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
. S
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
v
WWW
.
ELITESCREENS
.
COM
inches of black above the screen surface.
The great news – if you need to stop it with less black showing, (effectively having your screen surface higher up the
wall), you can accomplish this two ways:
v
Simply hit the stop button
v
You can Pre-Set the screen to stop at the determined point (this is done by lowering the screen to where you
want it and setting the vertical stop position, inside the housing. Once you have done that, the screen will
automatically come to a stop at that same spot.
The remote works very nicely – (why not, there’s not much to it).
The Warranty is 2 years parts and labor, which is typical for the screen industry.
The Screen Surface and Performance
The screen surface is your basic matte white. That’s right, it’s not gray, it’s not “high contrast”, just your basic normal
material. (Few manufacturers have managed to package a “high contrast” surface in a motorized package – and
when they do, it tends to be expensive.)
I have used the Elite screen recently with my BenQ 8700 HT projector, as well as Panasonic’s L500U HT projector.
For standard computer presentation type work, I also hit the screen with an Epson 735c and Panasonic LB10NTU.
(Both recently reviewed).
The white surface does the job nicely. I cannot detect any shift in colors that would indicate that the surface
is not neutral white.
(a minor issue for business use, but a major one for Home Theater).
Given, the screen I am using is only 81” diagonal, the surface is extremely flat when deployed – no sign of any need
for tension to keep it flat. (Generally screens over 110” will require tensioning if you want them completely flat as to
avoid any minor distortions.)
As a result of my using this screen, I have decided to make this Elite 81” 16:9 screen a permanent part of my
home office, and plan to use it to test less powerful HT projectors, and portable business projectors. (I
managed to negotiate a very good deal with Elite.)
And now all that is left is to have my electrician come in and
run the electrical, so I don’t have the power cord hanging down, and plugged into the usual wall outlet, as it is doing
as of this writing.
The bottom line, then, is that the Elite Home Series will work beautifully for either home or business, unless
you feel a compelling need for a gray surface, or a high contrast surface.
When viewing 2000:1 contrast ratio
HT projectors, I didn’t feel the need for either gray or hi-contrast. I found the screen worked well with the Pansonic
L500U HT projector (LCD), which might better like a gray surface screen, if you can survive the lower brightness that
gray screens provide.
From a pricing standpoint, though, the Elite will save you big bucks you can put toward a more expensive
projector, better cables, or other items to enhance your viewing experience.
I expect we will see other companies entering this market to compete with Elite in the future (Vutec showed a low cost
line at CES in January, but last I heard, still not pricing or shipping dates – also, at the time they were talking 4:3 only,
not 16:9). Fair warning to Da-Lite and other “big names” – if they want to compete for the low and middle of the
home theater market, they better take a new look at their lineup and pricing.
Chalk up the Elite Home Series screens as an excellent value, a well thought out solution, and an attractive,
motorized alternative that costs less than most companies’ fixed wall screens, and definitely well below the
competition’s motorized offerings.
Well done.
