It provides much louder, fuller sound than the built-in speakers on all of the other projectors. It has an app store, but there are barely any useful apps. Also, the image bends a little on the sides. Lastly, the Vava gets a lot hotter than other projectors, enough to feel a difference in the room. The brightness is rated at lumens, which is just over half of what Vava claims.
The color made it feel like watching film: everything has a golden, s-style vibe to it, which I think is partly because of its color space. The projector uses Rec. So from about 11 feet away, it can get an image as small as 80 inches diagonally, all the way up to inches.
It has lumens of brightness but with a screen you can watch in daylight. If you want a really big image or if your space is a lot smaller, then you should get a short-throw projector. The audio is surprisingly loud for only having one 5W speaker. If you have a small, dark room, this projector is great for it.
Correction: An earlier version of this article referred to the Vava projector as a fully laser-based system — it is not. It is a DLP projector that uses a laser light source instead of bulb. We regret the error. Cookie banner We use cookies and other tracking technologies to improve your browsing experience on our site, show personalized content and targeted ads, analyze site traffic, and understand where our audiences come from.
By choosing I Accept , you consent to our use of cookies and other tracking technologies. Filed under: Reviews. Linkedin Reddit Pocket Flipboard Email. Lens shift is far preferable to digital keystone correction, which robs you of actual screen space by reducing the number of active pixels contributing to the image it also adds artifacts such as jagged edges and potentially other types of visual noise.
In addition, the HTA has two adjustable feet and a lever for you to adjust image height when the projector is sitting on a tabletop. The HTA uses a watt lamp to create the light you see on screen. These lamps gradually dim and need to be replaced. BenQ estimates the lamp life as lasting between 3, and 7, hours depending on the mode. If you watch the HTA for five hours a night in the SmartEco mode, the lamp will last more than three years. It has small fans to keep the lamp cool. Although the fan noise is not as loud as what we heard from many budget projectors we tested, this model is definitely not as quiet as our home theater projector pick.
The HTA supports 3D playback, but the glasses are sold separately. But it still suffers from the same problem that affected past BenQ projectors in that the image has a red tint; the 3D glasses take out most of this tint, but not all of it.
The Epson Home Cinema is a great alternative to the BenQ HTA for anyone who is sensitive to DLP rainbows, tends to watch movies with a few room lights on, or wants a built-in streaming media player. This p LCD projector provides great light output and solid contrast, and it delivers an accurate image without much adjustment required. The Home Cinema has a higher zoom 1.
This model is one of the few traditional projectors to support Bluetooth audio output and Android TV integration, the latter of which is convenient but not as seamless as it could be. We measured 1, lumens The Dynamic picture mode measured a whopping 2, lumens The BenQ still outperformed it in that respect, but this Epson model has gained some ground over its predecessors.
Overall, it offers nice versatility for both bright- and dark-room viewing. In our tests, colors looked rich and natural, and the picture was clean and detailed. The Home Cinema has a generous 1. It also has two adjustable feet and a height lever.
When you initially set up this projector, it walks you through the Android TV sign-in process. The remote is a completely different design from the traditional Epson remote, combining the standard Android TV functions with projector controls for the menu, input switching, and keystone correction. So in those respects, it feels well integrated. First, the remote uses IR to control the projector but Bluetooth for Android TV, so you need line-of-sight for some things and not for others.
You have to set up Bluetooth through the projector to get full volume control, but we found Bluetooth pairing to be more finicky through this method. Technically, the only available connection options are a single HDMI input and a 3.
Epson even includes a second, dedicated Android TV remote in the package in case you want to use the Android TV dongle with a different video display. The eco lamp mode is much quieter. The BenQ HTST can produce a inch image from less than 5 feet away from your wall or screen, which lets it fit into more confined spaces. The lens creates some color fringing that you might notice, and the colors are not as accurate or vivid as those of the BenQ HTA, but the HTST still produces a good picture.
By comparison, the HTST can sit two-thirds of the way closer, 36 to 43 inches from the screen. Short-throw lenses are more complex and expensive to make relative to a standard lens, and the compromise creates some color fringing on the screen, which looks like pinkish edges around objects. The Game and Movie picture modes have a pleasingly neutral color temperature or color of white right out of the box, with less of a greenish-blue tint in brighter scenes than the HTA.
For a ceiling mount, you'll ideally want the projector somewhat behind the viewers or closer to the front of the room rather than directly above the primary seating, which will minimize the audibility of fan noise that every projector emanates—some more than others.
Whether you ceiling- or shelf-mount your projector, tr to keep it aligned with an imaginary vertical line drawn down the center of the screen, rather than off-center to the left or right. This will avoid the need for horizontal lens shift and reduce the likelihood of issues with keystone distortion that disrupts the rectangular geometry of the image. Once you know the expected location of the projector and screen, you can measure the approximate "throw distance" between the projector lens and the screen surface.
