SI Residential Projection Screen Line Review

“The image was flawless, with tight colors, deep black levels and crisp, noiseless white details.”

Screen Innovations HQ Tour Reveals Projection Screen Product Line Depth
Review by Todd Anthony Puma for Residential Systems Magazine, December 2012.

I was recently given the opportunity to take a trip down to Austin, Texas to visit the Screen Innovations facility and see all the new projection screens they have developed. Originally, the purpose of the trip was to write a review on the Black Diamond Zero Edge and Black Diamond Motorized screens only, but once I got there, I found that there was so much more to Screen Innovations than meets the eye that I felt compelled to share their entire story.

Ryan Gustafson, SI’s president and chief innovator, actually began building screens in his garage in the late hours of the night after working all day as a retail sales associate at Austin’s own A&B TV in 2004. This inspiration came after he purchased his first LCD projector, the Sony VPLVW10HT. In his efforts to maximize its abilities, he began building screens and testing them with the projector in order to achieve top quality results. His screen designs became so advanced that A&B actually picked up Ryan’s screens to sell in their store. Within a short time, Ryan branched out and opened a facility of his own facility in Austin, Texas, where he was able to expand and grow his business by roughly 40 percent every year since.

Factory Tour
As the grandson of an inventor, Gustafson is a naturally inventive person. He not only fashioned many of the projection screens himself, but he is also the brains behind much of the equipment that is used in manufacturing Screen Innovations products, many of which I’m told are unique to SI.

For instance, Gustafson and his team claim to be one of the few in the industry that design their own extrusions. In fact, they have developed the only 3.5-inch aluminum tube extrusion that has less than 1/16 inches of deflection over 16 feet, as well as the only 4-inch aluminum tube extrusion that has less than 1/16 inches of deflection over 22 feet. These capabilities not only allow for more versatility in the size of a screen, but also result in less weight and bulk, which lowers freight costs…

Full Review
The full review includes Black Diamond Zero Edge and Black Diamond Motorized projection screens, as well as Solar, Lunar and Gamma Maestro screen materials.
Read the full review