Buyers Guides > Projectors and Screens

A Simple Guide to Buying a Projector

Choosing the Right Projector

Choosing the right projector for your needs can be a difficult decision with over 300 projectors from over 40 manufacturers on the market. Whether buying for a home cinema environment or for professional use the following advice could be useful

Our website includes the models from most of the major suppliers, but how do you select the one that’s right for you?

Firstly, you have to consider how you are going to use your projector ask yourselves the following questions:

Portable or Fixed?

Will the projector be used predominantly in one location or many?

There are three basic applications:-
Portable applications…Where the projector is predominantly going to be used outside of your office, for example in a hotel or on a customers’ site, and will be carried around extensively. Typical users are traveling executives, field sales people and trainers.
Desktop applications…Where the projector is to be used within several different areas of an organisation, in different rooms, or perhaps externally at conferences or exhibitions.
Fixed applications…Where you have decided to invest in a permanent installation for your boardroom, training room, lecture theatre, atrium, classroom.or home
How do I know whats right for my specific needs:
Description Weight Mobile/Stationary Differences
Portable under 7 lbs. Extremely mobile Optimized for weight
Desktop 7-13 lbs. Somewhat mobile Increased features & brightness
Conference Room over 13 lbs. Stationary Increased inputs, interfaces, features and brightness
Large Venue 18-50 lbs. Stationary The ultimate in all features, except for portability
Home Theater varies Somewhat mobile High performance for home theater use

What Material?

The next decision is to determine what material is to be displayed. The important questions are; computer data, video (includes DVD) or both? If computer data, will the material be displaying large characters such as PowerPoint or fine detail such as spreadsheets or maps? And finally do I want sound?

What Resolution Will Be Most Useful My Line Of Work?

Type Of Presentation Minimum Resolution Recommended Class Recommended
Power Point 800 x 600 SVGA
Spreadsheets 1,024 x 768 XGA
High-resolution graphics 1,280 x 1,024 SXGA
What size audience?

Will I be displaying to small audiences of say up to 30 people?, will I be presenting to medium size audiences of say 30-100 people ?, or will it be large audiences of 100+ in big venues?
How Do I Gauge A Projector's Brightness?
Lumens Range Typical Application Room Lighting
Less than 1000 Small conference rooms and classrooms Dark or very dim
1,000-2,000 Midsize conference rooms and classrooms Dim
2,000-3,000 Large conference rooms and classrooms Dim or normal
More than 3,000 Large venues (boardrooms, auditoriums, theaters etc.) Normal
Can the presentation environment be controlled?
Will I be able to arrange the seating, control the lighting, and eliminate direct sunlight?
Having decided what you want to do with your projector you now need to consider the following:-
Size and weight

The more you are likely to be traveling with your projector the lighter and smaller it should be. There are many projectors on the market at under 2Kg and some are now even under 1kg – if you are going to be out and about a lot these are the ones you should be looking at. If you pick a unit with a size of width 250mm, length 300mm and height 70mm or less then it will comfortably fit into the overhead luggage rack on a plane. (If you want to check it in as baggage on an airplane remember to order a hard carry case).
If your application is desktop then 4Kg or less should be fine to move from office to office with the occasional excursion to a local hotel, probably 80% of all projectors sold today fall into this category.
For installed projectors weight is not really a consideration so look for other features.

Brightness

Brightness is usually measured in ANSI Lumens, the brighter the projector the higher the rating.
Most projectors today are 1,000 ANSI Lumens or brighter and for the small to medium size meeting room or classroom (audience size of up to 30) we would recommend a projector in the 1,000 – 1,500 range. In an ideal situation you would dim the lights and restrict daylight for best screen viewing, but a dark or dimly lit room will not be necessary. You should note that if the projector is being used in conjunction with an interactive whiteboard the maximum recommended brightness is 1,500 ANSI lumens to avoid damage to the eyes of the operator and to reduce bright areas or “Hotspots”. Note some projectors have “Eco” modes, which enable them to be operated at reduced brightness – these are ideal for situations where you might wish to use a projector for displaying standard presentations or videos and with a interactive whiteboard.

For larger classrooms and conference rooms designed for audiences from 30-100 then we would recommend projectors with a brightness of between 1,500 and 3,000 ANSI Lumens. Such projectors offer more flexibility in terms of ambient light and can illuminate a larger screen without much loss in terms of image quality.

For larger venues still or for situations requiring exceptionally large screen sizes (simulation or control centres for example), then projectors exist from 3,000 to 12,000 ANSI Lumens. Prices of these products vary considerably depending on performance characteristics and applications include; conference rooms, lecture theatres, auditoria, churches, concert halls, nightclubs etc.

