It’s easy for Robert Keeler, vice president of sales at Stewart Filmscreen, to be excited these days. That’s because the company has a slew of new technologies hitting the market aimed at helping integrators sell more two-piece projection setups.
First is Stewart’s Gemini technology. As Keeler explains, the two primary uses of a media room are to watch movies and to watch sporting events, but both of those activities require two drastically different room lighting conditions. When watching movies, there is usually full control over the lighting conditions, with lights dimmed to create the ideal viewing conditions. But for watching sports, the room lighting is generally not dimmed. No one wants to fumble around in the dark with chips and dip spilling everywhere. That is where Gemini comes in.
“Gemini offers two different screens in one chassis to give you the correct experience in both applications,” says Keeler.
The screens, which are made from a reference-grade material that Stewart is known for, will offer consumers the high fidelity that a movie director intended and a quality viewing experience for watching TV in which the image is not washed out.
Meanwhile, Stewart also has its new Balon product, which is an updated version of Stewart’s wrap-around screen. Instead of having the material wrap fully around the edge of the screen, Balon, which is available up to 16-feet wide, has a highly aesthetic beveled edge on it. Stewart offers it in a variety of mounting options from flat against the wall to slightly off the wall.
Meanwhile, to help integrators in retrofit environments, Stewart has its new Cascade tube technology which allows integrators to conceal a very large screen in a small ceiling depth. According to Keeler, Cascade is particularly well suited for older homes that have smaller second-story floor joists.
Last but not least, Stewart is riding a wave to buzz about its new Phantom HALR screen technology.
“Phantom is literally going to be an industry-leading high-ambient light-rejecting screen,” says Keeler ebulliently. The screen, which is constructed one layer at a time at the Stewart factory, gives 82 percent light rejection. It can accommodate screen sizes up to 40-feet tall x 90-feet wide. Other key attributes are that it is flexible so it can be motorized on a tube and it can be perforated for acoustical transparency.
“But my favorite part of Phantom is that there are no color aberrations. Typically, with HALR technology there will be a color shift to a shade of blue. Ours does not,” states Keeler.
