Impact Screen Comparisons

[Ironstrokes]

I know there are already a few out there but figured I'd start a new thread here about impact screen comparison as I just made a little youtube video showing the difference in the impact sound between the HQ2 and Carl's Premium (old version as they are coming out with a new version soon). This was inspired when goatbarn asked the comparison between the noise level given off between these two screens and I honestly could not remember or didnt realize the difference.........but after making this video I shocked myself with how much quieter the Carls screen is!

Ive had 3 screens so far, the raw HQ2, the supertex and now the carl's premium screen. Its more expensive for sure, but feel like the carl's type of screen may be THE one to go with. Only used it for 2 or 3 months now but love the thickness of it. The thickness takes away most, if not all of the little puddling you may get in the sides of the screen after you hit a bunch of times. Its basically too thick to lay much of anywhere but straight down and smooth. Looking forward to seeing the longevity of it as well. Feels like it will last a very long time though. Will update down the line if that changes.

I would have put the supertex in this video as well but didnt realize all of the videos I had with it my mic volume somehow got jacked up to max, so that ruined all comparison between it. If someone else has any different thought/comparisons on the loudest/quality etc. screen out there and want to post it up here to compare, great, Im sure most of us would love to see/hear/read it.

Maybe some videos too of each type of screen and the person hitting a driver and 7 iron into them as I did in this video would be great to post here as well and really consolidate how it sounds and looks hitting into these different screens. Having videos like this would have been huge for me when I was looking up screens and im sure this will help many other down the line as well.


PS: I used the same driver, 7 iron and prov1x balls in each clip here

[Taylor40299]

Hello Ironstrokes, I have been curious as to why sound matters, but realized how loud this would be in a house late at night. I am lucking that my sim is in a dedicated finished outbuilding. Sound is not an issue. My goal is to have a home theater room for the daughters sleep overs and movie night, a cool video game environment for son and me, and most importantly a golf sim room. I have Ideas for two screens one wall for movies and games, painted, and an impact in front of it. Wondering, is Carl's screen significantly better visually than Supertex. And do you know if the new version is visually the same or better. Strictly about image quality and durability. Sound is unimportant. I have a supertex and it's ok visually but not good enough for movies. Sounds like you have experience with several, any help would be great.

[goatbarn]

Sounds like for your setup you may benefit from using a projector screen "paint" on the wall for movies/games, and have a pull away, fold away, roll-up (motorized?) setup for when you play golf.

Your picture quality would be the best for movies, and your screen for golf can be protected, up and out of the way, when the kids are around/playing.

That'd be what I'd do.

[goatbarn]

Actually, considering the movie screen could just be paint, you could have 2 projectors (or a quick connect/mount setup with 1 for both locations) for each activity, facing different walls. Your movies play off to the side, and your golf sim screen stays in place on another wall. 2 projectors could be expensive, but a quick switching setup with 1 projector could be nice. Hell, maybe if you planned precisely you could use 1 projector with a mount that's able to swivel 90* when needing to watch movies on the painted wall.

[Joko]

Just to add, I used a product called "screen goo" to paint my screen for movies, etc in my basement. Works very well.

[andygg1986]

Another thing to consider is that a lot of people set up their simulator to run 4x3 aspect ratio but movies are 16x9 or wider. High end projectors let you program multiple zoom and aspect ratio settings, but if you position the projector far enough away to have the picture go to the floor, you will probably not be able to zoom out enough to get the bottom of the picture up off the ground too much. Maybe that doesn't matter to you but it is something to keep in mind. Also, since most projectors are 16x9 native, to run at 4x3 the sides are cut off. If you want to go back to 16x9 you will probably need your movie screen to be wider than your impact screen. When you blow up a 1080p video that large, your projector pixel size starts to be the limiting factor in image quality rather than the screen, so I wouldn't worry too much about getting a pristine surface to project onto. On an impact screen like the Supertex, the screen material blurs the image enough that you won't see the pixels. I'm not sure about other impact screens but I have ordered the new version of Carl's from dbgolf. My guess is that either of those would work fine to watch movies on as well. Maybe you could do some sort of adjustable tensioning instead of switching screens (tight for movies and looser for golf)?

For my media room, I have a high end 1080p and I use that with a nice 120" screen. It looks great but the height of the screen is only 5 feet tall. Most people have their impact screens 8-10 feet tall, so each pixel becomes 1.6x to 2x as large. You will see individual pixels if you are sitting 10 feet away from that if you have a high quality movie screen or screen goo. There are online calculators that tell you what distance pixels become visible based on resolution and screen size.

[Taylor40299]

Thanks for the input. My plan is/was to have a painted wall and a 16 x9 impact in front. Just here people talking about better image quality and wondered how good it is on better impact screens, or at least more expensive ones. I will through this out as well to see how you guys think it will work. I thinking two rods in the impact screen. One that runs across the top on pulleys to raise it, and one across the bottom weighted to make hang straight, but not really attached, so that the screen can catch the ball but the weight would keep it flat. Probably would need some bungies to keep from swinging, or at least to help it settle down quickly. Then I could just lower it to see painted sceen behind. This was my original ideal when I got the supertex screen.

[CBearsSB]

PR-100 with archery net behind. No significant ball striking noise and no bounce back. Excellent image.

