A Projection Screen Company
E x p e r t R e v i e w
Review: Elite Home Series Electronic Screen
15012 R
ED
H
ILL
A
VE
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UITE
D T
USTIN
, CA 92780
P: (714) 258-7158
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F: (714) 258-7157
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INFO
@
ELITESCREENS
.
COM
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WWW
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ELITESCREENS
.
COM
A couple of weeks ago, I was given an Elite, Home90IWH screen to evaluate. First, what is it? This screen is from
Elite’s “Home Series” although the screen should be every bit as viable in the conference room as in your home.
What makes this Elite screen “worthy”, is the combination of cost, modest size, and practicality, and physical
attractiveness, - not necessarily in that order. These screens are available in 16:9 for home theater, 4:3 for
most business applications, and even square format.
I’m going to focus on the 16:9 screens, which are available
in these diagonal 66”, 81”, 94”, 108”, 121”, 133”, and 160”. (Note, 4:3 screens
start at 72” diagonal and go up to 175”.)
Cost
Put simply, the Elite screens are priced significantly below better known
brands like Dalite and Draper and way below premium brands like Stewart.
To give you a rough idea. The 94” diagonal should be discounted to below
$600,
and the 108” only a few dollars more. By comparison, a Dalite would cost a
couple to a few hundred more, and a Stewart screen, probably well over twice the
price
A “Style’n Screen”
In my home, for evaluating projectors, I have a huge 140” diagonal 16:9 Dalite Cosmopolitan motorized screen. As
you can imagine, it is physically dominating, not just the screen size, but the housing too (over 9”x9” box to house the
motors and screen and it is unadorned (black painted wood).
By comparison, the Elite is an attractive, compact screen, even for its size. (as noted, the Home series screens go up
to 160” diagonal).
The physical appearance is a white metal box (enamel coated aluminum), less than 4” x 4” (talk about small, that’s
smaller than the housing of most pull-down screens, let alone electric ones. The “end caps on each end of the box
are black, creating a small (about 1.5” wide) contrast that gives the screen mount some style.
I mounted the screen in my home office, which has sort of a medium carmel color with white
trim and ceiling. It looks so good, the white of the housing complementing the trim and doors.
Power and Control
As I mentioned, the screens are motorized, so let’s start there. Two cables come off the
screen housing, on the right hand size (if you are facing the screen.) One is a standard 3
prong power cord, and the other a slim white cable that attaches to a wall mountable control switch. The switch has 3
buttons. Up, Down, and Stop. In addition, it has an infra-red sensor. This is notable, since the screen also comes
with a small, white and black IR remote control. The remote also allows Up, Down, and Stop.
Quicktip: The nice thing about having an Infra-red remote like the one provided, is that if you have a learning
remote for your HT system, you can program the screen controls in as well.)
This brings you to your first big decision – what to do with the wires. If your screen is standing alone on a wall, you
have these two wires to deal with. The screen control can be mounted right next to the screen box, since it doesn’t
need to be reachable (thanks to the remote), which solves the problem of its wiring.
{
Editor's note:
Elite advises me, that the customer can, if they prefer not to mount the wall switch, disconnect the
cable from the wall switch, at the screen casing end, and replace it with the infra-red sensor also provided. This will
allow the remote to work fine, and saves the trouble of dealing with a second cable to hide.}
The power is a different story. You either need to get that to an outlet (which means hanging down along side the
screen, or you will want to get an electrician to wire it to power, inside the wall (obviously the way to go). If power is
nearby, this should be relatively inexpensive. If your screen is going into or next to shelving, etc., you probably have
the ability to “hide” the power cable, and find it an outlet somewhere nearby.
The Mechanics
The screens are relatively lightweight, and exceptionally easy to mount.
The
two provided mounting pieces slide on to the housing, and can be placed
anywhere, so all you have to do is find the wall studs, and know that you can safely
mount the screen. Note:
The provided mounts also support ceiling mounting,
if that is your preference.
Once you have your screen mounted, and power provided, simply hit the down
button, and the screen comes down smoothly. The noise it creates is very
moderate, in both noise and pitch, and also sounds smooth. If you don’t hit the
stop button, it will come down until it is fully open, which leaves you with several
