JVC DLA-RS20 Projector Screen Recommendations

Great projectors tend to look great on any good screen. The trick with the RS20 is to match the screen to your room, and your viewing requirements.

For example, the RS20 does the best black levels around, so you really don’t need to consider a high contrast gray screen, like the Firehawk G3 I use in my main theater, unless it is to deal with some (side) ambient light. For those with a fully light controlled room, for example, the StudioTek 130 G3, or other moderate gain white surfaces should be an excellent match. I had no issues with the black levels when switching to my Carada Brilliant White 106″ screen (gain 1.4), in terms of black levels, beyond closing down the iris to reduce overall brightness for movie watching (due to the smaller screen size).

Thanks to the RS20’s brightness in THX, and calibrated Cinema 2, the RS20 has plenty of horsepower to handle the full 128″ diagonal size of my Firehawk G3, in fact it still had enough lumens to spare that I reduced the iris from its maximum setting of 0, to -5, and still had enough brightness.

For those of us who also like to watch sports, or typical TV/HDTV programming in an environment with some intentional ambient light, the THX and Dynamic modes are just a tad brighter, so there’s not a lot of spare lumens to deal with ambient light. In a room like mine, while I don’t need the Firehawk surface for great movie watching (room fully darkened), the screen’s handling of side ambient light really comes in handy for dealing with the intentional ambient light I like for sports viewing, much of which comes from the sides. For that, the Firehawk does a great job.

Bottom line, get a good screen that meets your lighting requirements. Preferably is should be a very fine surface, designed for 1080p projectors. For those wanting really large screens, higher gain screens may do the trick but remember, they have a narrow viewing cone (where you sit) and tend to roll off brightness in the corners.