There are two kinds of materials used to display most home theaters. One is the traditional white that has been used for decades, and another is a medium gray. The concept of a gray screen was introduced by Stewart Filmscreen with its product Grayhawk in 2001, and the gray screen has become very popular since then.

The gray screens have been calls for high contrast screens because its purpose is to increase the contrast in digital projectors in rooms that are not totally dark. The gray screen absorbs ambient light that affects better than white, and black levels are maintained. This works because we assume that the projector has an amplifier lumens output as the majority of digital projectors, whites remain satisfactorily whites while blacks become more blacks. The net effect is to increase the contrast of the image on screen.

When the first gray screen appeared in 2001, all types of digital projectors were challenged to a greater contrast. Nothing to improve the contrast was so well received systems for home theater. Anyway, during the past few years the behavior of the contrast of digital projectors has grown rapidly. Now the projectors with the highest contrast are more than 3000:1.

Grey textile-backed surface offers excellent resolution white enhancing the blacks of LCD/DLP projected images. Performs well in ambient light condition. High Contrast Grey’s lower gain of .8 allows use with even the brightest projectors. Available on most non-tensioned motorized and manual screens.

However, most home theater enthusiasts don't have the luxury of a dedicated, fully darkened viewing room. Projection systems are frequently set up in living rooms, multi-purpose entertainment rooms, and family rooms that have light colored walls, ceilings, drapes, etc. Thus, even when the lights are fully off, the light being reflected from the screen will bounce off of the reflective elements in the room and back onto the screen. In this situation, a gray screen will be more effective at killing this incident light and thus maintaining deeper black levels on the screen.