Portable Screens

Tripod screens have been around for a long time. We all saw them in school and church and they are still very popular. My company rents them and sells them. For a long time that’s all there was for truly portable projection screens. Then in the 1990’s, a new screen came along marketed by Da-Lite Screen Company as the Insta-Theater.

The Insta-Theater was introduced around the time Home theater became widespread. Go figure! The Da-Lite Insta-Theater was ideal for home videos, video games and DVD feature movies. It was modeled after Da-Lite’s professional floor Model C that you may see in churches, hotel ballrooms, etc.

The screen case sits on the floor and the surface pulls up until the scissor arms behind the surface are fully extended. At that point the screen is ready to use. All the kids and adults can sit on the floor and couch to watch the video.

The screen has a great appearance with black borders, a black case and black surface from the bottom of the white surface to the floor. It’s light weight and collapses and stores easily and an optional canvas storage/transport case is offered.

Tripod screens have their own advantages and disadvantages. First, the big advantage I see is that the bottom of the screen can be raised higher so that your most distant viewers can more easily see the whole image, bottom included. They are heavier duty. They come with a metal case, aluminum legs and steel handle. The telescoping column/post that supports the fabric can be adjusted to raise or lower the bottom and top of the viewing surface. Therefore if you need to rent or purchase a screen that works in a variety of venues or rooms, this is your best choice.

For good looks and portability, the Insta-Theater is a great choice. For Functionality, portability and heavy-duty construction the Da-Lite
Picture King is a great choice. Many companies offer different types of tripod screens. The DaLite Picture King tripod screen is a mainstay in the A-V rental business. Da-Lite even started offering them with a carpeted finish several years ago. This protects the case and keeps them looking great without having to put them in a zipper bag or carry case. The Picture King tripod screen is versital. It works in small rooms but can pinch hit in an auditorium, gymnasium or church sanctuary. When people rent screens at Francis Audio-Visual they can choose from sizes from 5 feet wide to 8 feet wide that is the largest anyone offers.

There is another category of screens that we haven’t covered called fixed frame portable screens. The more popular name is fast-fold screens. We’ll cover those the next edition.