Your current video projector has a 4:3 aspect ratio, but you’re planning to move up to a high-def model with a 16:9 aspect ratio next year. In the meantime, you need to replace your projection screen, which your two-year-old recently mistook for an artist’s canvas. Quite the pickle, eh?

Epson has an easy solution for your dilemma: Its unique Accolade Duet projection screen can deliver either aspect ratio from the same package. Instead of unrolling up or down from a horizontal position, the Duet is vertically oriented and opens to the left and right. Open it (one-handed) to the first position and it becomes a 65-inch screen with a standard-definition 4:3 aspect ratio; open it to the second position and it’s an 80-inch screen with an HD aspect ratio of 16:9.

The screen fabric is a typical matte white and can be washed with a rag moistened with water. In our test environment, the Duet was slightly less reflective than our Draper Piper portable screen, but it exhibited excellent off-axis viewing, which is important if you’re entertaining a large audience that can’t all be seated directly in front of the screen.

The Duet’s screen clips onto its tripod stand, so you can carry both items as a single unit, but you won’t want to lug it far: It weighs 27 pounds (more than twice as much as the Piper). The tripod contributes to a rather large footprint: 33 inches deep by 37 inches wide. If you need to keep the screen closer to your wall, you can mount it there—Epson provides the necessary hardware in the box. You can still close the screen when it’s mounted, and you can take it off the wall and again pair it with the tripod to take your show on the road.

The fact that the Duet is $100 cheaper than the Piper makes up
for the fact that it’s not quite as bright; in fact, we think we’ve found our new favorite projection screen.

The absence of support in the center of the screen could cause it to sag over time.

Accolade, Duet Projection Screen
www.epson.com

The Palm Treo 650

Even off-axis viewing is great.

Motorola DynaTAC 8000x

It might sag over time.