Full HD projector. Which is better to buy in 2018?
If you want your home entertainment to be of giant size (and believe us, you want it to be that way) you're going to need a big projector. Whether you want to watch Blu-ray movies on a large white wall, increase your gaming experience or take pictures or slides from a mobile device to a screen over 100 inches, a full HD home theater projector should be your first display option
Best full HD projector. Recommended
To help you bring the big screen to your home we have tried some of the best models of home theater projectors. They range from HD projectors for tight budgets to 4K Ultra HD cinema-level models, from surprisingly affordable to reassuringly expensive. Luckily, the days of old-school projectors with blurred images have long since lagged behind.
With the high definition already extended, you can get great results from source material at 1080p. And as more Ultra HD content is available through streaming media players like Amazon Fire TV and Nvidia Shield, as well as the Blu-ray Ultra HD revolution, the future looks great.
BenQ W1070 +
"Full HD images that impress even with ambient light make the latest BenQ model a bargain for all situations."
Full HD clean and detailed
+ Light enough to use in daylight
- Tremors
- Lacks the practical lens shift (lens shift)
Projection system: DLP | Resolutions: 1920 x 1080 | Luminosity: 2,200 lumens | Video inputs: 2x HDMI (1x MHL), 1x RCA, 1x Components, 1x VGA | Dimensions: 312 x 104 x 244 mm
There was a time when a projection system with cinema level for the home would have cost well over € 1,000, and would also require a considerable amount of space.
Approaching little by little at the free-fall price of the cheap , flat-panel TVs, the BenQ W1070 + DLP projector offers enough light to be used in daylight, in addition to the all-important Full HD resolution .
If you're wondering if you should risk turning a projector into your device for watching movies and playing games on a regular basis, the W1070 + is certainly bright enough, and is easily one of the basic projectors with the best value for money. .
Optoma HD142X
The Optoma HD142X is in a solid second place . For those who think that home theater is an occasional luxury that is not affordable or practical, the ultra-affordable HD142X is a serious reason for reflection.
+ Full HD 1080p image quality
+ 23,000: 1 contrast ratio
- Only two HDMI ports
Projection system: DLP | Resolutions: 1920 x 1080 | Luminosity: 3,000 lumens | Video inputs: 1x HDMI 1.4a, 1x S-Video, 2x VGA, 1x Composite, 1x DVI-D | Dimensions: 386 x 162 x 280 mm
Optoma says the duration of the HD142X's lamp is around 8,000 hours, and he says it would last about 10 years if you watched a two-hour movie every day. As for the inputs, the HD141X offers 2 x HDMI (1.4a with 3D support) + MHL v1.2, making it perfect for connecting a cheap PS4 or a 3D Blu-ray player.
Guide to buy full HD projectors
Projectors for the home have come a long way in recent years. Current models can handle a wide variety of multimedia content (movies, photos, documents and games) with aplomb, and many can also play music files.
Although models with resolutions of 720p or less are still presented, the highest resolutions (from WXGA to FHD) are the norm, and we are starting to see some 4K versions with horizontal resolutions of almost 4,000 pixels.
Most home projectors offer a wide variety of connection options, and some are capable of displaying 3D content. With the speed at which the latest technology is advancing, your next TV may be a projector.
Just as there are no two identical houses, the projectors designed for use in the home vary greatly in prices, characteristics, purpose and capabilities. They range from tiny pico projectors or palmtop type to models that can be the central element of a projection room, and home entertainment projectors bright enough to withstand the ambient light of a living room. Some are focused on games, and most manage videos (and photos) reasonably well. Next we will show how to determine the type of projector that best suits you.
Content
There are four basic types of content that you can watch with a projector: data, video, photos and games. Most projectors can handle all of these types, but each one has its strengths . Business projectors (or data) tend to be better for displaying data presentations, such as PowerPoint slides, PDF and Excel files, and the like.
Consumer or home projectors, such as entertainment and home theater, as well as video projectors, tend to be more oriented to watch videos. Projectors that work well with videos tend to be good at projecting photos as well. Game projectors are a small but growing market niche, and offer lower input latency.
Many consumer projectors are versatile , and can do justice to a wide variety of content. If for example you have a home office and occasionally need to show data presentations, but you also want to use the projector for entertainment, you may want to buy a consumer projector that also goes well projecting data.
Portability
A projector for the home does not have to stay at home all the time. Most are portable enough to travel with them , or at least to move them easily between rooms. (The main exception is home theater projectors, which you may want to install permanently).
The cheap console projectors we've seen are easy to take to a LAN party. The micro or pico projectors (most of which fit in the pocket of a shirt), the palmtop models (which fit in an outstretched hand) or the slightly larger models, are all very portable, and there are them for the market of consumption and for business (many are good for both personal and business use).
