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You'll still want to check to make sure color isn't obviously off, or at least not annoyingly off, but spot-on color accuracy isn't as critical for home entertainment uses as it is in a light-controlled home theater space. Home projectors and business models can overlap more than you might expect. For portable models and some entry-level projectors, you'll often see little or no difference between home and business categories for how well the projectors handle film and video. Some manufacturers even include a subset of their models on lists for both categories. The entertainment-oriented Anker Nebula Mars II Pro has good brightness, resolution, and image quality for a mini projector, and it doubles as a Bluetooth sound system.
For room-to-room portability and backyard movies, consider first whether you're going to be using a large enough image to be able to see any difference between 1080p and 4K or even between 720p and 1080p. Any of these resolutions can be a good choice for these applications, depending on image size. Before 4K resolution reached the projector world , the resolution spec that mattered most was the native resolution of the imaging chips, meaning the actual number of pixels on the chips themselves. Lower-resolution chips can show higher-resolution material, but down-converting the image gives it a soft-focus look and can introduce artifacts. The 1080p Anker Nebula Solar Portable offers lots of desirable features, including support for 4K and HDR, built-in Android TV, and good brightness for its size and weight. Color accuracy isn't perfect, but it's good enough for most people to accept without a second thought.
So, Which Home Projector Should I Buy?
You can also read our guide to buying a projector and if you need more help, our home cinema projection experts are here to help. Any projector under $1,500 just isn’t going to deliver the home movie theater experience that you’re looking for. While Barco and Christie are big names in the world of projection, they mainly make devices for commercial cinemas and are typically not appropriate for home theater use. JVC home movie projectors are going to be an overall better option than either of these brands. Epson home cinema projectors are also known for having low lag making them great devices for video gamers. The high price tag will likely scare away most casual home cinema enthusiasts.
For business use, the common classes are business, education, and data projectors, which I'll refer to collectively as business projectors. You should take all of these divisions with a grain of salt, however. The ViewSonic X10-4KE delivers 4K UHD resolution, HDR, and built-in streaming, plus an excellent audio system. It's semi-portable—call it luggable—and its LED light source will last for years. The projector is only half the visual equation in a home movie theater.
Optoma CinemaX P2
The best home theater projectors today offer 4K (usually, that's 3,840-by-2,160-pixel) resolution and support for HDR , but for those on a budget, lots of 1080p projectors can still serve nicely. Resolutions lower than 1080p are best reserved for other applications. The smart move is to not make assumptions based on the projector category, and to check out the individual projector's features, and comments in reviews, instead.
Throw in the wireless subwoofer and the Alexa compatibility and you’ve got a soundbar that can control your smart home and sound great doing it.
Best Ultra Short Throw 4K Projector (With Android TV)
Portable models are expensive for their performance, but can work where there's no outlet. If you don't plan on ever using the projector away from your house, a traditional projector will be far brighter and can be used outside. For more options, check out our list of thebest outdoor projectors. For home theater, TV replacements, and gaming, 4K resolution is affordable enough today to be the preferred choice, while 1080p is the budget choice. Lower resolution costs still less, but even a 720p image will be noticeably soft-focus compared with 1080p at the image sizes you'll likely be using for these applications.
Optoma GT1090HDR Short Throw Laser Home Theater Projector Check Price Best for Small Spaces Bottom Line Great for creating a movie theater right in your home. Pros This projector is designed to work well when placed only about 4 feet from the wall. High quality and can be hung from the ceiling if desired. Epson EpiqVision Mini EF12 Smart Streaming Laser Projector Check Price Trusted Brand Bottom Line Compact and feature-rich, this home theater projector provides a movie theater-like viewing experience. Projectors for home theater don't need particularly high brightness. (More about brightness later.) The most important features to look for in specs and reviews include high contrast, good color accuracy, dark black levels, and good shadow detail.
Here's a brief look at the most common application categories and subcategories, and which features are most important for each. The Xgimi Aura delivers sharp picture and sound quality, a potentially huge image, and more bang for the buck than any of its closest competition. Since 1982, PCMag has tested and rated thousands of products to help you make better buying decisions.See how we test. You need to match your home projector's features to the applications you want it for. Here's how to find the right one, according to how you plan to use it.
If you’re ready to level up your home theater, or you simply want to replace your existing projector with a more advanced model, you’ve come to the right place! Read on for everything you need to know about home theater projectors. The home theater projectors page includes the latest projectors used for home theater and home entertainment. See below for a list of reviews of home theater projectors, and also information pages. Mini projectors are projectors small enough to hold easily in one hand. They're incredibly portable, but they're not as bright nor do they look as good as their larger counterparts.
Their brightness and contrast can fall almost anywhere on the scale, and the onboard audio can range from barely there to impactful enough for a big family room. This price range varies based on the lumens, resolution, color gamut, light source and other included features. If you want to move movie night outdoors, you have a few options. We generally recommend, when possible, to use a regular home projector and run an extension cord. Home projectors will offer far better, brighter images, for the same or less money than portable projectors. The Optoma UHZ50uses a blue laser and a yellow phosphor to create some incredibly bright, ultracolorful images.
Check out comments in reviews for any projector you're considering. Epson offers a full range of home cinema projectors so you can bring the big screen into your house. Epson projectors are built using Advanced 3LCD chipset technology to ensure that 100% of the RGB color signal is displayed in every single frame. This produces an outstanding color gamut while maintaining excellent brightness, without any “rainbowing” or “color brightness” issues seen with other projection technologies. If you want the most immersive film watching experience you need to get a home theater projector and not a “business” or “commercial” projector.
That said, the Epson 3800 still provides a fantastic visual experience and is a great choice for those building their home theater on a budget. This low cost movie room projector from the brilliant engineers at Epson offers vivid colors and provides enough brightness to function admirably in a moderately lit living room. One thing most projector manufacturers don’t mention in the marketing materials is just how noisy projector fans can be. As you’re comparing models, pay attention to user reviews about the noise level.
It's also one of the only comparable models with vertical lens shift, which makes setup a little easier. It supports most media players, gaming consoles, PCs, Macs, and mobile devices with input options such as HDMI, USB, and more. Plus, the projector offers a low input lag of 16ms for immersive gaming.
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