8mm Forum: Is a silver projection screen better than a wall?

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Posted by Gerry Groeber (Member # 3132) on July 18, 2012, 08:01 PM:

I found a new Da-Lite projection screen for $20.00

Gerry

Posted by Pasquale DAlessio (Member # 2052) on July 18, 2012, 09:28 PM:

Yes. You will get a brighter and clearer picture. The silver helps the light radiate. Especially in a room that is not totaly dark. [Wink]

Posted by Gerry Groeber (Member # 3132) on July 18, 2012, 10:02 PM:

Great thank. hope it is still at the thrift store.

Posted by Dino Everette (Member # 1378) on July 18, 2012, 11:45 PM:

Gerry
make sure you open the screen up in the store because some screens have sat for so long (and in warm conditions) without being opened they might have visible creases that will still be viewable when you are watching a film.

Posted by Bryan Chernick (Member # 1998) on July 19, 2012, 10:25 AM:

Another good thing about silver screens is you have to have one to watch 3D. I have a Viewmaster stereo projector that will not work on a white screen. The polarized light gets broken up with a white screen and you lose the 3D effect.

Posted by Thomas Murin, Jr. (Member # 1745) on July 19, 2012, 04:26 PM:

IT's true that you need a silver screen for polarized 3-D, however, you can use a matte white screen for other types of 3-D projection.

I've been using my 80" matte white screen for DLP 3-D projection and have had no problems. Nice, bright picture with stunning depth.

Posted by Paul Adsett (Member # 25) on July 19, 2012, 04:33 PM:

In general you are better off using a matte white screen, unless you really need the extra brightness of silver.

Posted by Hugh Thompson Scott (Member # 2922) on July 19, 2012, 04:43 PM:

A thing I've noticed with a silver screen is that B/W film seems
to have greater depth and looks better.

Posted by Vincent Zabbia (Member # 2453) on July 19, 2012, 05:33 PM:

I have both...I use the silver screen for B&W and White Matte for color...Silver screens hold up better and are easy to clean..I prefer screens that hook up to the ceiling rather than a tripod screen, and also prefer a screen that has a locking mechanism on the rear of the screen. Take the wave out of the screen..

Posted by Hugh Thompson Scott (Member # 2922) on July 19, 2012, 05:38 PM:

Vincent,I think you've got it covered.I wonder if the two coloured
anaglyph prints have a better 3D effect on the silver as opposed
to matt white?

Posted by Vincent Zabbia (Member # 2453) on July 19, 2012, 05:44 PM:

the only 3D print i ever had was The Creature in 3D and it looked much better on my Silver Screen until the colors faded. then it looked poor on both...

Posted by Thomas Dafnides (Member # 1851) on July 19, 2012, 07:30 PM:

I had a silver screen once labled "lenticular"...I no longer see these advertised...anyone know the story on these?

Posted by Winbert Hutahaean (Member # 58) on July 19, 2012, 07:46 PM:

The fold-able (roll) silver screen always has a problem that the up and bottom side get wrinkled. It is distracting my eyes when the light projection touches that part.

Beside the tripod version always has a problem with the flatness against our position. It sometimes turning a bit left or right depending on the center bone of the screen.

How do you guys deal with that.

Posted by Bill Phelps (Member # 1431) on July 19, 2012, 07:47 PM:

Don't use a tripod screen.

Bill [Smile]

Posted by Hugh Thompson Scott (Member # 2922) on July 19, 2012, 07:53 PM:

As I understand it Thomas, It refers to the shape of the indentations on the screen material itself,there were lots of
different patterns and names for them,apart from the various names for the white screens like Polar White,Arctic White,Da- lite
there was probably even Snow White, but I never saw her.

Posted by Ken Finch (Member # 2768) on July 20, 2012, 10:48 AM:

Hugh is absolutely right with his descriptions of the different types of screens. From within the dark recesses of my brain I have recalled that there are basically 3 types of manufactured screen surfaces, Silver, matt white and beaded (thousands of tiny glass "beads" glued to a white backing. Silver screens reflect the light straight back so are necessary for polorised 3D, and also make the most of the contrast of the film. They were popular with the older low wattage projector lamps. The disadvantage is the the picture appears dimmer for those seated to the side of the screen. Matt white screens reflect the light in all directions so everyone sees the same brightness of the picture but it can affect the contrast if there is too much ambient light. Fine with modern projectors with the higher powered lamps. Beaded screens combined the advantages of both but need to be kept perfectly flat and are difficult to keep clean. The undulations on the silver screens decrease the dimmer picture effect for those sitting to one side of it. Hopr this helps. Personal, I am quite happy with Dulux Brilliant white emulsion paint, however they have now produced one which is more reflective and there is also something called "Screen Goo" mentioned in a "Home Cinema" type magazine a little while ago. Has anyone on the Forum tried any of these? Ken Finch.

Posted by Hugh Thompson Scott (Member # 2922) on July 20, 2012, 11:34 AM:

That's very true Ken on the beaded screens being directional,
one of their problems being that they used to shed the little beads after a time.There was a great company in the UK called CLEAR VUE and they specialised in all the various screen materials that you could purchase from them,and they supplied very large sizes and would weld together lengths for particularly big screen.They also made rear projection screen material,of which I did have a piece that was like flexible ground glass that I was going to use in stop motion back projection.The prices were very agreeable and I used to have a swatch book of the materials that they sold.They also sold lenses and films,again at bargain prices.They were still trading in the early eighties,and I wonder if anyone else on the forum remembers them.

