Rear projection screen

A projection screen assembly comprising:

• a diffuser having particles dispersed in a binder;
• a polarizer laminated to the diffuser;
• a rigid sheet laminated to the polarizer, the rigid sheet being on a viewer side of the screen assembly;
• and
• an anti-reflective coating disposed on a side of the rigid sheet opposite the polarizer, wherein the screen assembly has a viewing angle of at least about 65 degrees, a peak gain of at least about 0.65 and a modulation depth of at least about 0.90, the screen assembly having at most only slight observable scintillation.

A projection system comprising:

• a projector projecting a polarized image comprised of a plurality of pixels;
• a bulk diffusing element disposed to receive the projected image and to diffuse the image to a prescribed viewing angle, the diffusing element maintaining a polarization state of light corresponding to a projected pixel of the image that is transmitted through the diffuser at a location corresponding to the projected pixel to a greater extent than light corresponding to the projected pixel that is laterally scattered by the diffuser to a location corresponding to a different pixel;
• and
• an absorbing polarizer disposed to receive light transmitted through the diffuser and being oriented to pass light of a polarization state corresponding to the light of the projected pixel transmitted through the diffuser at the location corresponding to the projected pixel.