You could be wondering how can you bring in the engagement you desire in a business presentation or while giving a lecture or perhaps you want to spice up your home entertainment. Projectors can become handy, but the thought of which projector works for which setup might confuse you in making your choice of a projector. Best outdoor projector here.
Some projectors produce a good quality projection while some are not so perfect for use in a small room. Worse still, you are probably being confused by the term LCD projectors and you can’t seem to figure out what all of this means when all you will see is displayed virtually on any surface.
In this article we attempt to elaborate on what projectors are and which type is best for which setting. Reading this article should leave you informed and rather prepared to pick a well suiting projector for your needs.
What is a projector
Projectors are optical devices used to project visual content which can either be pictures, videos or presentations on any surface. These devices are very useful in setups as class rooms, corporate meetings, concerts or movie theatres.
By design, different outdoor projectors are meant to be useful in different and specific setup which explains why we might have seemingly different projector designs. Some projectors are designed to be portable and others require installation while some are meant to be useful even where there is limited space.
The technologies used by outdoor projectors also help in differentiating the types of projectors available on the market.
Uses of a projector
Projectors mainly serve the purpose of creating a visual projection displayable on any surface. This projection can either be a power point presentation you want to show to your class or business colleges or it can simply be a movie you would rather prefer to watch with a relatively bigger visual dimension.
Technologies Used by Projectors
There are three(3) main technologies used by projectors. A projector can either be based on Digital Light Processing (DLP), Liquid Crystal Display (LCD) or Liquid Crystal on Silicon technologies. As with everything, these technologies come with their own unique sets of pros and cons which always make one projector model suitable for a specific setting as compared to another projector design.
Liquid Crystal Display(LCD) Projectors
This outdoor projector type is famed for its ability to make projections with high brightness resembling a good rendering of colours particularly black. This projector is excellent in its handling of motion which means you are less likely to see blurry motion effects when watching movies using this projector.
LCD projectors use high-intensity light beams which are made to pass through numerous shifting pixels. These pixels are featured on polarised mirrors which are meant to reflect certain colours of light only. Hence before the light is passed to the LCD, it is split into 3 hues, green, red and blue, which are then combined to in a prism thus producing the clear and crispy image as projected on your surface.
Because of the multiple processes involved in producing a projection, the projected image might not be as sharp as that produced by other projectors although it is good enough for home use.
Liquid crystal on Silicon (LCoS) projector
Similar to the LCD projector, this projector type also shines light through a panel to produce an image. This projector has its light reflecting off three individual LCoS panels. These reflections are then combined to create one single image which often has darkest blacks and better contrast ratios.
Although the picture produced by this projector can be immersive especially because of the better black levels, this projector fails to create better brightness levels which would otherwise result in an amazing projected picture quality.
This projector is well suited for small to medium sized rooms where the diagonal screen sizes would rarely surpass 150inches. This is because the projector has lower levels of light output.
However, with this outdoor projector you should expect to notice some blurring when watching fast moving images.
Digital Light Processing (DLP)
This projector features microscopic mirrors which tilt towards and away from the light source. This will create either darker or lighter pixels on the screen. Within the DLP projector types there is either a single or triple chip projector and each of these chips contains a lot of mirrors that reflect light. While these mirrors can reflect light thousands of times, a single chip in this projector type can produce more than 16 million colours and the three-chip model can reach up to 35trillion colours. With such a wide range of colour compositions, this projector type can reproduce natural and lifelike images which are often have a reach depth of colour counting for fluid and crystal projections.
Single chip DLP projectors are well suited for home use and can produce an image so crystal clear that the whole family will be captivated. This projector is well suited for home use because it presents few problems to do with panel alignment and colour correction although some bit of rainbow effect is usually noticed. This is because the projector makes use of a colour wheel made to rotate in-between the three primary colours and more often than not this produces a rainbow effect.
A rainbow effect is when an image is broken down and separated into a blue, green and red image.
The three-chip outdoor projector, on the other hand, makes use of a dedicated chip for each colour in the place of a colour wheel. This usually get read of the rainbow effect but presents a challenge of aligning all the three panels.
Aligning these panels can come at an expensive cost which is the reason why you will find these projectors being used in theatre rooms where a much bigger and brighter image is required. This projector also works well in watching 3D movies and videos.
LED, Laser and Bulb Mechanism
Most projectors use high powered light bulbs which can last between 2000 to 5000 hours. Although the life span of these light bulbs is largely dependent on usage, when you use your projector for 3D images the bulb will burn out much faster.
A light bulb also presents a challenge of dimming with use and you will observe that after 1500 hours of usage the light will begin to dim. It is for this reason that some will rather choose an LED or laser-based video projector. These will offer more lifespan of up to 20 000 hours.
Projector Designs
Projectors can also be differentiated based on what they have been designed for. Projectors can be designed for large venues, for use in confined spaces, to be portable or has to be mounted onto something for use.
Portable projectors
These projectors are designed to be portable and tend to vary in size although they are perfect for medium classrooms and board meetings. These projectors feature either XGA or WXGA resolution ranges and their brightness usually ranges from 2800 to 3700 ANSI Lumens. The projector is designed in such a way that it will be compact and easy to use.
Installation Projectors
These projectors are often used to accommodate a huge audience where you can project items from your mobile phone or laptop to a huge gathering. These projectors are well suited for lecture theatres or for use as digital signages.
Short Throw Projectors
This projector is designed for use in places with limited space and are usable even when they are close to their projection surface. This projector is well suited for a classroom setting and they feature quite a lot of interactive features. Their resolution also ranges from XGA to WXGA and their brightness is usually in between 2800 and 3500 ANSI Lumens.
Large Venue Projectors
Projectors of this nature usually feature RGB boosting technology meant to give high image quality and proportional colour and brightness. These are designed for use in auditoriums, large venue events as well as churches. This projector often features brightness of around 5000 ANSI Lumens.
Home Cinema Projectors
As the name suggests, this projector type is often meant for home entertainment purposes. They aften feature full HD and produce excellent picture qualities offering alternating picture modes and colour management.
Conclusion
Projectors are useful tools which assist when one is giving out a presentation or you want to have visuals with larger dimensions. Depending on your preferences, you will surely find a projector to suit your taste and perhaps surpass your expectations.