Home Theater Projector

Projection systems, picture resolutions, and aspect ratios

A day may come when the home theater projector replaces the movie theater projector as the primary way most people see movies. It hasn't happened yet, but with the price of home theater projectors continuing to decline, and emerging technologies such as HD TV, Blu-ray, and HD DVD promising unprecedented picture quality, now is the ideal time to learn about the advantages a home theater projector has to offer.

Home theater projector basics

If you've never shopped for a home theater projector before, you're going to encounter a lot of acronyms, terms, and ratios that will be unfamiliar to you. Here's what they mean:

Projection systems

The first set of acronyms is related to the type of home theater projector you want. The big-screen projection system that used to be prevalent was called CRT, or cathode ray tube. The problem with a CRT home theater projector is that it can't provide the image size most modern home theater owners want.

The best home theater projector type for you will probably be a front-projection system using DLP technology, or digital light processing. DLP technology offers several advantages compared to other home theater projectors: it's inexpensive, and the image quality and maximum screen size are excellent.

Picture resolutions

Another home theater projector topic that will come up is resolution. The higher the resolution numbers, the more picture images lines you get on screen. HDTV looks better than standard TV because it has a resolution of more than 700 lines rather than 480.

DLP home theater projectors come with fixed resolutions. A cheaper home theater projector would feature a resolution of 800 by 600 pixels - that's 800 wide and 600 high. This ratio is known as SVGA.

A better resolution is known as XGA, which provides 1024 by 768 pixels. If the high definition signal coming from your DVD exceeds the lower SVGA ratio, you'll lose out on potential image quality. The XGA ratio costs more, but it will also give you a truly modern home theater projector experience.

Aspect ratios

Aspect ratio is the technical term for the image shape that distinguishes full screen from wide screen. This is expressed by the numbers 4:3 and 16:9, the ratio of image width to image height. Widescreen DVD is trouncing fullscreen because today's movie lovers have been surprisingly savvy in understanding that, despite the black bars on the top and bottom, a widescreen image actually provides a fuller picture.

Each home theater projector has a "native" aspect ratio. Here's something you need to know: HDTV, unlike traditional TV, uses a 16:9 aspect ratio. Movies are also made to a 16:9 aspect ratio. To get the most authentic image, you'll want a home theater projector with a native ratio of 16:9.

Where to find a home theater projector

Before you buy a home theater projector, we recommend checking out a few product reviews. ProjectorCentral.com and ProjectorReviews.com are worth visiting, as is ConsumerSearch.com. With a little effort, you should be able to find a quality home theater projector for well under $2,000.

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