For home theater settings, screens come in white or a shade of gray. Gray screens (sometimes called high contrast screens) increase the natural contrast of images projected in rooms with ambient light by absorbing the room light and preserving the darker blacks. If you have a dedicated home theater room with dark walls, ceiling, floor, and furniture, a gray screen may not provide better contrast than a white screen. However, if you usually project images in a typical living room or family room with some reflected light, a gray screen will provide better contrast and a truer viewing experience.
Screen surface quality can also affect the reflectivity of light in your projected image. Screen reflective properties are measured as “gain” rates, with 1.0 gain as the reflectivity of a white board. Highly reflective screen surfaces (above 1.0 gain) create a brighter image, but the brightness may not be uniform enough for a dedicated home theater environment and the colors may appear to shift from different viewing angles. In a home theater room with darkened surroundings and controlled lighting, a screen surface with less than 1.0 gain is best. For rooms where you cannot control the light or will always have ambient light, you may want to select a screen surface with more than 1.0 gain to compensate for the additional brightness.
32 Using MovieMate With Other Equipment