Best Rated Projectors for Home Theater

When looking at home theater projectors there are some basic needs to look for based on your room, ambient light, and screen size. To start, there are three main factors you should consider in choosing a projector, brightness, resolution and lens ratio. Brightness is measured in ANSI Lumens the higher the number the brighter the projector which determines the screen size and the ability to deal with ambient light. Resolution is the number of dots or pixels used to display the projector image, the more pixels the crisper the image. The lens ratio determines the throw of the projector, in other words the distance from the projector to the screen for the size of the image. EX. a 1.13:1 the most common lens will produce a 100-inch image at a distance of 8.2 feet.

LCD Projectors

LCD Projectors which project a great image both in size and quality are the best affordable home theater projectors. I have an Onoayo Projector the ONO1 1080P which now supports 4K and has been upgraded to 600 Asni Lumens (pictured above).  We use this projector in our living room to project on a painted white wall from 10 feet away which gives us a 100-inch image of excellent quality in a dark room. The average LCD lasts 5,000 hours. Generally an LCD Projector that is good enough for home use is going to cost between $200 and $800 dollars but can go over $6000. LCD projectors  have more moving parts and are known to collect dust and will need filter replacement and bulb replacement which is more maintenance. An LCD projector excels at an extremely high quality image and are the best low cost home theater projectors.

LED Projectors

Research has shown that reliability of the LED technology makes LED projectors a worthwhile investment. LED projectors use red, blue and green light emitting diodes as their light source eliminating the need for a halogen bulb. Therefore, LED projectors run much cooler, do not collect dust and last much longer, actually about 4 times longer or 20,000 hours for a good LED projector. The red, blue and green light combination enables a truer white light and gives the LED projector the ability to create more color saturation than other projectors. The ability of an LED projector to produce a good bright image is continually advancing. A real advantage of the LED projector is the fact that the lamp will last as long as or may well outlast the life of the projector. LED projectors need no warm up and are also quieter and more compact making them easier to place than projectors with bulbs.  

Research has shown that an LED projector’s average cost is between $250 and $1500 but can go as high as $6000.  When I get into reading the reviews the lowest priced with 2300 ANSI lumens is the BenQ TH690ST which retails for $1099. BenQ projectors are always among the highest rated projectors and one of their best rated LED Projectors is $5500 but, many name brand LED Projectors are in the $500 to $1500 range. The LG – Projector LG PF50KS is a1080p LED is priced at $626.65.  When you consider the longevity of the LED technology and the lower maintenance and operating cost of an LED in my opinion they are well worth the higher prices, just make sure you are getting one of higher lumens for a sharper and brighter image.

DLP Projectors

DLP Projectors are lamp based projectors known for creating big bold images.  The DLP technology uses a color wheel and an optical semiconductor called a digital micromirror device, or DMD.  The DMD chip contains not one but an array of up to 2.1 million microscopic mirrors, each just 16 micrometers square (less than one-fifth the size of a human hair) and 1 micrometer apart. I had owned a Samsung DLP TV for many years and the thing I loved most was every couple of years when I replaced the bulb I had a brand new TV. Over the years I also replaced the fans, the color wheel and the DMD chip. I did these myself over the 10 years we owned the DLP TV, which means there will be maintenance involved with a DLP projector. The bulb runs hot so the cost of operating a DLP is higher. Dlp technology is also using LED and Laser lights which will outlast the projector.  The ANSI lumens of a DLP Projector is usually from 2000 to 5000 lumens which is why you get a cinema like experience in your home. DLP projectors have high color accuracy, minimal motion blur at 60 frames per second with millions of tiny mirrors that create a true 1080p “Hollywood Cinema” Experience. DLP projectors can sometimes experience “artifacting” such as a rainbow light trail or after images. I personally did not experience this in my DLP TV over the many years I owned it, I only sold it because I bought my Onoayo Projector.

The BenQ HT2050A is a full 1080p for $749 and the BenQ HT3550 4k is a DLP projector for $1199. I personally have always liked the picture quality and brightness of a DLP and highly recommend them and if you are interested in a 4k UHD projector with an exceptional picture quality DLP is an excellent choice.

Laser Projectors

High resolution Laser projectors offer truer color accuracy along with better brightness uniformity and lower brightness decline over the life of the projector. Laser projectors create a supreme quality of focused light as the laser light source is more controllable which results in higher contrast. You get a sharper picture and brighter colors that appear brighter than the spec sheet would insinuate. Laser projectors have a life span of 20,000 hours, do not run hot so are less expensive to operate and there is little to no maintenance required. The biggest drawback to a laser projector is cost as they start at around $800 and Panasonic sells a 4k laser projector with no lens for $259,999 most will be in the $1,200 to $6,000 range. The big thing here is this is the best quality image you can get and the longevity is the same as or better than the LED.

4K Projectors

When searching for the best home theater 4K projector you must be aware of the two types of 4K, native 4K and 4K upscale.  Native 4K is a true 3840 X 2160 pixels twice that of 1080p and 4K UHD utilizes a 1080p format and multiplies the pixels by placing and filling a pixel with the color in the surrounding  pixels..  There are three types: nearest neighbor using 4 surrounding pixels, bilinear using 2 surrounding pixels and bicubic using the 16 surrounding pixels.  Nearest neighbor is the most commonly used.  Narive 4K is going to give the most natural colors and brightest image at a much higher cost for the projector itself and will not play on

your older 1080p library of videos.  Wheras the 4K UHD will convert your existing 1080p library to a 4K UHD image and most would find  it difficult to tell the difference.  There is a large array of 4K and 4K UHD projectors available in all the different formats, LCD, LED, DLP, Laser, and LCOS.  LCoS projectors as are used in auditoriums, museums, medical education and training venues and are extremely expensive $20,000 plus and are for much larger screens than in most home video setups.  Most of the native 4K projectors will be either DLP or Laser and the Laser projectors add even more to the cost.  The image of a high lumens native 4K projector is in a different world from a 1080p projector.  That brighter, crisper, truer color image of a native 4K projector comes at a high cost with the least expensive being a DLP around $1200.  A close second is the 4K UHD projectors that start around $269 for a LCD model.  The difference is undiscernible to most except in a side by side comparison.

In Conclusion

My goal here was to give more of an outline for a basic understanding of projectors and cost so that anyone reading this would be able to find the best rated home theater projectors that will fit their budget and needs. As always, I welcome your comments and advice for myself and my followers and I hope I have pointed you in a direction that allows you to have an enjoyable audio video experience.  Please add your comment, question or suggestion below.  I’m excited to have you as part of the community! I look forward to bringing you more exciting content in the future. In the meantime, please don’t hesitate to reach out if you have any further questions or comments.  Here at Audio Video Adventures is where you can get all the latest in Projectors, Receivers, Speakers, and accessories as well as everything else you need for the ideal home theater experience. You can purchase any of the items in this blog post by clicking on the blue highlighted text.

I’m excited to have you as part of the community! I look forward to bringing you more exciting content in the future. In the meantime, please don’t hesitate to reach out if you have any further questions or comments.  Here at Audio Video Adventures is where you can get all the latest in Projectors, Receivers, Speakers, and accessories as well as everything else you need for the ideal home theater experience.  You can purchase any of the items in this blog post by clicking on the blue highlighted text.