HD Projectors – Have The Days Of Closing The Curtains During The Day Finally Gone?

We are entering a new era in sound and vision, the “High Definition era”. Everything these days is HD, 1080p, 1080i, High Contrast….etc, etc. But what does it all mean? And what does this mean for the future of the age old projector?

If you look back in history the Projector was here first, before the TV, the Games consoles, the HD this and that…it was first. It was how man first learnt to project moving images onto a viewing platform. And it is still here today. Albeit in it new improved, all singing and dancing versions.

So you’re ready to move into the HD era; you’ve got your Playstation 3, your Xbox 360 and/or your Blu-Ray player. You plug it into your TV, and “voila!”… or maybe not. The picture is fuzzy, unclear, or not what you had been expecting. Why? Because the TV set you are using is not HD Ready. What does this mean? Well, it’s a bit like putting a Ferrari engine in a Ford Fiesta. The Playstation 3 is producing a powerful flow of information (images and moving picture) and passing them down the cable to your TV set. But your TV set doesn’t have the capability to handle this amount of information. So it discards 90% of it and does it’s best to produce a half decent image. This is why you need a HD Ready TV, or even better a HD Ready projector to produce a High Definition image in its full glory.

Gone are the days of closing all the curtains to be able to wince at a feint image on the living room wall. These days, HD projectors have power, clarity and precision. They are capable of producing images which are equivalent, if not better than the best HD Ready TV. The projected image is clearly viewable on any white surface. No need for closing the curtains or dimming the lights!

So your ready to take the HD plunge, you have cash in hand, and your ready to buy your HD projector…..hmm…which one?!! There are so many choices!!

Ok, we are going to try and make it as straightforward as possible.

The first and most important factor is the native projector resolution. The most common resolutions are 480p (WVGA), 720p (WXGA) and the latest 1080p (UWXGA). The “W” means widescreen. Basically the higher the resolution, the sharper and clearer the picture is. Also a higher resolution ensures future compatibility with the latest products, such as the Playstation 3 or HD TV broadcasts. This is an important issue when making such a large purchase.

It is recommended to purchase a HD projector with at least a 720p resolution or if you can afford it a full HD 1080p projector as this will last for years into the future. Having said this, if you only intend to watch a DVD player on the projector, then a 480p projector is perfectly adequate and is much cheaper!

The next thing to consider is Contrast Ratio. This is the difference between the White and Black parts of the images. So, if you have a contrast ratio of 20000:1 - then the black is 20000 times darker than the white part of the image. Again, this will make the image clearer and more life like. The best way to explain this is this….imagine you sit down to watch the latest All Blacks Game, but the All Blacks Kit is actually a slight grey rather than a sheer black. This would mean the TV or projector has a low contrast ratio, the black is not completely black, you get the idea?

Another very important factor is the life of the lamp. Typically the lamp life will be between 2000 and 4000 hours. And Lamps are expensive, around £100-£250 depending on the model of the projector. The stated lamp life is actually its half-life not its full life to the point of failure. The lamp is tested to the point where it starts to lose brightness (usually half way through its life) and this is stated on the specifications as the lamp life. Also, you can prolong the life of the lamp by good usage. Powering down the projector, rather than just removing the power, and cleaning the filters regularly all help in prolonging lamp life.

Another thing that most people don’t consider is screen size.

How much size do you have available? Bigger is not always better. There is nothing worse than proudly setting up your HD projector and then realizing that the picture engulfs the whole room! Check the screen size you have available and the throw distance (how far you have from the front of the projector to the wall) and you can then decide which projector is best for you.

Also, you will get the best from your investment with a projector screen. They are specifically made for the job and with return a clearly sharper and all round better picture than any wall will no matter how flat or white the wall may be. There are a full range of electric retractable screens available today, which, with one click of the remote, you can look like James Bond in the comfort of your own home!!

We hope that we have gone some way to explaining the complexities of the High Definition revolution. Prepare yourself. It’s going to be an enjoyable ride.