[Ironstrokes]

Hello Ironstrokes, I have been curious as to why sound matters, but realized how loud this would be in a house late at night. I am lucking that my sim is in a dedicated finished outbuilding. Sound is not an issue. My goal is to have a home theater room for the daughters sleep overs and movie night, a cool video game environment for son and me, and most importantly a golf sim room. I have Ideas for two screens one wall for movies and games, painted, and an impact in front of it. Wondering, is Carl's screen significantly better visually than Supertex. And do you know if the new version is visually the same or better. Strictly about image quality and durability. Sound is unimportant. I have a supertex and it's ok visually but not good enough for movies. Sounds like you have experience with several, any help would be great.

After reading some of the responses, didn't realize painting the wall was the best option but sounds like it is. Im gonna have to take a look at some of that screen goo myself for my basement.

But to answer the question anyway. Luckily im in a detached garage where I play so noise isn't an issue to me either. I mainly made this video because there was some discussion on it in another thread and someone asked my experience with the sounds of the screens and that got me curious myself to see if it was really that different.

I went with the Carl's premium because of the thickness and quality it seemed to have after my old man found a great deal on one. I busted through the two different previous screens I had, one in a year and the other in 6 months, so needed something more durable. The picture quality I would say is somewhat comparable. Carl's is probably a little better because of the thickness and not letting as much light pass through it, but its not crazy noticeable as far as I remember. It seems the most important thing is just minimizing the light around the screen and the type of projector. With the lights out they both were very solid for me at least to watch movies on with my optoma 1080st, but haven't really used it that much for that, so haven't had the need for it to be super perfect yet.

One thing I would say is a huge advantage of the carl's screen to anyone that may want to use it for golf and theater is the thickness of it makes it super easy to get a flat image with no puddling or ripples in it after hitting into it a bunch. The extra weight/thickness on it just makes it not want to fold or bend as much.

Sadly dont have any experience with the new material yet, only the old. Based on the pictures ive seen the new one seems to be a little thinner, but apparently more durable. But not sure.

[CBDBOZ]

Can't see the videos... is there a URL / YouTube link?

[p3eps]

The one thing this has opened my eyes to is the fact that I'm glad I bought a GC2 over a Skytrack. Just watching the delay in the videos annoyed me over the 6 shots!!

[aeroburner]

agree on the gc2 but from what i saw on the screen on irons you tube is the screen is puddling all over the place and after he hits it, it looks like a sheet out on a clothes line, personally that would drive me nuts

[Ironstrokes]

The one thing this has opened my eyes to is the fact that I'm glad I bought a GC2 over a Skytrack. Just watching the delay in the videos annoyed me over the 6 shots!!

Haha same at this point. Having the gc2 now myself ive already now gotten used to the less delay and it's normal to me now. It never brothered me much at the time but when I went back and tried the skytrak to compare numbers recently it is a bit of a shock to the system the first time you see the delay again

[Ironstrokes]

agree on the gc2 but from what i saw on the screen on irons you tube is the screen is puddling all over the place and after he hits it, it looks like a sheet out on a clothes line, personally that would drive me nuts

Yea I had it tighter in the past but after the bounce back and then blowing the holes in my hq2 and supertex so quickly I had to back it off a bit on the tension. And that is even with a net fairly tight behind it too. Played with the tensions on both the screen and the net and just never found that perfect sweet spot. Always mess with it like once every month or two and then back off when I get bored.

I don't have anything tensioning the bottom of the screen across it either, so I'm sure that's part of the culprit too. Hasn't bothered me too much yet, once it does then it'll drive me nuts until I make it perfect

[aeroburner]

now that i pointed it out your going to notice haha. I dont hit as hard as you so i dont blow through mine as you have

[Ironstrokes]

now that i pointed it out your going to notice haha. I dont hit as hard as you so i dont blow through mine as you have

Son of a bitch, I did notice it today! haha. It didnt kill just me yet, but i cant see the process has begun

[Solstice72]

Thanks for the input. My plan is/was to have a painted wall and a 16 x9 impact in front. Just here people talking about better image quality and wondered how good it is on better impact screens, or at least more expensive ones. I will through this out as well to see how you guys think it will work. I thinking two rods in the impact screen. One that runs across the top on pulleys to raise it, and one across the bottom weighted to make hang straight, but not really attached, so that the screen can catch the ball but the weight would keep it flat. Probably would need some bungies to keep from swinging, or at least to help it settle down quickly. Then I could just lower it to see painted sceen behind. This was my original ideal when I got the supertex screen.

Taylor, very interested in what you did for movie screen and impact screen. Looking for the best for impact screen.

Thanks

[Taylor40299]

I did something close to what I described. I am using the supertex screen. The bottom has a conduit covered in pvc as weight, hovering about 1/4 off floor. I had to put in two fixed end poles (2x4) to attach bungee cords. And same conduit attach to ceiling very securely, no play at ceiling. Without bungee there was always significant wrinkles. In total darkness I find the screen to be quite adequate for movies played through blue ray. The surround sound added more value than the better screen. At first I got caught up in try to make it perfect but to be honest the room is our play room. Often has 6 girl slumber parties playing Mario cart and streaming scary movies with popcorn. I couldn’t justify cost to equal the 4K tv inside. I think the supertex screen is a great value if you have light control. I can make my room dark at noon. Hope this helps. I really have not seen that I might blow through it. Have had it a year. Play 2 to 3 rounds a week. Have friends over. My ball speed is over 160 and am 9 to 10 feet from screen.