Check out the windows on this thing:

Exterior.jpg


The screen will be on the left side wall. As you see it's not really made for viewing in the daytime. But I do have blinds on all windows, so it gets pretty dark. Still not completely dark. But I'm not buying a screen for watching movies in the daytime. That would be too much to demand since I'm very much a fan of real black. In my home theater I literally can't see my hand in front of my face when Galadriel voices the beginning of "Fellowship of the Ring". That's not possible no matter what I do, since I won't be going CRT now. I'm planning to use a JVC DLA-X500R. And here's the interior it has to fight with:

Front.jpg
Rear.jpg


Sorry about the very Christmassy feel on the picture pointing away from the screen placement. Oh, and the ceiling isn't done, partly because I need to put up the screen first and party because I have waited for almost two years with that so I can get the Atmos speakers correctly placed! But the ceiling will be as white as the walls. You can also see the blinds above each window, they are controlled by RollerTrol motors.

The screen will go all the way from the left front tower to the right front tower, 230 cm (220 viewing area if I choose to go with borders - that's another thing I haven't decided yet). Behind it I will have very dark grey, almost black, curtains. That's the only thing I've managed to negotiate. I'm a married man, and some things I just can't get. So the rest of the walls and ceiling will be white. Period. It is possible to have black blinds on each side wall so I can cover the 150 cm closest to the screen, but I'd prefer not to, it would look a bit untidy when not in use, since the ceiling is angled towards the side walls, and there is no way to hide them in a nice way.

I have to use the Euroscreen Sesame because the screen has to be completely built-in, and this is the only screen I have found (within a reasonable price) that has a cassette only 10 cm high. That way I won't have to touch the plastic sheet (don't know what that's called in English, but it stops hot, moist air getting from the room and up in the insulation when it's cold on the top of the insulation, and it gets pretty cold here at times) and the insulation. As you can see I have built the ceiling at 250 cm and then lowered the beams to 240, which is the standard in Norway. That gives me room for ceiling speakers and cables without having to mess too much with the plastic sheet.

So that was the background for the question. I hope that should be pretty well explained. The question itself is really easy, given the background: Should I go for a ReAct 2.1 or a Vision Grey, or what? I watch a lot of dark movies (horror, action, LotR) and I love my 3D (Hobbit, Marvel, more action and horror). And details in dark scenes are very important to me. That's one of the main reasons for choosing the JVC DLA-X500. I would really like to watch sports as well, like the upcoming WC in Nordic skiing next month, and that will be watched with more ambient light since it will be daylight outside. But at the same time that's very bright images anyway. Another thing to consider is the viewing angle. Will both sides of the couch (which will be around 4 meters from the screen) have a good view, or is that going to be a problem?

I'm guessing that with the white walls and ceiling ReAct would be a good choice. I just don't know how that works with 3D, and I have heard from (supposedly) informed sources that the material may be prone to speckling in bright areas (like snow, I presume). So what do you guys think would be my best alternative for this setup?
 
Last edited:
Btw I did forget to mention that I will probably buy a 4K "lampless" (laser) projector in a couple of years, when the second generation of that comes along. Will that affect my choice?
 
Wow, my answer two notches up looks silly! I had a reply from somebody there, but it was obviuosly deleted!
 
I've seen React screens a few times, never seen speckles or viewing angle issues.

I'd also suggest doing what I do and use black Devore velvet up a side wall and across the ceiling and down the opposite side wall. I have mine hung up with a few hooks, it takes me less than a minute to put up and take down. It really helps. The hooks are painted white and so are hardly noticeable against my white walls snd ceiling.
 
Thanks! Yes, that is of course a possibility to consider. I will see how it looks when I get the screen and projector up. That will hapen before the ceiling goes up, so I will still have possibilities. :)
 
Hi there,

I would say I have never had any sparkles visible in my screen - its perfect and displays a great picture. The X500 will be a perfect partner and is plenty bright enough for the size your screen will be.

My screen is 137" diagonal 16:9 and I never feel that its not bright enough with the light generated by the X500. No viewing angle problems either. I don't watch much 3D really, so I can't comment, as its a 1.0 gain screen, its not going to be the brightest for 3D in all fairness, but its still ok.

In the dark, with curtains open even, assuming you don't have street lights outside, when it fades to black, it will be black.

Projector Central reviews state that an uncalibrated X500 develops about 1000 lumens, its a great projector, especially now the price has dropped, its a real bargain. Other say the JVC is darker than the Sony 55 but this generation is a match for it to my eyes. I had an Epson 8100 before, a supposed light cannon, the X500 is as bright.
 
Thank you very much for answering! Well, the closest thing would be boat lanterns on the fjord below, but they are rarely strong! :) This will be very carefully calibrated, so I hope it will reach the peak of what it can do. Me I'm more for a darker picture. The interesting stuff in my movies usually happens in the dark!

How about hotspotting, do you see much of that on your screen? I have chosen to go for the borderless 220 cm wide (99") Sesame after advice from a tech guy at Euroscreen. He told me that 240 cm borderless, so a 240 cm wide image, would be just above where he'd recommend it because of hotspotting when the projector isn't at least 1,8 the width of the screen. With a 220 cm wide image I almost make that. How far from the screen is your X500?
 
Hi Mastiff

I tend to notice the viewing angle on my react screen. Its 104" and I sit about 14ft away. I must say though, after a while, you sort of get used to it and it becomes less of an issue. I don't see sparkles but I think I know what you mean. I can see a light shimmer, almost like the screen is dirty, but only on light scenes. You would maybe pick this up from the snow when watching your winter sports. With that said, the benefits outweigh the issues when watching films. My room is white walls and ceiling (Sony HW50 projector although I'm a big fan of the JVC blacks) and even with this type of room, it looks great for dark scenes. It won't match your bat cave and CRT obviously, but it will still give good results.

At Christmas, I had some guests in my room watching a movie and I was with other guests in another room. I later went into the movie room and nearly sat on the person sitting in the corner - I simply didn't see him as it was on a dark scene. I do however have good outside light control and the lights were also off at that time so just the screen and the projector on.

There isn't much else you can do at the moment to be honest. You want good black level and you need to keep the room with non projector friendly decor. So you need to compromise. You already know about home theatre and what you like, and clearly you've thought these choices through. In my opinion, your bang on track with those choices. Just don't be too disappointed if you notice some shimmer or some viewing angles - you can't have everything with the conditions you're faced with (but I guess you know that already!)
 
I must be less sensitive, but i can't see any hot spotting at all......
 
I must be less sensitive, but i can't see any hot spotting at all......
I think some people are more sensitive to certain things than others. Flicker for example, I can't see it at all. Some people see it in 3d on Sony and Jvc projectors. When a mate first watched 3d with me the first thing he said was woah, what's with the flicker. Huh, I can't see any flicker...

Coming from a neutral screen for so many years also makes this shimmer effect and viewing cone more noticeable to me, otherwise I might not have even noticed when I moved home and switched equipment. I can live with it though, as the react screen does a great job for movies :)
 
Thank you very much! I think I have made the correct choice, then. Borderless 220 cm wide (99" diagonal) ReAct in a Sesame, so it's completely hidden. :) I'm guessing that the hot spotting won't be much of an issue on the movies I usually see, and then I can be a bit lenient on snow scenes. Which would probably only be winter sports and parts of "The Thing" (for the umpteenth time).
 

The latest video from AVForums

TV Buying Guide - Which TV Is Best For You?
Subscribe to our YouTube channel
Back
Top Bottom