When you want the biggest screen possible, you soon realize that a front projector with a separate screen is the way to go. Problem: you've got to make some compromises, one of them being resigning yourself to watching with the lights off, or ambient light will turn the image into a ghost of its true self (like the left side of the leopard in the pic).

Then again, you could get yourself a Planar Xscreen, whose surface is coated with a special material that's made to absorb ambient light, letting you keep those room lights on and have a relatively solid picture. It works by taking light that hits it at an angle and bouncing it off to the side rather than right at you, while reflecting light from head-on (light from the projector) normally. One downside is that the screen has to be mounted on a piece of glass, so it can't be rolled up. Planar's done a pretty good job of spinning this into an advantage, though, by putting the glass in a gloss-black frame that makes it look like a plasma TV (but is a lot lighter).

I got a chance to check out the Xscreen in action yesterday — first impressions after the jump.

The Xscreen did a good job of keeping the projected image bright in a normally lit room, though there was a noticeable decrease in the contrast on the sides of the 80-inch screen. That shouldn't matter so much if you sit back far enough, but it seems to me the Xscreen would be best for a "secondary" home theater ('cause that's such a common situation), or for anyone who wants an ultrabig plasma but can't afford it. Now that one is pretty common.

The Xscreen comes in four sizes, from 60 to 100 inches, at prices ranging from $1,399 to $2,799. Ring up a custom installer if you want one. — Peter Pachal