Projectors: General Advice and Information
Projector Advice and Info: Sections
Special Projector Reports
General Projector Articles and Advice
General Business/Education Projector Advice
FAQ's and Awards
Misc. Topics
Projector Positioning and Lens Options
Sources (High def., DVD...)
LCD vs. DLP_vs. LCoS
Cables, Extenders and Outboard Processors
Projector Screens
Tradeshow Reports
Our Special Projector Reports
The 2010 Pico Projector and Pocket Projector Report
This report covers 5 different pico projectors and 1 pocket projector. The aim here is to cover the size, performance, and functionality of these mini projectors. There is a large difference in resolution, input selection, brightness, and picture quality you should be aware of.
Classroom Projector Report: Best School Projectors for K12
Published in time for the 2011-2012 school year. This thorough report considers 16 projectors reviewed, plus info on 60 others recommended for schools. Picking the most efficient projector will maximize your investment. Find out which projectors won the Best In Classroom awards. This is a must-read for the education projector buyer.
The 1080p Home Theater Projector Comparison Report - 2010
A comparison report of the best home theater projectors (1080p) that are priced under $10,000. Read this report for an in-depth look at the latest HD technologies for Home Theater Projectors and Home Entertainment Projectors on the market within this price-range. Look for the 2011 report in April-May.
Projector Articles and Information
Projector Review Blog
Art Feierman is a respected authority on the latest trends in business and home theater projector technology. Get the projector insight you're looking for, and stay up to date on the latest reviews, press releases, and industry news.
Home Theater Projector Technology
A guide to projector technologies to assist buyers in choosing the best home theater projector. Helpful resources for topics such as The Rainbow Effect, The Screen Door Effect, Projector Lamp Life, HDMI inputs, Projector Distance, and more!
A Guide To Pico Projectors
These tiny projectors are new. They are fun. Are they practical? We look at performance, features and alternatives. We take a look at the Pico Projector design, its capabilities, and its limitations. We also discuss the possibly future of this technology over the couple years.
DLP vs. 3LCD vs. LCoS Technology
A practical look at some of the key differences between the various types of home theater projectors. Just a couple of years ago there were 3LCD projectors, single chip DLPs, and 3 chip DLP projectors. Today, LCoS is the superior technology for the home theatre projectors under $10,000. Get the full story.
1080p vs 720p Home Theater Projectors
Find out which resolution of high-definition projectors makes the most sense for your needs. There's a balance between projector technology, its price point, and the viewer experience. How easy is it to see the extra detail and sharpness of a 1080p model projector, compared to a similar 720p model?
Business Projectors
How to choose the best multimedia projector for presentations that meet your business goals and your budget. What are the technologies that will fit your needs? What is the price point your business, classroom, or facility, should expect? Get a detailed analysis on practicle, entry-level projectors, to the best money can buy.
Programmable Remotes
Everything you ever wanted to know about the technology and features found in today's universal remote controls. Most of us know how annoying it is to deal with 3 to 5 remotes at a time. The universal remote solves this problem. Find out what will work best for you.
Projector Screens
Buying the right projector screen is critical to getting the most enjoyment out of your home theater system. We show you how to choose the best screen materials.
Everyone buying a video projector should have a screen. There are many well known projector screen manufacturers in the US, including Da-Lite, Draper, Carada, Vutec, Elite, Stewart Filmscreen, Screen Innovations to nae a few. Stewart is a premium brand, with several reference screens, but there are other excellent screens for more moderate pricing. We have articles to help you choose the correct projector screen surface, explain tensioned screens, positioning the projector screen, what type of screens best reject ambient room light, and much more, in this guide to Projector Screens.
We occasionally review projector screens, and plan to increase the number of projector screen reviews to 3 or 4 projector screens per year. You will find articles and information about projector screens, pull down projector screens, motorized projector screens, portable projector screens, and inflatable projector screens.
Our projector screen reviews focus primarily on those projector screens that work best in home theaters, as well as specialty projector screens and lightweight portable projector screens.
