VIVOHOME 100" Pull Down Projector Screen Review: a big, simple screen that gets the job done

I’ve been using this VIVOHOME 100" pull-down projector screen for a few weeks, mainly for movies and a bit of console gaming in the evening. I bought it because I was tired of projecting on a plain wall and didn’t want to spend TV money for a huge picture. On paper, it’s simple: 100-inch diagonal, 16:9 format, manual pull-down, and a metal casing you can mount on the wall or ceiling. No motor, no smart stuff, just a basic screen.

In day-to-day use, that’s exactly what you get: a straightforward product that does what it’s supposed to do. The picture is clearly better than on a wall, especially for darker scenes. Blacks look a bit deeper, and colors pop more because the surface is properly white and uniform. You can tell the material is made for projection, not just painted drywall. It’s not magic, but you see the difference right away.

The flip side is that it’s not perfect. The first thing that hits you when you unbox it is the smell. It’s a strong plastic/chemical smell, especially the first 2–3 days. In my case, the room smelled like a new vinyl shower curtain but stronger. If you’re sensitive to that or it’s for a bedroom, it might bother you at the start. For me, after a few days with the window open, it faded to something barely noticeable.

Overall, my first impression is pretty simple: for the price, you get a big, usable screen with a few compromises. It’s not high-end cinema gear, but it’s way better than improvising with a wall or a sheet. If you accept the manual pull-down and the initial smell, it does the job nicely for a home theater or office setup.

For what it costs, this VIVOHOME 100" screen gives you a lot of image area for the money. Compared to a 100" TV, the price difference is massive, and even compared to some motorized or tensioned projector screens, it sits in a more budget-friendly zone. So if your goal is just to get a large, decent projection surface without going into high-end territory, it makes sense financially.

Where it earns its value is in the basics: the casing feels robust, the screen surface is usable and mostly flat, and the picture quality is clearly better than a random wall or sheet. You’re paying for a simple but functional piece of gear that should last a while if you don’t abuse the mechanism. The Amazon rating around 4.4/5 with a lot of reviews also lines up with my experience: mostly positive, with a few recurring complaints (smell, bulk, no hardware included).

On the downside, you do have to add a bit for mounting hardware, which is annoying but not a deal-breaker. And the smell at the beginning is a real negative point that you don’t get with some fabric screens. Also, if you want something that looks super clean and premium in your living room, you might end up spending more for a tensioned or in-ceiling model. This one is more in the “practical and affordable” camp than the “luxury home theater” camp.

Overall, I’d say the value is good, especially if you’re setting up your first projector space and don’t want to overspend. You just need to accept a few compromises: manual mechanism, basic design, and the initial odor. If those are fine for you, it’s a pretty solid deal for the size and performance you get.

Design-wise, this screen is as basic as it gets, and that’s not a bad thing. You’ve got a long black metal casing with the white screen inside, and a pull-down handle at the bottom. No fancy trims, no logos screaming for attention. Once it’s on the wall, it looks like a standard classroom or office screen. If you like minimal and discreet, this is fine. If you want something that looks like a high-end home cinema install, it’s a bit more utilitarian.

The casing itself feels pretty solid. The metal is stiff enough that it doesn’t flex or bend when you lift it, which is important for keeping the screen straight over time. The end caps are plastic, but they don’t feel overly cheap. The pull bar at the bottom is wide and gives you a good grip to lower or raise the screen. I didn’t feel like it was going to snap off or twist, even when I pulled at a slight angle.

The downside of the design is the bulk. At nearly 8 feet long, the tube dominates whatever wall you put it on. If you’re installing it in a small room or over a narrow window, it might look out of proportion. It’s also not the kind of thing you want to move around often. You can technically take it outside like some reviewers did, but in reality, it’s a two-hand, sometimes two-person job to move it without banging into walls or door frames.

In everyday use, though, the design does what it needs to: it hides the screen when you’re not using it and looks fairly neutral. You pull it down, watch your stuff, and push it back up. No motor noise, no cables, no remotes to lose. If you’re okay with a simple, old-school pull-down design that focuses on function over style, this fits that description pretty well.

The smell is honestly one of the main drawbacks of this screen, and it’s mentioned in several buyer reviews for a reason. When I opened the box, the first thing I noticed wasn’t the size or the look, it was the smell of plastic and chemicals hitting me in the face. It’s that strong “new PVC” odor, kind of like a new inflatable mattress or shower curtain, but in a closed room it feels more intense.

For the first two days, every time I pulled the screen down, the room filled with that smell within a few minutes. I wouldn’t say it made me sick, but it was annoying enough that I didn’t want to sit there for a whole movie with the windows closed. So, I ended up leaving the screen pulled down for several hours during the day with the window open to air it out. After around 4–5 days of that, it got a lot better. The smell didn’t completely vanish, but it dropped to the point where I barely noticed it unless I put my nose close to the screen.

If you plan to install this in a small bedroom or a room with poor ventilation, you should really factor this in. For a living room with windows or a basement where you can air it out for a while, it’s manageable. Some reviewers who use it outside say it’s not a problem at all, which makes sense. Outside, the smell disperses quickly and you don’t trap it in the room.

In short: yes, the smell is real, and it’s more than “slight” at the beginning. It does fade with time and fresh air, but you need a few days of patience. If you’re very sensitive to chemical odors or buying this for a kid’s room, I’d think twice or at least plan to unpack and ventilate it in another area before installing it permanently.

The materials are fairly straightforward: metal casing and a 3-layer PVC fabric screen. The casing is probably the best part in terms of build. It feels tough enough to survive shipping and regular use without bending. Mine arrived without dents or warping, which is already a win for something that long. The paint on the casing looks consistent, no big scratches or chips out of the box.

