Celexon High Contrast Dynamic Slate ALR Cinema Screen Review
ALR or Ambient Light Rejecting screens have had a cult following for the last few years driven by customers looking to get the ultimate black level from their projected image. It makes sense that the enemy of the projected image, is unwarranted light diluting and washing contrast out of the visible image. Active ALR screens can stop these unwarranted light impacts on the screen by only accepting light from a narrow source angle. The Draper React screens were extremely popular for several years but their attention to detail and build quality just did not add up, even if the React material itself was dynamite. Celexon hope to fill the hole in the UK after Drapers closure of their UK offices. So, is it any good?
All their ALR screens are borderless as standard, 0.8 Gain and come complete with IR & RF Remote, plus wall brackets. The bracket system they deploy is the same as the Grandview, which is a great design, very quick and easy to install. The mains cable is captive into the unit itself; my unit had an EU plug which I quickly snipped off and replaced with a UK one. I am told an adaptor should have been in the box so new units should come with this from now on. If the attached cable is too long, you can shorten the cable and add your own plug. Any incorrect wiring of the plug though will invalidate the warranty if it is damaged.
Once up, the unit can be controlled either by the included RF remote or alternatively there is an included IR remote and small IR receiving dongle which plugs into the left-hand side, near to where the mains cable exits. A little annoying this is not built in, but not the end of the world.
Firstly, the motor is incredibly quiet. Almost silent. A huge improvement over the Grandview which was a very clunky in operation. Once the screen unfurls it unrolls to the pre factory designated end stop. The screen does come with an adjustment tool for the end stop like most others, but within the manual there are no instructions for setting it. This is when the first issue arises. Upon speaking to Celexon it appears that due to the nature of the material, you cannot adjust the end stop without ruining the screen. If the screen does not fully unfurl you can get waves in the material around a foot in width, and once you have them, they are impossible to get out. Where I originally had the screen installed there was not an option to leave it coming down that far, I needed to change it. After a big warning from the manufacturer, I adjusted it and sat back. 3 days later I saw the tell-tale signs of the first wave in the top right-hand corner. Quickly, I zipped the screen into its case and re installed further out from the wall to enable the screen to run out fully and returned it to its original end stop. The wrinkle disappeared. The tensioning system in the Celexon is also significantly better than the Draper, woven into the screen material. It incorporates itself better than the stuck down tabs on the React which invariably would become unglued over time.
Once the screen was in its final spot, I fired up the Epson EH-TW9400W with some native 4K content. First impressions were amazing, the visible contrast was vastly improved over the standard white screen and although the brightness of the overall image was effected due to the lower gain, you can visibly see the black floor increase over the standard white screen, considerably. Most importantly the shimmer and moire effect from the active material was almost unnoticeable. More pronounced than on a white screen but that comes with the territory and is one of the downsides of an ALR screen.
Upon extended viewing though, some familiar issues raised their head. One of the main reasons Draper started doing borderless screens is the fact that ladder lines were a huge problem with electric ALR screens. This was due to the softness of the viewing fabric when it met the black bonded header and border. Unfortunately, even without a border minor ladder lines are still visible with the Celexon, mainly on the top half of the screen. This is clearly from where the material attaches to the roller. These are very subtle and cannot always be seen and are also worse at the top of the screen, decreasing to none at the bottom. The solution is that you need to run the image right to the bottom bar, that way you miss the ladder lines most pronounced at the top of the screen and they are then 99% unnoticeable. The main issue with this is that the factory set drop on the screen is quite long, combine that with not being able to adjust the end stop and you need a projector with very flexible lens shift to be able to set it like this. Luckily, the Epson is such a unit, a lot of other manufactures, are not.
In conjunction with this, one of the advantages of a borderless screen is that you can maximise image size by running the image right to the edge. On my review sample, this was not possible. Even with correct adjustment of the tensioning system the right and left hand edges curl ever-so slightly toward the seating position, combine this with the active nature of the ALR material and if you run the image right to the edge the outside two centimeters are visibly darker than the main screen. Not a huge problem as you can reduce zoom, so the image falls inside this, leaving you with around a 2cm gap at the edges.
Once I have got this all set, the image for 4K & 1080P was particularly good. If you were to watch with ambient lighting in the room, there is no doubt that the Celexon screen performs to its strengths as this is how all ALR screens designed to be used, with the lights on or with some natural ambient light. It is a fallacy however to suggest you gain this contrast without sacrificing image detail in a dark room. Projection of SD material shows this up all too well and the screen does not perform well with lower resolution content. It preforms even worse in the dark. The active nature of the material adds noise into the image alongside the noise form the already scaled low-resolution image. The standard white screen from Grandview was a lot more forgiving with challenging content.
In summation, the Celexon screen would be particularly good if you have a cheaper DLP projector which has a naturally poor black floor and reasonable lens, The Optoma DLP units spring to mind. It also needs to be used as originally intended, in ambient light. The main restrictions come from lack of flexibility with the positioning and the softness of the screen material. It is actually quite an effort to get it within its operation window, which seems to be narrow unfortunately.
All in all, it was an interesting exercise, which has convinced me that in my situation a good quality white screen is the way to go whilst controlling the environment I project in. Should you have any further questions relation to Celexon screens or Ambient Light Rejecting screens do not hesitate to contact us at the office.
RRP's and sizes as follows;
177 x 99 cm - £829
199 x 112 cm - £869
221 x 124 cm - £919
243 x 136 cm - £1049
265 x 149 cm - £1149
298 x 168 cm - £1249