Here is a guide and frequently asked questions to help you determine what business projector or home cinema projector is right for you.

    Business Projectors

How much resolution do I need?

High resolution projectors are able to show more picture details than low resolution projectors. Since there are more pixels used to make the image, each individual pixel is smaller, so the pixels themselves become less visible on the screen. However, you will pay more for higher resolution.

Lower resolution projectors are much less expensive, and they can produce images that are just as bright and attractive as higher resolution machines. Unless you have a need to display fine detail, lower resolution products will be your best bet from a cost perspective.

Resolution options

Some basic choices for native resolution are the following:

0. SVGA, or 800 x 600 - SVGA projectors are great for those on a tight budget, since prices have dropped dramatically in recent years. While most computers still output in higher resolution, SVGA can be a good option for powerpoint presentation or other applications that are not heavily dependent on detail.
0. XGA, or 1,024 x 768 - XGA projectors have come down in price over the past few years, and have become the budget standard. Most computers still output in native XGA, so matching an XGA projector to your computer ensures you won't lose any detail.
0. SXGA, or 1,280 x 1,024 - SXGA products are high resolution, and notably more expensive than XGA. These products are targeted for high end personal computer users and low end workstation users. They are used primarily for command and control, engineering and CAD/CAM applications where acute resolution of small details is important.
0. SXGA+, or 1,400 x 1,050 - SXGA+ projectors are becoming more popular, and there are several offerings available in both budget and high-end configurations. SXGA+ resolution is useful for detailed photography and data graphics, but overkill for text display or Powerpoint presentations.
0. UXGA, or 1,600 x 1,200 - UXGA is for very high resolution workstation applications that are detail or information intensive. These are expensive projectors that support a broad range of computer equipment. Relatively few products on the market have this native resolution.

Which resolution is right for you?

One of the key factors in choosing the right resolution is your typical application. Do you have a need for very accurate display of small visual details, or are you looking for a general presentation tool for text and small graphics?

If your primary use of the system is for Powerpoint presentations, pie charts, graphs, Excel spreadsheets, and general business display, you probably don't need to pay extra for very high resolution equipment. SVGA or XGA resolution projectors are perfect for this kind of work, and the best solution for the money.

If you are projecting engineering drawings, digital photography, or other images of a highly detailed or technical nature, you will probably need a projector of SXGA resolution or higher to produce an acceptable image for your purposes.

Matching your computer to your projector

Keep in mind that the best resolution for your projector is the resolution of the computer you intend to use with it. If you typically use a notebook computer with XGA resolution, you will want a projector with the same native XGA resolution in order to get the sharpest and cleanest image. Similarly, if you normally use a computer with higher than XGA output, such as SXGA+, you will get the best picture from a projector that has the same native resolution.

Projectors on the market today are capable of projecting input signals other than their native resolutions. For example, you can usually hook up an XGA computer to an older SVGA projector. The projector will automatically convert the incoming 1,024 x 768 signal to its native 800 x 600 output. However, there is always a loss of sharpness and detail in the process, so you will end up with a picture that is not as sharp or clear as if the incoming signal had been in the projector's native resolution.

This loss of sharpness also happens if you plug an XGA computer into a higher-resolution SXGA projector. You will usually get a decent image, but the conversion from 1,024 x 768 input to a 1,280 x 1,024 output will produce some softness that you may not appreciate after having spent the money for an SXGA projector. The loss in quality incurred by making a small resolution larger is generally less severe than that incurred by making a large resolution smaller.

The projector's process of converting a different input format to its native output format is called scaling. Making a small resolution large is known as upconversion, while making a large image small is known as compression. Some projectors are very good at scaling, so the resulting image softness is relatively minor, and quality degradation is almost negligible.

What brightness is right for you?

There are four primary considerations when choosing your projector's brightness.

0. How many people will typically be in the room? This determines the size of the projected image that is required for easy viewing by everyone present. As the number of people in the room increases, the image size must increase. This diminishes the perceived brightness of the projector as the light is spread over a larger area.
0. How much light is in the room? A dark room will provide the best image regardless of projector brightness. However, most meetings require some lighting for note-taking and eye contact. A room where the lights cannot be turned off or dimmed from within the room or where windows cannot be blocked or covered will require a bright projector. The same bright projector placed in a perfectly dark room will likely give your audience a headache, so this is a critical factor.
0. What kind of projection screen is available? This can have a profound effect on the image brightness and quality. Most projection screens today provide significant light reflection, making even a relatively low brightness projector look good in the proper setting. If the room lacks a projection screen, as is sometimes common in a mobile sales presentation, you will be better served by a high brightness projector since walls are poor reflectors of light.
0. What is your application? Applications such as training and workgroups will demand more brightness because these applications also require more room light for note taking and communication. Applications that use presentation graphics, photographs, or video are more likely to be shown in a darkened room, and therefore do not require as much light output. If the projector will serve multiple locations either within a building or because of traveling, consider your most demanding setting.

