Review: NothingProjector ALR Motorised Floor Rising Screen For Ultra Short Throw Projectors

Introduction

Screens don’t generally create contrast; they help shape it. So when NothingProjector’s Black Series 0.6‑gain ALR motorised floor‑rising projector screen for UST projectors arrived in 110″ for our review – courtesy of Nothing Projector – I ignored the brochure and did what I always do: test the living daylights out of it – this time literally. With an Epson LS650 in hand, I cooked up 3 lighting scenarios most owners actually use, and 1 bonus round, just to satisfy my own curiosity.

Short version? In a dark room (with or without the downlights on), it’s outstanding. In a fully lit room from all directions, it holds together better than most—watchable, if not wizardry. Read on for why I came to this conclusion.

Specifications

Pulled from the manufacturer’s page for the Black Series floor‑rising ALR UST screen; 110″ variant tested.

• Type: Motorised floor‑rising ALR/CLR screen for UST projectors
• Size tested: 110″ (family 84″–130″)
• Aspect ratio: 16:9
• Gain: 0.6
• Ambient/ceiling light rejection: up to 95% (vendor claim)
• Viewing angle: up to 170° (vendor claim)
• Material: PET‑Crystal (UST lenticular/saw‑tooth optical layer) on a Premium HBSI TPU Material backing
• Resolution: 3D / 4K / 8K compatible
• Backing: Opaque black backing
  Source: global.nothingprojector.com

Test setup

What UST ALR/CLR does (and why it works here)

UST‑optimised PET‑Crystal – like the Black Series NothingProjector screen reviewed here – uses a lenticular, saw‑tooth profile that preferentially reflects light arriving from a steep low angle (your UST) toward your eyes while absorbing/deflecting light arriving from above (downlights) and, to a lesser extent, from the sides.

That’s how you get perceived contrast gains in real rooms: not by changing the projector’s native contrast, but by reducing ambient luminance bouncing back off the screen into your eyes. For methodology context, see The Hook Up’s ALR testing approach and angular‑reflective primer thesmarthomehookup.com, and ProjectorCentral’s classic ALR shoot‑out on contrast, half‑gain angles, and black levels projectorcentral.com. Both excellent resources so I won’t go over the basics here.

Installation and build

• Weight and handling: The cassette is quite heavy, so it is recommended that two people handle it during installation. However, the extra mass has clear benefits, as it provides rigidity and ensures the screen remains flat both during the rise and retract cycle and when the image is projected.
• Flatness: In real use, the screen performs excellently with no visible waves. There is some edge curl that bends slightly toward the viewer, but this is intentional according to NothingProjector. The design choice does not cause any distractions and does not create issues with installation really. I did not notice it during normal viewing.
• Clearance and power: The cassette should be placed on a surface that is perfectly flat to guarantee smooth operation. It is also important to leave a few centimetres of space behind the unit so that the screen can rise without obstruction. Finally, plan a neat and accessible route for mains power to keep the setup tidy and reliable.
• Backing: The black backing is not optional theatre jewellery; it blocks light from behind the screen and preserves contrast when there’s any backlight in the space, and more importantly, it stops the projected light from escaping though the screen, which could cause backlighting and reduce contrast. It is very well implemented here.
• Operating Noise: There is some slight noise when extending the screen due to the black TPU material on the back of the screen but it’s not a huge deal. I’d rather have full control of light-leakage and deal with a little squeaking or noise during operation than have reduced contrast. It wasn’t too bothersome, but thought I’d mention it. With more use, and break-in it might reduce over time.

Here is a time-lapse of the screen’s setup in my own home theatre:

Viewing impressions

Scenario 1: Full dark (lights off)

• Overall: the image is excellent. The image retains maximum perceived contrast because the screen rejects reflections returning from your walls/ceiling.
• Black floor: blacks look black – as much as the projector allows that is; the surface itself reads as black rather than dark grey – see testing with my JVC NZ800 later to confirm this, as the Epson LS650 isn’t exactly a contrast beast.
• Gain & brightness: the 0.6 gain means peak luminance is lower than a unity white at the same projector output—but perceived contrast is higher because the room contributes less stray light back to the screen. To be honest, this is more of a benefit in a media room with light-coloured walls. My theatre is set up for a white screen with a JVC NZ800, which has extreme contrast. However, the general observation is that even in “dark rooms” boundary reflections do matter, and reducing them lifts on‑screen contrast. You can read more about this at soundandvision.com.

