How To Choose A Projector in 2023

what's up guys it's Chris Majestic and as you know I do a lot of videos about projectors and today I want to talk about how to choose a projector now I've actually done a video like this a few years ago but with so many projector options out there nowadays it can actually be pretty complicated so the three most important factors when choosing a projector are budget the location you plan to use it and which you plan to use it for so first I want to talk about budget now when it comes to projectors nowadays you can spend as little as sixty dollars all the way into tens of thousands of dollars but I usually put projectors into five categories when it comes to budget the first category is what I call toy projectors which is the cheap ones you see on Amazon that range anywhere from 60 to 150 bucks and these work well for people who aren't really picky about brightness or colors and just want something fun that they can put on a wall in complete darkness these projectors are usually go for about a 70 inch screen before they start to get too dim so if you're looking for a really big screen you might need to step up to a higher category and if if you are interested in buying one of those really inexpensive projectors you usually see on Amazon I bought a few of them and did a video on it last year so I'll throw a link in the video description if you want to watch that and the second category is what I call Budget home theater projectors these are really similar to the toy projector category but they have a lot more brightness they usually have at least HD resolution and they look much better if you plan on doing a screen 100 inches or larger and these usually range from around 150 to 500 bucks and includes projectors like the Vivid bright projector that I showed in that budget projector video and my third budget category is mid-range home theater projectors and these usually range from 500 to 1500 bucks this category is very similar to the second category but here is where you'll start to see projectors that have much better picture quality and work great in a home theater they're usually brighter than the projectors in the previous category and they often produce better color and have a few helpful features like lower input lag for gaming and better support for things like 4K signals and HDR you you'll also start to see actual 4K projectors as you get closer to 1500 bucks and the fourth budget category is the widest category and that's mid-range projectors these Prices range from around 1500 bucks all the way up to around five thousand dollars and consists of projectors that most people would shoot for in a dedicated home theater at this price point you'll not only see primarily 4K projectors but you'll also find laser projectors as well as 4K Ultra short throw projectors the only people who would turn their nose up to projectors in this category are people who are super picky about color accuracy and contrast people who have Deep Pockets or someone who's just a home theater snob and the only way those people can be happy is by buying something in our last category which is the realm of high-end projectors these things range from five thousand dollars all the way to the Moon with these guys you get pretty much all the stuff you would get from the previous category but they usually come with a ton of calibration options for you to get the perfect image and they often boast the highest color reproduction as well as high contrast to appease even the pickiest of Home Theater enthusiasts you'll also find some insane 8K projectors in this category and of course full-on commercial grade projectors and this brings me to the next topic I want to talk about which is the space you plan on using your projector in which is one of the most important things to consider aside from budget but before I get into that I want to take a moment to talk about today's sponsor so today's video is sponsored by soundcore if you've never heard of them soundcore is made by anchor and they make all sorts of high quality portable speakers and headphones but the product I want to show you today is the brand new soundcore motion x600 so the x600 is actually the world's first portable High Fidelity speaker now I have to say that I was a bit skeptical about this thing being high fidelity but as soon as I started playing music through this thing I was instantly impressed by the clarity but what surprised me the most was the spatial audio while I was listening to some r b music it actually sounded like the background vocals were coming from behind me which was honestly kind of hard to believe [Music] foreign [Music] and not only does this speaker sound great but it has a really nice seamless metal design it comes in three colors and looks and feels like a premium speaker it has a total of five drivers putting out Crystal Clear Distortion free sound even with the volume cranked to the max now of course the x600 has Bluetooth but if you have an Android phone you can enable ldac mode which gives you even better Bluetooth sound quality it even has an AUX port on the back if you want to connect an external device and with the x600 being portable of course it has a built-in battery giving you 12 hours of play time so you can take your High Fidelity music with you anywhere so if you're a music lover who's picky about sound quality and you're looking for a portable speaker make sure you check the links in the video description to pick up the x600 today I want to thank soundcore for sponsoring this portion of today's video and let's get back to the video and talk about choosing a projector so as I mentioned earlier one of the most important things to consider when choosing a projector is the space you plan to use it in so if you plan on using your projector in a bright room then you need a bright projector to offset the ambient light now you just need to understand that even the brightest projectors can't compete with really bright rooms or direct sunlight and if you can't hang a projector on your ceiling or you don't want to run wires then you can buy an ultra short throw projector which sits right on the TV stand in front of your wall another thing to think about when it comes to space is the size of your room as some projectors may have a throw that's too long for your room so you might be limited on screen size or you might need to go with a short throw projector and another common mistake I see in some rooms is that people might be trying to go with the screen it's too big for their room considering their ceilings aren't high enough and if you're looking for something portable that you can move around between rooms you'll want to look at something small lightweight and preferably battery operated all right now I want to talk specifically about projector brightness this is probably the thing that people focus on the most when trying to find a projector but believe it or not I don't think it's the most important thing yes projector brightness is important but there are several other factors