Earlier this year at the Axpona exhibition in New York, we saw a new prototype screen material from Stewart Filmscreen that was being used to good effect with a JVC 3D home theater projector. While they offer excellent black levels and accurate colors with good saturation, the JVC D-ILA projectors can be a bit dim, particularly in 3D mode. This new prototype screen had a gain of 1.7 to accentuate brightness and it did so without major hotspotting or sparklies -- artifacts that are common on high gain screens. At the time it didn't have a name, but all that changed last week at CEDIA Expo 2011.
In Indianapolis, Stewart unveiled their new Reflections Active 170 3D screen, now in production. It was being used by a few vendors at CEDIA Expo, including JVC and Mitsubishi. JVC used it to show off their new 4K home theater projector in their multi-room off-site demonstration area at the Hyatt. At over ten feet wide, the image presented by the JVC projector on the Reflections screen was clear and bright. The screen was able to resolve fine details well enough to easily see the effects of JVC's 4K e-Shift technology -- a new feature on JVC projectors that upconverts 1080p HD material to four times its normal resolution.
While there was some very mild hotspotting visible when viewing difficult scenes (a winter snow scene was particularly challenging), on most content, the screen produced excellent results. It brought the brightness levels up to where you could actually have some ambient light in the room without completely washing out the image. In 3D mode, on an active shutter-based 3D projector, brightness is even more critical as much of the light is lost in the glasses. 3D demos on the Reflections screen had nice punch and detail, without losing the JVC projector's deep black levels. Off-axis viewing suffered a bit, as it does on all high gain screens but Stewart says the screen maintains half brightness at 40 degrees off axis.
If you've got a projector that lacks a little in the brightness department or a viewing environment with some ambient light or if you watch a fair amount of 3D content on an active 3D projector, Stewart Filmscreen's Reflections Active 170 3D screen is definitely worthy of your consideration. Pricing of the Reflections Active 170 3D screen starts at $3500 for a 110-inch diagonal screen in Stewart's Luxus Deluxe fixed frame with Velux overscan. Final price depends on screen size and mounting option.
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