OzJustin Posted August 6, 2020 Share Posted August 6, 2020 Hi all Seeking some advice on motorised retractable screens as I’m brand new to this space. I have an existing 130-140” fixed screen in one room in the house but looking to move the home theatre into a slightly larger room with a better footprint, but a few wall constraints for the screen placement. Thus I’m looking into a retractable screen. The new room is approx 6.9m x 5m x 2.4m (high). Viewing distance will be about 3.5m back. I would like to run my centre speaker behind the screen so looking at an acoustically transparent (AT) screen. From my brief research, it looks like the AT screen may limit my options. Bigger is generally better in my eyes so hoping I can get away with a 140-150” 16:9 screen fixed to the ceiling. Will be a light controlled room with blockout curtains. My questions: - What are the downsides to a motorised vs fixed screen e.g. are the motors reliable and quiet, do the screens stay flat or do they curl, do they ripple if an air-con is in the room? - How does the image performance of retractable screen material compare to a fixed tensioned screen? - Is tab tensioning necessary? - Are 140”+ AT screens available? I could only see Elite Screens in 100” & 125” options. - Are the borders generally painted black or fabric or can you get them in black velvet? I’m not a fan of the large horizontal black border on the top of many screens I’ve googled (it looks very cheap 4:3 office screen). - What companies do you recommend that are available in Australia? Screen Technics, Elite Screens, LP Morgan, Seymour AV? With thanks Justin Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
betty boop Posted August 6, 2020 Share Posted August 6, 2020 10 minutes ago, OzJustin said: What are the downsides to a motorised vs fixed screen e.g. are the motors reliable and quiet, do the screens stay flat or do they curl, do they ripple if an air-con is in the room? - How does the image performance of retractable screen material compare to a fixed tensioned screen? - Is tab tensioning necessary? - Are 140”+ AT screens available? I could only see Elite Screens in 100” & 125” options. - Are the borders generally painted black or fabric or can you get them in black velvet? I’m not a fan of the large horizontal black border on the top of many screens I’ve googled (it looks very cheap 4:3 office screen). - What companies do you recommend that are available in Australia? Screen Technics, Elite Screens, LP Morgan, Seymour AV? a lot of these answers come down to size... going very large in size and you will need to go tab tensioned... AT motorised seem a rare breed... motorised can be as good as fixed screens that I can see unless going for some very specific screens where range is just the issues... even fixed screens you can be limited there wont be black velvet on the edges just be black instead of screen on the border but that seems effective. large leaders are purely to get screen down to viewing so best immersion... theres no point the screen being up at the ceiling and having to lie back and be looking up all the time... its also not going to be anywhere near your speakers to lock sound on screen in australia I can recommend Lp morgan and screen technics. these are locally made high quality product for motorised.... seymour am not sure has representation here. if you are talking other brands like of stewart exist. different brands provide and specialise in different styles. check with your local retailer what have access to. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
muriwai Posted August 7, 2020 Share Posted August 7, 2020 1 hour ago, OzJustin said: What companies do you recommend that are available in Australia? Screen Technics, Elite Screens, LP Morgan, Seymour AV? Hi Justin,Seymour will have to be imported by yourself,no local distributor i had very good dealings with them 2 years ago Covid my have changed that though! need also to allow the 10% gst and get them to sign the free trade agreement form before shipping so you don’t get slugged some other duty/fee cheers muri 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
oztheatre Posted August 7, 2020 Share Posted August 7, 2020 Yep seymour make great motorised screens and use fidelio on the borders from memory which is a first on motorised. http://www.seymourav.com/screensretractable.php lp morgan dont make screens anymore, only the grandview chinese brand they import now. The rondo was an excellent motor screen too https://www.projectorcentral.com/LP_Morgan-Screens.htm Hills bought them out several years ago. 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
betty boop Posted August 7, 2020 Share Posted August 7, 2020 21 minutes ago, oztheatre said: Yep seymour make great motorised screens and use fidelio on the borders from memory which is a first on motorised. http://www.seymourav.com/screensretractable.php lp morgan dont make screens anymore, only the grandview chinese brand they import now. The rondo was an excellent motor screen too https://www.projectorcentral.com/LP_Morgan-Screens.htm Hills bought them out several years ago. oh gosh... another one gone... sad to hear on LP morgan Rich. good to hear on seymour ... interesting first there ! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
