Choosing the Best Home Theater Projector
There’s nothing quite like a home theater projector to turn your living room or backyard into your own private AMC. But with all the choices available, picking the best one can feel overwhelming.
Start by considering the features you want. You’ll likely need to connect the projector to a sound system (speakers or a soundbar), so you need a projector with audio ports.
Screen Size
Choosing the right projector screen size is one of the most important decisions to make in your home theater. It determines how large your projector will look from your viewing position, and it also affects how much work your eyes need to do to see the image clearly.
The size of your room will impact the size of your screen, but you will also need to consider the resolution of the content and the projector itself. Resolution refers to the number of pixels in the image, and the higher the resolution, the better the image quality.
You can find a variety of screens on the market, and it’s important to consider your space and budget before making a purchase. Large screens can create a cinematic experience in dedicated home theaters, while medium-sized screens are versatile and can be used in living rooms or conference spaces. You can also find manual or motorized pull-down screens to meet your specific needs. If you are using the screen in a room with lots of ambient light, consider choosing a lower gain fabric to avoid hot spots and maintain color contrast.
Image Accuracy
Home theater projectors typically have a higher contrast ratio than TVs, which allows them to display images with greater detail. This is especially important when watching movies and playing video games.
The best way to ensure a high level of contrast in your home theater projector is to look for one that advertises a native contrast rather than dynamic contrast ratio. Dynamic contrast is often a marketing gimmick that can lead to exaggerated claims about a projector’s performance, whereas the more accurate native contrast measurement is a better indicator of how well it will perform in actual use.
Another important aspect of home theater projector image quality is color accuracy. For best results, choose a model that supports standard (sRGB) or high dynamic range (HDR) input and has undergone factory color inspection and calibration.
Additionally, consider whether you want a traditional lamp-based projector or an LED or laser-based one. The latter two options tend to produce a more consistent image, but they are more expensive and require replacement bulbs. If you’re looking lcd projector for classroom for an inexpensive option, a traditional bulb-based projector will work just fine.
Image Contrast
If you’re a movie lover or gamer, you want your home projector to have good contrast. A high contrast ratio allows you to see the darkest and brightest parts of an image, giving the image more depth and detail. When shopping for a projector, you can look for reviews by knowledgeable customers and influencers that use reputable hardware and software to measure ANSI contrast (a comparison of white and black squares).
Home theater projectors are designed to be viewed in the dark and typically focus on maximum contrast and accurate color. They don’t usually have a lot of brightness since overly bright images can cause eyestrain and headaches.
However, if you plan to use your home theater projector for casual family viewing in a room with ambient light, you need to make sure it has enough brightness to be watchable. The BenQ HT3560 is a great choice for this purpose. It’s a 4K projector with a wide range of features and has a top-notch contrast ratio. It also uses a mechanized iris that automatically closes on darker scenes and opens during brighter ones. This helps the projector achieve better contrast than you might expect from its ANSI lumen rating.
Audio
Home theater projectors usually don’t include built-in speakers. Instead, they’re designed to support a separate audio system that can handle high-quality sound, which you might want for your family movies or sports games, especially if you have a large living room.
Most models use DLP technology, which uses a Digital Micromirror Device (DMD) covered in tiny mirrors to create the image. Higher-end models use three DMDs to produce red, green and blue images. These models can sometimes cause a rainbow effect if the image is too bright in a dark room, but the problem is minimized by using lower brightness settings or with an anti-reflective screen.
The other common type of home projector is a laser model. These offer high enough brightness to stand up to ambient light and deliver excellent image quality. Some manufacturers also sell models that combine the advantages of DLP and LCD technologies to create Home LCD video projector an image with good native contrast and black levels. These are often called LCoS (liquid crystal on silicon). They can be very expensive, though. Most home projectors have HDMI ports that support the high-bandwidth HDR video standard used by 4K UHD TVs and streaming media.
Speakers
Whether you’re watching movies, playing multiplayer games with friends or broadcasting the latest sports competition, high-quality speakers will enhance your home theater projector experience. Connect your projector with external speakers either via an audio cable or wirelessly with Bluetooth.
You may be tempted to skip the screen and simply use a white wall for projection, but you’ll miss out on some key features that make viewing an immersive experience. A good screen will reduce the glare of light from the projector, deliver better contrast and improve your sound quality.
Many modern projectors feature built-in speakers that deliver lush, room-filling audio. They also come with a range of automated setup technology to make installation fast and simple. This includes autofocus, keystone correction and screen alignment. However, for the best results, a set of external speakers is recommended. These can be floorstanding, bookshelf or on-wall speakers depending on your preferences and the acoustics of your room. A soundbar is another great option and can be connected to your projector using a single cable to transmit the image and sound.