The Wrong Projector Screen
It’s the final part of my unintended Home Cinema Projector Quadrilogy. So far we’ve had a review of a new 4K projector, a (Patreon exclusive) video about the rediscovery of an old forgotten screen and the review of a cheap(ish) out of focus projector.
Today it’s a video about my new automatic screen, which might have been an expensive mistake. It certainly made me feel that it's time I lock the credit card away for a while.
https://youtu.be/hdoCz1Fw9-M
I should mention that the thumbnail isn’t posed, it’s a freeze frame from an unused clip.
You’ll likely be very glad to know that I don’t have any more projector related videos planned. Just like my previous video on this same topic, I’ll try to delay it by an extra week and get another unrelated video completed first. We’ll see how that plan worked out later next week.
I hope you’re well, have a good weekend and take care.
UPDATE - I’ve made a couple of tiny edits of things that were annoying me - there’s no difference in content, just tidying up a few bits. The updated version is now the one linked and embedded above.
UPDATE 2 - Uploaded a re-edit with a clearer ALR comparison section
Comments (51)
I am both amused and deeply confused by the number of 'why not just mount it to the ceiling?' or 'project it on the wall' comments on YT, it's boggling. 🤦♀️To quote the film 'Aliens'... "Did IQs just drop sharply while I was away?"
I’ve just been recording a Patreon update video and I’ve been saying the same thing. Unfortunately I’ll get the usual ‘ignore the comments’ if I leave it in, so tomorrow will be a day of editing out anything that anyone could object to. Leaving me in a state of isolated silent insanity.
My first thought was - put black tape down the edge of the screen and the auto-fit should work again - but there again it would probably fall off with the winding up and down.
I posted this long comment on YouTube before joining as a patreon just now. I should have joined a long time ago. Anyway, I Figured I'd re-post here. You and I are going through almost the same thing at the same time with these projectors. I had the Nebula projector you have and recently upgraded to the nebula x1 (which is brighter at 3500 lumens - and noticeably so). SUGGESTION: For daytime viewing, go to the settings-->all settings and find the black level setting. I think your projector has this setting just like mine. Turn the black level setting up to 80% or 100%. It should make daytime viewing much better. I just had my ceiling-mount Vividstorm Ambient Light rejection screen delivered this past week and installed it where my previous non-tensioned, non ALR screen was. The ALR screen is NOTICEABLY better in my room. I think I know why you aren't seeing a difference... The Ambient light rejection comes down to the angle of incidence of the light. The coating is dark for light that is coming in from the sides. The ambient light in your room seems to be coming from windows that are at relatively axially-located. My windows are (at least some of them) almost right next to the screen. So I have light that is hitting the screen almost parallel to the screen. This light is truly rejected, and the ALR screen makes a big difference. I took photos of stills of the same scene in the same movie (three amigos) both before and after. It is NOTICEABLY better with the ALR screen. In the scene I chose for standardization, there is a woman with black hair in the foreground, and I can actually see the strands of her hair with highlights, even in daylight (cloudy day - not direct sunlight). On the previous screen, I could barely even tell it was a woman's head in the foreground. With the ALR screen and the brighter projector, I can now easily watch bright things (like cartoons and most sports) in moderate actual daylight conditions (cloudy day or within an hour or two of sunrise/sunset). It s not useable with direct sunlight streaming in through the windows. Dark movies are still a bit of a struggle, so I wouldn't watch The Dark Knight during the daytime on this screen. One thing I noticed with the ALR screen is the sparkle effect. The individual grains of the ALR coating have a peak reflectivity that is close to directly back toward the incident light. I think it's particularly more pronounced with laser projectors like ours, and probably worse with higher light output settings. It's very noticeable with cartoons where you have a single color across a large patch (like a character's face or shirt). When they move across the screen, the glitter spots don't move. When I watch movies at night, I'll just turn down the aperture and dim the light to reduce the effect. Another thing I noticed about these Vividstorm ALR screens is that they are acoustically more transparent than the thicker heavier standard screen. I have to put my center speaker behind the screen, and it was muffled with my old screen - not with the Vividstorm.
Thanks for signing up and this confirms my suspicions that any improvements would be more noticeable with a higher light output projector. There may be some more Patreon only stuff to come on this subject.
This is a frustrating one for me, as, if I’m paying this much for technology, or for anything else actually, it really has to be as near to perfect as possible without many compromises. Just me though. Cheers for the video, Matt. Lee
Great stuff, very much enjoyed - seeing the new storage / platform solution come together was most gratifying. However I think my favourite part might have to be the non-metric measurements :-D
The second version of the thumbnail brings a touch of humor vs. the previous feeling of dispair. Very nice.
