05/05/21
Buying a new projector, whether it is your first one or a replacement projector, can be a bit of a minefield. I am going to try and break down the key points to look out for but we can also be reached on the end of the phone, our online chat or send a contact form via our website if you need further help.
1) POSITION OF THE PROJECTOR
Perhaps the biggest reason for people buying the wrong projector. Almost every setup requires the projector to go in either 1 specific position or within a certain range and because not every projector has the same lens it means you need to make sure you get one which will produce the required image size from the required distance. The piece of info on the projector you are looking for here is called the 'Throw Ratio' and to work out your required throw ratio you just need to divide your required distance (say 300cm) by the required image width (say 200cm) and you get your required figure (300 / 200 = 1.5). Most projectors, apart from most short throw projectors which we will get onto, have a zoom which means they have a ranged throw ratio for example 1.15-1.5:1 which would fit the example scenario above because 1.5 is just within that throw ratio but that does rely on the measurements being exactly right so try to get one which more than covers it for example 1.2-1.9:1 gives a bit of flexibility either way.
Now for short throw projectors! These are great because they allow you to still get a really big picture normally between around 80-150" diagonal depending on the model but from a really short distance. However, they do require a bit more thought on what screen you use because the surface needs to be completely flat otherwise it appears very distorted, this can be achieved by projecting onto either: a smooth white wall; a semi-matte whiteboard; a fixed frame screen (wall mounted or fast-fold mobile); a tensioned drop down screen. Now it is possible to get an image size above 150" but it requires a very specialised lens which the lens itself can be several thousand £'s but I'd recommend giving us a call to spec up this kind of solution.
The other scneario which requires a special lens is when you have a really long distance compared to the image size, generally anything with a throw ratio above about 2.2:1 may require an additional long throw lens although there is a handful of projectors with standard lenses slightly above that. This setup generally applies to places of worship, school/village halls, auditoriums etc. We do try to make sure all of the lens options are on the website if you'd like to find them yourself, but we can easily work out the correct projector and lens combination for your room and look at bundle pricing if you give us a shout.
You may also need to place the projector way above or way below where the screen is, or off to one side, or both! This will require what is called keystone correction which allows you to tilt the projector then it squares up the corners or alternatively lens shift which physically shifts the image up/down/left/right without distorting the picture at all. This is quite a tricky thing to filter by online but can usually be found on the datasheet of a projector which we have on the product pages or again we can find one for you.
2) RESOLUTION
It is much easier now to get the right resolution because almost everything is widescreen, rather than the old square picture you used to get, and you can easily get a Full HD projector under £500 which is the kind of picture quality you would expect from a HD TV. Do bear in mind though that if you are replacing an existing projector which was not widescreen you may need to upgrade your screen to suit the shorter image height, or if you can get the screen down to the required height just don't pull it down all the way - the extra clarity you get from a HD projector compared to the old one will much outweight the slight difference in image height (about 25% shorter picture but 250% better quality). There are still projectors available which are not widescreen though if you do definitely want to stick with the same resolution as before.
The next step up from HD is 4K but there is 2 versions of 4K, those which are Full HD and shift the pixels to mimic 4K and those which are True 4K. It is true in most cases that the pixel-shift 4K models are better than Full HD models bar a few exceptions, but the pixel-shift options do come in at a price just above HD with plenty of options under £1k.
For the best of the best picture quality you want True 4K, a must-have for dedicated home cinemas and although they do come with a higher price tag they are worth every penny. You will normally be looking at the Sony range for True 4K because nothing else comes close in price or quality, the technology they use and the chip they've designed gives second-to-none colour accuracy, brightness, contrast and smoothness.
3) BRIGHTNESS
You definitely get a lot more brightness for your money now than you used to, but do bear in mind that no projector is going to give a crystal clear picture in the middle of the day outside!
4) CONNECTIVITY
Almost every projector has HDMI now but you need to be careful with higher resolution projectors that you use the right quality of HDMI cable. Some projectors can even connect by USB but not many and not all projectors with a USB connection can work this way so be careful.
5) COMMON MISCONCEPTIONS
Rainbow Effect:
- This is a thing of the past now. DLP projectors used to have much slower colour wheels with less colours which made them more prone to this, but they have advanced enough in recent years that we never get customer complaints about this any more.
Needing Laser/LED
- The truth is, unless your projector is installed really high on the ceiling so is inaccessible, you're using 24 hours a day, or the projector needs to be installed at a funny angle, you can easily get away with a lamp based projector because many of these have an estimated lamp life of over 10,000 hours which at say 5 hours use a week equates to 38 years worth of lamp hours!
I've found one with the same spec on Amazon for £100
- You will find quite quickly that these sorts of projectors have not been tested to industry standards, so something which claims to be 5000 lumens may only be about 50 lumens, or something which claims to be 4K may just be able to connect to a 4K device (like Sky Q) but actually be about a tenth of the quality of 4K.
