In the
summer, even less, outdoor cinemas take a long time. If you are lucky enough to
live in a townhouse or villa with a garden, you could set up your own sessions
with the neighbors.
Or maybe
next year you want to party when there is a big game or ride private movie
passes with friends, as a couple or maybe just.
The common
thing about all these situations is that you're going to need a video projector
along with a screen, or if it's flawed, a white wall or something similar.
But which
projector should I choose? The most expensive? What should I look for when I go
to the store or read a catalog? Which one best suits my needs?
With the
following guide, which we will complete with a selection of projectors of
various prices and characteristics, we want to help you to choose what is
surely an important purchase at home.
First of
all, we should clearly define what we mainly want the projector for. We should
not buy the same model if we want to use it especially in presentations, where
resolution and size will prevail over other aspects, or if we are going to use
it to watch a video at home with the light always off. And why do I want a
projector that gets a 300-inch image if I don't have space at home to put it 15
meters from the screen?
The data
that we are going to inform you in this special Engadget are rather general,
but we can say that in the end, we will be able to choose the best projector to
see video at home and occasionally be able to make a presentation. It is
difficult to find a perfect projector for everything: when it has good
features, for one thing, it tends to show deficiencies in others.
The first
thing we are going to see are the technologies that are used today to generate
the images in the projectors. There are three, LCD, DLP and LED:
LCD: It is the technology present in many
models, and it is based on the same philosophy as the screens, only that here
the image is projected then.
DLP: They are more current than the LCD,
they use different technologies so each one has its advantages and drawbacks,
but in performance, they are getting very close lately. Normally, we choose a
projector by the set of features, not by the technology used. In this case, the
image is created by microscopic mirrors arranged in a matrix on a semiconductor
chip, in which each mirror represents a pixel in the projected image.
LED: It is the newest of the three that
we can find in the market, and is based on the light emitting diodes. The
advantages relate mainly to the lower consumption, the longer the bulb life but
with the disadvantage that at the moment there are not achieved large figures
in terms of luminosity, a factor as we will see determinant to choose a
projector.
Since we
have touched on the theme of light bulbs, we stop a little to reflect on them.
They are without a doubt the most delicate and critical link of a projector, at
least of its useful life. This usually covers between 700 and about 2,000 hours
of use, which depending on what you use the projector can be longer or less.
Not to mention that they have a higher consumption than a television.
The fact is
that in the end the lamp will end up spoiling and that would generate an extra
expense. It is important to combine the useful life with the price that it
costs us to change it, as well as to see if it is easy to do by ourselves. In
general, the price of lamps is usually high, sometimes even above a third of
the price of the projector.
But don't
worry, this is inevitable until the LED technology is implanted more
extensively. And there are also a number of acts that we can carry out to
increase the useful life of the same, or at least, that the cycle is fulfilled
exactly, which is usually 2 or 3 years:
Tips for keeping the projector lamp
alive
• Do
not move the projector when the lamp is still hot.
• Avoid dust, as it would melt before, for
which we must keep the filters clean and that is why it is important to buy a
projector that has good access to them.
• Do not touch with your hands, as the fat
could cause your melting before.
• Keep the projector well ventilated, as the
heat also precipitates the filament to spoil.
Once you
have seen these important points, we will see the features that we have to look
at with magnifying glass to make sure we choose the best projector possible:
Resolution:
An important factor to consider especially depending on what we are
going to use the projector is the resolution. If for example, we are going to
see video coming from a DVD, it is not very critical that it is not the very
big resolution, but for example, if we want the presentations with text and
graphics to be seen properly, the resolution must accompany. And we're not even
talking about the case where we want to see high definition video. If we do not
want the system to reduce the resolution we will have to do with one of the new
projectors that offer high-resolution images. A reference for not being short
or too long is the 1024x768.
Luminosity:
This is perhaps the key factor in which we should look at a projector.
The bigger it is, the more expensive the projector will cost but the more
options we have. If what we are looking for is a projector to see home theater
with lights off, with one of between 1,000 and 1,500 lumens is good and fine.
If we think we will use it in presentations where it will be light on or
outdoors, the more luminosity we obtain, the better the image will be, so we
are talking about 2,500 or more lumens. In the case of the size of the
projected image, if we want it to be large, better luminosity as it will be
distributed and if we have enough, we won't notice the size increase.
Weight and size: If we are looking for a projector
that we are going to move a lot, we have to take care of its size and weight.
If there are no problems with this, the search is simplified. The option to
mount it on the roof can be considered important if we believe it.
Screen size is achieved: Not always the greatest is the best.
We just saw that if we want a very large image we will need more luminosity and
that costs money and suffering for the lamp. In addition, this will lose
brightness with the passing of hours of use. Besides, it makes no sense to buy
a model that offers us 400 inches of a maximum image and then need 20 meters of
distance between screen and projector. Therefore, the inches should correspond
to the distance we can or want to place the projector. There are models, as we
will see later, that have optimized this aspect to offer great sizes with
little separation distance
Contrast: In general, more contrast will
improve the image.
Connections: The more it takes much better, it
opens the fan to connect video sources or information. The connection for the
computer, VGA and S-video are essential. Much better if we add the DVI and if
we want high definition, the HDMI is already a necessity (if it accompanies the
resolution of the projector)
EXTRAS: They are less important but they can
make us decide on a product very similar to another. We are talking about
aspects like the one that takes the projector a good integrated sound
(loudspeakers), remote control, zoom or the more and more common digital
improvements for the image.
With this,
we finish the first part of this special that we hope has helped you to clarify
concepts for when you see yourself in the need to buy a video projector.
In the next
installment, in a few days, we will leave you with the selection of projectors
that we have chosen in Engadget.
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