OzJustin Posted August 8, 2020 Author Share Posted August 8, 2020 Thanks all. I think the sticking point for me now might be trying to source a 140"+ AT screen. I might shoot a few emails to the likes of Screen Technics, Elite Screens, Selby etc. I'll also have to seek some further advice on the need for tab tensioning. @oztheatre - I understand you only deal with fixed screens? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CCRider Posted August 9, 2020 Share Posted August 9, 2020 It's a pity LP Morgan are no longer with us. I have the 100" Rondo and it is an excellent screen with the flattest of surfaces. The biggest plus for me of a motorised screen was that I could also incorporate a TV with it. The screen is ideal in situations where the media room is a multi purpose room ie a lounge room or living or where you have a window or even a sliding door and you can use this space temporarily to project an image. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
OzJustin Posted August 9, 2020 Author Share Posted August 9, 2020 (edited) 1 hour ago, CCRider said: It's a pity LP Morgan are no longer with us. I have the 100" Rondo and it is an excellent screen with the flattest of surfaces. The biggest plus for me of a motorised screen was that I could also incorporate a TV with it. The screen is ideal in situations where the media room is a multi purpose room ie a lounge room or living or where you have a window or even a sliding door and you can use this space temporarily to project an image. I agree re the flexibility of the motorised screen. My current theatre room is dedicated so I have the wall space for a 130" fixed screen (but the floor plan is a funny L-shape so the speaker placement is horrible). Moving to the larger room in the house will give me a proper rectangular floorplan to position my speakers, but there is no single wall with enough space to fit more than a 100" fixed screen. Going a motorised screen will allow me to go a 140" screen dropping in front of a set of french doors. I'll have a blockout curtain on the doors so I think it will be a good compromise...if I can find a large AT screen... Doing a bit more googling and perhaps even a chain driven rather than motorised screen may be an option if that opens up the AT options a bit more. Edited August 9, 2020 by OzJustin Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
OzJustin Posted August 16, 2020 Author Share Posted August 16, 2020 For anyone else interested, the only larger AT retractable screens I've been able to find are new 135" and 150" models from Elite Screens. There is also a Seymour AV option but cost is prohibitively expensive. Has anyone spotted any other options? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
muriwai Posted August 16, 2020 Share Posted August 16, 2020 Maybe buy the “roller blind and chain part from a “local blinds”company?A1 blinds? and get material from Seymour in the USA? attach screen and black header to the roller yourself? 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
muriwai Posted August 16, 2020 Share Posted August 16, 2020 And Seymour will cut to any size you want i ended up with a 2:1 ratio size and very happy 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Esoterica Posted August 21, 2020 Share Posted August 21, 2020 I was looking at screens in recent days and two dealers tried to talk me into going fixed. They made salient points, particularly quality and flatness of them, but don’t know if I’m ready to go without a TV for general viewing. It could probably work though since my pj has presets for different sizes and aspect ratios iirc. I simply don’t want to watch regular tv shows on a huge screen. It will minimize the WOW factor of “going to the movies” I reckon. I could probably fit a 120”+ cinemascope screen with the wall space I have though. Decisions decisions.... 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
betty boop Posted August 21, 2020 Share Posted August 21, 2020 8 minutes ago, Esoterica said: I was looking at screens in recent days and two dealers tried to talk me into going fixed. They made salient points, particularly quality and flatness of them, but don’t know if I’m ready to go without a TV for general viewing. It could probably work though since my pj has presets for different sizes and aspect ratios iirc. I simply don’t want to watch regular tv shows on a huge screen. It will minimize the WOW factor of “going to the movies” I reckon. this isnt a concern with good quality motorised screens in my opinion. might get some slight curl in the black edge masking. but it doesnt really matter there you get a bit of bow even with fixed with frames... also wall mount to can also not be flat but again I am not sure a concern can see some screen shots below, all from motorised screen and yeah i agree fta and just general everyday TV watching news and such ... id rather leave to watching on the telly 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
super kermit Posted November 21, 2020 Share Posted November 21, 2020 https://www.alibaba.com/trade/search?fsb=y&IndexArea=product_en&CatId=&SearchText=vividstorm+s+pro+120&viewtype=&tab= Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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