Digital Projectors

[John_M_King]

I have decided to invest in a digital projector. It will be for home use only (on a 6'x6' screen) so I don't need a vast light output, but other points that crop up I don't fully understand.

1. Contrast ratio. What would you recommend

2.Size of the image for projection. What size do I set the image at?

3.Will a new projector run off a Laptop which only has Windows XP as it's operating system?

Any other information and or advice would be appreciated.

 

[Alan Klein]

Wouldn't an HDTV be better for small size?

 

[John_M_King]

No, I would like to be able to use a projector. I have a HDTV and the quality is - (rude word). Apart from that the vertical images, are just too small when viewed in a wide screen TV. With a projector on a square screen there is no difference in quality to a horizontal image.

 

[Alan Klein]

That's an interesting point about vertical images. I hadn't thought about it. Do projectors project a square image? How many pixels on each side? So then you format the image to what pixels on each side to use the maximum?

One thing you might consider is 4K rather than the usual 2K. These are now available in HDTV's; I assume they're available for projectors. You'll have 8mb in pixels rather than the 2mb in pixels being displayed on HDTV's and projector to date which should make for a very sharp picture.

 

[John_M_King]

No the screen is 6ft square. So I will be able to project a landscape image and fill the screen from side to side with a gap on top and bottom of the picture , and likewise with a portrait style image I will be able to fit the picture in from top to bottom, but in that case the gap will be on each side.

 

[Chan Tran]

No the screen is 6ft square. So I will be able to project a landscape image and fill the screen from side to side with a gap on top and bottom of the picture , and likewise with a portrait style image I will be able to fit the picture in from top to bottom, but in that case the gap will be on each side.

But does projector has the ability to rotate? I don't know but I doubt that. But of course a slide projector can do that easily.