Ames, Iowa – May 30, 2018 – Seymour-Screen Excellence has brought to market the CEDIA channel’s first-ever tunable white bias lighting kit. The offering is unique in that it can be adjusted from 3,000K to 20,000K to achieve a true 6,500K Kelvin color temperature.
Properly-calibrated back-lighting (also known as hue) behind and around the film screen serves to improve contrast and reduce eye strain. This is especially useful when combining a high-brightness projector with an ambient light-rejecting (ALR) film screen in a darkened room setting.
“Lighting kits have become popular among film screen and HDTV users, however much of the ones available on the market actually contaminate the video experience because they simply project primary or secondary colors onto the wall. For video purists like us, this looks so ridiculous. We jokingly refer to them as ‘dancing UFO lights,’” quips Seymour-Screen Excellence Managing Director Chris Seymour.
“Understanding that the vast majority of homeowners aren’t painting their room walls a D65 color, we set out to design a solution that could compensate for their wall color and make high dynamic range (HDR) and high-brightness viewing less fatiguing. Now when the homeowner gets their projected image calibrated, their calibrator can find the bias light setting for a true 6,500K,” added Seymour.
How it Works
The kit is comprised of LED light strip assembly that gets taped around the rear of the fixed-frame film screen. Via the kit’s IR remote, the calibrator can bring the color temperature up or down to best suit the wall-color,” explained Seymour.
Ambient Light-Rejecting Film Screen Applications
Ambient light-rejecting (ALR) film screens are beneficial in rooms subject to daylight or other lighting that cannot be completely controlled – albeit a multi-purpose entertainment room or dedicated theater. Additionally, some homeowners are opting to use a high-brightness projector with an ALR screen to achieve an eye-popping large screen experience that exceeds the size of a flatscreen TV. While ALR screens have been popular over the years, they have been prone to problems that affect performance, namely issues such as color shifting, hot spotting, ringing, sparkling, etc.
The Ambient-Visionaire
In 2014, Seymour-Screen Excellence brought to market its first ALR screens. Called Ambient-Visionaire™, this proprietary ambient light filtration offers the reference-quality color uniformity that the brand is known for, yet without exhibiting any of the traditional performance issues. Its surface is comprised of billions of nano-mirrors, dithered at the desired viewing angle, and layered so that side light from any direction will be absorbed by carbon particles and the substrate. The reflective elements are less than 1/10 the smallest size visible by the human eye, therefore the screen cannot create a discrete sparkle. So small and dense, a 16K resolution pixel would have over 300 mirrors to itself; a 4K pixel nearly 5,000.
With this more efficient method of selectively reflecting the projected image versus ambient light, the Ambient-Visionaire has been heralded as best-in-class by many leading Reports.
The Ambient-Visionaire consists of the Silver Series (2.1 and 1.3 gain) and Black Series (1.2 gain) screens. The screens are available in sizes up to 130-inches wide (141-inches diagonal) in 2.37 aspect ratio and 100-inches wide (115-inches diagonal) in 16:9 aspect ratio.
Tunable White Bias LED Lighting Kit Contents
Comprised of LED light strips, a power supply and IR remote, the tunable white bias lighting kit represents the first back-lighting solution from Seymour-Screen Excellence. The kit used in conjunction with the Seymour-Screen Excellence Ambient-Visionaire makes for an unprecedented cinematic experience. With MSRP set at $490, the light kit is shipping now.
About Seymour-Screen Excellence
Founded in 2010 as a joint venture by US-based Seymour AV and UK-based Screen Excellence, SSE combines the leadership and innovation of their acoustically transparent projection screen materials for high-end custom installers and specialty AV retailers in North America. Using the latest in materials and design from Patrice Congard, originator of the modern acoustically transparent screen, the company’s state-of-the-art screens provide flawless picture quality and acoustic transparency, superior to traditional perforated screens or other less exacting woven screen materials. www.seymourscreenexcellence.com