brodricj Posted April 22, 2007 Share Posted April 22, 2007 I couldn't help myself but install my new Stewart GreyHawkRS screen today (the one I had recently mentioned for sale new in box). I chose this screen based on feedback from this forum. It replaced a white DIY fixed frame screen. It was of concern spending more money on the screen ($7k) than what the projector cost ($5K), but the projector will get upgraded from time to time whereas the screen should serve me many years to come. Actually the screen is the 4th most expensive piece of hardware in my HT, behind the Aragon 8008Mk2 main amp ($10k), cabling (about $10k), and the Parasound AV controller ($8k). The screen represents about 10% of what it has cost me to setup my HT to this point. Firstly, the screen came very well packed from the factory, virtually no risk of shipping damage it is packed so well. The installation was straightforward, but I still need to fine tune the alignment of the screen and the projector so that the image falls perfectly (at the moment, the top right pixels aligns perfectly with the top right corner of the screen, but the bottom right pixel is 4 pixels into the overscan area and about 3 pixels up. I'm projecting over a distance of 6m, so very small angular movements at the projector end result in large movements at the screen end. My biggest concern is if the screen falls off the ceiling, it's heavy! because I installed it I can't blame anyone else should the unfortunate happen. Anyway. Hit the down button to lower the screen the first time, nothing happened. Hit the up button and the screen went down. OK, a wiring problem somewhere, I can look into that later. In any event the screen control is going to wired into the CBUS system (still waiting on $600 worth of parts to do that). Fired up the projector, first impression of the image was...wow!! Observations: the image was not as bright as the DIY screen, but it certainly had a lot more "punch". There is also a lot less light reflecting onto the ceiling with this screen than the DIY. There is no light passing through the new screen at all, the DIY screen let quite an amount of light pass through (even though it was brighter). The new screen makes for a much sharper focus than before, I can now see the pixel structure from a distance that I couldn't see with the DIY screen (i.e. with focus set correctly, the old screen tended to blur adjacent pixels together, the GreyHawk makes each pixel razor sharp). The new screen is more susceptible to ambient light than the DIY, any ambient light (particularly hitting the screen horizontally) really washes out the image. The white field uniformity on the new screen is as perfect as my eye can discriminate, there is no "hot spotting" anywhere. The new screen does act like a sail at times, swinging in the breeze if there's any air current in the room (but this is not distracting, can only see the movement when up close). Tonight I was looking at an image better than film at my local Hoyts cinema, and the screen had everything to do with it. The GreyHawk really makes my projector sing like never before. This is just an initial assessment, to share with the forum. A more detailed report will follow after ISF calibration. For anyone sitting on the fence over buying a high-end screen, just do it!! p.s. as for WAF, it made no impression on her, other than complaining that the money spent on the screen was not spent on her. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
norpus Posted April 22, 2007 Share Posted April 22, 2007 This is just an initial assessment, to share with the forum. A more detailed report will follow after ISF calibration. For anyone sitting on the fence over buying a high-end screen, just do it!! p.s. as for WAF, it made no impression on her, other than complaining that the money spent on the screen was not spent on her. Thanks for sharing your first impressions beejay. I'd love to see it, altho difficult to do when we live across a continent from each other. I laughed when I saw that last wAF comment - gold. (Someone let slip at yesterdays gtg how much the Stewart cost within earshot of Mrs N. Her radar can be quite acute sometimes unfortunately. She now is well aware and I have little hope of sneaking it under tha radar now Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JoshH Posted April 22, 2007 Share Posted April 22, 2007 She now is well aware and I have little hope of sneaking it under tha radar now Doh.. I hate it when that happens! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
brodricj Posted April 23, 2007 Author Share Posted April 23, 2007 I laughed when I saw that last wAF comment - gold. I slept in the HT room last night...never underestimate the overwhelming pleasure of silence...if only the dealer would trade-in a noisy WAF on some new hardware! About buying under the WAF radar, an iScan VP30 can be upgraded to a 50 under the radar, and a BenQ PE8720 can be upgraded to a W10000, that's about all I can get away with. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
norpus Posted April 23, 2007 Share Posted April 23, 2007 I slept in the HT room last night...never underestimate the overwhelming pleasure of silence...if only the dealer would trade-in a noisy WAF on some new hardware!About buying under the WAF radar, an iScan VP30 can be upgraded to a 50 under the radar, and a BenQ PE8720 can be upgraded to a W10000, that's about all I can get away with. Hehe I hear you I couldn't fit the 2nd in my room but still working on the first. Now my Stewart upgrade is outed, the VP50 may have moved up the leaderboard Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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