Projection Screens for Cinema: Multivision's Field Expertise
- Apr 8
- 11 min read
Cinema is, historically, Multivision's first area of activity. Since its early days in Belgium, the company has designed and installed projection screens in cinema halls across the BENELUX, then throughout Europe, and subsequently on an international scale. This experience, built across numerous projects, provides a thorough understanding of the real constraints involved in projection environments and enables Multivision to support specifiers with solutions tailored to their needs.
This article covers the technical requirements of cinema projection screens and fabrics, the selection criteria for 2D and 3D applications, and the way Multivision approaches these projects.
Why Cinema Has Always Been Central to Multivision
Cinema is the sector in which Multivision built its initial expertise. The business started in Belgium with screen installations in local cinema halls. It expanded progressively to the BENELUX, then to Europe, and eventually to international markets.
This long-standing presence in the cinema sector has given Multivision the opportunity to work across a wide range of configurations: single-screen venues, multiplexes, independent cinemas, and halls with complex geometries. Each project has contributed to a deeper understanding of the real constraints involved in cinema projection.
This is not theoretical knowledge. It is expertise built on the ground, project after project, by confronting technical choices with the actual conditions of each venue.
What Are the Technical Requirements of a Cinema Projection Screen?
A cinema screen is not a neutral surface. It plays an active role in the quality of the image perceived by the audience. Several technical criteria must be met for it to fulfil its function correctly.
Uniform Light Distribution
The projection surface must distribute light evenly across its entire area. Uneven distribution creates brighter or darker zones that are visible from certain seats. This phenomenon, sometimes referred to as hot spotting, degrades the viewing experience and is a standard rejection criterion in professional quality control assessments.
Contrast and Colour Accuracy
Contrast determines how well dark and bright areas of an image can be distinguished. A projection fabric suited to cinema helps maintain a strong contrast level, particularly in low-luminosity sequences. Colour accuracy depends on both the projector and the projection surface: a poorly matched fabric can alter colour rendering and distort the artistic intent of the film.
Viewing Angle
In a cinema hall, audience members are spread across a wide area, sometimes at significant off-axis angles in the side seats. The fabric must provide a wide enough viewing angle to ensure the image remains clear and consistent from every seat in the room. A narrow viewing angle penalises spectators positioned at the sides.
Durability and Intensive Use
A cinema hall operates multiple screenings per day, often seven days a week. The screen is subject to intensive use. The durability of the material, the dimensional stability of the surface, and the resistance to mechanical stresses related to tensioning and mounting are all essential criteria for ensuring the longevity of the installation.
Multivision's projection screens and solutions are built to last. They have an average lifespan of over 15 years, require minimal repairs, and maintenance interventions are rare. Multivision designs screens for intensive daily use, with mechanisms engineered to withstand repeated operation over time, even when used multiple times per day.
Which Projection Fabrics for Cinema Applications?
The choice of a projection fabric for cinema depends on the conditions of the hall, the projection system in use, and the intended applications. Several technical characteristics guide this selection.
A Long-Standing Partnership
Harkness Screens and its French subsidiary S.A.S. Demospec are the global leaders in cinema projection fabrics, with an expertise focused on pure visual performance.
The company develops technical surfaces capable of optimising luminance, contrast, and colour rendering, including for 4K and laser projection. Their approach is built on a straightforward principle: adapt the fabric to the real environment, not the other way around.
The result is a range of reliable solutions used in commercial cinemas and high-end installations alike. Harkness does not sell a screen — it delivers a measurable image quality.
A Long-Standing Relationship Between Harkness Screens and Multivision
Multivision has been working with Harkness since 2010, through its French subsidiary Demospec.
Multivision relies on Harkness fabrics to maintain a high level of quality across its projects, while retaining full control over its bespoke integration capabilities. Where Harkness brings the performance of the projection surface, Multivision handles the complete integration: structure, motorisation, dimensions, and the specific constraints of each venue.
This complementarity secures both image quality and the technical success of the project. In practical terms, the client does not have to choose between product quality and integration expertise — they benefit from a coherent, end-to-end solution.
Technical PVC Surface
Multivision's cinema projection fabrics are manufactured on technical PVC surfaces. This material offers precision industrial manufacturing, dimensional stability, and a level of resistance suited to the demands of professional cinema and audiovisual installations. The surface is designed for intensive use, both in projection halls and in high-demand event environments.
White Matte Fabric
The white matte fabric is the historical reference for 2D cinema projection. It is the most widely used and specified fabric, offering a neutral gain and covering the broadest range of projection needs without specific constraints.
It provides wide light distribution, accurate colour rendering, and suits halls with adequate ambient light control. It remains the appropriate choice for the majority of standard hall configurations.
