abandoned underground bunker. (Bing AI Image Creator
https://www.bing.com/images/cr
"Zombie Apocalypse Movie Theater, Part III" by the Realist.
Disclaimer: All products mentioned in this article were purchased by myself. I did not receive free samples, evaluation models, or other compensation from any manufacturer or retailer. I have no formal relationship with any manufacturer or retailer mentioned in this article - I have only been an arms-length customer. All brand names and product names used in this review are the trade names, service marks, trademarks, or registered trademarks of their respective owners. Further, this article reflects my unique circumstances and subjective opinions with regard to performance and other characteristics of the products discussed. Your mileage may vary.
After I finished my Zombie Apocalypse Movie Theater Part II article, I promised myself I would not do a part three. But, here we are.
In the first ZAMT article, I did some hand waving about projector screens, but did not provide a lot of guidance or suggestions. Further, the one projector screen I specifically mentioned quickly became unavailable. But, I continued to pursue projector screen solutions.
One firm rule I have decided upon for the ZAMT is that it will not be set up outdoors. It must be set up indoors, whether that be a large room in a residential or commercial building, a corner of a warehouse, a barn, or some other enclosed space. The reason for this rule is two-fold: first are the obvious security issues present in a zombie apocalypse environment, and second is the fact that a free-standing projector screen is effectively a large sail in any kind of wind. After looking at many reviews of self-supporting projector screens on Amazon, it became apparent that anything other than the mildest of breezes can be fatal to a consumer grade screen that uses a rigid frame. A gust of wind will topple the screen, and may damage its support frame.
Companies that set up outdoor movie events usually use inflatable screens, and these companies put a lot of effort into tying down their screens so they stay put in the wind.
Why Use A Projector Screen?
While a projector screen is not absolutely necessary, a screen will improve the viewing experience, provide a brighter image compared to an unimproved surface such as a blank wall, and provide greater flexibility in where a ZMAT can be set up.
I became serious about projector screens after I put up an IOLIEO cloth screen (discussed below) and was astonished at how much brighter the image from a lower-power projector appeared. Even a dim twenty-dollar projector was watchable when projected on the IOLIEO projector screen in a dark room. And, I was able to project a much larger watchable image when compared to just projecting against an off-white wall.
Improvised Projector Screen Materials
For potential screen materials, I experimented with different products, including paints, swatches from commercial screen manufacturers, white cloth, and cotton canvas, along with an off-white painted wall in my house. I found white cloth, even a thick table cloth, to be unacceptable because light passing through the cloth would reflect back from whatever was behind the cloth, harming the image quality. Paints were not as white as I had hoped, and then I was still left with the problem of what to apply the paint to when creating a projector screen.
Quality cotton canvas has potential. It is naturally off-white and is thick enough that there is not a significant problem with light passing through the canvas and reflecting back. At the suggestion of an article I saw, I bleached the canvas to try to make it whiter. All the bleaching did was make minor variations in the cotton color more apparent - don't bleach your canvas if you want to use canvas as a screen material.
Modern Inexpensive Cloth Projector Screens
I looked at the inexpensive cloth screens that can be attached to a frame, or stretched and attached to a wall. Most inexpensive cloth screens are somewhat translucent, with a significant amount of light from the projector passing through the fabric and reflecting back from whatever is behind the screen. (The manufacturers of these fabric screens portray being translucent as a desirable feature because you can potentially set up you projector in a rear-projection configuration.)
I also experimented with an inexpensive ALR (anti-light reflecting) cloth screen. The coating on the cloth was very retroreflective. (Retroreflective materials, like those seen on reflective highway signs, reflect the light back to its source with minimal scattering.) Unfortunately, it had such a narrow field of view that it was practically useless. (Many people who have dedicated home theaters use an ALR screen. I expect the performance of expensive ALR screens to be much better than the cloth ALR screen I experimented with.)
I did find a fairly inexpensive cloth screen I really liked. It has two layers sandwiched together - a thick white front layer, and a black back layer. The black backing solves the problem of light passing through the screen reflecting back. The screen I tested was made by IOLIEO (https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0D
The IOLIEO 84-inch diagonal (73"W x 41"H) cloth
screen. The top shows the screen as set up. The minor wrinkles in the lower-left
corner are not visible during use. The bottom shows a projected image from a
cheap $20 projector. The as-photographed image, filling the full 41-inch
vertical height of the screen, appears somewhat brighter in this photograph than
it was in person, but it was still quite watchable.
With the IOLIEO screen, you still need to come up with some kind of frame for it or use hardware included in the package to attach the screen to a wall. I attached the the top of the screen to a very straight 1x2 board using large binder clips (the binder clips must be able to handle 1-inch thick material). In my case, the 1x2 board was hung from curtain rod supports using small shock cords. Then I attached the bottom of the screen to another very straight 1x2 board using binder clips, letting the board just hang. This setup worked very well. I could just as easily have suspended the screen between a couple of tripods, between a couple of step ladders, or between purpose-built supports.
Modern Inflatable Screens
There are many consumer grade inflatable screens available. They are intended for outdoor use but can also be used indoors, and they generally have a larger screen size than is going to be available with the consumer grade free standing rigid frame screen options.
Most consumer grade inflatable screens usually rely on a blower to keep the screen inflated. And, some blowers can be fairly noisy. (I found four exceptions on Amazon that stay inflated without continuous blower operation.) The blower consumes a lot of power - not a problem when you have access to a stable electrical grid, but a non-starter if trying to power your austere theater from a battery-based source.