This is a critical piece of information you'll need to choose a projector. Later on, you can use ProjectorCentral's Throw Calculator , or one provided online by the projector manufacturer, to determine if a projector's lens will accommodate your space requirements. Along with your projector and screen locations, yourseating distance will likely be self-evident.
There are industry recommendations for how large a commercial theater screen should be for a given seating distance, with the idea of optimizing the viewing angle for the patrons' peripheral vision. THX recommends a degree angle, which would make the picture a bit more immersive.
You can visit this online screen distance calculator to see the screen size for each of these with your given seating distance.
To give you some idea, if you had a foot viewing distance, the SMPTE recommendation would result in a inch diagonal screen, while the THX recommendation would result in a inch diagonal screen.
The reality, however, is that these are only recommendations, and your decision will ultimately be based on your personal taste and available space, as well as your desire to stay within the most cost-effective, industry-standard screen sizes.
Do you like to sit further back in the movie theater, very close-up, or somewhere in the middle? And how large a screen can you physically fit on your wall?
Screens come in standard sizes, give or take a few inches. For the average home theater, you'll likely be looking at the to inch diagonal range with a aspect ratio, with , , and inch being among the most popular. A great way to zero in on the right size for your room is to tape out a box on your wall with removable painter's tape using the width and height dimensions of your proposed screen size.
Then sit back in your viewing chair and see how it feels. You'll know instantly if you need to go up or down a size. This is the last step before scouting for projectors, and it's an important one. Let's start with some basic definitions and concepts. Projector brightness is specified in units of "lumens. While a projector's maximum lumen output is fixed by design, the amount of brightness it delivers to your screen for reflection back to you will vary based on screen size and other criteria discussed below.
This realized brightness is typically measured in "foot-Lamberts," abbreviated ft-L. Note that brighter is not necessarily better with home theater projectors. Too much brightness in a dark theater can lead to viewer fatigue, and the brighter you go the harder it is to maintain lower black level and superior contrast.
This is why many premium projectors regarded as having the best contrast and deepest blacks come in with ratings of less than 2, ANSI lumens, though projectors intended for bright-room viewing may go to 3, lumens or more. There are some established targets developed for movie theaters to describe how many ft-L you might want coming off the screen in a dark room.
SMPTE suggests 16 to 22 ft-L for a dark theater, but many home theater viewers prefer somewhat brighter images. These days, especially if you plan to watch a lot of High Dynamic Range HDR content from a 4K home theater projector more on that below , it's safe to target up to 25 to 30 ft-L as a minimum, though you'll need less for regular Standard Dynamic Range SDR programs.
As mentioned, the amount of ft-L that arrives at your screen for reflection back to the viewers depends on two other key factors besides the projector's lumen spec. First is the image size. The larger the image, the greater its area, and the more lumens are required from your projector to achieve a given brightness across the entire screen.
The other critical factor is the amount of ambient light interfering with the projector's output. If you plan to watch in a bright family room, you might want as much as 50 ft-L or more at the screen so it'll punch nicely through the room light—though use of an ALR screen can reduce that need by improving contrast and keeping the darker areas of images from looking washed out.
One more factor that needs to be accounted for is the screen gain. A screen with gain higher than 1. Similarly, a lower gain below 1. You can calculate the effect of screen gain on lumens just by multiplying: a 1. We covered the subject of screen gain earlier in this article, and you can also read more in our Tech Talk article " What is Screen Gain? When you start shopping, you'll find that traditional home theater projectors range from about 1, to perhaps 3, ANSI lumens maximum brightness.
However, you won't be seeing all of that on the screen, because the projector's brightest preset viewing mode often displays visibly tinted color you won't want to use for watching movies or TV. In fact, it's best to assume that the projector's most color-accurate modes will deliver about half to two-thirds, give or take a bit, of the projector's full brightness spec. ProjectorCentral's product reviews usually list the results of our measured lumens test for each of the projector's color modes.
But in the absence of confirmed measurements from a trusted source, you can always guesstimate. As an example, if you use the formula, a 1, lumen projector with a inch diagonal, 1. Cut that in half to account for selection of a less-bright, more color-accurate picture mode, and you're left with about 20 ft-L.
So, you might consider 1, lumens about the very bare minimum for dark-room theater on a inch screen. If you raise your threshold to 1,, lumens, you'll have some room to run things a little brighter in the dark or turn on some degree of ambient light.
