Business Projector Buying Guide
by admin | October 19, 2009 | In Projectors | No Comments
Sorting through the vast array of digital projectors on offer can be a daunting task and can involve a very steep learning curve! To help those of you that are new to the projector market, I’ll be putting together a guide split into bitesize chunks over the next few weeks to help get you up to speed with all you need to know when buying a data projector for your business.
What do you need it for?
First off we can assume that you want to put this projector to business use only and so can forget about looking at the huge amount of Home Theatre projectors available. The first question you need to ask yourself is what you are hoping to use the new data projector for and therefore establish what you require the projector to do. Is ease of mobility the most important thing or is it to be fixed in the boardroom? Do you need it simply for presentations?
Business projectors available range from a mere £300 to a whopping £10,000 so there should be one in there somewhere to suit all types of budget.
Understanding some jargon…
Projectors, like any technology, often have strange jargon and acronyms associated with them that are very confusing to the newcomer. Here’s a brief look at some of the terms you’ll likely see in projector specifications.
LCD vs DLP – It won’t be long before you’ll discover that projectors are divided in to two main categories named LCD and DLP, and soon after this discovery you’ll be asking yourself which is better, LCD or DLP? The truth is that there are pros and cons to both of these and it all depends on what you intend to do with the projector.
LCD or liquid crystal display projectors use three separate glass panels (the primary colours red, green, and blue) through which light passes to create the image. As light passes through the LCD panels pixels are either closed or opened in order to block or let through the light which changes the colour of that pixel and builds the image that you see projected on to the screen.
Benefits: Has superior colour saturation than DLP and a sharper image. A better technology when bright light levels are required such as in classrooms, boardrooms and offices where the rooms are not darkened.
Drawbacks: Not so good at reproducing video images
DLP or digital light processing projectors there are thousands of tiny mirrors, each one representing a single pixel. Light from the projector’s lamp is directed onto these mirrors and the mirrors move directing light into the lens path to turn the pixel on, or away from the lens path to turn it off. The colour wheel, made up of red, green and blue filters, spins between the light and the mirrors and alternates the colour of the light hitting the mirrors from red to green and to blue. The mirror then tilts depending on how much of each colour is required for that pixel at any given moment.
Benefits: Can be smaller in size than LCD and so are generally better for mobile applications. Higher contrast ratios and deeper blacks mean these types of projectors excel at showing video. Reduced pixelation of image versus LCD.
Drawbacks: Not so good colour saturation and the image can be not as sharp. Needs ambient light to be removed in order to achieve a good picture (i.e. a darkened room)