Most of the projectors are based on LCD or use a DLP chip (Digital Light Processing, or Digital Light Processing) of Texas Instruments, together with a laser light source, LED or LCOS (Liquid Crystal on Silicon, that is, Liquid Crystal on Silicon).
The DLP projectors of a chip are potentially susceptible to what is known as rainbow effect , consisting of small flashes red, green and blue that can be visible in some scenes, especially in light areas on a dark background.
In some DLP projectors this effect is minimal, but in those in which this effect is medium or severe, people who are sensitive to these devices will notice that they are distracted, especially when watching videos. The LCD projectors are immune to this effect , so they are a safer bet if you or someone in your family are sensitive to the rainbow effect. Having said that, there are a lot of DLP projectors with excellent image quality.
Resolution
Ideally, the native resolution of your projector (the number of pixels it shows) should match the resolution of the content you will project most frequently.
For videos and games, you'll want a widescreen native aspect ratio like 16: 9 or 16:10. Both the 1080p (1,920 by 1,080 pixels) and 720p (1,280 by 720) resolution have 16: 9 aspect ratios, while the WXGA (1,280 by 800) projectors are 16:10.
Home cinema and entertainment projectors are better if they have 1080p resolutions, although many consumers are satisfied with the more affordable 720p models. If you are a more demanding user, you should consider a 4K projector (also known as Ultra HD), with a resolution of 3,840 by 2,160, twice as many horizontal and vertical pixels as 1080p. But currently there is a limited amount of content available that can take advantage of the 4K resolution.
Brightness
The projectors for the consumer market have a luminosity that goes from less than 100 lumens in the case of pico projectors, to several thousand for video models and home entertainment. The brightness that your projector should have depends on two factors: the lighting and the size of the image .
If you are satisfied with the relatively small image sizes and / or expect to project fundamentally in a dark room, you can manage with less light. A home entertainment projector for a living room should be brighter, with around 2,000 lumens or more.
Keep in mind that the perception of brightness is measured logarithmically: it takes more than double the amount of lumens in an image to have a look twice as bright. Therefore, small differences in brightness (for example, between 2,200 and 2,500 lumens) are usually not significant.
Home theater or home entertainment?
Home theater projectors are designed to be used in dark conditions in a projection room. This can be anything from a professionally designed home theater room to a mixed-use room that can be adapted to watch movies. These projectors usually lack built-in speakers, since their owners prefer to connect them to high-fidelity audio systems.
Image quality, functions and resolution are important: most are 1080p and many provide 3D capabilities. How are you going to project in the dark, a home theater projector does not need to be especially bright , so you do not want to go much beyond the 2,000 lumens.
On the other hand, home entertainment projectors are more versatile than home theater models, and are often used in places like living rooms where they can make a considerable amount of ambient light.
They have become viable substitutes for high-definition televisions, and can project fairly large images without degradation. Therefore, they tend to be brighter than home theater projectors . They also include built-in sound systems. Since home entertainment projectors are intended for casual use, their image quality, although generally good, rarely falls short of that of home theater projectors.
Connection methods
Most home projectors provide multiple connection methods. Almost all new models offer HDMI connectivity, which is fine because it supports 1080p video resolutions.
Larger projectors have standard HDMI ports, while palmtop, pico and other small-sized projectors usually have mini or micro HDMI ports, which require separate cables (usually included with the projector).
Many entertainment and home theater models have ports compatible with HDMI 1.4a, allowing you to view content from a media player or Blu-ray, as well as from a computer. Some come with HDMI ports that support MHL, thus providing a wired connection with compatible phones and tablets. On the other hand, there are projectors that can be connected via Wi-Fi, and can support multimedia streaming using Intel Wireless Display (WiDi) and / or Miracast.
Composite video, component video and S-video are also common, and more and more projectors are being seen that offer direct connection to a computer using a USB cable. Most projectors have VGA ports, although HDMI is preferable when playing video from a computer.
Many projectors now offer Wi-Fi adapters as a standard or optional feature to wirelessly play streaming content. On the other hand one can also buy a wifi projector , which already has this built-in functionality.
Do you need 3D?
As 3D has gained in popularity due to the video content and games available, many new projectors claim to be 3D compatible. Most use 3D DLP-link technology from Texas Instruments, which requires a computer with a compatible graphics card and 3D glasses with active shutter for each user.
However, they are not necessarily compatible with all 3D content, so read analysis and check what the manufacturer has to say about compatibility if a 3D projector is important to you. Make sure you take into account the cost of 3D glasses when you buy a projector.
