Only very inexpensive projectors are offered in 720p, anymore. The first thing you’ll notice when shopping is that 99 percent of all home theater projectors are 1080p resolution (1920 x 1080 pixels). The last of the big three specs is resolution. All those moving parts can make some noise, and when your movie is in a quiet and suspenseful moment, you don’t want the experience ruined by a loud cooling fan. Home theater projectors are stuffed with moving parts-cooling fans, color wheels, motorized iris controls and more. The super bright projectors sporting 10,000 lumens are really only necessary for extremely large rooms with screenzillas. If you have a very big room or demand a very big screen (or insist on watching with lots of room light) then look for a brighter projector. That amount of light, when matched with a screen that helps maximize light output (such as one of the many light rejection screens on the market) can be comfortably viewed with some ambient room light on. Many affordable projectors sport brightness in the 1,000 to 2,500 lumen range, and that’s enough for most modest sized media rooms with 100 to 140 or so inch screens. Bright pictures are good, but a picture that’s too bright for the room or screen size will end up fatiguing the viewers. Some projector mounts also have similar adjustments built in.īrightness is probably the first thing a lot of people look for when home theater projector shopping, and indeed it is important, but not always as important as people believe. ![]() ![]() This feature allows you to slightly move the lens up/down, left/right after it’s been mounted to help you perfectly align the projector’s image on the screen. However, rather than rely too heavily on the zoom lens to get you properly sized to the screen, a better practice is to follow the manufacture’s throw distance suggestions (most projectors will come with a throw distance chart or include a throw distance calculator on their web site) and measure, measure, measure before you mount.īecause sometimes we can’t get the perfect mounting position for both projector and screen, better projectors often feature lens shift, both vertical and horizontal lens shift are available. A good combination is to pick a projector with a large lens and large zoom (a large lens will usually suffer less chromatic errors than a small one. A large zoom ratio gives you a little more wiggle room, but using too much zoom can enhance chromatic errors into the picture. The zoom allows you some leeway forward and backward when positioning your projector in front of the home theater screen. Their default movie or cinema modes will often be better than non-certified projectors as well (often, not always).Īll projectors except possibly desktop models used for business presentations (and those pocket-sized pico projectors) include a zoom lens. Projectors with ISF (Imaging Science Foundation) and THX certifications will all have good color adjustment features or calibration. The more detailed the adjustments, the better you (or your professional calibrator) can dial in the color. You want reds to look red and greens to look green, but the key to getting accurate colors (again, some of this will depend on your screen selection and how the image interacts with room color, or lack of it) is often in the projector’s settings and adjustments. You want you projector to display accurate colors, of course. Often it’s measure in what the industry called full-on/full-off, which is not a real-world measurement. Note that the contrast number quoted on most projector spec sheets is, well, hopeful. For some projectors that’s a real challenge, and that challenge is exacerbated by room light and a poorly matched screen. You want your projector to be capable of beaming a bright pure field of snow as well as the deep black of the night sky above it. It refers to the difference between the darkest black and the whitest white. These features are not in order of importance, because that order could shift based on your room, screen and viewing habits:Ĭontrast in video displays is expressed in a ratio, as in 1,000,000:1 or 1,000:1. Here are eight features and specs to look for to help you get the best home theater projector for your needs and budget. ![]() You should also read this article to learn how light, and even room color, impacts both a projector and screen’s performance. Read this article to help with home theater screen selection. When selecting the best home theater projector for your room, you also must take into consideration what screen type you plan to use. Home theater projectors can be based on one of several different technologies (DLP, LCoS, SXRD, LCD) and used different light technologies or lamps. A home media room may have a big TV and a soundbar, but a home theater, a real home theater, has a projector and projection screen.
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