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NothingProjector 120-inch Floor rising motorized ALR screen: test/review

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Published on: 11-04-2025 / Modified: 11-04-2025

I've been testing screens for two or three years now. Since this type of product is quite bulky, I had to reorganize my projection room to be able to test multiple screens at once. I kept one wall for my main screen and another for the test screens, with a stacking system for storage. All good in theory, but sometimes I get a few surprises, like with this 120-inch NothingProjector motorized screen.

My test wall can accommodate a screen 286 cm wide, and the 120-inch NothingProjector screen measures 283 cm. I thought, OK, it should fit, so I cleared everything in my room to install it there. The screen is indeed 283 cm wide, but...that was without counting the power outlet on the left side. It's my fault; I should have paid a little more attention to the dimensions.

Well, that was just for the practical side. I didn't use Stilgar to illustrate this test by accident; this screen also pleasantly surprised me.

Where to buy?

The NothingProjector screen is of course available on the official website. You benefit from the best price guarantee and a direct relationship with the manufacturer.

To take advantage of it: NothingProjector Motorized ALR Screen

The price at the time of writing was €1,700, and you can get a 10% discount using the code NPUCL. Of the screens I've tested, this one is the most expensive, but there's a reason for that, and it's not just marketing hype.

Overview

Dimensions

Since size is an important criterion when choosing a screen, I'll start by presenting the different dimensions available:

This type of motorized screen is available in six sizes, but they all come in a box of the same size. Weight also varies greatly depending on size, so make sure you have help if you don't think you can lift the screen. Mine weighs 30 kg, which isn't too much of a problem for me, but the weight combined with the bulk makes it more complicated. Since I had cleared my room to install it in one spot and ended up having to install it elsewhere, I had to move some furniture to make it happen. As a safety precaution, allow a few centimeters more than the width (L1) to avoid any unpleasant surprises.


Since I had a stand to mount my projector on my other wall, I had no choice but to place this screen on the stand, and fortunately, the distance from the ceiling was sufficient to fully extend the screen and take advantage of its maximum size. The top edge of the screen reaches 1 cm from the ceiling!

Motorization

This screen is motorized and has a tensioning mechanism that allows the screen to be unrolled evenly and without any hassle. Just press the remote control and the screen will automatically unroll the canvas. It takes about 30 seconds for the canvas to fully unroll, and during those 30 seconds, you might want to cover your ears because the noise is quite loud. It feels like I'm activating the electric shutters on a window.

Here's a short demonstration:


I measured a little over 55 decibels while standing 2.5 meters from the screen. This video also allows you to see the gradual smoothing of the screen and the final result.

Odor

Why talk about odor for a screen? Simply because the screen gives off a fairly strong chemical odor during the first few hours after installation. This isn't an isolated phenomenon; I have this kind of problem with most of the screens I test. To get rid of it as quickly as possible, I recommend placing the screen with the canvas extended in a well-ventilated room for a few hours before using it.

Canvas


What is this ALR canvas made of?
The canvas on this screen is part of NothingProjector's Black Series range. I've tested other screens in this range, but this one is quite different. Therefore, the performance isn't the same as a €500 Black Series screen. This canvas is of the "PET Crystal" type. It is a multi-layered canvas composed of horizontal strips of polyethylene terephthalate (visible in the photo), which probably explains the odor. If you run over the canvas without projecting an image onto it, you will notice that the texture is a little strange; it is not always uniform, yet you will see that once the image is projected, this texture will enhance the image.

How is light reflected?

This composition allows for better control of ambient light, sending maximum light toward the viewer rather than onto the ceiling or the surrounding area. When you project the image from below with an ultra-short throw projector, the slats will redirect the light in front of the screen. Without this mechanism, the angle of incidence of the light will define the angle of reflection, which will result in sending a large amount of light towards the ceiling.

What is the impact on contrast?
This type of screen fabric will reduce the overall brightness to make blacks darker, but it also impacts other colors. Therefore, you need a fairly bright projector to take advantage of this effect, otherwise your image will be too dark. Many manufacturers claim that their screen fabric increases contrast, but this is often false. Many screen fabrics lower the brightness and give the impression that the contrast is better because the black is deeper. Some screen fabrics, like these, are able to increase the difference between white and black. This means you get a deeper black with a more limited impact on white. I'll come back to this point later in the review.

With what type of projector? This screen is designed for an ultra-short throw projector, but it could also work for a conventional projector, provided it's very bright. A conventional projector will lose even more brightness because some of the light will be reflected off the floor or ceiling. I tested both types of projectors; you'll see the results later in this review.

And the viewing angle?
This type of screen focuses light toward the viewer to provide maximum illumination, but those sitting to the side may not benefit from the same amount of light because the estimated 180° angle is slightly more limited than a standard screen. It seems there's no problem for two to three people sitting next to each other in front of the screen.

Test/Evaluation

I test the screens using the same test protocol, and since I've tested more than thirty screens, I'm starting to have a fair amount of comparable data.

For more information on my screen tests:
Projection screen comparison (white, ALR, CLR)

Brightness/White Test

This type of screen is designed for use with an ultra-short throw projector, but I also tested it with a conventional projector to measure the effect on the light.

Light gain with a conventional projector: -70%
Light gain with an ultra-short throw projector: 2%

Here you can see the impact of using a conventional projector: the brightness is divided by 3, and if the projector isn't perfectly aligned, the light can be further attenuated. This makes it impossible to use this screen with a low-brightness projector; you'd need a projector with over 2,000 lumens to benefit from it.

For ultra-short throw projectors, I noticed a slight increase in brightness where I usually see a decrease with this type of screen.

Brightness/Black Test

This type of screen is designed to make blacks deeper to increase the perception of contrast.