Full HD projector. Which is better to buy in 2018?
If you want your home entertainment to be of giant size (and believe us, you want it to be that way) you're going to need a big projector. Whether you want to watch Blu-ray movies on a large white wall, increase your gaming experience or take pictures or slides from a mobile device to a screen over 100 inches, a full HD home theater projector should be your first display option
Best full HD projector. Recommended
To help you bring the big screen to your home we have tried some of the best models of home theater projectors. They range from HD projectors for tight budgets to 4K Ultra HD cinema-level models, from surprisingly affordable to reassuringly expensive. Luckily, the days of old-school projectors with blurred images have long since lagged behind.
With the high definition already extended, you can get great results from source material at 1080p. And as more Ultra HD content is available through streaming media players like Amazon Fire TV and Nvidia Shield, as well as the Blu-ray Ultra HD revolution, the future looks great.
BenQ W1070 +
"Full HD images that impress even with ambient light make the latest BenQ model a bargain for all situations."
Full HD clean and detailed
+ Light enough to use in daylight
- Tremors
- Lacks the practical lens shift (lens shift)
Projection system: DLP | Resolutions: 1920 x 1080 | Luminosity: 2,200 lumens | Video inputs: 2x HDMI (1x MHL), 1x RCA, 1x Components, 1x VGA | Dimensions: 312 x 104 x 244 mm
There was a time when a projection system with cinema level for the home would have cost well over € 1,000, and would also require a considerable amount of space.
Approaching little by little at the free-fall price of the cheap , flat-panel TVs, the BenQ W1070 + DLP projector offers enough light to be used in daylight, in addition to the all-important Full HD resolution .
If you're wondering if you should risk turning a projector into your device for watching movies and playing games on a regular basis, the W1070 + is certainly bright enough, and is easily one of the basic projectors with the best value for money. .
Optoma HD142X
The Optoma HD142X is in a solid second place . For those who think that home theater is an occasional luxury that is not affordable or practical, the ultra-affordable HD142X is a serious reason for reflection.
+ Full HD 1080p image quality
+ 23,000: 1 contrast ratio
- Only two HDMI ports
Projection system: DLP | Resolutions: 1920 x 1080 | Luminosity: 3,000 lumens | Video inputs: 1x HDMI 1.4a, 1x S-Video, 2x VGA, 1x Composite, 1x DVI-D | Dimensions: 386 x 162 x 280 mm
Optoma says the duration of the HD142X's lamp is around 8,000 hours, and he says it would last about 10 years if you watched a two-hour movie every day. As for the inputs, the HD141X offers 2 x HDMI (1.4a with 3D support) + MHL v1.2, making it perfect for connecting a cheap PS4 or a 3D Blu-ray player.
Guide to buy full HD projectors
Projectors for the home have come a long way in recent years. Current models can handle a wide variety of multimedia content (movies, photos, documents and games) with aplomb, and many can also play music files.
Although models with resolutions of 720p or less are still presented, the highest resolutions (from WXGA to FHD) are the norm, and we are starting to see some 4K versions with horizontal resolutions of almost 4,000 pixels.
Most home projectors offer a wide variety of connection options, and some are capable of displaying 3D content. With the speed at which the latest technology is advancing, your next TV may be a projector.
Just as there are no two identical houses, the projectors designed for use in the home vary greatly in prices, characteristics, purpose and capabilities. They range from tiny pico projectors or palmtop type to models that can be the central element of a projection room, and home entertainment projectors bright enough to withstand the ambient light of a living room. Some are focused on games, and most manage videos (and photos) reasonably well. Next we will show how to determine the type of projector that best suits you.
Content
There are four basic types of content that you can watch with a projector: data, video, photos and games. Most projectors can handle all of these types, but each one has its strengths . Business projectors (or data) tend to be better for displaying data presentations, such as PowerPoint slides, PDF and Excel files, and the like.
Consumer or home projectors, such as entertainment and home theater, as well as video projectors, tend to be more oriented to watch videos. Projectors that work well with videos tend to be good at projecting photos as well. Game projectors are a small but growing market niche, and offer lower input latency.
Many consumer projectors are versatile , and can do justice to a wide variety of content. If for example you have a home office and occasionally need to show data presentations, but you also want to use the projector for entertainment, you may want to buy a consumer projector that also goes well projecting data.
Portability
A projector for the home does not have to stay at home all the time. Most are portable enough to travel with them , or at least to move them easily between rooms. (The main exception is home theater projectors, which you may want to install permanently).
The cheap console projectors we've seen are easy to take to a LAN party. The micro or pico projectors (most of which fit in the pocket of a shirt), the palmtop models (which fit in an outstretched hand) or the slightly larger models, are all very portable, and there are them for the market of consumption and for business (many are good for both personal and business use).