Screen Gain: A Key Parameter for Projection
The gain of a projection fabric determines how much light it reflects back towards the audience compared to a reference surface. A gain of 1.0 distributes light evenly in all directions and serves as the baseline for comparing all other surfaces. Available fabrics cover a gain range from 0.15 to 2.4. These positive or negative gain values exist to address specific luminosity constraints or hall geometry requirements.
Front Projection: Gains from 0.8 to 2.4
For front projection, gain values range from 0.8 to 2.4. Fabrics can be white, grey, pearlescent, or metallic. The choice depends on the ambient light level and the desired image rendering.
Fabrics with a Gain Close to 1: Prioritising Image Fidelity
Fabrics with a gain between 0.8 and 1.12 prioritise image fidelity. They improve contrast and colour rendering, and are suited to dark environments. This category includes the High Contrast, Matt Preview, Cinopaque, and Super Matt fabrics.
High-Gain Fabrics: Prioritising Brightness
Fabrics with a gain between 1.4 and 2.4 enhance projection brightness. They are used in brighter environments or for large screen surfaces. The Hi White, Clarus XC, Hugo, and Spectral 3D fabrics fall into this category. These are painted surfaces, positioned in the premium segment of the range.
Rear Projection: Gains from 0.15 to 0.5
For rear projection, gain values range from 0.15 to 0.5. Light passes through the fabric, which always results in a gain below 1. These fabrics are available in white, grey, translucent, or opaque versions. Non-painted rear projection fabrics can be perforated or micro-perforated, depending on the technical requirements of the project and the integration constraints of the hall.
Compatibility with Modern Projection Systems
Multivision's projection fabrics are designed to be compatible with the modern projection systems used in professional cinema, including laser projectors. The surface material and its treatment are selected to make full use of the technical characteristics of this equipment, particularly in terms of brightness and colorimetric precision.
In immersive cinema halls equipped with Dolby 360° spatial audio, sound comes from all directions, including from behind the screen. In this configuration, the fabric must be perforated to allow sound transmission: the perforations enable sound from the loudspeakers positioned behind the screen to pass through without attenuation.
3D Projection: What to Plan For
3D projection places specific demands on the projection fabric. The two main technologies — active 3D and passive 3D — do not work with the same types of surfaces.
Active 3D and Passive 3D: Different Requirements
In active 3D, the audience wears shutter glasses synchronised with the projector. The fabric does not need to preserve any particular polarisation state. In passive 3D, the system relies on light polarisation. The fabric must be capable of maintaining this polarisation for the 3D effect to function correctly. This rules out standard matte fabrics, which scatter light in a non-polarised manner.
Multivision offers fabrics suited to both projection modes, depending on the constraints of the hall and the technical choices made by the project owner.
The Hugo 3D Fabric: A Solution for Passive 3D Projection
Multivision has recently added the Hugo 3D fabric to its range. Developed by Demospec, the French subsidiary of the Harkness Screens group, this painted grey metallic fabric has been designed as a high-end addition to Multivision's cinema screen range.
The Hugo 3D fabric has been installed in several cinemas for the passive 3D screening of the third instalment of the Avatar saga. It is engineered to take full advantage of laser projectors while delivering excellent performance in both 2D and passive 3D.
Its main technical specifications are as follows:
Up to 30% reduction in laser speckle
Up to 15% improvement in contrast compared to standard screens
High gain of 2.2 for a brighter image
Visually whiter surface under projection, promoting image uniformity and limiting hot spotting
Compatible with phosphor laser, RB, and RGB projectors
Available with Digital Perf or Mini-Perf perforations for acoustic transparency
Available in sizes exceeding 30 m wide by 15 m high
What Specifiers Look for in a Cinema Project
Audiovisual integrators, engineering consultancies, and architects are frequently involved at an early stage in cinema projects. Their expectations of a screen manufacturer are precise.
Consistency Between Projection, Hall, and Operation
A specifier is not simply looking for a product. They are looking for a solution that is consistent with the project as a whole: the volume of the hall, the output of the projector, the throw distance, the seating layout, and the conditions of use. A bespoke screen that is incorrectly sized or positioned will degrade the visual experience, regardless of the quality of the projector.
Audiovisual Integrators
AV integrators need to work with a manufacturer capable of providing precise technical specifications, meeting delivery schedules, and supporting the installation process. The quality of the working relationship and the reliability of technical information are criteria that matter as much as the performance of the product itself.
Engineering Consultancies and Consultants
Engineering consultancies expect the ability to engage in technical dialogue about design constraints: acoustics, structure, hall geometry, and installation standards. Multivision is involved from the early stages to frame the technical choices and ensure that the selected screen is consistent with the project's specific constraints.
Architects and Space Designers
Architects who design or renovate cinema halls treat the screen as a structural element of the space. Constraints related to size, tensioning, fixation, and peripheral masking must be addressed from the design phase onwards. A manufacturer that understands these considerations facilitates coordination between the various trades involved.
