Screen Gain is an important specification on the product sheet of projection screens and is a measure of its reflectivity. The baseline rating is 1.0 and is equivalent in magnitude to the light reflected from a white magnesium oxide reflection board. Screens rated at 1.5 gain, for example, will reflect 50% more light in comparison to the reference board and similarly, screens with 0.9 gain will reflect 10% less.
If you’re thinking high-gain screens must be superior to their low-gain siblings, you may want to think again. While high-gain screens produce brighter imagery, there are tradeoffs in viewing angles. Since the gain is a measure of peak reflectance directly in front of the screen, high-gain screens may not fare as well when it comes to dispersing light evenly. This can mean a substantially dimmer image for those who are sitting at a sharper angle to the screen.
However, high-gain screens can work really well for longer room layouts - such as boardrooms where most of the viewers are sitting in a narrower formation with respect to the screen.