In today's market, projectors can be grouped by ANSI lumen output as follows:

• Less than 1000 lumens - these are the lowest light output projectors available today, and they are typically the least expensive. For display of training videos and still photography in a darkened room, projectors in this category may be perfect for your needs. Keep in mind that the low light output means that you will want to make your presentations in a dark or dimly lit room so that the image on the screen is not washed out by ambient room light.
• 1000 to 2000 lumens - this lumen range is a step up in performance and price. These machines are suitable for normal business conference room and classroom use. Presentations should be done with the room lighting reduced somewhat for best screen viewing. A completely dark room is usually not necessary.
• 2000 to 3000 lumens - this represents the high-performance range of the portable and semi-portable projectors. Products in this class are suitable for large conference rooms and classrooms. They offer more flexibility in terms of ambient room light, since the image is bright enough that a reasonable amount of room light can be tolerated without washing out the image. They also offer more flexibility in terms of audience size, since they produce enough lumens to properly light a larger screen.
• 3000 lumens and up - these ultra-bright projectors are in several performance classes unto themselves, ranging from 3000 lumens up to 12000 lumens or more. Prices of these products also cover a wide range depending on other performance characteristics. They are used in a variety of large venue applications, including board rooms, conference rooms, training rooms, auditoriums, churches, concerts, nightclubs, and so forth.

How much should it weigh?

Another consideration in selecting the ideal projector is its weight. If you are on the road a lot, you probably want the lightest, most portable machine available that still fits your resolution and brightness needs. Check out the wide assortment of portable projectors under 7 pounds.

If you travel occasionally, but want a bit more performance and are willing to carry a heavier unit to get it, take a close look at the projectors in the 7 to 10 pound weight range. As a class, these very portable projectors are brighter and more fully featured than the sub-7 pounders.

If you don't intend to travel with the projector, but still want the ability to move it around the office, from classroom to classroom, or to take it home on weekends, there are many excellent products in the 10 to 15 pound range that should be considered.

Finally, if you are going to use the projector in a specific place and have no need to move it around, weight is not an issue. So you should ignore it and make your selection on other cost and performance factors.

           Home Cinema Projectors

   What aspect ratio do you want?

When we talk about 4:3 and 16:9 formats we're talking about the rectangular shape of the video image, or what is called its aspect ratio. A standard TV has an aspect ratio of 4:3. That means the picture is four units wide for every three units of height. The HDTV standard is 16:9, which is 16 units of width for every 9 units of height. So HDTV's 16:9 is horizontally wider than regular TV, which by comparison looks almost square.

Here's the problem: any given projector or TV comes in its own native format--typically either 4:3 or 16:9. On the other hand, movies and video come in many different aspect ratio formats. TV programs and videos intended for regular TV are done in 4:3 format, often denoted "1.33:1" since 4 divided by 3 = 1.33. On the other hand, programs made for HDTV are in 16:9 format, which is 1.78:1 (16 divided by 9 = 1.78).

However, these are not the only two formats that video material comes in. Movies, music videos, and other content on DVD comes in a variety of formats including 1.33, 1.78, 1.85, 2.00, 2.35, 2.4, 2.5, and so on. So there is no universal standard for the rectangular shape of a video picture. But one thing is clear: no matter which format projector you get, either 4:3 or 16:9, it will NOT fit all the video material you will want to watch in its native frame. Since there is no perfect solution, what is the right way to set up your system?

The most popular choice for a home theater system is to go with a 16:9 projector and a 16:9 screen. But some people still like the more classic format of a 4:3 projector with a 4:3 screen, since all classic films prior to 1953 were made in this format. And today there is a lot of interest in dedicated super-widescreen 2.35:1 systems as well.

What is resolution?

A projector's resolution (or more precisely, its "native resolution") is simply the number of pixels that it has available to create an image. The higher the resolution of a projector, the more pixels it has.

Projectors come in a variety of different resolutions, including the following:

• 854x480: This is the least expensive and lowest resolution on the market. It is designed for optimum display of standard definition material in NTSC countries, since both NTSC television signals and standard DVDs contain 480-lines per frame of video. An 854x480 projector can display 480-line video without any vertical scaling, so the picture will look its sharpest. If you live in an NTSC country, you watch primarily DVD and television, and want to get a good basic projector for the least cash outlay, the 854x480 models may be just right for you.


• 1024x576: There are few projectors in this resolution these days, but you can still find them on the used projector market. They were designed for optimum display of PAL/SECAM video, which contains 576 lines per frame. They have little practical use in NTSC countries. But if you live in a PAL or SECAM country, these can be inexpensive alternatives that are ideally suited to viewing standard definition PAL/SECAM video.


