HDVio Installation and Viewing Tests

The actual installation of this projector was so easy it's hard to come up with enough words to put it into an actual paragraph. Two people are recommended as you can then easily mark the correct position of the electric screen system on the wall. Here are my recommended supplies for a stud installation:

• Four wood screws of sufficient depth (not included)
• Four steel washers (not included)
• Philips screw driver
• Level
• Cordless drill with drill bit and Philips bit
• Drywall anchors
• Optional (if you can't hit at least one stud): set of 4 toggle bolts

We were able to hit studs on 3 out of four screws. The reason is that we had an ample-sized header in our room that caught both top holes of the wall anchor. Locating the one side to a vertical stud allowed us to catch one more. Given the weight of the electric screen this was extremely secure and we felt that using a drywall anchor for the fourth hole was a reasonable move.

To begin installation, first decide on the location. Since the unit requires power, you'll need to decide if you want to hire an electrician to permanently wire up the electric screen, or run a power box high on the wall so you can simply plug the unit in without running a cord down your wall. In our installation, which took place in a local church's Sunday School room, we opted to have the electrician follow code but allow us to wire the power into the ceiling, eliminating all visible wiring from the room.

Once you locate the position for the screen, take care to locate your studs (the system comes with anchors for cinderblock, but we'll assume stud/wall installation as that is more common with our readers). Once you've found the studs, see if you can mount at least one side of the screen so that the bracket will hit the stud wall. If you mount it high enough, as we did, you may actually catch the header 2x4 and guarantee at least 2 solid anchor points, regardless of where you locate the screen horizontally.

Once you find your position, attached the included brackets to the screen and use an assistant to help lift the screen onto the wall so you can mark the location of the brackets and mounting holes with a pencil. Once this is done on both sides you can lower the screen and remove the brackets. Go ahead and mount the brackets to the wall at this point, taking care that you either contact studs or use sufficient drywall anchors where studs aren't found. We don't recommend installing with simply four drywall anchors. Rather, use toggle bolts on both sides to ensure you have the system "secured" onto the drywall in a manner that isn't likely to pull out over time. If you catch at least 2 studs (either on one side or one on each) then using drywall anchors in the remaining positions should be fine.

Once the brackets are installed, you can lift the screen into place and screw the four machined screws into the screen on each side to secure it to the bracket. At this point you simply have to plug the screen in and test it out. Please note that the screen should be positioned such that the Focupix logo is straight in front and the screen material doesn't rub at all when it descends. If it rubs, then you may have installed the screen at a 90-degree tilt. Simply remove the machine screws holding the screen to the brackets and readjust. Since the screen system is a tube and there are no real differentiating marks to align it (save the logo) it's easy to mount it at an incorrect tilt angle without realizing it.

Screen Material & Viewing Tests

The screen material we used was the High Contrast Grey. It has a gain of 0.9 and actually does a great job in a classroom setting where you have ample projection power, but want to pull out better black level performance without having to plunge the room into darkness. I always prefer to opt for a more powerful projector and play with the screen material, rather than have to rely on a high gain screen to get my light levels up where I need them. The resulting image is much better and definitely more pleasing to the eyes.

When we viewed material on the screen we used a combination of laptop PC screens and some movie footage. Both looked excellent, though the system was absolutely intended (and best at) producing high contrast picture with presentation material. The projector was a Panasonic PT-F200U which is a great hybrid model that can put out a ton of light while still maintaining a decent contrast ratio. Here are some screenshots of the movies to show off the black level and detail:

Transformers

The Bourne Ultimatum