That’s good to hear.
All these projector videos have me going screening mad 🤯
It’s the wrong projector screen Gromit and it’s out of control!
Watching the re-edit I am surprised that I didn't notice the nice quarter-button shirt you have on. Although I wonder if the logo on the back is a Friendship Crest, a Lady Gaga Chromatica symbol, an abstract fish symbol, or simply a manufacturer logo. I prefer the grey trousers than the jeans. But nobody cares about apparel. 😑 I'm clearly examining things too much. 🥴
Unfortunately I realised after wearing that shirt all day and going to the opticians for an eye test, talking to multiple people in very close proximity that when I got home I’d buttoned the bottom button to the one next to the top and looked like a bloody simpleton. I should use mirrors more often.
Great set up now Matt. It was brilliant the way things came together. Space for records and smaller speakers. Hifi also looks great. All great now Enjoy 👍
At 16:57 the smaller screen looks so much nicer especially if you compare the light level of the bridge crossing. Not sure if ALR should mean Automatic Light Reduction instead of Ambient Light Rejection in this case.
I feared this clip might result in a bit of an issue. The problem is that the left half the bridge is in shadow from the buildings and the right half isn’t. You can see a tiny bit of the shadow also spilling onto very the left hand side of the white screen. I’ll have to see if I’ve got another clip I can substitute this one with.
I had been curious as to how those self-rising screens were able to lift up a floppy screen from the bottom rather than a conventional screen that's hanging from a prop rod in the back. Now that you've shown the clips of the self-risers from the rear, showing the scissor-lift mechanism in action, it seems so obvious that I feel kind of dense in that I didn't think of that before.
Unfortunately I did have a shot of the whole of the back rising up - but it was shot out of sequence so revealed the cabinets in the background a bit early in the video. I'll try to remember to add the full shot into the next Patreon update though.
I have the drop down version of this screen- works brilliantly with a UST projector. My optic nerve is damaged due to Multiple Sclerosis, so I needed a big screen (100"). My setup works instead of a TV, and the image is watchable in daylight/with the lights on.
Is it just me, or does the text pop-up at 2:31 appear much smaller than usual? I had to maximize my YT window to read it.
Yes there are a few small things I’ll be correcting today with a re upload.
Great to see more of the practical projector videos! The ALR-to-regular screen comparison helped me clear up some persistent FOMO as well. I personally find that good enough with projectors is still plenty of fun and try not to obsess about maximizing the experience.
I've enjoyed your projector videos! But then again, I enjoy ALL of your videos. Glad to see you looking more healthy these days.
Very clever and nice looking solution to the height issue. It really looks like that office is working out splendidly. I thought I would feel nostalgic for the tiny space you were filming in because I was looking at it for years... but nope. The office has seemed to open up so many more creative possibilities for you. Also... another thousand dollars for an extra few inches doesn't seem worth it. Just an opinion. Really enjoyed the video.
Mat, I enjoyed this one; I especially liked the camera angles… you’ve edited it together very well. All your videos always are anyway, but this one seemed to me to be “better” somehow… can’t really explain it, but it worked for me 😃 Regards
All of the to-camera bits were shot with a DJI Pocket 3 which can be more flexible with placement than the Sony cameras.
You're right. It does look purpose built. That's a much much better solution than you had before, at least aesthetically and practically. I like it. Regarding the wrong size: it ain't always reliable. I had virtually the same thing happen to me. I bought a set of ramps for my car that I discovered they measured from the stopping ridge, not the point where the tire rests. So it was too low. So I returned them and I got the slightly higher ones, and sure as shit they had these measured exactly correctly and they were too high and I couldn't actually get my car up the damn ramps. So I returned those and used a different brand. Car ramps are just a size critical as projectors because of varying car clearances, so they are just as incentivized to get things right. So it may not be systematic. The larger one very well could fit, but it also might be measured correctly. If it really digs at you, my parasocial friend, buy the big one and just sell the other screen on eBay. Fuck it. Yeah this is a money and time sink but life is too short to miffed at yourself. You know that now more than ever. Then again it's a thousand pounds so you can take that money you would have spent and buy yourself ice cream or popcorn for you and the wife or new DVDs and tell yourself "not getting the larger screen paid for all this" and be happy that way. That thousand pounds will go a long way for movie nights. That's what I have been doing lately. Instead of buying the next thing, I spend it on an event for me and my wife. We won't be around forever. On the other hand you have a tech review channel so you kinda HAVE to keep buying stuff. Anyway it turned out excellent, despite the concern about size, which isn't even a guaranteed solution anyway.
