Many thanks to all of our customers who completed our recent service survey. It was great to receive your feedback and find out that 89% of you would rate the service you get from Audio Visual Material as Very Good or Excellent.

There were a couple of areas that we need to address. Half our respondents could not remember seeing an account manager. Now we know some resellers are happy to liaise by phone or email. However, if you feel you would like a regular visit and are not getting one, please contact us and we will arrange it.

The other area was credit issues where 20% of you felt you were not kept informed of problem. We are reviewing our internal systems to resolve this, but should you encounter such an issue, please let us know so that we can sort the problem immediately for you.

We are also delighted to announce that the lucky prize draw winners were James Hickman of Claremont Group Interiors and Andy Hadleigh from Hadleigh Technical Support. Many congratulations, you both win a 3M MP180 pocket projector, which will be with you shortly.

Projectors can be used to project an image from either the front or rear of the screen. Front projection screens are the most common, and the easiest to setup however certain situations require rear projection:

• When in a listed building that prohibits mounting a projector to the ceiling
• When the ceiling is too high on which to mount a projector
• Where it is not appropriate (or possible) to project an image over the heads of the audience

When using the rear projection method, it is advisable to get a short throw projector that can project a large image at a short distance. It is generally more difficult to set up rear projection as it is prone to hot spotting.

If you are considering rear projection, contact Terry Lin on 01276 418030 and discuss your requirements.  He will be able to advise you how best to proceed.

Gain is a measure of reflectivity of light coming off a screen when the measurement is of light targeted and reflected perpendicular to the screen and the screen is coated with magnesium carbonate or titanium dioxide, which is a bright white colour .

But greater gains can be accomplished with materials that reflect more of the light parallel to projection axis and less off-axis. A gain of 1.5 means that the screen reflects 50% more light than the screen standard. You can therefore use “high gain” screens to save money on the projector (use the additional gain on the screen to compensate the lost on the brightness of a projector) or increase the brightness of an existing projector image.

Where there is a limitation on the projector selection, the screen can be used as a method to produce extra brightness (gain).  The screen will be made with additional coating to reflect as much light as possible to produce a bright image in a specific type of environment. The shortfall for this type of screen is it will narrow the viewing angle.Viewing angle is a measure of the distance from the centre of the screen at which you can still see the same quality image as from the viewing axis. Some projection screens are made with material which reflect more light perpendicular to the screen and less light to the sides, making the image appear darker if the viewer is not in the centre of the screen.

Higher contrast from the screen will be regarded as an important factor where the main aspect of the screen is to show films and pictures.  The high contrast screen (normally grey) will give you the additional contrast to enhance display of these type of images.

For independent help and advice on selecting the best screen for you needs contact Terry Lin on 01276 418030.