Seymour-Screen Excellence Brings to Market Its First Acoustically Transparent Ambient Light-Rejecting Film Screen

The acoustically transparent Ambient-Visionaire Black 0.8MP Micro-Perf projection screen boasts a wide viewing angle and deep light absorption. Available in fixed-frame and motorized masking systems in viewable image widths up to 21 inches.

October 11, 2021

Made-in-the-USA film screen brand Seymour-Screen Excellence brings its expertise in acoustical transparency (AT) and ambient light-rejecting (ALR) film screens together for the first time with its Ambient-Visionaire Black 0.8MP. Available in various fixed-frame styles, the AT aspect allows for the center channel speaker (and room permitting, front mains) to be placed behind it for the utmost in dialogue and action realism, with its light-rejecting (ALR) aspect compensating for ambient conditions that otherwise compromise projected images. The screen surface is shipping now.

The Black 0.8MP is a micro-perforated version of the company’s Ambient-Visionaire Black 0.9 gain ultra- wide ALR screen material. Manufactured at Seymour-Screen Excellence’s facility in Ames, Iowa, the acoustical transparency is made by precisely punching ~120 holes / inch2 (each 0.02-inch in diameter) into the 0.9 surface.

While this spec is competitive with other brand’s similar offerings Seymour-Screen Excellence Managing Director Chris Seymour says “Seymour-Screen Excellence’s Black surfaces offer the most effective ambient light filtration available in an optical screen. With a deep background that absorbs 90% of ambient light from any direction, and an aggressive combination of carbon particles and stacked, dithered nano-mirrors, our screens deliver a 12x improvement in contrast ratios in environments that are otherwise unsuited to front projection use, even outdoors.”

The Black 0.8MP’s light absorption properties together with its wide 90-degrees viewing cone further contribute to an eye-popping ‘larger-than-possible-on-a-TV-screen experience.’ This is often desired for entertainment rooms incorporating billiards tables or bars, by video game enthusiasts or in dedicated theatres with long rows of seating, etc. At its widest the Black 0.8MP reaches 210-inches on the company’s Series-3 VistaCurve fixed-frame; 200-inches on Series -1 and -3 fixed-frames; 140-inches on Series-2 and 150-inches on its TRIM motorized masking system.

Overview of the Ambient-Visionaire Ambient Light-Rejecting Screen Surfaces

The Series consists of the Black (1.2, .09, 0.8MP gain) and Silver (2.1 and 1.3 gain) surfaces. Chris Seymour, who developed them all says, “The Ambient-Visionaire surfaces are comprised of billions of nano-mirrors, dithered at the desired viewing angle and layered so that side light from any direction will be absorbed by carbon particles and the substrate. The reflective elements are shrunk down to less than 1/10 th the smallest size visible by the human eye, therefore the screen cannot create a discrete sparkle. So small and dense, a 16K resolution pixel would have over 300 mirrors to itself; a 4K pixel would have nearly 5,000. With this more efficient method of selectively reflecting the projected image versus ambient light, the screen offers the reference quality color uniformity that Seymour-Screen Excellence is known for without exhibiting any color shift, sparkles or ringing – all issues that have plagued performance of ALR film screens.”

The Silver 1.3 was reviewed and declared best-in-class by W. Jeff Meier in his June 2014 AccuCal Projection Screen Material Report. Meier is considered by many in the industry to be a leading reference calibrator.  The AccuCal report can be read here: http://bit.ly/1lWPgec Reviews of the Black Series can be found here: http://www.seymourscreenexcellence.com/press.php

For more information on Seymour-Screen Excellence visit www.seymourscreenexcellence.com or call 515.450.5694.