TV Projector

If you’re looking to build your own home theater projector screen, you’ll need to buy some projector screen material.  Knowing which surfaces may be best suited to your needs requires some basic knowledge about projector screen fabric and how it might do in the environment you have in mind.

This article will serve as a resource to educate you about the different types of projector screen material.  With this knowledge, we hope you’ll be able to successfully move forward in creating a DIY projector screen.

The four types of projector screen fabric that we’re going to look at are matte white, glass bead, silver, and pearlescent.  Each material has its advantages and drawbacks, and we hope you’ll have a good idea as to which way to go after learning about them all.

Matte white projector screen material is the most popular kind of projector screen material, and probably what you’re used to seeing when you think of a projection screen.  The reflection levels on matte white projection screens are really low, just as they’d be on matte photos (as opposed to glossy ones).  As a result, the images won’t be too bright on these.  Matte white could go well in a darker room.  You may also want to look into some of the newer high contrast matte white projector screen materials, as they’re optimized for use with LCD and DLP projectors.

Next in line is pearlescent projector screen material.  Slightly more reflective than a matte white screen, you’ll experience some great contrast between black and white with these screens.  This could be a nice alternative to the matte fabric if you’re looking for a higher quality image in your home entertainment room.

Twice as reflective as a pearlescent projector screen, silver is another projector screen material with obvious luminous qualities.  You know very well that silver is a strong reflector, and accordingly, any images transmitted will come out very bright here.  As a result, you may want to only consider using silver projector screen material if your screen will always be used in a dark room.  Otherwise, the image may burn too brightly in a lighter room.  Still, you’ll get a very high quality picture if you can get away with the brightness level.

Glass bead projector screen material is a high end surface that movie buffs will surely appreciate.  The reason for this is that most movie theater screens are made of glass beads.  The reflection levels are the highest on glass bead projector screens, as there are literally glass beads on the surface of the screen that help to make it more reflective.  You’ll get an extremely bright picture here, so you may only want to consider using this if you’re viewing the screen from afar.  Otherwise, the picture emitted by your TV projector may end up being simply too bright for use in a home theater.

You’ll find projector screen material available for sale online through a wide variety of retailers.  You can also look to eBay, as you may be able to scour the site some material on the cheap if you find the right auction.

Just remember one thing when choosing your projector screen material – the brighter the room you have in mind, the less reflective the fabric you’ll want to target.