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Need to buy a digital projector for use at work - will mostly be used for powerpoints / short videos to aid teaching - but i'm pretty clueless about this sort of thing.
Not looking for anything fancy, just something simple and reliable that produces a clear image. One of my colleagues reckons 400 lumens+
Looking to spend under £250 (it's a charity, so the less ££ spent the better) and wondering about this one. Any better/cheaper options out there?
Any advice much appreciated.
One of my colleagues reckons 400 lumens+
2000 lumens minimum unless you're going to be projecting in absolute pitch darkness.
Where you can get let down with cheaper projectors is resolution - you get lots of confusing stats about 'input' and 'output' resolution - its the latter that matters as thats what you actually see, the input is just the signal the projector will accept. Some projectors have very low (VGA or SVGA) output resolution which means you'll not have much space on the screen for presentations etc.
Looking at the one linked to:
1500 lumens is ok-ish
800:1 contrast is pretty poor - it means your blacks will be pale grey (i.e. if you projected all 'black' you'd still light up the room) 2000:1 would be a better target
The one is the link is an LCD projector - this shines light through an LCD display (which can only make itself so opaque which is why blacks arn;t good) For presentation type work and projecting in lit rooms DLP projectors gives better contrast. Where a LCD would be better is for home cinema - lower end DLP tends to give a noticeable strobe effect if bright objects move quickly, which is distracting for film viewing (or sport) not everyone can see the flicker though - I can. Curses.
Also look at the ratio of the lens - a home cinema projector is designed to project across the room - one you use for a presentation will want to be able to give a large image whist still close to the screen its projecting onto
If budget is a concern... its maybe worth looking out for good second hand DLP projectors. The expense of new bulbs makes the projector pretty much value-less when they approach the end of their expected bulb life (usually about 2000 - 3000 hours). I buy old DLP projectors from school class rooms for £50 each to use for art installations - knowing that I'm only going to have them running for a few hours each in any given year.
If you were going to install one in an class room then obviously you'll clock up hundreds of hours - if you're going to give a dozen 15 minute presentations a year then 1000s of hours aren't an issue.
[url= http://www.ebuyer.com/727352-epson-eb-s04-svga-projector-v11h716041 ]http://www.ebuyer.com/727352-epson-eb-s04-svga-projector-v11h716041[/url]
Resolution isn't that high but it will be fine if you are just using it for powerpoint etc. 3000 lumens so plenty bright enough. On budget too!
Thanks chaps, extremely useful. It'll clock up a reasonable number of hours each year, so we'd like to get something that'll last a few years, so that probably rules out second hand.
The Epsom looks a good step up from the first option so will probably go for that.
Thanks.