The Movie Corner

Posts Tagged ‘lcd projectors’

There are barely any electronics items sold these days without the word digital appearing somewhere on the packaging. Great change has been made in the last twenty years regarding digital technology, especially the technologies that relate to home theaters. In days past, a home theater system was thought to be exceptional if you had no more than a big television and rudimentary surround sound. But, with the coming of superior digital technologies, household theaters have become both more sophisticated and more expensive.

Especially in the case of digital LCD projectors, there have been great changes of late. Starting out, the size and price tag alone of projectors made them ludicrous for a possible home theater, particularly given their minimum $50,000 price tag. The vast majority of home theater users weren’t actually in homes.  Initially, it was only universities and major businesses that could afford such costs. A lot has changed in this respect.  Now a days, smaller and less expensive projectors can be bought from any large vendor of electronics. 

The first decision that must be made is where, precisely, you will find room for your DLP projector. The projector you buy must fit the size of the area while also making a suitably sized picture on the screen. You also must determine if you will mount the projector on a table or from the upper surface.

Undoubtedly, the factor that varies the most from model to model is luminosity. In a completely dark room, you can easily get away with a projector with about 1000 lumen. Whereas, if you are in a room with any kind of extra light, you will need greater than 1500 lumen. If you get a projector with too few, you will have difficulties seeing the picture.

The clarity of the picture is usually referred to as resolution.  Many different resolutions exist for home projectors. The worst resolution out right now is called SVGA which sits at 800×600. With a smaller picture size, this resolution is passable, but better resolutions are without a doubt worth the additional money placed on them. Other resolutions include XGA (1024×768), WXGA (1280×768), SXGA (1400X1050), 720P (1280X720), 1080P (1920X1080) AND 1080I. 1080p is the current best when it comes to full HD and produces fantastic picture. For several years, 1080 1080 is a citation to the number of lines of resolution.

As opposed to years past, when household theater DLP projectors would cost you a small fortune, currently there are many cheap projectors available. In some cases, you can snag a projector that elevates your home theater experience to a new level for a maximum of $1500. As soon as you have decided upon your home theater projector, there is still much more work to be completed. To create the perfect home theater experience, you will need a professional audio system and, of course, the most comfortable of comfortable chairs.

Deciding on the right projector is not as easy as it used to be. Especially with all the features and specifications to compare, also not to mention the great number of digital projectors and technologies on the market today. You can see an example of this just by researching the latest Sharp LCD Projector. This article will briefly discuss two parameters that are crucial to know about, brightness and projector panel type or technology. Knowledge is always a good thing, and we hope that learning about these two parameters will allow you to make the most informed buying decision about your next digital projector.

Brightness or Lumens

Often the most noticeable projector parameter is brightness. This parameter interacts the most with your projection location, thus the location should be a major consideration in your projector choice and determining the amount of lumens (units of brightness) needed. The flexibility or ability of a projector to project at angles and with less than ideal placement is also important. Generally, brighter projectors that can put out a higher amount of lumens tend to be more expensive. These are some loose guidelines about ANSI lumens and the recommended levels for differing projector uses.

• 3000 plus ANSI lumens and  more. Great for outdoor occasions, big theaters or huge screenings, also projecting with the room lights on.

• 1800 to 3000 ANSI is mainly used for educational applications like in big classrooms or auditorium meetings. It can also be used for convenient home entertainment viewing and enjoyment, especially when you’re not satisfied with just your TV and want your collection of DVDs to be projected well.

• 1000 to 1800 ANSI lumens, good for basic entertainment purposes, portable business presentations, static graphics and inexpensive game use.

LCD Technology and DLP Technology

There’re two kinds of projectors; basically, the LCD and DLP panels. LCD is now the more widely used of the two. As the technology is more common and less proprietary, LCD panels like those in the Canon LCD Projector are slightly cheaper than DLP panels. Projectors with LCD panels are also noted for their vivid and deep colors as well as high lumen outputs. Keeping  the strengths and weaknesses of LCD technology can be very helpful while comparing specs and purchasing an LCD projector.

DLP projectors can be in the similar price range but are often capable of greater contrasts with darker blacks than the LCD. DLP also has a reputation for working well in home theater use and for doing a great job at  projecting film like images. DLP lamps are believed by some to last longer than LCD lamps. You can view actual DLP projector specs like that of the BenQ DLP Projectors to see the current state of this technology now.