• 1280x720: This is currently the most popular home theater projector resolution on the market. Most 1280x720 projectors offer very good to excellent DVD video quality. In addition, they have the unique advantage of being able to display HDTV 720p in native format without scaling. They also do a beautiful job of displaying 1080-line video; even though the signal is compressed into its 720-line format, it still comes out looking like true high definition. Street prices on the most aggressively priced models have dropped below $1,000, so this excellent resolution format is easy to get into from a budget perspective.


• 1280x768: This is a hybrid resolution that combines the ability to display 16:9 video in 1280x720, as well as standard computer resolutions XGA (1024x768) and WXGA (1280x768), in native form without scaling. If your viewing material includes both video and computer data or Internet surfing, this format will allow you to see the computer data signals in their clearest, unscaled form. Note that this is a 15:9 aspect ratio rather than 16:9 as are the others in this list. So when you are viewing 16:9 video material, there will be small black bars at the top and bottom of the projected image. That is the penalty you pay for having those extra 48 lines available to accommodate XGA computer signals.


• 1920x1080: The ultimate high definition format, and also the most expensive. The key advantage to this resolution is that it will display HDTV 1080i signals, as well as 1080i and 1080p signals from HD DVD and Blu-ray disc players, all in native format without any scaling. This gives you the sharpest and most detailed images available today. Due to the pixel density, visible pixel structure is virtually non-existent.

Selecting the right resolution for you

We currently recommend two resolutions for widescreen, 16:9 format home theater, those being 1280x720 and 1920x1080. If you want your projector to double as both a video and data projector, the 1280x768 format should be considered as well.

The 1280x720 format is the best choice if you have a more modest budget and/or you don't want to pay a large premium to get the absolute maximum detail out of a 1080i or 1080p video signal. Today's 1280x720 projectors (often referred to in shorthand as "720p projectors") deliver beautiful high definition images from HDTV 720p, 1080i, as well as HD DVD and Blu-ray disc players, so there really is not much of a compromise in picture quality by going with 1280x720 instead of the higher resolution 1920x1080 format.

On the other hand, if you have the money to spend, and you want the absolute sharpest and most detailed picture possible from high definition sources, then 1920x1080 projectors (commonly referred to as "1080p projectors") are the best choice. While the 1280x720 projectors can deliver very impressive HD images, the picture quality in terms of image detail is even better when the projector has the ability to show all 1080 lines of the signal in their native, uncompressed format.

Why is contrast so important?

With business projectors, lumen output is of primary importance, and contrast is a secondary concern. Home theater projectors are the exact opposite. Contrast is arguably the single most important measurable quality in a home theater projector. A high contrast projector produces a picture with a rich, dynamic look, good shadow definition, and deep color saturation. Contrast gives "depth" to video images. A projector with excellent contrast can make a two-dimensional image appear almost three-dimensional.

Contrast Ratios

The contrast ratios noted on a projector's spec sheet can be reported in one of two ways. If it just says "Contrast," it usually indicates On/Off contrast, which is the ratio of the whitest white and the darkest black that the projector is capable of producing. If it says "ANSI contrast," the ratio has been determined by displaying a checkerboard pattern of white and black squares and measuring the relative brightness of each. On/Off contrast is always a larger number, and more typically listed on projector spec sheets, but ANSI contrast is a more accurate representation of what your projector is actually capable of during normal use.

Typical Contrast Specifications

Some typical On/Off contrast figures for home theater projectors are as follows:

• 2000:1

  There are many entry-level projectors rated at 2000:1 on/off contrast. 2000:1 is typically enough to give satisfying black levels and color saturation, enough to avoid the sense of flatness or muddiness in a picture.

• 5000:1

  Projectors rated at 5000:1 are usually capable of better blacks than 2000:1 projectors, and shadow details are better defined. In today's market, 5000:1 represent the midrange of performance for good home theater projectors.

• 10000:1

  As of this writing, if you want the best contrast that money can buy, you want a projector rated at 10000:1 contrast or higher. These projectors offer deep, inky black levels and excellent shadow detail that should be sufficient for even the most demanding content.

  Dark Room Needed for Best Results

  You've noticed that commercial movie theaters are dark, including dark ceilings and walls. That is because any front projection system looks its best when there is no light in the room. Once you introduce ambient light into the room, that light will hit the screen and make blacks look more like dark gray. This reduces the contrast of the image, and makes it look flat or washed out. And this will happen no matter what the contrast capability of your projector is.

  Though the ideal viewing room is dark, most people don't want to darken the walls and ceiling of a living room or multipurpose room just to get ideal theater conditions. Today's high contrast gray screens help to hold black levels solid when there is some ambient or reflected light bouncing from light colored surfaces in the room back onto the screen. But for the best possible image quality for any home theater, take whatever steps you can to eliminate ambient light and reduce the reflectivity of the room's walls and ceiling.