Posted by Osi Osgood (Member # 424) on July 20, 2012, 12:44 PM:

Dino's right about those old screens, they tend to have creases and there's nothing more annoying than those creases. That, and those old screens are never big enough for me!

I would suggest that screen paint for walls that Steve Osbourne of "The Reel Image" sells, as it is very reflective and gives a very bright image.

Posted by Ken Finch (Member # 2768) on July 27, 2012, 08:38 AM:

It is amazing what coincidences turn up on this forum. I have a roll of CLEAR VIEW silver lenticulated screen mterial purchased many years ago. This was to enable me to project 9.5mm silents in 3D using the SPACIAL system, which could turn any film or slide into 3D using poloroid specs, and a poloroid beam splitter fitted over the projector lens, as one does with an anamorphic attachment. The drawback was loss of light when viewing the image. Does anyone else remember this? it used to be advertised in A.C.W. (The amateur film enthusiasts bible).

Posted by David Ollerearnshaw (Member # 3296) on February 01, 2013, 11:51 AM:

Clearvue Projection Company based at 92 Stroud Green Road in London. Yes I remember them well, lots of lists both 8mm gauges, screen material, 35mm slides, the job lot.

On a major sort out at the moment looking through all my boxes in the loft, wonder if I'll find some lists from them or even some samples of the screen materials they used to send.

Those were the days, plenty of small businesses dealing for the film collector.

Posted by Timothy Ramzyk (Member # 718) on February 01, 2013, 01:56 PM:

So silver is good for a brighter image, but does it hen increase contrast and compromise light detail. I've also heard it's less desirable for color?

I'm considering a a new screen for both film and video.

I did the Screen Goo thing once, and found it hard to work with and rather pricey.

Posted by Janice Glesser (Member # 2758) on February 01, 2013, 06:47 PM:

My screen is silver but it's not a conventional screen. It's the screen that came with my Sony projection TV that I bought about 30 years ago. I was just about to replace it with a big LCD TV when I tried projecting my 8mm & 16mm films on it. It works great. I just bought a 25mm lens for my Elmo 16-CL and now the picture covers my entire screen.

You can see pics of it in this other thread:
http://8mmforum.film-tech.com/cgi-bin/ubb/ultimatebb.cgi?ubb=get_topic;f=5;t=000842#000011

Posted by Timothy Ramzyk (Member # 718) on February 02, 2013, 02:16 AM:

Very nice

Posted by Ricky Daniels (Member # 95) on February 02, 2013, 04:59 AM:

Just a note to the uninformed... the Matt White screen surface Thomas mentions works with DLP 3D because basically the projector flashes alternate L/R 2D non polarised images (120 per second if the source is 1080/60) in very quick succession and the DLP glasses only allow the relevant eye to see it's intended image via LCD 'shutters' in the DLP glasses. Therefore each eye sees a 2D non polarised image and the brain 'interprets' these as a 3D image (due to information overload [Big Grin]

) hence it works on a Matt White screen.

Silver screens are needed for Polarised 3D because the surface is directional (Matt white scatters the light when reflecting it back) and does not destroy the polarised L/R light sources. However a silver screen surface can also enhance 2D images because they bounce the light back to the source/viewer in a more concentrated and directional manner.

BTW I use a Matt White painted wall with a fixed (painted) masked 2.40:1 screen surface area of 4m across and it works 'brilliant'. I've also just talked my local community music hall/theatre/cinema into doing the same on the back wall of their stage for DLP projected HD movies because they can't afford a screen of 4m across. I've just finished supervising the change and the image now looks stunning and for very little money.

Brilliant Matt White paint does the trick. Try tester pots from various paint manufactureres painted side-by-side in large areas on your intended wall and project your image onto these to determine the best of the bunch.

Screen Goo manufacture a 'silver' screen surface paint intended for polarised projection, if you need it.

Best,
Rick

Posted by Andy Katz (Member # 3506) on February 06, 2013, 12:13 PM:

Is there any way to straighten the creases on an older silver screen (DaLite)? Heat gun maybe?

Posted by Fredrick Crawford (Member # 3553) on April 05, 2013, 06:47 PM:

I am a new guy to vintage film so I was needing a screen to show on. I ended up with 7 of them! I have both white and silver. I just got them so cheap, had to buy them, $2.99 each and a few still in original boxes like new.

Anyway, some did have horizontal line from being rolled up so long. So what I did was take them outside on a sunny day, extended them and left them like that for about a hour, all lines gone! I would not use a hair dyer as the heat would not be uniform and some parts could be damaged. The sun works perfectly. I did this to silver and white screens and was very effective, they look like new. Will also make them a bit flatter if you pull them tight.

Hope this helps...

Posted by Jeff Benes (Member # 2553) on August 30, 2017, 07:10 PM:

I have Da-Lite "Comet" pull up projection screen. Pretty old I guess. Why does it smell up my whole apartment? It works great, but there is this distinctive chemical smell to it. Am I inhaling harmful chemicals? I read online about opening it up out side for a day or 2. I'm not sure about that.

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