Scenario 2: Dark room with overhead lights on

• Overall: this is where the Black Series looks like magic. Overhead (ceiling) light rejection is superb.
• Image contrast: near‑black areas remain near‑black, specular highlights pop, and mid‑tones keep their shape. The screen continues to look very dark to the eye, not washed out.

This is actually where this screen shines: being able to put the overhead lights on at full cop and still being able to have a screen that’s watchable. Pure gold! I did test with both the front and back overheads fully on – they are independently dimmable in my home theatre – and the screen still held up without much change.

Below is a montage. However, I would encourage you to view the time-lapse of the setup earlier in this article as well, as it has some overhead action towards the end. The two together should provide you with a pretty realistic view of how the screen actually performs with light on in the room.

Scenario 3: Fully lit room with light from all directions

• Overall: this is the hardest case: light is bouncing around in a white living room with the windows to the side and at the back of the room. Here the screen presents as grey rather than black—but the image remains watchable.
• With blinds closed: as long as the side blinds are closed, colours hold together well and faces don’t go chalky. It’s not as jaw‑dropping as viewing in a dark room with lights on, but it’s a legitimate “daytime TV” mode that’s watchable.

As a general rule, darker or (near-)black ALR materials preserve contrast better than white or grey screens when there is ambient light in the room. The trade-off is lower peak brightness compared with unity-gain white screens or higher-gain grey screens, which perform best in complete darkness.

In practice, only Fresnel screens maintain strong performance in bright conditions. These use a circular saw-tooth structure that directs light straight toward the viewer’s eyes. The downside is a very limited viewing angle, so you lose image quality if you’re not seated in the sweet spot.

By contrast, the NothingProjector screen offers an exceptionally wide viewing angle—actually better than even long-throw ALR screens such as the Cinegrey 3D, and certainly better than the Cinegrey 5D, which struggles with viewing angles, hot spotting and brightness drop-off towards the sides. Nothing like that here. This is a huge benefit of this screen for sure.

Scenario 4: with a long-throw projector (NZ800)

Granted, this screen was never designed for that kind of setup. It isn’t meant to work with long-throw projectors, but I was still curious to see how it would handle my JVC DILA NZ800. Surprisingly, it performed better than I expected.

At first glance, the image showed excellent contrast, with only the expected drop in brightness when moving from my 0.8-gain woven screen to the NothingProjector’s 0.6-gain surface. Even so, the picture remained very watchable and held up nicely overall.

On second glance, though, the flaws became clear. There was very noticeable streaking and a hot-spotting in the image—essentially with the projector lens reflecting straight back into my eyes. No surprise there, since the screen simply wasn’t designed for this use case. To make matters worse, switching on the overhead lights washed the image out far more than it did with the Epson LS650. Again, that was to be expected, both because of the brightness differences and because of the angle of projection.

Nevertheless, it can do in a pinch if nothing else is around, and long as you can put up with the above-mentioned artefacts, and don’t expect any miracles.

Sharpness, texture, sparkle

• Pixel definition with the LS650 was crisp edge‑to‑edge – again as much as the projector allows; no moiré or aliasing at seating distances. However, that’s not a big feat, as the LS650 projects a rather soft-looking image compared to my JVC. However, this was also the case with the JVC: image sharpness was excellent.
• Texture/sparkle: The screen texture is visible up close; from the couch, it stays out of the way. No visible “sparkle” on bright fields which is excellent performance, as it’s the achilles heel of ALR screens. In fact, I wasn’t noticing the screen texture much if at all. It is more distracting on my Cinegrey 3D screen installed in my study than on this screen.

Uniformity and hot‑spotting

• Horizontal Brightness uniformity across the width of the screen is incredibly good; no hot‑spotting observed with correct UST placement and normal eye height. In fact, the viewing angle claim is correct. It’s insanely wide and uniform.
• Vertical Brightness uniformity: With some UST ALR screens, vertical viewing cone matters a lot. Sit/stand well above or below the optical centre and you’ll see the rejection profile dim the image. However, this wasn’t really what I observed with my sample. I have two rows of seating and the image was uniform and bright from both rows, and as I stood up and moved around the room.

Brightness and Measurements

There have been brilliant and extensive measurements done on this screen previously by The Hook Up here, and I didn’t repeat them here.

In essence, the screen was measured as a 0.74 gain screen and a black floor that was in the middle of the pack (0.04nits in his setup), but with excellent light rejection that was between 60 – 80% dependent on the angle of light.

This performance is excellent for an ALR screen. The brightness drop compared to a pure white 1.0 gain screen is minimal (26%), and is more than out-weighted by the benefits of ambient light rejection the screen offers. This is certainly what I have experienced in my own testing.

