100-Inch "Daylight" Fresnel Fixed-Frame ALR Screens
If you plan on doing a considerable amount of viewing your ultra short throw projector during daytime hours in a room with excessive ambient light emanating from lighting sources inside the room and/or sunlight beaming directly or reflecting indirectly into the room through windows, you might want to consider a slightly higher-gain “daylight” fresnel projection screen that’s designed to reject a high percentage of ambient light coming from both above and the sides of the screen. Lower-gain “cinematic” screens designed for ideal usage in partially light-controlled viewing environments only reject ambient light from above. (For the record, I dislike the “daylight screen” label because it falsely implies that it might be designed for outdoor projection use.)
THREE POTENTIAL DRAWBACKS to this type of “daylight” fresnel ALR screen are NUMBER ONE they provide a narrower viewing angle compared to “cinematic” lenticular ALR screens, NUMBER TWO they are currently only easy to find available for purchase in the 100″ diagonal screen size, and NUMBER THREE they need to be properly assembled and mounted on the wall.
AWOL Vision, Casiris, Formovie, and Wemax each currently offer a 100″ diagonal fresnel ambient light rejecting daylight screen designed for UST projectors with slightly different published specifications. As I discover more ALR daylight fresnel screens offered by other brands, I will be sure to add them to the list below.
The AWOL Vision ALR D-100 [manufacturer’s link] [available at Amazon] features an 8-layer optical structure. 90° wide viewing angle. Resists 85% of ambient light. 1.1 peak gain and 75x contrast improvement over standard matte white screens ensure a better viewing experience in daytime environments. Ultra-thin 0.4″ frame. Assembled dimensions are 88″ wide x 49.8″ high, and weight is 35.3 pounds. Package dimensions are 65.7″ x 10.8″ x 7.1″ and weight is 40.6 pounds.
The Casiris Aurora [manufacturer’s link] [available at Amazon] also features an 8-layer optical structure. 90° viewing angle. Resists 85% of ambient light. High 1.3 gain! Thin 0.59″ frame. Assembled dimensions are 88″ wide x 49.8″ high x 1.1″ deep, and it weighs 33.51 pounds. Package dimensions are 61.2″ x 16.9″ x 5.1″ and weight is 41.23 pounds.
The Formovie S10FFNN [manufacturer’s link] [NOT available at Amazon] also features an 8-layer optical structure. 50° viewing angle. Resists 85% of ambient light. 1.0 peak gain. Ultra-thin 9mm (just under 0.4″) frame. Assembled dimensions are 87.9″ wide x 49.7″ high x 1″ deep, and weight is 27.3 pounds. Package dimensions are 65.4″ x 16.3″ x 9.7″ and weight is 50.3 pounds.
According to the published specifications, the Wemax PSF01 [manufacturer’s link] [available at Amazon] features a 90° viewing angle and rejects 95% of ceiling light and 85% of ambient light. 1.0 peak gain. Assembled dimensions are 87.9″ wide x 49.7″ high x 0.98″ deep, and weight is 27.3 pounds. Package dimensions are 65.4″ x 16.3″ x 9.6″ and weight is 50.3 pounds.