How to Select Your Projection Screen
What is the correct screen size for you?
Selecting a screen size is the first question you should ask yourself when buying a projection screen. Fortunately, it has two easy answers. The unscientific answer is to go with what you feel is best. To do this, simply project onto the wall till the image is big enough for the feeling of immersion but not so big that you feel like you are sitting in the front row of a theater. The second option is that the Society for Motion Picture & Television Engineers (SMPTE) as well as the Consumer Technology Association (CTA) have come up with easy guidelines to follow.
| Diagonal Size of a 16:9 Projection Screen | Distance Viewer is Sitting from the Screen |
| 84" | 9 Feet |
| 92" | 10 Feet |
| 100" | 11 Feet |
| 110" | 12 Feet |
| 120" | 13 Feet |
| 135" | 15 Feet |
| 150" | 17 Feet |
| 200" | 22 Feet |
Before choosing the size of your projection screen, make sure that your projector has sufficient luminance and throw distance for the screen size you need.
Luminance is your projector’s brightness and throw distance measures the space between your projector’s lens and the screen itself. As long as your projector has sufficient brightness, choosing the right screen size is easy.
Luminance is your projector’s brightness and throw distance measures the space between your projector’s lens and the screen itself. As long as your projector has sufficient brightness, choosing the right screen size is easy.
Society for Motion Picture & Television Engineers (SMPTE) recommends that the minimum viewing angle (from your eyes to the edge of the screen) is 30°. This is the rule for movie theaters and it has been adopted for home theater to achieve an adequate degree of immersion. Based on SMPTE standards, here is an easy guideline to follow:
Another solution comes from the Consumer Technology Association (CTA). It recommends that the proper seating distance between the viewer and the projection screen will be 3-times the screen’s measured height.
