Optoma Refurbished Projectors w/ 1-Yr Warranty: HD243X 1080p $379, HD27HDR 1080p Expired

If you ever want to improve your setup, the brightness of the projector isn't as important as the type of screen material you use. It sounds counter intuitive but you should get a screen with a grey or silver material. All projectors are bright, and can make a grey or silver material look white when it puts a bright enough light on it. However, a projector can't create darkness - that's your screen material's job.

When does a white screen appear black? When your whole room is dark. The darkest part of your picture will be a white screen without the projector's light flashed on it, but if other lights are hitting your screen, it will still appear white. That means you have very little contrast, and the picture looks washed out. A grey or silver screen can still look darker in environments where there is some light.

The best option for environments where light can't be totally controlled is an ALR screen (Ambient Light Rejecting). The material is designed to light up when light hits it directly from your projector, but not as much from light coming from other angles.

I have the Silver Ticket ALR screen (I think they've since discontinued it, unless they brought it back again), but there are other brands that offer similar options. Even if you don't go ALR, a grey screen can be a big improvement.

This is an example of the difference even just a grey screen can make:

https://elitescreens.com/images/p...de_bar.jpg