Projector FAQ’s: Home Cinema Projector

Yes! While most projectors are not ‘smart’ like is commonplace in the TV sector and do not have these apps built in, it’s very easy to gain access to a whole host of applications such as Netflix. The best way in our opinion is to get yourself a streaming device such as an Amazon Fire Stick or Roku streaming stick, these simply plug into your projector and connect wirelessly to your internet connection, giving you a cable free solution to all your streaming needs!

Bluetooth is quite rare in projectors, though it is slowly becoming more common. However, it may not be as useful as you think! Customers often think they can Bluetooth content from their phone or PC to a projector, but Bluetooth does not work this way. It’s actually only really useful for audio, such as sending audio wirelessly from your projector to a speaker. At the moment you are more likely to find Bluetooth in mini projectors or portable projectors, as the wireless convenience compliments the other features and size that these projectors offer, but it is finding its way to some home cinema units too. More often than not you’ll need to plug speakers into the projectors 3.5 mm audio out, or take your audio direct from the source device (Blu ray player, Games console, PC etc). Some external devices may allow you to send the audio wirelessly to a Bluetooth speaker, you can do this with some of the top range Amazon Firestick devices for example.

Many people confuse the terms Bluetooth and wireless. While Bluetooth is used to connect two devices together in order to facilitate the transfer of data over radio frequency, a WLAN connection offers many more possibilities. In short, a Bluetooth connection on a projector will only allow you to send audio from the projector to a Bluetooth speaker. A wireless connection will allow for image transfer from your phone, PC or tablet straight onto your projected image.

While having this feature built into projectors is rare, there are plenty of devices you can use to enable this feature on a whole host of projectors. Providing your projector had an HDMI port, you could use a wireless dongle such as the Optoma UHDCast Pro to share your screen from android and iOS devices. Some dongles allow for instant screen share, some may require the use of an application, and if that’s the case, why not take a look at our guide on Projection apps for iPhone, iPad and iPod.

Contrast ratio is the measurement of the difference between the darkest black and brightest white of an image. A higher contrast level means you’ll see more detail and depth in your image, so it’s always best to look for a high contrast ratio. To really get the most contrast in your image, you’ll want to project in a darker room. LCD projectors typically can not produce the deep black levels that a DLP projector can, but there are still some very good options with high contrast ratios. Why not take a look at our range of high contrast screens to enhance your image even further?

Best projectors for home use tend to offer either Full HD or 4K resolution, paired with a high contrast ratio and lower lumen levels. Finding a projector with HDR and Rec.709 colour space is a big plus. Higher end projectors may also offer features such as lens shift, which is a great way to line up your image without sacrificing quality like keystone correction does.

This is a question best answered when knowing where you intend using your projector. Projecting in a brighter room, for example a living room during the daytime, you will need to look for projectors with upwards of 3000 lumens. If it’s a dedicated home cinema room, and you have good darkening possibilities, then you can look much lower, some of the very best home cinema projectors are as low as 1500 lumens. Screen size of course plays a part, a much larger screen may need a few more lumens than a smaller one, so this is something to factor into any decision.

For home cinema projectors, there is really only one aspect ratio you need to worry about, and that is 16:9 widescreen. This suits the content far better than a 4:3 or 16:10 aspect ratio, which would both result in having more black borders at the top and bottom than required. Full HD 1920 x 1080 and 3840 x 2160 4K UHD both operate at 16:9.