Why Field Experience Matters in a Cinema Project
A cinema screen project involves constraints that cannot be fully captured in a specification document. They are acquired through field experience, by confronting technical decisions with the actual realities of each venue.
The geometry of a hall, the seating layout, acoustic conditions, the quality of fixing supports, and operational constraints: these are all parameters that influence the choice of fabric, the tensioning system, and the frame design. A manufacturer that has installed screens in a wide range of different halls is familiar with these parameters and can anticipate them.
Multivision is involved from the design phase, supporting project owners and specifiers in framing the technical aspects of their projects. This involvement reduces the risk of incorrect sizing and facilitates coordination with other trades.
The experience accumulated across projects in Belgium, the BENELUX, Europe, and internationally enables Multivision to quickly identify the critical points specific to each hall configuration and to provide solutions suited to the particular constraints of each project.
FAQ — Frequently Asked Questions About Cinema Projection Screens
Why is a projection fabric important in a cinema hall?
The projection fabric plays an active role in the quality of the image perceived by the audience. It does not simply receive light — it distributes it according to precise characteristics that influence contrast, uniformity, colour rendering, and visual comfort. A poorly matched fabric can degrade the image even when the projector is high-performance. In a cinema hall, where audience members are spread across a wide surface area, the quality of light distribution is a determining factor. The choice of fabric must therefore be integrated into the project from the outset, in line with the projection system and the geometry of the hall.
Which fabric should be chosen for professional cinema projection?
The choice of a projection fabric for cinema depends on several factors: the type of projector used, the size of the hall, the seating configuration, and the intended applications. For standard 2D projection, a white matte fabric with a neutral gain suits the majority of configurations. For passive 3D projection, a metallic fabric such as the Hugo 3D is required to preserve light polarisation. Positive or negative gain values can be considered depending on available luminosity levels and the specific constraints of the hall. A specialist manufacturer helps identify the right solution for each project.
What is the difference between a white, grey, or metallic projection fabric?
A white matte fabric provides even light distribution and accurate colour rendering. It is suited to halls with adequate ambient light control. A grey fabric improves contrast by absorbing more ambient light, which is useful in less controlled environments. A metallic fabric, such as the Hugo 3D, is designed for passive 3D projection: its surface preserves light polarisation, which is essential for the system to function correctly. Each type of surface addresses a specific use case and must be selected according to the constraints of the project.
Can a projection fabric be compatible with both active and passive 3D?
Active 3D and passive 3D are two distinct technologies that do not place the same demands on the projection fabric. In active 3D, the shutter glasses synchronised with the projector make the fabric less constraining — a standard surface can be suitable. In passive 3D, the fabric must preserve light polarisation for the stereoscopic effect to work. These two applications are not always compatible with the same fabric. It is therefore important to define the intended projection mode at an early stage in order to select the appropriate surface. Multivision offers fabrics suited to both projection modes.
How should a cinema screen be selected based on the hall and projection system?
Selecting a cinema screen involves a cross-analysis of several parameters: the size and geometry of the hall, the throw distance, the output of the projector, the seating layout, and the intended applications. A screen that is too large for the available light output will produce a dull image. A gain that is too high in a wide hall will create uneven brightness levels depending on the viewing angle. The fabric surface must be sized and selected in line with the full projection chain. Involvement at the design stage helps avoid these errors.
Why work with a specialist manufacturer for a cinema screen?
A specialist manufacturer brings a technical understanding of the constraints specific to cinema halls: acoustics, structure, geometry, screen tensioning, and architectural integration. They are capable of supplying bespoke screens adapted to the exact dimensions and configurations of each venue. They can also support specifiers and integrators during the design phase to frame the technical choices. This ability to be involved upstream — not merely to supply a product — is an important factor in the success of a cinema project. The experience accumulated across numerous projects provides a solid foundation for quickly identifying the critical points specific to each situation.
Conclusion — Cinema: A Central Sector in Multivision's Activity
Cinema remains a central sector in Multivision's activity. The experience acquired since the first installations in Belgium, through to international projects, has built a concrete understanding of the constraints involved in projection hall environments.
Cinema projection fabrics must meet precise requirements: uniform light distribution, contrast, colour accuracy, viewing angle, durability, and compatibility with current projection technologies. The Hugo 3D fabric, developed by Demospec / Harkness Screens and integrated into the Multivision range, illustrates this capacity to deliver solutions suited to the latest generation of laser projectors and the specific demands of passive 3D projection.
Every cinema project is different. The size of the hall, the seating configuration, the projection system, and the intended applications are all parameters that influence the choice of screen and fabric. Multivision supports integrators, engineering consultancies, and architects through this framing phase to ensure that technical choices are consistent with the specific constraints of each project.