At a inch diagonal screen size, you'll need about 2, lumens instead of 1, lumens for similar 20 ft-L brightness. Note that you'll find more home theater projectors today spec'd at 2, lumens and higher than ever before as manufacturers have ratcheted up the brightness to account for some degree of ambient light. With some exceptions, you'll usually find that the extra brightness above 2, or so lumens comes at the expense of slightly less accurate color and a sacrifice in contrast performance compared with a given brand's similar dark-room projectors, but these projectors still provide an essentially accurate and highly satisfying image.
At this point, you should know your screen size and your throw distance, have some idea of the expected screen gain, and been able to calculate about how many lumens you need. Congratulations—it's time to start culling through projector specs, features, and product reviews to find just the right model. Fortunately, we've got you covered. ProjectorCentral's unique database lists more than 11, current and past projectors.. Each projector found in your search has its own information page with key specs as well as the spec sheet and user manual, and a link to our proprietary Projector Throw Calculator.
If we've reviewed that projector you'll find links to those articles as well. Finally, for most models that are available online, you'll see a current price link that will take you to authorized projector sellers.. Another great resource to consult are our Top Ten Home Theater Projectors lists provided for different price brackets.
Though these rankings are not curated editorial recommendations, the lists are generated by constantly monitoring web traffic to our Find a Projector database , the price-quote engine connected with our affiliated projector resellers, our Projector Throw Calculator , and our editorial product coverage and reviews to gauge which projectors are generating the most buzz and sales activity. What should you look for in specs, features, and performance?
We've got a list below, but be aware that aside from overall brightness, the specs don't really tell you much. Projectors with similar specs often perform very differently. That's why it's so important to seek out and read expert and user reviews.
Like the horsepower spec on an automobile, a projector's brightness spec tells you what kind of muscle it's got. We've discussed brightness above, but know that a projector from a reputable manufacturer will be marked in ANSI lumens or ISO lumens. In this case, the manufacturer is saying that the perceived brightness is equal to what you'd get witha lamp-based projector with that ANSI lumen spec, even though an ANSI measurement of the LED projector results in a lower number.
Otherwise, if a projector's brightness spec is not clearly labeled ANSI or ISO lumens, you cannot properly judge its brightness against other projectors and the product or manufacturer should be viewed as suspect. Keep in mind, too, that even if a product comes from a reputable brand and is marked as having ANSI lumens, that maximum brightness still might not be achieved at the projector's brightest settings.
Contrast Ratio. A home theater projector's contrast ratio is an important performance criterion, defined as the difference between the darkest black and brightest highlight the projector can reproduce. Contrast is what gives images dimensionality, makes black look black on darker scenes instead of a washed-out-gray, and makes shadow details and gradations more visible in darker areas of the picture.
Unfortunately, contrast ratio specs are misleading and meaningless for comparing projectors of different brands. Unlike with brightness, there is no universally accepted standard or technique for reporting contrast ratio. These specs are only useful for understanding which projectors in a single manufacturer's current line are the highest performing.
You'll have to read reviews to confirm a projector's real contrast performance. Nonetheless, good contrastand deeper blacks are often the most important reason to step up and pay more for a projector. Two key engineering decisions affect a projector's contrast. First is the native black level of the imaging devices themselves. If the imagers can only make light gray instead of something closer to black, overall dark scenes will have a washed-out haze over the image that's clearly visible when viewing in a dark environment.
So what does that mean for your projector purchase? HD x projectors are designed to deliver all the rich details carried in a p signal. Wide XGA projectors will deliver great results when fed a p signal, just not as great as their HD counterparts. That said, you'd be hard-pressed to tell the difference between the two unless you were projecting a very large image, say eight feet diagonal or more.
The final factor to consider is a projector's contrast ratio. Contrast ratio literally refers to the difference between the blackest black and the whitest white in an image. A projector with a contrast ratio of 10, isn't necessarily five times better than one with a 2, ratio.
The contrast ratio does not account for how the projector displays all the shades of grey in between the blackest black and whitest white. If the projector can't display those shades of gray, portions of the image will "blow-out" and appear pixilated when displayed on the big screen. Look for projectors with more control settings. Multi-color processing technology like BrilliantColor and sRGB modes will allow you to really tweak the projector's display to your liking.
Because projectors are a fixed resolution display device, they have what is called a native aspect ratio. The most common aspect ratios for projectors are , and That means that the chip inside the projector is shaped in the specified , or proportions.
Think of the chip as a miniature version of the image you will see on your screen. A native aspect ratio is designed primarily for home theater use. Home theater enthusiasts tend to prefer aspect ratios because they are closer to original 35mm film format. Set your DVD player to output to a television and the projector to mode to achieve the desired results.
Now, nearly all home theater manufacturers have 3D models. Prices are dropping and content is becoming more readily available. Many cable providers even offer 3D channels and programs. This specification is actually referring to the 'half-life' of the lamp, the point where the lamp is half as bright as it was new.
0コメント