So clearly, one of the reasons to go with a front projector is to get giant screen sizes. But what if you want/need a smaller screen size?

I have a friend who's renovating his basement, and has a nice area for a home theater, but not the most giant one. Basically, there's enough space for a screen to span about five studs, which gives me roughly 80" of wall to use.

The problem I'm finding is that nobody makes a fixed screen that size. Does anyone know of a place to buy one? I'd like a screen that can let audio through, so a center speaker can be placed behind it.

Also, does anyone have a recommendation for a decent (and bright) projector? My friend has a sliding door that unfortunately casts a decent amount of light on the area. He still wants to go front projection, though.

Ugh. I hate when this happens. I just found another batch of screens on Amazon with dimensions that work just fine for my friend. I'm going to be suggesting this one in the 84" (diag.) size.

I'd still appreciate any suggestions for a front projector that can come close to battling light in a room...

Lots of light? Might want to consider a gray screen rather than white.

There are also some interesting screens available that have selective light reflecting properties, both directionally and across the spectrum.

Projectors emit light in specific wavelengths, so a screen that absorbs other ambient wavelengths can appear darker with better contrast (in terms of black level movie scenes).

Projector height and lumen output are also factors, of course.

Curtains? Blinds?

tanstaafl.

Haha! Yeah, that's definitely something I'll recommend. I think that's only part of it. I gather that the lights will be on fairly often in this room, because there's a kid's play area right behind the couch, and his #1 thing to view on this screen is going to be football games, so if he has people over to watch he's going to want to have the lights on so they can see the food and stuff like that.

K447: I'm not familiar with gray screens. Do you have any more info on them? Can I order them or do they have to be built?