Technical Screen Fabric: The Difference Between a Matte White Fabric and a Technical Screen Fabric

The term "technical screen fabric" is familiar to the most demanding Home Cinema enthusiasts. Yet, outside that discerning circle — often difficult to break into — the advantages of this type of fabric remain unknown or unclear. On the occasion of the launch of our Infinity technical screen fabric, we have put together a series of articles to help you understand how a technical screen fabric works, its many advantages, and its limitations. As always, no unnecessary jargon — just the clearest explanations possible.

Here are 3 articles to help you understand what a technical screen fabric is and when it will be useful to you. To start at the beginning, let's clarify the difference between a matte white fabric and a technical screen fabric.

What is the difference between a matte white fabric and a technical screen fabric?

What we expect from a projection screen fabric is that it reflects the projector's light as uniformly as possible. This is precisely what a matte white fabric does, with its diffuse reflection. Specular reflection, by contrast, directs light in a specific direction (road signs are a good example). However, the very uniform light diffusion of a Matte White fabric becomes a limitation when projecting in a living room — which is often white (walls and ceiling) and full of reflective surfaces (glass doors or windows, decorative items).

When projection takes place in a room full of reflective surfaces that bounce ambient light — and even light from the screen itself — back onto the fabric, a diffuse-reflection fabric doesn't only reflect the light actively projected onto it; it also picks up all the surrounding stray reflections.
The result: the brighter the environment, the duller the projected image appears. This is where the technical screen fabric comes in — specular reflective elements are incorporated into its composition. The distinctive grey tint of an ALR technical screen fabric comes in large part from these silver particles.
Now that we've covered the basics, let's take a closer look at how a technical screen fabric works.