SCRAM Shows New Front Projection Screen (Insight Media, Projection Monthly, February 2007) BOWIE, MD - SCRAM Technologies used a suite at CES to showcase new front projection screen technology. Known for its high-contrast, high-resolution rear-projection screens, the front screens are a new area for the company. The screen technology uses the company's stacked laminar sheet approach. This technology stacks alternating layers of clear and black polymer sheets that are then sliced vertically to create a screen that is a cross section of these alternating layers. The clear areas create a light guide to channel the light while the black areas absorb ambient light. While most black screen approaches have a high percentage of light absorbing or black area, SCRAM takes the opposite approach with the majority of the screen surface, usually over 80% being clear. To create a front projection screen, SCRAM uses the same basic structure used in rear projection screens. When used as a rear projection screen a light directing film (LDF) is added to the back to accept off-normal axis light from the projector and direct it through the clear light guides into the screen. For a front reflector, this light directing film is replaced with a reflective layer. SCRAM has so far shown two materials for doing this: a standard reflecting material (mylar) and a proprietary structure, which reportedly achieves a whiter white. In addition to the two different reflecting surfaces, SCRAM has made two screens with different thickness waveguides: 10 and 20 mil (thousandths of an inch), with 7 mil possible too. In the company's suite at CES, we saw the 20 and 10 mil screens illuminated by a projector. The screens were low gain (1-2X) with a corresponding wide viewing angle. SCRAM says the contrast is about four times better than a comparable unity gain matt white screen in a normal ambient environment. We liked these screens and judged the 10-mil screen to have higher contrast than the 20-mil version. Since the front projection screens use the same process pioneered for the rear-projection screens, SCRAM's manufacturing partner, Fuji, can make the screens now up to an 82-inch diagonal screen in a single sheet. Screens up to 100-inch will be available later. About SCRAM: SCRAM Technologies, Inc. is a design and engineering company with a significant patent portfolio of IP that includes the SCRAMscreen® and LED Illumination systems. The SCRAMscreen® is a high-contrast rear projection screen with exceptional transmission efficiency and ambient light viewability. SCRAM's LED illuminators and associated components are unique alternative solutions for the projection industry. SCRAM provides creative engineering answers for challenges in the advanced projection display market with light engines, complex optical systems, and our SCRAMscreen® to commercial, consumer and military markets.