The bigger picture
By David Flynn | theage.com.au | 01 April
So you're not satisfied by those measly 152centimetre (60-inch) plasma panels? Want to watch blockbuster movies on a screen as large as your living-room wall? If you really want your set-up to be more like Hoyts than a mere home theatre, it's time to fire up a projector.
Home-theatre projectors are very different from the ones that you might have borrowed from the office during the World Cup. For a start, they don't need to generate nearly as much light, which in projectors is measured as brightness and rated in ANSI lumens. Offices, lecture halls and classrooms typically have much more light flooding in from all directions, so the projector has to compensate with a super-bright lamp from 2000 to 4000 ANSI lumens.
In the home environment you've got much more control over the lighting, so consumer projectors don't need to run at much more than 1000 ANSI lumens. Just get the room as dark as you possibly can, because every stray beam of light detracts from the screen. This is one reason projectors are most popular in dedicated multimedia or home-theatre rooms that have been designed to block out all unwanted light, although there's a school of thought that a soft amount of ambient light in the right places makes for a better overall viewing experience.
More important is the contrast ratio, which is the difference between absolute black and absolute white. Entry-level projectors will list a ratio of 4000:1, meaning that the blacks are 4000 times darker than the whites. Premium models push the ratio towards 10,000:1. The higher the ratio, the richer and more detailed the blacks. This includes showing details in the blacks - if you're looking at a guy in a black suit, for instance, is his suit just one amorphous black blob or can you easily make out the shadows, folds and textures? Any additional light in the room will reduce the contrast ratio so make sure you have maximum control over the room's lighting before you fork out big bucks for a projector with high contrast ratio.
Other features for the checklist include full HD output (1920 x 1080p resolution) for Blu-ray movies, although older 1080i models can present a bargain and are all you need for HDTV events such as the footy grand final or the Olympics. If the projector has two HDMI inputs rather than one you'll be able to switch between two devices - such as a digital TV receiver, Blu-ray player or games console - without swapping cables.
Projectors, however, shouldn't replace a TV set for everyday use. They have to warm up and cool down, you have to regularly clean the unit's air filter, and the bulbs are very expensive (they can cost $1000 and are rated for only a few thousand hours' lifetime).
Finally, apart from shoot-'em-up console games, throwing the projector's image onto a blank wall won't be anywhere near good enough. Almost no home wall is pure white and even a subtle off-white will contain hues that destroy the image's fidelity. There will also be parts of the wall where the image is unevenly reflected, creating distracting bright spots. If you're going to spend thousands on a projector, allow another thousand for a good quality flat-screen.
First published by TheAge.com.au on April 01 2008
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