I have not done any evaluation of inflatable screens beyond looking at various models available for sale on Amazon and reading their reviews, and seeing what equipment is used by people who provide video projection services for outdoor events.
Vintage Tripod Projector Screens
Growing up, my father had a reasonable sized tripod projector screen made by Da-Lite Screen Company. The surface of the screen was composed of very small glass beads, making the screen retroreflective. The screen was very bright because most of the light from the projector reflected back to the audience. The down side of a glass bead screen is the comparatively narrow field of view compared to matte-white screens - too far off to either side and the image will be noticeably dimmer. But, people used them for years, and as a child I don't remember the field of view being a problem.
Glass bead retroreflective screens started being sold in the late 1920s by various manufacturers, and they continued to be manufactured until a few years ago. While glass bead screens are no longer made, there are lots of used vintage glass bead screens available through various used marketplaces. The most common size is 40-inches by 40-inches - small by current standards, but still quite serviceable in an improvised austere movie theater environment.
Many vintage projector screens were also manufactured with a reflective silvery surface material (probably aluminum paint). I have not experimented with that type of screen, so I cannot offer an opinion on its performance.
Vintage tripod screens are fairly easy to set up, and are fairly robust if not abused.
Modern Tripod Projector Screens
There are a few modern consumer grade tripod screens being sold. Their quality is questionable. I purchased one that had four arms that attached to a center plastic hub at the top of the tripod mast. The individual arms were held in place with easy to lose screws. The ends of the arms then connected to grommets in the corners of the screen. The actual screen material was very nice - a thickened mat with a matte-white surface. I was disappointed that the tripod and support structure was so poor in quality.
My one sample does not give me any confidence that there are reasonably priced quality modern consumer grade tripod screens. I am sure the much more expensive tripod screens for business or institutional use would be higher quality.
Pop-up screens with a 4:3 aspect ratio. From front to
back, the Grandview 50-inch, Da-Lite 60-inch, 80-inch, and 100-inch diagonal
screens. The screens closed and stowed shown at the bottom. A tape measure
extended to 36 inches is provided for scale.
Modern Pop-Up Projector Screens
I stumbled across the Da-Lite Deluxe Insta-Theater product line while searching for vintage Da-Lite screens on ebay. Unfortunately, the Insta-Theater is no longer being made by Da-Lite. The Insta-Theater can easily be set up in less than a minute - rotate the two support feet perpendicular to the screen case, open the screen case, grasp the handle in the center top of the screen and start lifting. Once lifted to near full height, the screen will support itself and stay in place. Take down is equally quick and simple. The Da-Lite Deluxe Insta-Theater has a matte-white screen surface. They were made in 60, 80, and 100 inch diagonal sizes in a 4:3 aspect ratio, and 73 and 90 inch diagonal sizes in a 16:9 aspect ratio.
Kodak sells a pop-up screen very similar to the Da-Lite screen. (https://www.kodakphotoplus.co
Grandview sells a table-top 50-inch diagonal screen, with a 4:3 aspect ratio, functionally similar to the Da-Lite Insta-Theater (https://grandviewscreen.com/s
There are other manufacturers that sell functionally similar pop-up projector screens, but I have not had an opportunity to examine them.
The pop-up projector screens I have examined all have a matte white screen surface. Matte white is a fairly efficient surface while offering a wide field of view.
In general, I like the pop-up screen concept. They are very portable, set up quickly, and are self contained with no parts to misplace. However, they are somewhat fragile and will not handle abuse. And, they can be bulky, with the case for the 100-inch Kodak screen being over 92 inches (7.7 feet) long.
Buying A Projector Screen
As you may have noticed, many of the projector screen options I discussed are no longer manufactured. If you go the discontinued/vintage route, you will be forced to rely on the used markets, such as ebay or Facebook Marketplace. Don't be afraid to talk to friends, too. A friend gave me a vintage tripod screen that was collecting dust in the back of his garage.
For new screens, there is always Amazon and ebay. ProjectorScreen.com (https://www.projectorscreen.c
Observations
Based on my subjective observations, there is little difference in performance between a modern matte white projector screen, a vintage glass bead projector screen or the IOLIEO double-layer cloth projector screen. They are all superior to an as-found surface such as an off-white painted wall or translucent white fabric.
The materials used to make my vintage glass bead screen have yellowed slightly due to age - I'm guessing it was made sometime in the 1960s. However, the performance lost to aging materials is mitigated by the retroreflective nature of the glass bead screen.
Conclusion
My objective with these ZMAT articles has been to identify equipment that can be set up and used in an austere environment where power to operate the equipment must come from a constrained source such as a battery-powered power station.
This article focused exclusively on portable projector screens. While evaluating different projector screen options, I developed a definite preference for the modern pop-up screens manufactured by Da-Lite and other manufacturers.
A quality projector screen can dramatically improve the viewing experience of your austere movie theater and will help you get the most out of your projector. A portable projector screen provides greater flexibility in where an austere movie theater can be set up since you are not dependent on finding a wall with a suitable surface to use as an improvised screen.
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Resources:
This YouTuber provides good reviews of video projectors and projector screens. He uses uses test equipment to objectively measure performance characteristics of the projectors and screens being reviewed. His focus is the home theater, but he also reviews portable video projectors.
https://www.youtube.com/playli
This article explains why projector lumen output matters, and provides recommended lumen output ranges for various environments. I personally think their recommendations, based on my own observations with my equipment being used in a dark room, are a little high. But, their recommendations provide a starting point in analyzing needs.
https://www.projectorscreen.co
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