A must-read before buying a TV: Laser, LED and LCD depending on your needs

Projectors are not mobile phones. Many people are not familiar with this product. Most people have only used it in conference rooms. When you want to buy a projector for your home or company, you are confused. What questions should you know before buying? If we go into details, there are too many contents. Today we will pick out ten common questions to explain to you.

The brightness depends on the usage environment

The most important parameter of a projector is brightness, but many people have a misunderstanding that the higher the brightness, the better. In fact, this is not the case. It depends on your needs. For example, if the brightness of a home projector is high, the color will not be good. The brightness and color should be balanced. The higher the brightness of a business projector, the better. However, the higher the brightness, the higher the cost. Therefore, it still depends on the budget. Generally speaking, 2000 lumens is enough for a home projector, 4000 lumens is enough for a small business conference room, and engineering projectors are generally above 6000 lumens.

The brightness level still depends on the application environment. The higher the better.

How to choose resolution? 4K is the best, 1080P is also enough

So how should we choose the resolution? Actually, for business applications, especially in environments where videos are not played very often, the resolution is not too important. Basically, XGA (1024X768) can meet the application. For home projectors, 1080P is the entry-level configuration, and 4K resolution is naturally better. However, home projectors with 4K resolution are relatively expensive now, and you may have to spend 7,000 to 8,000 yuan to buy an entry-level configuration.

The higher the resolution, the better, but the higher the resolution, the higher the price.

Is contrast important? It depends on your needs

The parameter of contrast ratio actually came out relatively late. There was no such concept in the projector field before. After LCD and DLP technologies began to compete for the market, the DLP camp introduced the concept of contrast ratio. In fact, generally speaking, the contrast ratio of projectors is sufficient, especially for products with bulb light sources and laser light sources. Basically, you don’t need to worry too much about this parameter. For micro (smart) projectors, the contrast ratio is a little worse due to the small chip size and low brightness. However, it is sufficient for watching TV series and movies, but it is not so powerful for displaying PPT.

There are several types of projection market segments. Can they be used interchangeably?

Projection is mainly divided into three markets: home, business and education, and engineering. Home is further divided into smart projectors and laser TVs. Products in these markets cannot be used interchangeably. First, the prices are different. Secondly, if the positioning is different, the optimization angles are also different. For example, business and education projectors have high brightness, but they do not pay much attention to color, so they are flawed in the home field. Unless you do not pay much attention to color.

What interfaces are required?

At present, HDMI and VGA are the most practical. If it is for home use, HDMI must be configured, and both are required for the business market. In fact, the interfaces of various external devices are very complicated. For example, many laptops have Type-C interfaces and Thunderbolt interfaces, etc. It is impossible for projectors to be equipped with these interfaces, so you have to buy an adapter, but the adapters are basically to HDMI or VGA.

Intelligent systems are mainly used in the home field

Can projection have an intelligent system?

Generally speaking, home or business projectors may be equipped with intelligent systems, that is, systems modified based on the Android system, which are actually very similar to the intelligent systems of LCD TVs, especially the intelligent systems in the home market, which can be said to be the same. For the business market, there will be more modifications, such as adding some projection functions and file sharing functions.

How to calculate the throw ratio

What's the throw ratio?

Throw ratio is closely related to the projection lens. If the throw ratio is low, the projection distance is short. To project a 100-inch screen, the projector can be closer to the screen. Therefore, if you live in a small house and want a large screen, you should buy a product with a low throw ratio. Generally speaking, a throw ratio of 1.1 to 1.5 is a normal value, and a throw ratio below 0.5 is considered super short throw.

Can white walls replace curtains?

If your room is not too high, a white wall can replace a screen. Some low-end screens are actually useless, they just give you a white environment. But if you are a high-end user, it is still necessary to buy a screen. Generally speaking, if you want a screen to have a more obvious effect, you need to buy a product of more than 2,000 yuan. If you buy a product of 300 to 500 yuan, it is actually the effect of a white wall.

Color gamut is an important way to evaluate projection color

How to judge projection color?

The color of a projection is judged from several perspectives. The first is the color gamut. Products with a higher color gamut are better. For example, products with a BT.2020 color gamut are better than products with an sRGB color gamut. The second is color accuracy. The accuracy of color reproduction is also very important, so that the information that the picture wants to convey can be accurately restored. Home projectors pay attention to color. Generally speaking, business projectors, educational projectors, and engineering projectors do not have high requirements for color.

Projection is not cheap

Projection price segment

Projectors are not cheap, and the minimum price is more than 2,000 yuan. Don't buy products below this price, especially those priced at 1,800 yuan, as their resolution, brightness and color have many problems. The common price range is 3,000 to 5,000 yuan, while high-end home projectors are between 10,000 and 50,000 yuan. Engineering projectors are generally more expensive, with 30,000 yuan as the starting price, and there are even products that cost hundreds of thousands of yuan.