What is the Best Projector for Your Home Theater Installation?
Get the Best Image Quality Possible With the Right Equipment
The primary difference between a media room and home theater is that the latter has been entirely designed to optimize audio and video quality. It’s important to create the right environment so that a traditional home theater installation with a projector and screen can thrive. That’s because projectors and screens are more susceptible to light interference and harder to pick out than televisions. In this blog, we'll highlight the benefit of using a projector as opposed to a flat screen and help you choose the ideal one for your Asheville, NC home.
SEE MORE: What You’ll Need to Understand 4K Ultra HD
What is the Main Reason to Use a Projector?
Aside from wanting a traditional theater ambiance, size is the primary reason to opt for a projector instead of a TV. Want larger-than-life images? You can go up to 120 inches wide without sacrificing quality or breaking the budget. While TVs usually have an advantage when it comes to resolution and color contrast, you can mitigate this by controlling for natural and artificial light in the room.
How Do You Know Which Projector to Use?
One of the reasons people opt for televisions instead of projectors is that they’re easier to find and install. The good news is that Fusion Audio Video can help you with both of those things. We’ll work with you to find the perfect projector is for your space and then install it for optimal performance. Below are some of the things we look at when picking out home theater projectors:
- Resolution: As with televisions, this is the first thing to consider. Do you want to go with a standard high-definition projector or upgrade to 4K Ultra HD? The biggest change in home theater technology this year has been the rise in residential 4K projectors. Since most new content is released in this resolution, we recommend upgrading to 4K.
- Brightness: This can be tough to figure out since brighter isn’t always better. In an earlier blog, we discussed installing an outdoor theater. In that case, you want a projector with over 2,000 lumens. If you’ve already created a dedicated, light-optimized space, then you’re fine within the 1,000-1,500 lumens range.
- Location: The last thing we consider is whether you should have a short-throw, ceiling-mount, or rear-mount projector. While ceiling-mount projectors are the standard, sometimes they aren’t practical due to space and light limitations. In that case, short-throw and rear-mount options are available.
- Rear-Mount: The projector goes in a dark enclosure behind the screen. This is ideal for spaces with ambient lighting. Since the signal goes directly onto the screen, there's less opportunity for it to be affected by lights or people walking in front of the screen.
- Short-Throw: These projectors are placed just a few feet from the screen, usually on a coffee table or dedicated AV cabinet. While these are more common in media room applications where space is limited, they may also be necessary for a theater which has high ceilings that make a traditional mount impractical.
With the images on your screen being the focal point of your theater, it's important that you start your installation off with the right projector. To find out more about our installation services, you can call us at 864-271-4276 or contact us online.