Ambient Light Rejecting Material FAQ's

Q: How well does the CineGrey 5D® or CineGrey 3D® perform in a dark room environment?

  The CineGrey 5D® and CineGrey 3D® is great for dark room environment also, but we must understand its limitations. First of all, both materials have narrow viewing angles.  So if you wish to have a wide seating arrangement after 80 degrees, you will notice a drop in brightness. Second, because they are higher gain…

Q: I plan to purchase a CLR®/ CLR®2/ CLR® 3 material, but want to use a ceiling mounted UST projector. Can I flip and install the CLR/CLR2/CLR3 upside down to make this work?

Ceiling mounted UST projector will not work with CLR®/ CLR® 2/ CLR® 3 flipped upside down because the material is specifically oriented to reject “absorb” lighting from above.  In addition it is designed to properly accept tabletop mounted UST projector light and direct it to the viewer’s sweet spot. If the material is flipped upside…

Q: I have a new UST projector in my multi-purpose room with very good light control. Considering to buy a CLR® 2 or CineGrey 3D® screen. What is the difference?

Both CLR and CineGrey 3D/5D are Ceiling Ambient Light Rejection Screen fabrics, however the CLR fabric is especially designed for Ultra Short Throw (UST) Projectors to reject ambient light. The CineGrey 3D/5D are typically made for standard “long-throw” projectors and require the projected light (angle in) to reflect (angle out) at the same angle to…

Q: How about using any “ALR” (Cinegrey®3D/5D or Starbright CLR, etc.) by Elite with a ceiling-installed UST/ST projector?

Ceiling mounted UST projectors will not even work with a Starbright CLR® material because the material is specifically orientated to reject “ceiling light” or any type of lighting from above. This means that the screen will reject any overhead light, even from a compatible projector. Theoretically, you could invert the Starbright CLR® material to match…

Q: I want to purchase an ultra-short throw projector. Your website says that CineGrey 3D®/CineGrey 5D® are not compatible with ultra-short throw projectors but it does not say what it will look like. Can you explain what this combination will look like and why it will not work? How noticeable is the difference in quality?

The CineGrey 3D®/CineGrey 5D® are angular reflective front projection materials that reflect at the mirror-opposite angle.  If an ultra-short throw projector is used, the material will reflect the steep narrow light and reflect it upwards instead of to the viewer’s eye level.  As you can see from the picture, the image looks foggy and unwatchable…

Q: Isn’t the regular matte grey material the best for enhancing contrast? If not what material should I consider and why?

Matte grey was an earlier effort by projection screen manufacturers to enhance projector performance when projectors had limited performance ranges in need of a little help.  Matte grey materials added a darker shade to projected images that would enhance black levels to a degree.  The down side is that a projector with a high lumens…

I’d like to buy an Aeon CLR® 3 screen but my UST projector is 120 inches. I notice that your screens are oversized by a few inches such as 103” versus 100” or 123” vs 120”. In my case for example, I do not want an empty screen section, but the image to go all the way to the border of the screen. Can you advise?

Most ultra-short throw projectors despite claiming they can go up to a certain size, if they have a focus adjustment should be able to adjust the picture to 103” (if a 100” UST projector) or 123” (if a 120” UST projector) and fill in the entire screen area. In some cases, certain UST projectors that…

I have an Ambient Light Rejecting screen but it does not seem to work. There are windows behind my projector and the picture is washed out; what can be done?

 *Disclaimer:  As great as ambient light rejecting screen technologies are, there are still certain laws of physics that define what should and should not be done with a specialty material such as this. Main Answer:  Ambient Light Rejecting (ALR) projector screens are specially formatted to reject the majority of off-axis lighting from the top, bottom, and side…

I plan to purchase an ultra-short throw projector. What projection screen do you recommend for an ultra-short throw projector and why?

Elite Screens offers many options for ultra-short throw projectors. It is important that you select a projection screen surface that is pliable and can be stretched/tensioned to achieve a flat projection ripple-free image. We recommend a fixed frame or tab-tensioned screen with any of our CineWhite® (controlled room light required for best results) variant of…

What is the best projection screen option for a ultra/short-throw projector?

Ultra/Short-throw projectors require a flat projection surface since the projector’s light is closer to the material.  Non-tensioned screen materials may exhibit minor wave or curls which may be more pronounced if using an ultra/short-throw projector.   We recommend using a Fixed Frame Screen or a Tab-Tension screen with PVC such as our CineWhite® flexible material which…