If you have any further questions and would like some help choosing the right projector don't hesitate to give us a call on 01256 882629 (open Mon-Fri 09:00-17:30) or leave us a contact form here.
Buying a new projector, whether it is your first one or a replacement projector, can be a bit of a minefield. I am going to try and break down the key points to look out for but we can also be reached on the end of the phone, our online chat or send a contact form via our website if you need further help.
1) POSITION OF THE PROJECTOR
Perhaps the biggest reason for people buying the wrong projector. Almost every setup requires the projector to go in either 1 specific position or within a certain range and because not every projector has the same lens it means you need to make sure you get one which will produce the required image size from the required distance. The piece of info on the projector you are looking for here is called the 'Throw Ratio' and to work out your required throw ratio you just need to divide your required distance (say 300cm) by the required image width (say 200cm) and you get your required figure (300 / 200 = 1.5). Most projectors, apart from most short throw projectors which we will get onto, have a zoom which means they have a ranged throw ratio for example 1.15-1.5:1 which would fit the example scenario above because 1.5 is just within that throw ratio but that does rely on the measurements being exactly right so try to get one which more than covers it for example 1.2-1.9:1 gives a bit of flexibility either way.
Now for short throw projectors! These are great because they allow you to still get a really big picture normally between around 80-150" diagonal depending on the model but from a really short distance. However, they do require a bit more thought on what screen you use because the surface needs to be completely flat otherwise it appears very distorted, this can be achieved by projecting onto either: a smooth white wall; a semi-matte whiteboard; a fixed frame screen (wall mounted or fast-fold mobile); a tensioned drop down screen. Now it is possible to get an image size above 150" but it requires a very specialised lens which the lens itself can be several thousand £'s but I'd recommend giving us a call to spec up this kind of solution.
The other scneario which requires a special lens is when you have a really long distance compared to the image size, generally anything with a throw ratio above about 2.2:1 may require an additional long throw lens although there is a handful of projectors with standard lenses slightly above that. This setup generally applies to places of worship, school/village halls, auditoriums etc. We do try to make sure all of the lens options are on the website if you'd like to find them yourself, but we can easily work out the correct projector and lens combination for your room and look at bundle pricing if you give us a shout.
You may also need to place the projector way above or way below where the screen is, or off to one side, or both! This will require what is called keystone correction which allows you to tilt the projector then it squares up the corners or alternatively lens shift which physically shifts the image up/down/left/right without distorting the picture at all. This is quite a tricky thing to filter by online but can usually be found on the datasheet of a projector which we have on the product pages or again we can find one for you.
2) RESOLUTION
It is much easier now to get the right resolution because almost everything is widescreen, rather than the old square picture you used to get, and you can easily get a Full HD projector under £500 which is the kind of picture quality you would expect from a HD TV. Do bear in mind though that if you are replacing an existing projector which was not widescreen you may need to upgrade your screen to suit the shorter image height, or if you can get the screen down to the required height just don't pull it down all the way - the extra clarity you get from a HD projector compared to the old one will much outweight the slight difference in image height (about 25% shorter picture but 250% better quality). There are still projectors available which are not widescreen though if you do definitely want to stick with the same resolution as before.
The next step up from HD is 4K but there is 2 versions of 4K, those which are Full HD and shift the pixels to mimic 4K and those which are True 4K. It is true in most cases that the pixel-shift 4K models are better than Full HD models bar a few exceptions, but the pixel-shift options do come in at a price just above HD with plenty of options under £1k.
For the best of the best picture quality you want True 4K, a must-have for dedicated home cinemas and although they do come with a higher price tag they are worth every penny. You will normally be looking at the Sony range for True 4K because nothing else comes close in price or quality, the technology they use and the chip they've designed gives second-to-none colour accuracy, brightness, contrast and smoothness.
3) BRIGHTNESS
You definitely get a lot more brightness for your money now than you used to, but do bear in mind that no projector is going to give a crystal clear picture in the middle of the day outside!
4) CONNECTIVITY
Almost every projector has HDMI now but you need to be careful with higher resolution projectors that you use the right quality of HDMI cable. Some projectors can even connect by USB but not many and not all projectors with a USB connection can work this way so be careful.
5) COMMON MISCONCEPTIONS
Rainbow Effect:
- This is a thing of the past now. DLP projectors used to have much slower colour wheels with less colours which made them more prone to this, but they have advanced enough in recent years that we never get customer complaints about this any more.
- The truth is, unless your projector is installed really high on the ceiling so is inaccessible, you're using 24 hours a day, or the projector needs to be installed at a funny angle, you can easily get away with a lamp based projector because many of these have an estimated lamp life of over 10,000 hours which at say 5 hours use a week equates to 38 years worth of lamp hours!
- You will find quite quickly that these sorts of projectors have not been tested to industry standards, so something which claims to be 5000 lumens may only be about 50 lumens, or something which claims to be 4K may just be able to connect to a 4K device (like Sky Q) but actually be about a tenth of the quality of 4K.