The screen itself is PVC, which has pros and cons. On the plus side, it’s water-resistant, easy to wipe clean, and doesn’t wrinkle as easily as a fabric-only screen. After installing it and letting it hang for a bit, I didn’t see obvious creases or waves, which is key for a clean image. The surface is matte and evenly white, no shiny spots or weird texture that would reflect light unevenly. With my 1080p projector, the picture looks sharp enough, and I didn’t notice any pattern or grain in normal viewing.

On the downside, PVC is what causes the strong smell at the beginning. When I first unrolled it, it smelled like a mix of plastic and new shower curtain. In my case, it took about 4–5 days with the window open for the smell to drop to a level where I stopped noticing it. Some people will be more sensitive than others, but it’s clearly there, and you should expect that. If you can, let it air out in a ventilated room before using it for long movie nights.

Overall, I’d say the materials are pretty solid for the price range. You’re not getting high-end tensioned fabric or anything fancy, but you get a sturdy metal shell and a PVC screen that stays mostly flat and is easy to maintain. If you want a screen that can handle a bit of humidity and the occasional wipe-down without babying it, this is practical. Just be ready to deal with that initial plastic smell and accept that this is more “robust and functional” than “premium cinema install”.

The performance side here is mostly about the manual pull-down mechanism and how reliable it feels. The self-locking system lets you stop the screen at different heights, which is practical if you sometimes want a smaller image or have furniture in the way. To lower it, you pull down gently and release at the height you want; to raise it, you pull a bit and let it roll back up. It’s the classic school/office style system, and it works pretty smoothly out of the box.

In my case, the roll-up and pull-down were consistent, no violent snaps or half-rolls. The spring tension feels balanced: strong enough to pull the screen up, but not so strong that it slams into the casing. You do need to guide it a bit with your hand when it rolls up to keep it from wobbling, but that’s normal for this kind of mechanism. After a few weeks of use, I didn’t notice any change in behavior or weird noises, so it seems reliable so far.

The main thing to watch out for is mounting it straight. If the casing isn’t perfectly level, the screen can roll slightly off-center or hang a bit crooked, which is annoying. The included level strip some users mention (basically a guide for drilling) is helpful, but you still need to take your time with installation. Once it’s up properly, using it daily is easy: grab, pull, click into place, and you’re good. No learning curve.

Overall, in terms of performance, I’d call it solid and predictable. The mechanism isn’t fancy, but it does its job without drama. If you’re okay with manual operation and don’t care about remote controls or motors, this is perfectly fine. Just don’t rush the mounting step, because a slightly crooked install will bother you every single time you pull it down.

On the spec side, this VIVOHOME screen is a 100-inch diagonal, 16:9 format, with a visible area of about 87" wide by 49" high. The total casing is roughly 92" by 59", so it’s long. You need a decent stretch of wall or ceiling to mount it. It’s rated for 3D, 1080p, 4K, and even 8K, but to be honest, that’s more about your projector than the screen itself. The important detail is that the surface is matte white with a 160° viewing angle, which basically means people sitting off to the sides still see a decent image.

The screen comes in a long, heavy-ish metal tube, around 13.4 pounds. It’s not crazy heavy, but it’s awkward to move around alone because of the length. The casing is metal, and the screen itself is a 3-layer waterproof PVC fabric. No screws or brackets are included, which is a bit annoying. You need to get your own L-brackets or screw hooks, depending on how you want to mount it. It can go on a wall or ceiling, but you have to plan that part yourself.

VIVOHOME mentions BSCI, CE, GCC, and ROHS compliance, which basically means it meets basic safety and production standards. That’s reassuring, but in daily life you don’t really feel that, except that the materials don’t look sketchy. They also warn about a slight odor out of the box, which is honest, except I’d say it’s more than “slight” at first. At least they don’t pretend it doesn’t exist.

In practice, this is a pretty straightforward product: a big pull-down screen meant to stay in one place. It’s not really made to be moved around every weekend. If you’re imagining a super portable setup you throw in the car all the time, this is not the most practical shape. But if you want a fixed home theater or meeting room screen with a large surface at a reasonable cost, that’s exactly the zone this thing plays in.

In terms of effectiveness, this screen does what it’s supposed to do: it makes your projector image look better than on a bare wall. I used it with a mid-range 1080p projector at about 9 feet distance, as recommended (they say 8–10 feet is ideal), and the 100" size feels just right for a living room. The matte white surface gives a bright, even image with no obvious hot spots or glare. Colors look more consistent, and darker scenes are easier to follow compared to my previous setup on an off-white wall.

The claimed 160° viewing angle seems realistic. I sat off to the side and didn’t see any big loss in brightness or color, which is handy if you have a couch across the room and people aren’t all centered. The surface is flat enough that subtitles and UI elements (for games or streaming menus) stay sharp. I didn’t notice waves or distortions that would bend straight lines, at least not in a way that bothered me during movies or games.

The screen also handles different content types pretty well. Movies, sports, and console gaming all looked decent. You’re not suddenly getting cinema-level contrast, that still depends heavily on your projector and room light, but the screen doesn’t get in the way. It actually helps a bit with ambient light compared to a glossy surface, but don’t expect miracles in a bright room. With lights dimmed or off, it’s much better.

For everyday use, the biggest win is that you can pull it down when needed and hide it when you’re done. That alone makes the room feel more normal when you’re not watching anything. So in terms of effectiveness, I’d say it clearly improves the viewing experience vs. a wall, and for the price, it does a pretty solid job. It’s not high-end, but it absolutely gets the job done for a home theater or office presentation setup.