Question Is a Sapphire SFSC266 screen suitable for my fairly basic setup?

Presuming Ed

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Hi,

I bought a projector for my living room a year or so ago and it's pretty much all I use now.

It's an Optoma UHD300x, at around 3m from the wall / screen giving me around a 114 inch image on full zoom. It's not really much good in any kind of light so I darken the room when I want to watch it.

There are all kinds of sources going through the projector - 4k blurays, 4k UHD streaming, Sky 4k as well as older Blurays and HD, even SD stuff occasionally.

I'm currently using a manual pulldown projector screen that I bought off Amazon for about £80 and, to be honest, it's hard to tell the difference between that and the white wall it projected onto before I had the screen. Except there's a blob of light on the screen where the light of the projector lamp reflects on the screen and it can be offputting in some scenes.

So I'm thinking of replacing the screen with a fixed frame one, as the wall is dedicated to the screen anyway, so it seems to me that fixed frame is the most cost effective way to get a decent screen up there.

I've had a good look around - the usual, cost vs quality etc and I've come up with this Sapphire one. Can anyone advise me on whether it would be a noticeable improvement on the current screen and, also, whether it's likely that it won't reflect that white blob of light that the current one does? (I realise there are probably no guarantees there)

Edit - should add, I guess, that the projector is ceiling mounted.

Thanks in advance for any advice.

 
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Sounds weird, do you have a picture of this light blob? There shouldn’t be anything like that, is it still there when the room is totally blacked out? Sound more like a projector fault that the screen.
Thanks - it's definitely the screen reflecting the bulb light. It's more noticeable on light images, like bright cloudy skies, where the bulb is shining bright white. The screen does the same with other light sources in the room like lamps. It's just a naff screen I think.

Plus there's a white wall behind the screen and when I project onto that, there's no blob at all. Yet the image is no brighter or sharper! If it wasn't for the screen covering a couple of plug sockets I wouldn't use it at all! (but any fixed screen would go a little higher so as to not cover the plug sockets).

Edit - perhaps I was explaining it badly - more a 'blob of shining light' than a white blob.
 
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I had the 92” version of that screen for a couple of years, it was used with a Sony HW45, great quality screen for the money, bit of a chore stretching the material onto the frame but once assembled no issues at all.
 
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I’ve just installed a screen and the difference between the wall and the screen is amazing. I would try to get a screen that uses the plastic tabs to tension it rather than springs. So many reports of issues installing springs. If you room has ambient light then get a 1.1, 1.2 gain screen. I bought a qualgear screen off eBay and couldn’t be more happy with it.

I’ve never heard of the bulb being reflected before though.
 
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I’ve just installed a screen and the difference between the wall and the screen is amazing. I would try to get a screen that uses the plastic tabs to tension it rather than springs. So many reports of issues installing springs. If you room has ambient light then get a 1.1, 1.2 gain screen. I bought a qualgear screen off eBay and couldn’t be more happy with it.

I’ve never heard of the bulb being reflected before though.
And thanks - had a search on eBay for Qualgear and found this - same size, similar specs but quite a bit cheaper than the one I was looking at.

 
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Could be hotspotting, does the bright spot move as you move around room?
 
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If your at max zoom you can't get a bigger screen unless you move the projector further back.
 
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If you want to swap the projector for a Epson eh-tw9300/9400 or jvc dila in the future there throw is slightly less i think and they are bigger.
 
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I use screen material power stapled to wall with velvet border tape. Spend money saved on light control.
 
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IMG_20210128_200714.jpg
IMG_20210128_200713.jpg


In the top one it's on the corner of the penalty box, bottom one on the dark green stripe. Probably more noticeable in the room

Thanks for the screen size advice, I'll look at 110 although they seem harder to come by.
 
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Looks like I have hotspotting, have calculated my screen gain at 2.4 although it doesn't concern me as I have full light control and sit central.
20210128_215537.jpg

100% full white field. The picture greatly exagerates the effect. I see a difference in shade of 1 or 2 steps of video values.
20210128_215633.jpg

As can be seen the bright spot has moved slightly to the left.
I don't see it in normal viewing, primary colour or mid and dark fields.
 
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20200922_230119.jpg

As can be seen, no hotspotting on normal footage even on 2.4 gain screen.
I believe this is down to full light control and correct image brightness.

Luckily I have achieved ansi contrast between 200-300:1 partly due to tripling the effect of my light control due to using 2.4 gain screen as opposed to 0.8 gain screen.

Not usefull in a bright room.

To explain, consider the room (sealed from outside light) in 2 parts, the screen and every surface but the screen.

A 0.8 gain screen would need the projector to output 3 times the light as a 2.4 gain screen to achieve the correct brightness.

So the surfaces other than the screen reflect back 3 times less light (onto the screen) because the projector is 1/3 as bright.

1610947212.png

The same effect can be achieved by using a smaller screen.

Here's some recommended brightness for varying rooms.
 
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I'm struggling to find a 110 inch fixed frame screen anywhere in the UK - the only one I've come across is this Elite Screens one. It looks very similar in spec / price to the Qualgear one - does anyone have any experience of Elite Screens?

Amazon product ASIN B00Y7XA3UI
 
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My current screen is an Elite 100”, although cheaper than the Sapphire the frame is made up of six pieces which requires a support strut in the middle:

12F2E80E-6C4C-4B95-BAE4-8B86FE4959F0.png


The downside of this for me is that the screen material sits slightly unevenly over the strut as you can see below:

F47AF69C-224B-4A1E-924D-0C1BA644D541.jpeg

In normal use it doesn’t affect the image but my eye keeps being drawn to it.
 
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The elite one is spring tensioned and results in what you can see in Mikes picture. I would avoid. I waited 3 or 4 months until a 110” qualgear appeared new on eBay, there’s a dearth of budget screens available at the moment.

There’s may be some reduced spitfire 112” screens from av online on eBay with slight velvet marks. I was considering those for a while too.
 
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Thanks everyone - I'll hang fire then, see what turns up at 110" over the next few months.

Thanks for all the advice on this thread, though. I would certainly have bought something unsuitable had you all not provided all this advice.

Although there is a warehouse grade 112 inch screen at AV Online. Spitfire. Would this be comparable? I realise it'll have some scuffs, I think sp,e AV online staff are on this forum aren't they?

 
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Thats the one I mentioned above. I believe they are on here yes. I would have bought that one but I didnt really get any reassurance from them when I questioned the marks. It would have agitated my ocd too much.

I think they are not spring tensioned either so yes would be fine for you.
 
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Thats the one I mentioned above. I believe they are on here yes. I would have bought that one but I didnt really get any reassurance from them when I questioned the marks. It would have agitated my ocd too much.

I think they are not spring tensioned either so yes would be fine for you.
So you did! Sorry, i need to learn to concentrate more! Looking at the spec they do use springs. I've posted on the AV online advertiser's thread, I'll see what they come back with.
 
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