Light gain with a conventional projector: -72%
Light gain with an ultra-short throw projector: -17%

The percentage is negative in both cases, and that's a good thing. It means that the screen is fulfilling its mission of reducing black intensity, and it actually reduces black more significantly than white. This leads to an increase in contrast; I'll come back to this point later.

Since an image is much more telling than measurements, I raised the NothingProjector screen halfway, and I have a white screen right behind it. There's therefore a difference in depth, but the difference between the two screens is very visible. The black of the white screen is gray, and this gray is not uniform; there's pollution coming from the white part. The NothingProjector screen offers much deeper blacks and better uniformity.

This ability to focus light forward offers a direct advantage for projection in a brightly lit room, as in this example:

The room was lit by a window on the left and an LED lamp in the middle of the room. However, the screen managed to reproduce a perfectly bright image without too much loss of contrast.

Color Fidelity Test

Screens of this type are not neutral and cause color deviations. Most of the time, ALR screens increase the proportion of blue and make images appear cooler. This isn't a big problem in itself if your projector has white balance settings. This is also why calibration can be very useful to take advantage of your screen's full potential.

If I analyze the white to see if this screen will disrupt the color balance, I observe several interesting things.

I begin the color analysis with a conventional projector.

In the following graph, I compared the proportion of red, green, and blue at the projector output with what appears on the screen. I see that the proportion of red decreases from 95.9% to 93.3%. The image will therefore be a little cooler, but the difference is not very significant. Green increases slightly; I rarely observe any movement in the green. The real surprise is the variation in blue, which goes from 109.3% to 109.8%. This is a very limited increase compared to what I've measured on other screens. The effort to correct the white balance will therefore not be very significant; you'll just have to give the red a little boost.

Let's move on to the ultra-short throw projector.
Here too, I observe a slight decrease in red from 74.3% to 72.1%. Green also increases slightly and blue decreases! Here too, the variations are quite small, and the decrease in red and blue should further limit the need for replacement.

Contrast Test

Many screen manufacturers boast about the increased contrast of their screens. In most cases, this is marketing gimmicks because, while there is an increase in contrast, it is often limited. If you have a projector with a native contrast ratio of 500:1, you will never achieve a contrast ratio of 1000:1 with a screen.

Let's start with the conventional projector.

Using brightness measurements, I can measure the difference between white and black, and for a conventional projector, this difference remained stable. There is a slight increase in contrast, but it is anecdotal. This further reinforces the idea that this screen is not suitable for this type of projector; in any case, it will not provide significant added value.

The result for the ultra-short throw projector is completely different.

If I take my measurements again, I have this:
Light gain on white: 2%
Light gain on black: -17%

I measured a contrast of 1311:1 at the projector output, I measured a contrast of 1576:1 on the screen. This is a contrast gain of 17%, and at the time of writing, it's the best screen for contrast gain. 17% isn't much, but it's still the best result so far. Beyond the number, there's also the benefit to perception with a deeper and more uniform black. This is one of the big strengths of this screen.

Here's a video showing an image in total darkness (left) and an image exposed to strong light (right):

The contrast is obviously lower on the right, and you can clearly see excess light coming from the left. This is an LED lamp located about 1.5 meters from the screen, so it's not a very realistic scenario, but at least you can see the effect it can have on the image.

I did the same thing with a white screen so you can see what a screen like this can offer compared to a normal screen:

I don't think it's necessary to write a novel to explain what's going on. The image exposed to the same light with a white screen is significantly less watchable than with an ALR screen.

Speckle Test

I tested this screen with an XGIMI Aura 2 and a Valerion VisionMaster Plus 2 and didn't notice any speckle on either projector. I don't currently own a screen that produces speckle, so I don't know how to make a comparison video.

Uniformity

Image brightness is fairly uniform across the entire image if you position yourself in the center of the screen. If you move along the horizontal axis, I noticed a difference of about 20% between the center and the periphery. I didn't notice any halos or hot spots.

Review/Conclusion

All the NothingProjector screen tests I've conducted so far have yielded positive results, but they were recently dethroned by the Wupro Cinema. This screen had overtaken them thanks to better contrast. This new motorized NothingProjector puts NothingProjector back at the top of the rankings for contrast, and it does so by a considerable margin. This is fortunate, as this is the primary objective of this type of screen. However, other factors must also be considered to complete my assessment.

This screen manages light quite well; it even manages to offer a brightness increase in white (in the center) where others drastically reduce the brightness of white. The image is generally very bright with no negative effect on black. All of this will obviously depend on your position and the amount of light in the room, but under ideal conditions, the contrast increase is greater than what I've measured so far.

There is some color deviation, as is often the case with this type of screen. However, I was surprised by how small this difference was, especially in the blue range. ALR screens tend to greatly accentuate the proportion of blue, but this screen doesn't. Calibration will always be necessary to bring the projector to a sufficient level of fidelity if it isn't properly configured out of the box. This screen isn't the best for color fidelity, but the difference is small enough to be easily corrected through calibration.

This is the first motorized screen I've tested, and while I've never been bothered by the presence of a screen on the wall, the motorization provides a more than appreciable level of user comfort. I combined it with an automatic sliding tray that positions the projector at the correct distance when the screen is extended. This is very practical for limiting the space taken up by the projector when not in use (especially if it's placed on a piece of furniture).

So I chose Stilgar's head as the introduction to this review because I probably had the same facial expression when I tested this monitor!

Strengths

Increased contrast
Low color deviation
Brightness gain on white
Viewing angle
Speckle management
Ease of use/installation

Weaknesses

Noisy
Chemical odor after unboxing
Slight ripple at the edges
Brightness decrease at the edges

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