Daytime Viewing Tip

For daytime viewing, it’s important to set the black floor of the projector to be high enough that shadow detail isn’t washed out by the ambient light hitting the screen. This is especially important for projectors that are high-contrast, as the black floor tends to be way below the ambient light in the room, making dark details difficult to see.

To lift the black floor, you generally have to adjust the “brightness” setting in the projector’s menu under the picture mode. This is different from the laser power setting, which might also be called brightness on some units.

Bring up an image that has both bright and dark elements, and start increasing the brightness setting until you can start making the black detail out, and it starts to look a bit grey or lifted. Then back off the brightness control a step. This is generally going to give you a better viewing experience during the day. However, make sure to remember to set this back to its default for night-time viewing.

Some projectors do offer adaptive laser control, but unfortunately, most don’t increase the brightness setting that controls the black floor at the same time. So it is best to create a separate night and day picture mode and set this setting according to your viewing habits and general ambient light levels in the room for both modes.

This tip also works for long-throw projectors, and standard screens, not only ALR. But I wanted to share it here as it’s especially relevant for ALR screens and UST projectors that will often be used during the day.

Pros and Cons

Finally, let’s have a look at the overall pros and cons.

PROS	CONS
✅ Ceiling light rejection is genuinely first‑rate; image “floats” with downlights on.	❌ Heavy: plan for two people to position; not a trivial solo move.
✅ In the dark, the screen looks black and suppresses boundary reflections—high perceived contrast.	❌ In fully diffuse bright light, it downgrades from “magic” to merely “watchable”—which is still a win for UST living‑spaces, but don’t expect flat-panel quality here even with a light-cannon like the Epson.
✅ Flatness and rigidity are excellent for a motorised unit; no waves or curl beyond what is designed in for the edges.	❌ It does cost more than some other brands. However, you can see where the money was spent: solid construction.
✅ Black backing blocks rear light and maintains contrast minimising back‑lighting.
✅ Very minimal sparkle/texture at normal viewing distances; very wide horizontal seating tolerance for an ALR screen.
✅ Vertical viewing height is not as critical as one would be led to believe considering the technology.
✅ One of the great features of this unit is having an acoustically transparent (perforated) material on the bottom below the screen surface so audio can come through clearly. This is excellent if you use a soundbar.

Geometry quick‑guide (UST best practices)

• Keep the projector and screen perfectly level; micro‑tilts create uniformity issues on UST lenticular materials.
• Aim for seated eye height near the screen’s vertical optical centre, and expect visible brightness differences at extremes. This is normal for CLR screen, but again this seems to be minimised by NothingProjector’s design here to a point where I felt this wasn’t an issue.
• Avoid placing bright lamps directly opposite the screen at viewer eye level; top‑light is what this material rejects best.

Scoring Table

Feature	Star Rating (5-scale)
Build and flatness	⭐⭐⭐⭐
ALR effectiveness	⭐⭐⭐⭐
Dark-room Performance (lights on)	⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐
Dark room Performance (lights off)	⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐
Daytime Performance	⭐⭐⭐⭐
Uniformity and hotspotting	⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐
Texture	⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐
Value	⭐⭐⭐⭐

Summary table

Category	Verdict
Use in a dark room (lights off)	Excellent – looks black; high perceived contrast
Use with overheads in a dark room	Excellent – its signature strength
Use in bright, uncontrolled ambient	Good – genuinely watchable, as long as blinds are closed
Sparkle/texture	Excellent – Minimal at seating distances
Hot‑spotting	Excellent – Not observed with correct UST placement
Flatness (motorised)	Excellent – Class‑leading for the format (motorised riser)

Conclusion

Credit where credit is due: in the two scenarios that matter most for UST owners—a dark room (with or without downlights)—NothingProjector’s Black Series floor-riser is superb. It looks convincingly black in the dark, shrugs off overhead light with ease, and stays impressively flat. Even in a fully lit, all-angle ambient room, it remains perfectly watchable—especially if you give it a little help by drawing the curtains or angling shutters to keep direct light off the screen.

Of course, no screen technology is flawless. CLR screens will never be the absolute best in a brightly lit space, just as Fresnel designs trade wide brightness for narrow viewing angles. Perhaps one day we’ll see a clever middle ground, maybe a hybrid Fresnel structure with a diffusion layer to widen the cone. Until then, the Black Series offers exactly what most people want from an ALR/CLR UST screen: a balanced, reliable, and genuinely impressive performer in real-world conditions.

Where to get it

1. Directly from NothingProjector here. Delivery was prompt and went without a hitch.
2. Sometimes local retailers source them as well, so worth checking around.