Projectors are now increasing brightness levels in order to do a better job of covering the wider colour gamuts used in 4K HDR content, and produce more convincing HDR effects. Brightness: This is rated in ANSI lumens, with typical home cinema projectors hitting between 2,000 and 4,000 lumens.Laser projectors give you the best of both worlds, with high brightness levels, excellent contrast and LED-like lifespans. LED light-sources last the whole lifespan of the projector, but projectors that use them often can’t deliver the same brightness levels as projectors with traditional lamps. These have a limited lifespan and their brightness deteriorates over time, so need to be replaced. Lamp life: Most cheaper projectors rely on UHP or metal halide lamps.The downside is the projected image tends to suffer more from geometric distortion. If space is really tight, you might want to consider a short throw or ultra-short throw projector, which can create big images on your screen or wall from incredibly short distances – as little as 10cm for a 50in image in some cases. The cheaper the projector, the more limited these options will be. Optical zoom allows you to enlarge or reduce the screen without moving the projector, while lens shift lets you move it up, down, left and right without losing quality – or moving the projector physically. Here, you need to consider throw distance (how far you place the projector from the screen for a given screen size), optical zoom and lens shift capabilities, all of which will have an impact on projector placement. Do I need optical zoom and lens shift?Īfter resolution and technology, the most important consideration is your room and how you’re going to set up and connect the projector. Laser light source projectors – typically combined with a three-LCD image engine – deliver the best contrast and brightness but cost anywhere upwards of £2000 and often significantly more. If you want the very best quality, however, a laser light source projector is what you want. Some people are less sensitive to this than others, though, so if you haven’t experienced a DLP projector, make sure you get a demo before spending your money. As most display colours sequentially use a spinning, segmented colour wheel (there’s the odd exception to this rule), they suffer from what’s called the “rainbow effect”, where small areas of the image appear to splinter into small rainbows when you shift your gaze from one side of the screen to the other. Of these, DLP projectors are the most common, the most compact and tend to deliver the most bang per buck, while LCD projectors tend to be bulky and slightly more expensive.ĭLP projectors do have a downside, though. Most modern home-theatre projectors are based on one of two technologies: DLP and LCD. What’s the difference between DLP and LCD projectors? Even then, you might find it a challenge. Purists will tell you that these aren’t really 4K, but the technology has reached a point where it’s near impossible to make a distinction – unless you have native and 4K enhanced models running side by side. However, there’s a growing number of “4K-enhanced” projectors, such as the BenQ W2700 or the Optoma UHD38m, which simulate 4K by using pixel-shifting techniques with a 1080p resolution panel. True 4K projectors with a native 4K resolution still carry a high price premium, with even the cheaper options coming in somewhere north of £3,000. If you want a 4K projector, then expect to pay more. As such, they might be fine for showing PowerPoint slides or streaming Netflix in the garden, but for sports, games and home cinema use, you really need to be able to watch 1080p content at the native resolution. You will come across plenty of cheaper office or portable projectors, but they’ll have limited resolutions of 800 x 600, 800 x 480, 1,280 x 720 or 1,024 x 768. If you’re looking for a projector to watch movies, then make sure the model you buy is Full HD (with a resolution of 1,920 x 1,080). However, there’s a whole world of technology inside these often plain-looking boxes.įirst, resolution. To the untrained eye, one projector usually looks much like another.
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