A good 800x600 projector is about 1/4 the price of a 1280x1024 -- is the difference worth it?
Matt, I work in the multimedia services department at a laboratory. Among many other things (graphic design/art, video, flash, etc), we are in charge of the lab's AV stuff (there are a bunch of conference rooms and an auditorium and whatnot). I use MC on a big screen all the time. ;-)
Looking for a projector there are a couple of major things I would consider.
1. Will it move?
The larger "desktop" or "installation" projectors are usually just plain better projectors. They offer more inputs, more lumens (brighter picture), and usually much better color accuracy and more control. Plus, they are usually built better and often have longer warranties. Some even offer an ultra-cool monitor-over-network type feature (yes, you plug in a network cable). The downside? Well, they are big and bulky, and usually a little more expensive (they are afterall the cool ones, unless you go for the "ultra-portable" type when you are paying for the low weight). For these, we have had great luck with Mitsubishi and Sony projectors.
2. What will you use it for most (general computing/music/graphics-type-stuff or Movies and TV)?
I mention this because there are two basic types of projectors, LCD and DLP.
LCD projectors use actual little LCD screens (IIRC translucent ones). They have the benefit of being much brighter (check the ANSI lumens ratings), and some would say have fewer artifacts. The downside is that their color accuracy isn't on par with the DLP projectors (check the max contrast ratio ratings - bigger difference is better). Basically, they have trouble reproducing "true black" which makes the dark scenes in many "dark" movies looked washed out (the "true black" areas are really dark gray which matches the "really" dark gray areas in the frame).
DLP projectors use this amazing "super-multi-mirror" device. Ccheck out TI's web site (
http://www.dlp.com/?DCMP=TIHomeTracking&HQS=Other+OT+home_dlp) - they invented it I think. They are somewhat the opposite, not as bright, better black. I have seen talk that some of them (probably the cheaper ones) do create some artifacts, especially a kind of "rainbow" pattern). We haven't seen it, but our 3 DLP's are fairly new expensive ones. I love our HP DLP projector for movies, and its TINY. It only works well in the dark though ...
3. Dark or light?
Pretty darn important. The projector doesn't do any good if you can't see it. Be careful though, 10,000 ANSI lumens will wash everything out though (and burn a huge hole in your pocket besides).
If you will be using the projector in a room that will often need to have its lights on, or has a bunch of nice big windows, and will want to use the projector at the same time (to watch TV for example) I would recommend at
least 2000 lumens. Less than that can get ugly. Most of ours (except the beautiful HP) are 3500 lumens and work splendidly. We still need to close the blinds a lot of the time though.
4. Resolution?
I would look for a
minimum 800x600 native that supports up to 1024x786 compressed. In my opinion, it would be worth it to go with a projector that does 1024x768 native if I could. Keep in mind that much like plasma screens, projectors have a native resolution (which is the resolution that it really does) and a compressed resolution (which just "drops" some of the pixels so you don't have to change your resolution on your computer ... most do an interpolation type thing, but still). That's assuming most of your use is going to be through a computer of course. If you will mostly be using it for TV, DVDs, and console gaming, then 800x600 is fine.
Other than that, I strongly agree that you should check AVS, that place is great. There are also some nice reviews at
http://www.projectorcentral.com/ so I would check that out.
Hope I helped a little!
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Topic: OT: Media Center on the Bigscreen (Read 2488 times)