A projection screen's lower black border matters. Here's why.
It seems like such a small detail; the black border below the projection screen area. So why should you care?
Well, it can have a big impact on your movies or games.
Because this is what the black border around the screen should do: surround the image, so it has more punch. Here’s how that works: A black border makes the projection look brighter, because the image is surrounded by black. This results in an improved perceived image brightness.
Now some manufacturers use a metal black bar to create this border in the bottom section of the fabric. That’s because it’s more work and thus more expensive for them to create the same border as on the sides of the screen.
The result: they’re selling you short and here’s why:
- It’s very hard to perfectly match the projected imaged to the white projection area. So, often you’ll end up with a little bit of the projected image on the black borders. That’s usually not a problem, because the black borders reflect very little. But, when there’s light on a black metal bar, there’s a lot more light that’s reflected back. This makes the black frame less effective.
- The metal bars used are quite narrow (2.5 cm / 1 inch wide). This reduces the impact of having a black border, as it doesn’t frame the projected image as well as a wide black border. This gives your images less punch as a projection screen with wide black borders.
- The side black borders are 2 inches / 5 cm wide. When a metal bar is used, as metioned above, it’s only an inch / 2.5 cm wide. This creates a projection screen that looks unbalanced.
So that’s why on all the Beamax screens you’ll see a true black border surrounding your screen. Made from real fabric that’s not reflective.