that you have to consider for example I see a lot of people buy projectors that are built specifically for classrooms or businesses even though these projectors are usually pretty bright they unfortunately don't work that well for home theater use and there's a few reasons for this the first issue is that they lack color accuracy considering they're built to cut through the bright overhead lights in the business they usually produce a ton of white light but the colors are not nearly as vibrant and accurate as a home theater projector they also don't usually have good contrast and they usually have a lower resolution so they're not as sharp they also lack features such as support for things like 4K HDR Arc and several other features that are helpful for use in a home theater now the brightness issue isn't just limited to business projectors it also affects some home theater projectors as well now I've considered doing a dedicated video about this but I'll talk a little bit about it here considering the fact that buyers Focus so much on on projector brightness manufacturers have developed several bright projectors but the higher up you go in quality and features you'll notice that their best projector isn't always their brightest one so it's important to make sure you're getting the best image quality but don't Focus only on brightness because once you turn the lights off that super bright projector might start to show its weaknesses and speaking of brightness this brings us to ultra short throw projectors now I've done lots of videos on these guys but Ultra short throws are super popular right now because they're so easy to install they often have high brightness as most of them use lasers and they've gotten much better with color accuracy and contrast over the years not to mention the prices have been slowly dropping as the competition ramps up now they're definitely still not cheap but if you don't want a projector on your ceiling and you want something that's closer to a TV replacement this might be exactly what you're looking for now after having a laser TV in my living room for almost two years now I can say that I do love it but it's definitely not perfect on a bright sunny day in a room full of Windows since it can wash out the image now an ALR or ambient light rejecting screen does help with this but it can only help it so much that being said if you can control the ambient light in your room and you want a TV 100 inches or larger than an ultra short throw might be worth considering now I often have people ask me if they should buy an ultra short throw for their dedicated home theater and even though there are some good options I found it in a dark room I still prefer a standard or long throw projector for similar money you might get better black levels and contrast compared to an ultra short throw not to mention you can go much bigger in screen size with a standard projector another thing to consider with ultra short throws is ceiling height since an ultra short throw sits on the TV stand you have to consider that there will be a gap between the top of the projector and the bottom of your screen so if you have low ceilings you might have to either go with a smaller screen or get a really low TV stand on top of that an ultra short throw projector usually sits right where you would normally put a center channel speaker which can create even more issues so it really comes down to your room your your budget and your personal preference and the next topic I want to go over is mobility for those of you who plan to use a projector outside in different rooms around the house or maybe at a friend's house I'd argue that most projectors can be considered portable but projectors that are marketed specifically as portable projectors come with a lot of features that make them more appealing for Mobility the very first benefit is a built-in battery a battery can take a projector to the next level since it allows you to use it outside without a generator or portable power station not only does it allow you to watch movies untethered but with most of them you can even buy a portable USB charger and easily extend the battery life even further some of them even come with a smart TV interface built in so you don't even have to connect anything to them to watch movies now portable projectors are great for those times that you want to watch a movie outside but they aren't usually the brightest and you usually pay a little bit more of a premium for them over projectors in the budget category even though the image quality isn't usually that much better in other words if you think you're going to Prime merely watch movies indoors near an outlet you can usually get better image quality for less money by buying a standard projector but either way portable projectors offer something that most projectors can't offer especially considering how much battery technology has progressed in recent years and the last thing I want to talk about is gaming because not all projectors are created equal when it comes to gaming aside from brightness contrast color 4K resolution and all the other stuff we've already talked about the most important thing to consider if you're a gamer is input lag input lag is the amount of time it takes from you pressing a button on your controller to your character moving on the screen this may not seem like a big deal but if your projector has really high input lag you're going to have a bad time playing fast-paced games like first person shooters now if you're a Casual Gamer you may not care that much about this but if the input lag is over 100 milliseconds it'll affect most games and aside from input lag you might also want support for higher refresh rates like 120 hertz or you want 4K HD our support these things exist on some projectors but they're definitely not as common so if you're a gamer you definitely want to make sure you check the specs and if you're looking for any of the products I mentioned in this video or you just want some options be sure to check the links in the video description as I'll have some links to those products and if you found this video helpful go ahead and make sure you smash that like button for me and if you have any questions be sure to leave a comment in the comment section and of course if you haven't already be sure to subscribe to the channel so you don't miss out on any new videos thanks for watching guys and I'll see you in the next video

Channel: Chris Majestic

Views: 31,446

Keywords: majestechs, how to choose a projector, choosing a projector, home theater projector, how to choose a home theater projector, home theater, ultra short throw projector, budget projector, best budget projector, gaming projector, home cinema, short throw projector, jvc nx7, benq x3000i, benq tk700, nx7, benq tk700sti, lg hu70la, jvc nx5, benq x3000i gaming projector, tk700sti, tk700sti review, benq gaming projector, auking projector, vivibright d5000, auking mini projector

Id: viLkhgn583Y

Length: 11min 33sec (693 seconds)

Published: Mon Jun 26 2023