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Monday, February 25, 2013

Get the right projector for your needs

By Nat Asherg


Projectors provide the ultimate home theater experience. Nothing else comes as close to truly re-creating the viewing experience of a movie theater. Imagine the bewitching beauty of Avatar's planet Pandora spread out before you. Or a close-up shot of Jeff Beck's fingers coaxing delicate harmonics out of his Stratocaster. Picture a 240-pound linebacker barreling straight at you. Or a video game villain swinging a sword big enough to splinter your coffee table. Projectors deliver all that and more - images bursting with cinematic detail and color across a larger-than-life screen measured in feet, not inches.

Technology maturation has made projectors far more portable than they used to be. Portable projectors, weighing from 3 to 8 lbs., have smaller footprints than the typical laptop, and tiny pocket or "pico" projectors can weigh in at under a pound, though they are not as bright as larger projectors. It is important to bear in mind that the quality of the PowerPoint or other document makes a big difference in the quality of the image projected. A great projector can't save low-resolution graphics from looking low-res, even when they're enlarged for a big screen.

For best results, you should try to match the projector with the native resolution of your source material. Your Blu-ray player, PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360 typically put out a 1080p signal. HDTV signals are still not totally standardized, although 720p and 1080i seem to be the most common.

LCD technology: LCD technology is generally favorable due to its superior color accuracy. LCD is also a must-have if your presentations are color sensitive due to color-coded diagrams, or graphic-design centered. The final must-have "feature" really isn't a feature at all. Do not forget to order a spare bulb for your projector, or you could be forced to scrap an important presentation or wait while someone chases down a spare.

A projector with a contrast ratio of 10,000:1 isn't necessarily five times better than one with a 2,000:1 ratio. The contrast ratio does not account for how the projector displays all the shades of grey in between the blackest black and whitest white. If the projector can't display those shades of gray, portions of the image will "blow-out" and appear pixilated when displayed on the big screen. Look for projectors with more control settings. Multi-color processing technology like BrilliantColor and sRGB modes will allow you to really tweak the projector's display to your liking.




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