Priced at 1,712 GBP, the GrayHawk shows all-round skills and no noteworthy flaws — it was also our screen of choice in the test lab for years.

Reviewed by Florian Friedrich on February 8, 2010

Well suited to 1080p.
Bright and contrast-rich.
Radiant, accurate colours.
Tolerates a certain degree of ambient illumination.

Not state of the art for 1080p.

Our test-lab favourite didn’t score perfectly, but impressed nevertheless by improving the contrast massively without sacrificing brightness. At the same time, the GrayHawk is absolutely colour-neutral and great for 1080p.

Features

Technical Details

The Californian manufacturer’s logo sits on the frame below the screen. Thankfully, it’s far enough from the image area.

Admittedly, screens from Californian manufacturer Stewart Filmscreen aren’t exactly the cheapest on the market — but at least the company’s product selection offers a great deal of flexibility. It doesn’t matter which fabric you want in your screen — the material’s unit price is the same for the FireHawk, GrayHawk, and StudioTek, for example. Only the size counts when it comes to determining the ultimate price.

Even just unpacking the screen is an experience — the attention to detail immediately becomes apparent: Every screen carries its individual serial number both on the fabric and on the frame. Labels indicate clearly which side of the screen is meant for the picture, and high-quality rivets and press studs make assembly a breeze. Furthermore, the extremely careful packing eliminates almost any chance of damage during transit — we wish other manufacturers would go to this much effort.

At Stewart, a serial number is every bit as standard as a tightly fitted screen.

Stewart offers various versions of its screens: Besides the Luxus Deluxe Screenwall that we tested, roll-up models are also available, as are models with motorized masking on up to four sides. Our model had a deep-black, velvet frame, whose quality also impressed: Deep-black edges and flat-lying screens are simply a matter of course for Stewart. The GrayHawk also impressed in the 1080p visual test, producing a vivid, deep image. The brightness drops significantly at viewing angles of more than 60 degrees, but the colours remain accurate.

As we mentioned in our projector-screen overview article, the GrayHawk RS was our reference screen for years and has seen action in a number of our projector reviews. It was replaced in 2009 by the Da-Lite JKP Affinity.

The GrayHawk can also display decent pictures in rooms with some ambient light — and that’s exactly what’s so good about it. In practice, it’s suitable for almost all home-cinema setups, and in some cases will perform better than the higher-scoring Stewart StudioTek 130. To thank for this in particular are the light-grey base material and the directionality of reflection (toward the viewer): You’ll see no hotspot on the GrayHawk — not even in full-screen white images.