Screen coating snake oil, perhaps!!
Keep seeing switch 2, what do you think of it mat? I use projector screen mounted to ceiling with a cheap magic cube projector which are pretty amazing considering cost (I also own a more serious nebula capsule 2). Great video, nice c u looking better
The Switch 2 is really very nice. I usually buy all the consoles in a generation but end up spending the most time with Nintendo’s offering.
That thumbnail is perfect. It's like the missus told you off for buying it and you're just sitting there thinking about what you've done. Love it! Hope you're keeping well, Matt!
Lovely video this
I have often bought the wrong thing, sometimes with a bit of effort I an get things to work but I always have that nagging feeling it would've been easier to get the right thing first time. I spent hours yesterday trying to get a cheap MP3 player to recognise more than 5,000 files or read playlists and no matter what I did it failed. I'll be sending it back but I was dissapointed as the actual device feels really nice and it's a good size. I also have impulse late night buying syndrome. I bought my Mum a Canon Selphy CP500 about a year or to ago for £10, she loves it but I was thinking about getting her a newer version with wi-fi so I was educating myself on prices in preparation for her birthday in November. I saw a complete Canon Selphy CP910 for £30 and decided it looked quite good so I was making a mental note and then I saw it came with an unused KP-108N pack of paper and cartridges, as a Selphy owner you know that's around £35 worth, so I bought it and had it sent to her house immediately. Now I have to work out what to get her for her birthday but at least the printer was essentially free.
Ever had a parcel turn up and you are completely stumped as to what you ordered ? Regarding Selphy paper, a recently purchased pack from eBay still had a Comet price label on it, so was over ten years old. Unlike liquid ink based cartridges it still worked fine.
Great video as usual! I'm moving into a new place shortly (fingers crossed) and have my heart set on a UST 4k laser projector for it (maybe Hisense px3 pro). Apparently the UST ALR screens have better performance as they tend to reject light that isn't coming at them from the low angle of a UST projector. Curious to find out. Think you made absolutely the correct choice with the record storage to get the screen to the appropriate height.
I really thought I was going to see you creating the border on the screen in paint, marker or duct tape.
I've thought about it - but it turns out that the ability to project anywhere on a surface without having the limitation of a border is quite handy.
This happens to the best of us. The silver lining is that your record collection looks stunning in that configuration. I chuckled regarding the measurement conversions - a throwback to your previous currency conversions. 😁 Locking away your credit card doesn't work - unless you throw the container into a bonfire and lose the bank's phone number so that you can't order a replacement card. 😅 Take care 🤍, mate. (Do ladies call their buddies 'mates'? 🤷🏻♀️)
I did once know a girl/lady/woman who called everyone mate, it was a tiny bit odd, but also inoffensive.
Im the little devil on you shoulder, buy a fourth projector screen.
Believe it or not I did order the 92”, but then thought the better of it. I feel I probably got a bit carried away with this one.
Vinyl collection to the rescue!
That thumbnail is killer!
That’s a real neat screen. It does look high quality. And I think your records storing solution works. It almost appears that you intentionally designed it that way. Personally, I think your overcoming the limitations of a cramped area is kind of brilliant. Well done, Matt.
From watching the video, it looks like you initially felt that you bought the wrong screen, particularly with the miscalculation of how high it could go up. However, your solution of getting the record storage cubes, and placing the screen on top of that is a brilliant move! It cleans up the floor quite a bit, the record storage looks like it was purpose-built for the space, and it looks quite elegant. I think the end result is something far superior to what you had before while playing with the old screens.
Is that a DJI Mini Mic you are using Matt? I am considering buying a set and they this video sounds great.
It is and they’re working out very well. The only potential issue is there’s no onboard recording, so no backup if I forget to turn on the receiver or if something gets unplugged.
That thumbnail is me when I bought a NanoCell LG TV without knowing how horrifically the black levels were on that thing.
I appreciate the unintentional classic portraiture pose. We’ve all had our guts wrenched out by the emotional roller coaster of buying new gear. I’m sure I will be adopting a similar stature soon as my Amazon Days purchases show up (for those that observe).
Very emotional thumbnail, I think we've all learned some expensive lessons and felt the same way 🤦♀️
The cure of being older with higher standards, more to spend and having to mail order things. You tend to have to buy a few things before you get the perfect one. Been through this a lot recently.