Whether you are organizing movie nights with your friends or a professional meeting, projecting on a big screen creates a greater impression. 

For movie lovers, a projector offers a larger screen size at a lower cost compared to a TV, while for your business, it is an essential part that makes meetings with your team easier.  

Let's take a look at some technical specifications that will help you choose the ideal projector for your needs!

Key Features:

1. Projection Technology

This refers to the digital technology used by the projector to reproduce and display images. The most common technologies on the market are:

• 3LCD: An evolution of LCD (Liquid Crystal Display) technology. The image is created by 3 LCD liquid crystal panels, each of which produces one of the primary colors: red, green, blue.
• DLP (DMD): In this technology (Digital Light Processing), which is the most widespread, the image is created by a chip with microscopic mirrors and a rotating color wheel. The chip is called DMD (Digital Micromirror Device).
• LCD: The image is created by 1 LCD (Liquid Crystal Display) panel, which produces combinations of the three primary colors: red, green, blue.
• LCOS (Liquid Crystal on Silicon): This technology (Liquid Crystal on Silicon) is a combination of DLP & LCD. The image is created when the light from the lamp passes through the liquid crystal panel and is reflected by the mirror towards the lens.
   - D-ILA: This technology (Direct-Drive Image Light Amplification) is an evolution of LCoS technology. The image is created when the light from the lamp passes through the liquid crystal panel and is reflected by the mirror towards the lens.
   - SXRD: This technology (Silicon X-tal Reflective Display) is an evolution of LCoS technology. The image is created when the light from the lamp passes through the liquid crystal panel that is very close to the mirror and is reflected towards the lens.

2. Lamp Type

Projectors operate with 2 types of lamps: LED and Laser.

• LED: With good color performance, they are usually used in portable projectors.
• Laser: Longer lifespan than LED lamps, as well as very high brightness and excellent color and black performance.

3. Physical Resolution

The number of pixels in which the projected image is divided horizontally and vertically. The more pixels the image is divided into, the higher (and better) the resolution.

The total number of pixels that a projector can display determines its physical resolution. The more pixels that fit on the screen, the higher the clarity and detail of the image. Resolutions range from 480p and 720p (HD) at the lowest level, up to the most common resolution of 1080p (Full HD) and reach 4K or 8K for incredibly realistic images.

4. Brightness

The brightness of the projector is the amount of light emitted by the projector on a unit surface and is measured in ANSI Lumens. The higher the lumens, the brighter the projector will be.

If you are buying a professional projector, you will want higher brightness performance, so look for higher white and color brightness.

If you are buying a home theater projector, brighter is not necessarily better. Instead, you want enough brightness for rich color contrast, but not so much that it washes out the details of dark scenes.

• 2000-2500 lumens for rooms with dimmed lights or very low lighting
• 3000 lumens for rooms with controlled moderate lighting conditions
• 4500 lumens for rooms with ample but controlled lighting conditions
• 6000 lumens for brightly lit rooms

5. Contrast

Contrast is the difference between the dark and bright areas of an image. An image projected on a screen with low contrast ratio appears washed out and flat. On the other hand, an image with a high contrast ratio appears more realistic and has greater "depth".

If the projector is intended for a room with a large amount of light, it is good to choose one with a high contrast ratio. For example, good values range from 5,000:1 and can reach a value of 100,000:1 with the help of software.

6. Throw Ratio - Projection Distance Ratio

It expresses how much the projection rays "open up" with the distance of the projector from the projection surface. For example, 1.3 means that at a projection distance of 1.3 meters, the diagonal of the projected image is 1 meter. Based on this characteristic, projectors are divided into normal short throw and ultra short throw for rooms with very limited space.

And now let's see more specific things that you need to pay attention to, depending on the use you want to make of your projector.

Home theater projectors

To bring the cinema to your home, choose a projector, paying special attention to good image resolution and high contrast. This way, your images will have deep black and rich color saturation. For an even more immersive viewing experience, 4K projectors offer incredible detail to bring your favorite movies and games to life.

Home theater projectors simulate a dark environment like that of a cinema, so they work best in a closed room where you can control the amount of light entering the space. However, if you don't have a separate room and want to place the projector in a shared space in your home, prefer a projector with high brightness (e.g. 3000 lumens) to compensate for the ambient light.

Tip 1: To achieve better image quality, make sure the resolution of the projector is at least the same as the resolution of the device from which you intend to play your videos or images.

Tip 2: If you plan to turn your home theater into a balcony theater during the summer months, a projector with built-in speakers will make your evening much easier. Of course, if there is abundant light in your outdoor space, prefer a projector with even greater brightness.

Find Home Cinema Projectors here!

Business projectors - Professional projectors

If you plan to use the projector in the office for meetings, presentations, or teaching in the classroom, you will need a professional projector, also known as a multimedia or data projector.

These projectors are brighter than Home Cinema projectors, in order to perform well in rooms with ample light and windows. Professional projectors are primarily designed to display static images, such as charts and PowerPoint slides, but they also work for multimedia and entertainment purposes.

Find Business Projectors here!

Portable projectors - Φορητοί προβολείς

Portable projectors are designed to fit in your pocket while being powerful enough to project your favorite content on a large screen. A portable projector weighs less than 3 kilograms and is easy to adjust, so you can take it with you everywhere, whether it's for off-site meetings, family vacations, or a visit to a friend's house for a movie night.

If you're looking for the ultimate wireless and cable-free experience, choose a projector with Wi-Fi connectivity to easily connect it to your device and project your content with just one click.

Find here all the portable projectors!

How necessary is the projection screen?

And now that you've found your projector, let's see on what surface you will project your content! Although you can use your white wall as a screen, the result cannot be compared to a high-quality projection screen that will make your image look better and brighter as it reflects the light.

Tip: For optimal image quality, always keep your lens clean. The safest way to clean your lens is with a lens cloth.