epson projector lcd panel free sample

Unlike TVs, projectors are actually one part of a multipart system. The screen, room, and projector all play a role in the final image you see. A projector can be perfectly accurate (more on this below), but the image can still look wrong because of how the screen is affecting it. The main factors we considered when testing a projection screen were: gain, color accuracy, viewing angle, and texture.

Gain is a measurement of how much light the screen reflects. A gain of 1.0 means it reflects the same amount of light as an industry standard white magnesium-oxide board. Screens can reflect less light and have a gain of less than 1.0, or more light and have a gain higher than 1.0. A lower gain will produce deeper, darker blacks but reduce overall image brightness. In the early days of digital projection, this was useful because projectors had terrible (read: grayish) blacks. But that is less of an issue now with most decent projectors.

A higher gain, made possible by special screen materials, reflects more light back toward the center of the room. This creates a brighter image, but it also reduces viewing angles and can introduce hot spots (areas of the image that are noticeably brighter than other areas). It used to be that a higher gain was necessary, but as projectors have gotten more powerful, today a gain of 1.0 is often sufficient.

Color accuracy measures how well the screen reflects the colors projected onto it. The makeup of the screen can result in certain colors being absorbed more than others and introduce a tint to the image that isn’t coming from the projector. Many projectors ship with picture modes that are close to accurate out of the box, but those might no longer be accurate after they hit the screen. A screen that introduces as little color shifting as possible is ideal. The two images below show the same image on two different screen materials. You can easily see the color shifts between the two and the problems a screen can introduce.

After all that, we set out to review 100-inch, 16:9 screens, as close to 1.0 gain as possible. We figured this was a good-size, average screen that would work for most people. You can certainly go larger, though the image will be dimmer (by an amount equal to the increase in screen area). Since most modern home theater projectors won’t have an issue creating a bright image on a 100-inch screen (and most can even do larger), we didn’t feel anything higher than a 1.0 gain was necessary. Since most content is 16:9, that was also our preferred screen shape, though many companies make 2.35:1-shaped screens as well.

The Stewart and Screen Innovations screens are much more expensive models that are often sold only through custom AV retailers, but we still included them in our tests as references for comparison. Stewart is the best-selling screen brand for custom home theaters, and the StudioTek 130 is the company"s best-selling material. It is the reference standard for a home theater screen and the one most reviewers are likely to recommend if you ask for a single suggestion; I use it when testing projectors. In our tests of screens, we wanted to make sure to pit everything against this reference to see how well they performed.

Epson iProjection is a wireless projection app for Android devices & Chromebooks. This app makes it easy to mirror your device’s screen, and project documents & photos wirelessly to an Epson projector.

The most important aspect of this process is having the right projector. The more lumens the better, but you should be using a projector that is no less than 4500 lumens. The contrast ratio is considered an important spec, but what’s probably just as important, or more important, is using a DLP projector. The blacks are deeper, making it so you don’t see the gray box. You will also want to pay attention to the native resolution of the projector. Full HD, 1920×1080, is preferred, but a projector with a native resolution of 1280×800 will project a nice image, too.

Be sure the projector has both horizontal and vertical keystone correction–having both will allow you the most flexibility with where you place the projector and still have an image that looks as it was designed. Some projectors also have something called quick corners or corner fit, which also helps to adjust the image so it looks good when shooting from weird angles. In addition, it’s great if you can find a projector that can display images from a USB drive. If it doesn’t, you’ll need a media player.

–Contrast ratio (over 8,000:1):Difference between white & black. A contrast ratio of 8000:1 means the white is 8000 times brighter than the black. However, more important than contrast ratio is DLP over LCD.

– Zoom (at least 1.3x): This is how much you can change the image size by adjusting the lens. This is what allows you to move the projector further away without the image being huge (or to put it closer and get it bigger).

We regularly search for new projectors that would be good for this application. The following are the best projectors out now that we recommend. The first few are going to be our top recommended projectors, and then after that, they aren’t in any particular order. As an Amazon Associate, we earn from qualifying purchases.

**We don’t have any one particular projector from this list we think is better than the others. Each works well for this application. We recommend checking out the various specs and pricing to determine which you buy.**