   
|
||||
 August 1, 2007Stewart Filmscreen StarGlas 100 Screen
Stewart Filmscreen Corporation began business 60 years ago and is still family owned and operated. Their first big recognition was an Oscar for Science and Technology Achievement back in 1964, and since then, they’ve picked up numerous awards from magazines and critics. Despite the kudos, they still take the time to make everything by hand, and are still relentlessly working to find ever better ways to get a projected image into your home theater. StarGlas, a glass screen for rear-projection setups, is Stewart’s best product yet. I’ll get to the full description shortly, but first, it’s important to understand why you might want to use a rear-projection setup.
Most people have seen rear projection only from the big boxes made by companies like Mitsubishi or Sony. These boxes have one salient benefit: they make a very bright picture because you’re looking directly into the light guns of the projector. However, in order to create the distance needed between projector and screen to generate an image of the desired size, they have to "fold" the light using mirrors. That’s a problem -- even the slightest misalignment of the mirrors can lead to weird problems in the picture geometry. But people buy projectors because they want to see those gigantic images. The boxes go up to 72", but we want 100" images and more. So if you want the benefit of the rear projector’s bright image, but without mirrors, and still have a huge picture, your only solution is to cut a hole in the wall and have a dedicated projection room behind the screen. That hole in the wall -- not to mention the extra room -- is a problem that not everyone can or would even want to try to surmount. "Honey, where do we keep the sledgehammer?" I can just see the non-videophile half of your family going for that one. But if you’re the type of perfectionist who buys $1000 interconnects and $600 power cords, you should think about the benefits of rear projection. First, with a front-projection setup, your screen is there waiting to reflect any light your projector shoots at it. Sadly, it does just as good a job with ambient light as it does with projected light. That’s why you need a really dark room. Using a rear-projection setup, you can guarantee that the ambient light in the viewing area is rejected by the screen -- all you have to worry about is making sure the projection room is dark. That doesn’t mean you can have Klieg lights operating in your viewing room, but at least a tiny bit of lamplight won’t ruin your picture. Second -- but most important for those who’ve spent dollars and time making sure they can hear the most delicate fall of a dewdrop through their surround-sound system -- by putting the projector in another room, you banish any problems with fan noise. Projector makers have created machines with miraculously low noise levels, but no noise beats low noise every time. Finally, a rear-projection setup allows you to use a glass screen. Because of its structural stability and stiffness, the screen won’t torque or bend or ripple, even during 110dB cannon shots and other low-frequency events. No matter how tightly you mount fabric, it will move. With their reputation at stake, it should come as no surprise that Stewart wanted to make the best rear-projection screen available. They researched and built dozens of possible solutions over several years, trying to solve the ongoing issues of weight, durability, and controlled reflectivity. The results are the StarGlas 100 and StarGlas 60 screens. Both use glass to laminate the screen layer, which offers three big benefits. StarGlas is cleanable, a benefit that started me on the search for a new screen in the first place. Hudson Reprographics had given me bad advice about how to clean their screens, one of which I own. I ended up destroying the screen, which required my buying a new one. (Their response: "Oh, sorry about that.") I swore I’d never have an unwashable (or Hudson Reprographics) screen again. The Stewart fit the bill. Also, glass doesn’t discolor. Most rear-projection screens are made from some form of plastic to cut down on shipping and handling costs, and plastic discolors over time when exposed to light. Finally, Stewart was able to get StarGlas designated as a safety glass. That means you can use it structurally. In fact, one of the most common uses of StarGlas is in exterior walls, so that people can watch monster-size images from their porch or pool. Stewart designed the StarGlas screen layer to maximize the light output, while preventing reflections both forward (toward the viewer) and back (toward the projector). This advanced screen layer is delicate, so offering glass lamination protects it. StarGlas 60 is so named because it has a light gain of 0.60; StarGlas 100 has a gain of 1.00. Because the 60 is a negative-gain screen, it looks like a large piece of black glass -- until you fire up your projector. For those with both a light cannon and a desire to see the most intense contrasts possible, it is the screen of choice. Because I review so many projectors, and I never know what light level will be available, I chose the 100. These screens are not cheap. A 100" screen runs about $8500 USD. You then have to add the cost of the demolition or build-out to frame the screen. Then you’ll have to reinforce it -- the screen itself weighs almost 300 pounds. That weight also means that the shipping cost is through the roof -- about $600 in my case. Stewart protects its screens by shipping them in pyramidal wooden crates that keep the screens upright and are as strong as Fort Knox. You’ll have to have a lift-gate truck and at least two people (four would be safer) to get the screen into your room. Then you have to hire a glazier to install it (my cost: $250). If you’re lucky, your dealer will absorb many of those costs, but be prepared for a major investment. What do you get for your money? The best picture you’ve ever seen in a home theater. Using any other screen is the visual equivalent of getting an entire Classé Omega electronics rig and playing it through a pair of Paradigm Atom minimonitors. Nice sound, but how would it sound through a 5.1 array comprising Wilson Audio Alexandria X-2s and a JL Audio Gotham g213 subwoofer? That’s the kind of improvement you get going from a front-projected image to using a rear projector and a StarGlas screen.
Some of that improvement would come from upgrading from front to rear projection, but the StarGlas would be responsible for most of the uptick in quality. Replacing the Hudson Reprographics with the Stewart screen seemed to lift away veils of distortion and enrich the picture. The change transformed the picture from the experience of looking through a scrim to looking through a clean window. I switched screens during the NBA Playoffs, which I watched using the JVC HD1 projector. The change was dramatic. Images took on far greater three-dimensionality. When the panning cameras that float just above the court came into play, my eye/brain system could almost assemble a three-dimensional image. I could see small details of the court floor. Skin tones were truer. Details of the amber and other-color glasses in the hallways in The Curse of the Golden Flower (Blu-ray) opened up with a clarity I’d never before seen in a home theater. The Casino Royale Blu-ray’s exterior scenes were so clear I could believe I was in a hotel just above the fray, looking through a window. I know that some of you reading this are building or renovating a part of your house to create a media room. I hope this inspires you to try to find a way to set up a rear-projection home theater. If so, you must try a Stewart StarGlas screen. They have the precise beauty of a Tiffany tiara, the durability of a Hummer, and the engineering of a Rolex. Given those levels of perfection, StarGlas is a bargain. …Wes Marshall Stewart Filmscreen StarGlas 100 Screen Stewart Filmscreen Website: www.stewartfilmscreen.com
|
||||
|
