How To Buy An LCD Projector

With the saturation of LCD projectors entering the audio visual equipment market, it has become an overwhelming task in selecting an appropriate projector for any application.

A few things to keep in mind while perusing the crowded market are luminosity (projectors brightness), contrast ratio (how well the projector recreates blacks), high or standard definition and throw distance.

Luminosity: Consider your company's or personal application. Will your new projector have to battle daylight or the room's lighting between the projection distance? The projection distance is the space between the projector and the projection screen. The luminosity can range from 1000 Lumens to up to 10, 000 or 20, 000 Lumens, or more. FYI: Movie theater projectors are, commonly between 10K and 20K Lumens. If you are able to get your conference, meeting or theater room completely dark during the projectors use you can get away with a projector with lower luminosity (1000-2500 Lumens). Having so said, this is true when the projection throw distance is, say, under 15-20 feet. If your projection throw distance is over 20 feet you will want to consider increasing the projector's luminosity to 2500-3500 Lumens. See below for more information on throw distances.
If your application is in a room not in total darkness you will want to consider a projector with higher Lumens. Fluorescent lights are a particular challenge in that the projection distance will play a larger part in effecting the brightness of your projector. Within a 5-10 feet projection distance, a 1500-2500 Lumen projector will still perform satisfactory. If your projection distance is between 10-20 feet a 2500-4000 Lumen projector will perform well. At a projection distance of 20-30 feet, a 3500- 5000 Lumen projector will perform well.
Note: Whenever considering projectors on luminosity; any difference under 500 Lumens is hard to detect with the human eye.

Contrast Ratio: Contrast ratio comes in to play more when your application is showing movies. People with home theaters will be more concerned with a projector's contrast ratio. Due to the fact a projector's contrast ratio effects a projector's ability to show the color black, if your application is mainly Powerpoint presentations a high contrast ratio should not be your major concern. However, with Powerpoint presentations becoming increasingly sophisticated; with photo and movie clips embedded, contrast ratio is becoming increasingly more important for everyone.
If viewing movies is your primary application I would not buy any projector with a contrast ratio under 1000:1. If Powerpoint presentations, with photo and movie clips embedded, are your primary application I would not buy any projector with a contrast ratio under 1000:1. If Powerpoint presentations, without photo and movie clips embedded, are your primary application I would not buy any projector with a contrast ratio under 500:1.

HD or Standard: When deciding if your new projector will be HD capable or not, consider the source. What will be your primary source to the projector? When I say source I mean; for example, laptop, DVD player, high definition DVD player, Blu-Ray player, standard definition video camera, high definition video camera. When that question is answered, it becomes a very simple answer to the requirements of your new projector's definition capabilities. If your source is high definition than your projector needs to be able to support the high definition signal.

Throw Distance: The throw distance, in most instances, is one of the most flexible variables when considering purchasing a projector.
Basics: As you move a projector further away from its projection screen, the projector's image will get larger.
There have been alot of short throw and extreme short throw projectors entering the market, as of late. For the consumer, this is good. In my experience, renting and setting up projectors for clients' events, the most common issue has been, having enough room between the projector and the screen to get an image large enough to satisfy the number of people in the room.
If you are not as flexible in how much throw distance you have, you need to perform diligent research on the projector you intend to purchase. When shopping online, most resellers will provide the throw distance for the projectors they are selling. However, for you math enthusiasts, there is a formula for figuring the throw distance of any projector; given the throw ratio of same projector.
Formula: Throw distance equals the screen width multiplied by the throw ratio.