Projectors for home theater are necessary components for anybody looking to truly recreate the feel of actually going to a cinema. All home projectors will allow you to create large crisp images on your projector screen, really allowing you to be engrossed in a film the way that a movie theater can. This isn’t cheap of course, to recreate at home. But with a fair investment on your part, you’ll be able to create an environment that you’ll never want to leave, and you’ll find yourself avoiding the cinema in favor of your own home.
The first consideration to make is which type of projector for home theater is right for your tastes. There are two major types if you want to get the most out of a home theater: DLP projectors for home theater and LCD projectors. There is also a third type available, called CRT, but these don’t lend themselves to home theaters as well. Because of old technology and lackluster picture quality, in this generation CRT is best avoided if you truly want a great picture. CRT tends to create a washed out look that won’t allow you to really feel a part of the movie, or enjoy the lush pictures your home theater should be providing.
DLP and LCD are far better choices of projectors for home theater, as they allow true high definition images. DLP makes use of the Texas Instrument technology where thousands of tiny micro mirrors combine in order to create a picture. By reflecting light off of these mirrors, and then running the light through a color wheel, a crisp and clear image can be projected into your home. Although you’ll want to purchase a high end DLP home theater projector, otherwise the picture quality will suffer. Some cheaper projectors for home theaters display washed out images, not unlike CRT. Also a cheap home cinema projector may not be able to achieve the resolution required for high definition images.
LCD projectors for home theater are by far the best possible choice you could make, considering projectors for home cinema. LCD uses the same technology as an LCD television set. Liquid crystals are set in between pixel panels, in which light is then passed through each. Then, when combined with a picture source, like a Blu-ray player, the pixels combine to create a true high definition image, that is then projected onto your screen using a projector lamp. This is by far the best projector option, but is also the most expensive.
DLP projectors for home theater can be as low as $800 for a decent model, but the better projectors are into the thousands. The same goes for LCD, you can find units as low as $1,200, but for a really good projector you’re going to have to be unafraid to spend. Electronics specialists like Best Buy, or online giants like Amazon.com and Buy.com are good places to go. They have a variety of different projector types, many of which will be suitable to your home theater.
But don’t forget to keep extra projector lamps on hand at all times. Projectors for home theater lamps have limited lifetimes, usually only around 2,500 hours. So it’s necessary to have a replacement on hand, so that you can change the lamp quickly, in case the current bulb burns out in the middle of a movie or sporting event.