Video projectors have become accessible and affordable for most people now. If you want to watch your favourite movie on a 100-inch screen, how else are you supposed to get that?
Video projectors have been around and in use as a presentation tool in commercial entertainment and business for a long time, and in some high-end home theatre systems too. Some projectors are downright cheap. Allow me to walk you through the basic factors that you should consider, starting from lamp types to lumens, LCD vs DLP, and chip technology to input features. Here are a few useful tips for you.
Lumens
Generally speaking, you will probably never regret getting the brightest projector for yourself.
To enjoy bright and clear visuals, you should consider getting a 2,000-lumen projector. It can produce watchable images on a 100-inch screen placed in a dark room. You may also go for a 1,000-lumen projector as that will be fine too, but it won't really punch. Note that 3,000-lumen and over will be too bright, might even be too much for some viewers.
Lamp, laser, or LED?
Modern video projectors use LEDs, lasers, or Ultra-high pressure (UHP) lamps as one of three technologies as light sources. UHP lamps are the most common, and these are basically high-powered light bulbs that are capable of creating a lot of light and are fairly inexpensive.
Laser and LED light sources are relatively new to the projection scene. Both lasers and LEDs in projectors function the same way and are far more efficient than UHP lamps. The only downside is that these cost a lot more than UHP lamps to create the same amount of light.
Chip tech
After the light sources create the light, some sort of a chip manipulates that light into the image. There are three chip technologies that you should be choosing from, namely LCD, DLP, and LCoS.
Contrast Ratio
Contrast is the ratio between the white and black portions of an image. Projectors with high contrast ratios produce blacker blacks and whiter whites. If a projector has a great Lumens rating but a low contrast ratio, the images will appear washed out. In a dark room, a contrast ratio of a minimum of 1,500:1 is considered good, but 2,000:1 or higher is considered the best.
Consider the Inputs
Make sure your projector has all the inputs you require. These days, all video projectors offer HDMI inputs, and most of them have DVI or VGA inputs for computers. When purchasing a video projector, it is vital to ensure that the gadget has the connections you need.
Before getting a video projector to elevate your home entertainment experience, don't just purchase whatever is on sale. Be a wise consumer.