Most of the projectors are based on LCD or use a DLP chip (Digital Light Processing, or Digital Light Processing) of Texas Instruments, together with a laser light source, LED or LCOS (Liquid Crystal on Silicon, that is, Liquid Crystal on Silicon).
The DLP projectors of a chip are potentially susceptible to what is known as rainbow effect , consisting of small flashes red, green and blue that can be visible in some scenes, especially in light areas on a dark background.
In some DLP projectors this effect is minimal, but in those in which this effect is medium or severe, people who are sensitive to these devices will notice that they are distracted, especially when watching videos. The LCD projectors are immune to this effect , so they are a safer bet if you or someone in your family are sensitive to the rainbow effect. Having said that, there are a lot of DLP projectors with excellent image quality.
Resolution
Ideally, the native resolution of your projector (the number of pixels it shows) should match the resolution of the content you will project most frequently.
For videos and games, you'll want a widescreen native aspect ratio like 16: 9 or 16:10. Both the 1080p (1,920 by 1,080 pixels) and 720p (1,280 by 720) resolution have 16: 9 aspect ratios, while the WXGA (1,280 by 800) projectors are 16:10.
Home cinema and entertainment projectors are better if they have 1080p resolutions, although many consumers are satisfied with the more affordable 720p models. If you are a more demanding user, you should consider a 4K projector (also known as Ultra HD), with a resolution of 3,840 by 2,160, twice as many horizontal and vertical pixels as 1080p. But currently there is a limited amount of content available that can take advantage of the 4K resolution.
Brightness
The projectors for the consumer market have a luminosity that goes from less than 100 lumens in the case of pico projectors, to several thousand for video models and home entertainment. The brightness that your projector should have depends on two factors: the lighting and the size of the image .
If you are satisfied with the relatively small image sizes and / or expect to project fundamentally in a dark room, you can manage with less light. A home entertainment projector for a living room should be brighter, with around 2,000 lumens or more.
Keep in mind that the perception of brightness is measured logarithmically: it takes more than double the amount of lumens in an image to have a look twice as bright. Therefore, small differences in brightness (for example, between 2,200 and 2,500 lumens) are usually not significant.
Home theater or home entertainment?
Home theater projectors are designed to be used in dark conditions in a projection room. This can be anything from a professionally designed home theater room to a mixed-use room that can be adapted to watch movies. These projectors usually lack built-in speakers, since their owners prefer to connect them to high-fidelity audio systems.
Image quality, functions and resolution are important: most are 1080p and many provide 3D capabilities. How are you going to project in the dark, a home theater projector does not need to be especially bright , so you do not want to go much beyond the 2,000 lumens.
On the other hand, home entertainment projectors are more versatile than home theater models, and are often used in places like living rooms where they can make a considerable amount of ambient light.
They have become viable substitutes for high-definition televisions, and can project fairly large images without degradation. Therefore, they tend to be brighter than home theater projectors . They also include built-in sound systems. Since home entertainment projectors are intended for casual use, their image quality, although generally good, rarely falls short of that of home theater projectors.
Connection methods
Most home projectors provide multiple connection methods. Almost all new models offer HDMI connectivity, which is fine because it supports 1080p video resolutions.
Larger projectors have standard HDMI ports, while palmtop, pico and other small-sized projectors usually have mini or micro HDMI ports, which require separate cables (usually included with the projector).
Many entertainment and home theater models have ports compatible with HDMI 1.4a, allowing you to view content from a media player or Blu-ray, as well as from a computer. Some come with HDMI ports that support MHL, thus providing a wired connection with compatible phones and tablets. On the other hand, there are projectors that can be connected via Wi-Fi, and can support multimedia streaming using Intel Wireless Display (WiDi) and / or Miracast.
Composite video, component video and S-video are also common, and more and more projectors are being seen that offer direct connection to a computer using a USB cable. Most projectors have VGA ports, although HDMI is preferable when playing video from a computer.
Many projectors now offer Wi-Fi adapters as a standard or optional feature to wirelessly play streaming content. On the other hand one can also buy a wifi projector , which already has this built-in functionality.
Do you need 3D?
As 3D has gained in popularity due to the video content and games available, many new projectors claim to be 3D compatible. Most use 3D DLP-link technology from Texas Instruments, which requires a computer with a compatible graphics card and 3D glasses with active shutter for each user.
However, they are not necessarily compatible with all 3D content, so read analysis and check what the manufacturer has to say about compatibility if a 3D projector is important to you. Make sure you take into account the cost of 3D glasses when you buy a projector.