Guide to Projector Lamps
A Projector Lamp, also known as the Projector Bulb, is the costly part of the projector that needs to be replaced according the projector's lamp life that is usually around 1,000 hours to 2,000 hours. This is a commonly overlooked maintenance expense, and definitely something you should be prepared to budget for. Calculating the cost of projector lamp replacements over time, is easily done by estimating how long it will take to reach the specified hours of lamp life. This article covers projector lamp technologies such as: Ultra High Performance, Xenon Arc Technology, NSH, and P-VIP. Get in the know, and read this article before purchasing a projector.
Projector Rainbow Effect
The Rainbow Effect, also called RBE, is a stroboscopic affect that creates flashes of red, green, and blue. 1-chip DLP projectors are the only types of projectors that have this issue resulting from its fast spinning color filter wheels. 3-chip DLP projectors no longer have this Rainbow Effect issue but are quite a bit more expensive
Projector Screen Door Effect
While watching a movie on your home theater projector, there's nothing more annoying than the image distorting, as if you viewing the picture through a screen door. The screen door effect, or projector SDE, happens as a result of pixel structure visibility. We discuss the three major projector technologies and how susceptible they are to the SDE issues.
Variable Lens Shift for a Home Theater Projector
This article discusses how Variable Lens Shift can keep your images rectangular while determining the optimal place to position your home theater projector.
Home Theater Projector Brightness
Properly positioning your home theater projector can double the amount of brightness output. Read this article, and optimize the performance you're getting from your projector.
Projector Resolution
Traditional digital projectors project an image on to a screen that has the same shape as a traditional computer monitor – (4:3), and these include the following resolutions: SVGA projectors (low resolution) XGA projectors, (the most common resolution), SXGA+ (extremely high resolution) and UXGA (starting at $30,000).However, many new projectors, especially those for home theater project an HDTV shaped image (16:9), and they are referred to as widescreen projectors. On the home theater projector front, those are organized into 720p projectors and 1080p projectors.
What are the best Education projectors?
A wide range of projectors, both LCD and DLP are available for the classroom, lab, and other education applications. Many projectors designed for classrooms now feature more and better speakers to handle the room without the need of external speakers, saving significant cost.
Technologies used in Front Projectors:
- LCD projectors
- DLP projectors
- LCOS projectors - including JVC's D-iLA, Sony's SXRD, and Canon's Realis
- LED projectors (those cute little, and so far, very dim) 1 pound or smaller battery powered projectors) LED refers to the light source, so, an LED projector can have a DLP engine, for example.
Unlike years ago, virtually all of today's digital projectors handle both data and video sources, even though they may still be referred to as data projectors, video projectors, digital projectors, etc.
Projector Review FAQ
Here we answer some frequently asked questions about projectors, plus about our equipment, how we select projectors to review, and what goes into each projector reviewing process.
The Technology of Home Theater Projectors and Systems - A Guide to Assist Buyers - posted 2008-9
Projector Lamp Life and Brightness
Projector Brightness, Zoom Lens and Throw Distance
Projector HDMI Sources and Switching
Projector HDMI 1.3 and Deep Color
Blu-Ray vs HD-DVD - Finally Getting Affordable - 12/15/2007
HD-DVD vs Blu-Ray - Update - 08/22/2007
HD-DVD vs Blu-Ray - What Really Matters - 9/2006
Home Theater Projectors - For "The Rest of Us" - 09/2006
Projectors for those of us who can't always darken our rooms, or just don't want to (sports fans, pay attention!)
Home Theater Projectors - Top rated and Popular Projectors in the past- 12/28/2006 (see our annual 1080p reports for newer lists of top rated projectors)
Choosing Home Theater Projectors: LCD vs. DLP Projectors - 8/21/2005
High contrast ratios, brightness, setup and use, seating distances, are some of the areas where there are typically significant differences between projectors using LCD and DLP technologies.
Home Theater Projectors: What Your Money Will Buy Today - 3/12/2005
An overview starting with under $1000 entry level projectors, hot projectors from around $2000-$5000, and even the really high end gear.