Resolution

Usually quoted in two numbers such as 800 x 600 resolution represents the number of pixels (dots of information) horizontally and vertically across the screen. In simple terms the more dots of information the higher resolution and the better the detail on the image displayed. Also the fact that the individual pixels are smaller (with higher resolution), means they are less noticeable on screen. However, the downside is that you will pay more for higher resolution.
When defining projectors resolution it is normal to talk about their natural or “native” resolution. If a projector’s native resolution is 800 x 600 that means the actual number of physical pixels on the display device. Some projectors quote compatibility with higher resolutions. This is achieved through compression technology.

The main resolution options you will find in today’s market are:-

SVGA or “800 x 600”. These are typically the lowest cost projectors on the market and are ideal if your applications are based around PowerPoint.

XGA or “1024 x 768”. Typically have a higher cost than SVGA, but with a more detailed image. If you present information from Excel spreadsheets or images with small print on them then they will be more legible with XGA resolution.

SXGA or “1280 x 1024”. A higher resolution still and notably more expensive than XGA. However, if you are projecting engineering drawings or other images of a highly detailed or technical nature, you will probably need a SXGA projector in order to produce an acceptable image for your purposes.

Please note there are projectors that cover resolutions both higher and lower than those noted above.
The other consideration is to match the resolution of your projector to the resolution of your computer screen. If you normally use a notebook with a SVGA screen then an SVGA projector will give the clearest, sharpest image.

If you want to display a XGA computer image using a SVGA projector, then the projector will automatically convert the 1024 x 768 signal to its 800 x 600 output, but the resultant picture will lack in detail and sharpness.

Contrast

Contrast ratio represents the difference between the brightest and darkest areas of the image. As a general rule the higher the contrast ratio the better the video image and the more legible the computer/graphics image. We would generally recommend a contrast ration of 400:1 or more, however, as with resolution the greater the number the greater the cost.

Zoom Lens

If you are using the projector for portably or desktop applications, a zoom lens can be very handy. It gives you the ability to position the projector in a convenient location, and adjust the projected image size. Without a zoom lens the only way to adjust the picture size is to move the projector nearer to or further from the screen. The other thing to look out for is the zoom factor which describes the percentage by which you can adjust the picture size. E.g. a zoom factor of 1.2 will allow a 20% adjustment. We recommend you look for 1.25x or greater.

Keystone Correction

In addition to zoom, portable and desktop projectors should consider the benefits of keystone correction. When a projector is situated above or below the screen then the image may be distorted at the top or bottom (shine a projector onto a wall at an angle and the light will be wider further away from the torch). Many projectors come with keystone correction or lens shift to overcome this problem.

Noise Levels

As projectors are used more and more in meetings or in the classroom there has been a general drive from manufacturers to reduce the amount of noise the cooling fan makes. You should certainly be looking for a projector with less than 40dB and for really quiet environments 35dB or lower is preferred.

Audio Output

If you wish to have sound to accompany your presentation or video then many projectors come with built in speakers. The sound output is limited, typically between half a watt and two watts, but should be adequate for small audiences. For larger audience sizes external speakers are required. There are two basic ways of achieving this either by connecting the amplifier and speakers to the source equipment or through the projector. The second solution has the advantage that if you switch the source to the projector (say from PC to video) then the sound will be switched automatically. However, to achieve this the projector must have an “audio out” facility.

Multiple Inputs

If you want to connect multiple computers or video sources to the projector simultaneously then you will need to ensure the projector has sufficient input jacks to accommodate for this. For example you may want to connect up a desktop computer and a notebook PC to support two consecutive presentations, or two different presenters. If your projector only has one computer input source then you will have to unplug the desktop and plug in the notebook between presenters.

Wireless Projectors

The last 12 months have seen the advent of wireless technology reach the projector world. Wireless has obvious advantages in that it enables several individuals to participate into a collaborative meeting without having to physically connect anyone, or for a mobile presenter, with a wireless PDA, to drive the presentation whilst walking round the room. Wireless capability comes in two forms – an attachable wireless module, (which can also be retro-fitted to some brands) or as a built in feature. The most popular form of solution is WiFi 802.11b. This has a throughput capacity of 11 Mbps which is adequate for data transmission (about 10 times the speed of Bluetooth) but is not a workable solution for video projection. However, in the next few months 802.11g technology will be available which has a five fold increase in data rate, making them good enough for some video-streaming applications.

Technology

There are two technologies that dominate the projector market today Liquid Crystal Display (LCD) and Digital Light Processing (DLP).

Our experience is that LCD scores highly in terms of reliability, colour vividness, robustness and is generally better in data applications. DLP has higher contrast ratios, is lighter, appears less pixelated and is better in video applications.

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