The dream of almost every guy is to have his own movie theater at home. This is now made possible with the latest home theater projectors, which are very powerful and yet affordable.
Even with the biggest TV (70″) available on the market the image size is relatively small compared to a movie screen. Although it is quite impressive the immersion effect is not fully there.
The only way to achieve that is through projection, which can cover an entire wall. The image size would depend on the distance between the projector and the screen.
The only problem with that is the poor image quality as the distance increases. The bigger the image the dimmer it becomes. Sharpness and details suffer.
With the advent of new projectors specifically designed for movie projection image quality improved drastically. The projector lamps become more powerful resulting in increased brightness and contrast.
HD projectors are capable to display 720p, some up to 1080p. The higher the pixels the better the image quality.
The differences between LCD and DLP projectors are narrowing. The weaknesses they use to exhibit are disappearing.
It doesn’t really matter too much which type you choose, the most important is the quality of the image and how much it would cost you to use it.
The projector lamps have a life between 1000 and 4000 hours. They will dim with time and eventually burn out. It means, you can watch over 500 movies before you need to replace it.
The projector lamps can cost between $150 to $1,000. It is therefore important to know how much the lamp costs before making the purchase.
However chances are great that by the time the lamp dies out, you might want to buy a new one as the theater projector would have become more sophisticated.
What are the best home theater projectors? What do the home theater projector reviews say?
The Epson PowerLite Home Cinema 6500 UB received the highest score (83/100) from Consumer Reports.
It is an HD 3LCD projector with resolution of 1080 pixels. The quality of the image is excellent both for HD and DVD.
Color accuracy is excellent. Contrast and brightness are good. The contrast ratio goes up to 75,000:1 with a light output of 1600 lumens.
The black levels were also good with excellent reproduction of scenes with subtly shaded light-to-dark areas.
There are no jagged edges.
It is easy to use. The lamp brightness is adjustable. It is a 200 W Ultra High Efficiency lamp with a life of up to 4,000 hours. ($280)
Consumers find the image of the Epson PowerLite Home Cinema 6500 UB spectacular.
Price: $2,800
The Sony VPL-HW15 Home Theater SXRD Projector also received excellent reviews.
The Sony VPL-HW15 Home Theater SXRD Projector is a LCoS full HD 1080p projector with a contrast ratio of 60,000:1.
It has excellent color with very good picture quality. Black levels are very good. Brightness is good (1,000 ANSI lumens), although it could have been better.
It has a manual zoom lens (ratio 1.6:1) which can be shifted. This makes it easier to adjust the size of the picture.
It uses a 200W Ultra-High-Pressure lamp ($350),
Consumers are very impressed with the size and quality of the image of the Sony VPL-HW15 Home Theater SXRD Projector.
If you cannot afford to spend $2,800 for a home theater projector but still want an HD 1080p projector, consider the Sanyo PLV-1080HD projector, which costs about $1,600.
The Sanyo PLV-Z700 has been rated by Consumers Report as a Best Buy with a rating of 73/100.
The Sanyo PLV-1080HD is exactly the same as the PLV-Z700. The only difference is the warranty period. The PLV-1080HD has 2 years instead of 3 for the PLV-Z700. The PLV-1080HD is exclusively for Amazon.com.
Picture quality and color accuracy are very good. Image detail is excellent with very good reproduction of scenes with subtly shaded light-to-dark areas.
The projector lamp has a light output of 1200 lumens and its contrast ratio is 10,000:1. The lamp brightness is adjustable. Image brightness is fine for most settings
Estimated projector lamp life is 3,000 hours.
Similar to the Sony Bravia it has advanced lens shifting which makes it easy to install in any room. The zoom is 2X.
Consumers are amazed at the sharpness and quality of the image of the Sanyo PLV-1080HD projector.
It is a great value for money!
ConsumerSearch rated the Epson PowerLite Home Cinema 8100 as the Best Value projector.
The Epson Home Cinema 8100 delivers astounding picture with first-class colors and excellent black.
Brightness is very high in most cases. It has a 1800 lumens lamp, even higher than that of Epson-powerlite-home-cinema-6500UB (1600 lumens). It therefore does not require full darkness to get a very good picture. The 200 W lamp lasts up to 4000 hours ($520).
The contrast ratio is 36,000:1. The lens has a zoom and can be shifted, making installation easy in any room. You can get a 120″ image from just 12 feet away.
The Epson Home Cinema 8100 provides jaw-dropping performance at an incredible price ($1,600).
Conclusion
We would lean towards the Epson PowerLite Home Cinema 8100 because of its amazing image quality at a relatively low price.
Its projector lamp is more powerful than that of the three other projectors. Even though it is more expensive it has a long operating life.
The price is one of the lowest for an HD 1080p projector.
If price is not an issue, go for the Epson PowerLite Home Cinema 6500 UB.
Soon you will be enjoying astounding picture as in a movie theater and wonder why it took you so long to make the decision.
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June 29th, 2010 on 12:18 am
I’m surprised that the lumen level of most of these are below 2000, yet they have such good contrast ratios. I’ve not purchased a PJ in a couple years, so I was wondering what sort of improvements have been made lately. The increase in contrast ratio is apparent, at least in the specs. Are those typically dynamic contrast ratios or actual contrast ratio ratings?