LCD Projectors

The LCD projectors category includes the latest projectors used for home theater systems, businesses, and schools. See below for a list of LCD projector reviews and information pages.

LCD ("Liquid Crystal Display") projectors have traditionally displayed rich color saturation and image sharpness on the market. The term LCD projector encompasses all models using LCD technology, whereas "3LCD" is a trade brand and does not include some projectors. For example, some higher-end Sanyo business projectors sport four panels instead of the typical three, with a yellow panel added to the traditional LCD red, green and blue. This provides better color accuracy and improved saturation.

An advantage of LCD business projectors is that when measuring brightness, which is normally done by measuring white, LCD projectors are comparably bright when colors are measured. Contrastly, most single chip DLP projectors for business and education purposes produce less color brightness than white brightness. This is something we discuss elsewhere and in reviews.

Here are some highlights of LCD projectors. They are known for a crisp, sharp look, especially when displaying data. And, while LCD portable projectors are typically larger in size than their DLP portable counterparts, they pack more punch than the competition. LCD is also the most popular technology available. Projector manufacturers using LCD technology claim over fifty percent of the world market, with Epson manufacturing the LCD panels for most other brands. LCD projectors also offer great placement flexibility. Few DLP are designed to be mounted on a rear wall, but almost any LCD home theater projector can be mounted on the rear wall or on the ceiling.

LCD technology, as well as the 3LCD chip architecture, is found in home theater projectors, office projectors, and portable projectors.

Popular home theater projector brands include: Sony, Panasonic, Epson, NEC, and InFocus.

The Difference Between LCD and DLP technology

LCD Projector Reviews

About LCD Projectors

There was a time when  people typically referred to most projectors as being LCD projectors, and at one point that was almost true. Today, however, most people are aware that there are three different technologies used in projectors. However, LCD projectors are still, by far, the best selling of the different types.

LCD stands for Liquid Crystal Display. Virtually all LCD projectors use three separate LCD panels – each do “greyscale” not color, but one has a red, one a green, and one, a blue filter.  Ultimately the light passes through each of the LCDs with filters, and then recombines into a single beam of light... Bingo! The light shoots out through the lens and on to the screen, giving rich colors.

Of the three technologies, LCD, DLP and LCoS, no one is better at all things than its competition - each has distinct advantages. LCD projectors produce the brightest image in the smallest package, and the images are clean and sharp. LCD projectors designed for business and education are also particularly known for great color compared to single-chip DLP projectors. While LCoS projectors also have great color, they are usually significantly more expensive than their kin, the LCD projectors. Furthermore, LCD projectors offer the greenest of the technologies, using lower wattage lamps but still producing brighter images than the competition.

In the home projector market, LCD projectors tend to dominate sales in all but the most entry-level price point, which consists of all DLP projectors. This is because, as of yet (end of 2010), there aren't any 1080p LCD projectors available for under $1,000.

In the business, education, and government segments, LCD projectors again outsell the other technologies, except when it comes to the very smallest and most portable projectors – under 2 pounds – that, so far seems to be primarily DLP.  On the very high end, LCD projectors offer more bang for the buck. However, the drastically more expensive 3-chip DLP projectors do outperform even the best LCD projectors in terms of overall picture quality (which is why they are used in digital cinemas). In fairness, those most expensive DLP projectors can be up to ten times the price of LCD projectors.

If you are interested in more about LCD projectors – in terms of how they differ from the other two technologies, and more on the advantages and disadvantages of each, check out our article comparing the practical aspects of each technology. 

For your consideration, here are links to reviews of three popular business / classroom LCD projectors, and three popular home theater models:

LCD Office Projectors

Canon LV8310 LCD Projector
Great color, bright, favored by photographers!

Epson Powerlite LCD Projector
Strong choice for classroom or business, with big feature set

Sanyo PLC-XD2200 LCD Projector
Affordable, very portable

Sony VPL-TX7 LCD Projector
Under 6 pounds and very economical

Popular LCD Home Theater Projectors Reviews

Panasonic PT-AE4000 LCD Projector
Perhaps the highest performance under $2000

Epson Home Cinema 8500UB LCD Projector
This is our favorite under $4000 home theater projector.  Art awarded it Best In Class, and Tony and Mike both bought one for their homes.

Sanyo PLV-Z700 LCD Projector
Just about the lowest cost 1080p home LCD projector