General Business/Education Projector Advice
Business Projectors: What Your Money Will Buy - 4/2006
Business Projectors: What Your Money Will Buy - 3/2005
Selecting the Right Business Projector: An In-Depth Look - 10/19/2004
This is a pretty long, comprehensive article with many sections. Scan it, jump around, or read it through. It should answer most of your questions.
Using Business Projectors in the Home - 10/19/2004
If you can't really darken your room, a "business" projector might make sense, but, don't expect brightness "miracles."
Choosing Projectors for K-12 Education: SVGA or XGA Resolution? - 4/2006
Lower resolution projectors mean more projectors for your budget dollars. This often makes sense, but probably not in computer labs.
Projectors - FAQ's and Awards
About our Hot Product Award for Home Theater Projectors - 4/2006
FAQ: Frequently Asked Questions
Equipment we use, selecting projectors to review, technical questions, more...
Projectors: Misc. Topics
Visit our European (Sweden, to be precise) friends at TestSeek.com. These nice folks aggregate projector reviews and provide combined ratings, based on individual reviews from us, and some others. They do the same for lots of electronics products.
Projector Positioning and Lens Options
Projector Reviews Article: The Advantages of Variable Lens Shift, in Placing Your Home Theater Projector -
If your projector isn't placed at the specified height relative to the screen, the image will keystone. We look at variable lens shift, and how it can fix that problem.
Projector Sources (High def., DVD...)
Choosing and setting up a DVD player for your home theater projector - 7/13/2005
How much to spend, what features? Digital or Component outputs, Audio?
3LCD vs. DLP vs. LCos
DLP, 3LCD and LCoS - 2008: Use in home theater projectors - advantages and disadvantages of each 6/13/2008
DLP Projector or LCD Projector - Which works best for you - 3/4/2006
Choosing Home Theater Projectors: LCD vs. DLP Projectors - 8/21/2005
High contrast ratios, brightness, setup and use, seating distances, are some of the areas where there are typically significant differences between projectors using LCD and DLP technologies.
Cables, Extenders and Outboard Processors
No articles available at this time, but here is a review:
Gefen CAT-5 HDMI Extender: EXT-HDTV-CAT5 - 2/9/2006
Projector Screens
Projector Screen Reviews Directory
Projection Screens Terminology and Advice: Factors in deciding which projector screen is right for you. - 10/27/2005
Why Projector Screen Quality Matters...A Lot - 10/27/2005
An intro to choosing a quality projector screen, this article is provided by Stewart Filmscreen.
Choosing Projector Screens: Frames, Borders and Trim - 10/17/2005
Make sure you order the right projector screen. The right dimensions are just the beginning.
Buying a Projector Screen, Special orders, Restocking fees - 8/27/2005
Ordering a projector screen, most screens are "special order". Get it right the first time to avoid large restocking fees.
Calculating Projector Screen Dimensions for 16:9 projectors - 8/21/2005
Here's how to compute height and width dimensions of a projector screen from the diagonal dimension, and how to calculate diagonal and height starting with projector screen width.
Choosing the Right Projection Screen Surface Material For Your Home Theater Projector System - 5/20/2005
Plain matte surface projector screens, high contrast screens (gray and white), and high contrast screens: Which will work best in your home theater?
Home Theater Projectors at CES 2011 - 1/11/2011
Pico Projectors at CES 2011 - 1/6/2011
Home Theater Projector Sightings at CEDIA 2010 - 9/25/2010
3D Projectors at InfoComm 2010 - 6/16/2010
Home Theater Projectors at CEDIA 2009 Part 1 and Part 2 - 9/15 and 9/16/2009
Home Theatre Projector Report from CEDIA 2007 - 9/10/2007
Check out some of the announced new home theater projectors from Epson, Sanyo, JVC, Sony, Panasonic, Optoma, and more!
Home Theatre Projector Report from CEDIA 2006
Home Theater Projector Report from CEDIA 2005 - 9/13/2005
Check out some of the announced new home theater projectors from top brands including SIM2, Epson, DPI, Yamaha, Marantz, and more.