6. What determines the image quality?
When most people think about buying a projector, they're wowed by the size of the image. In all the excitement they forget about the details. But after watching the picture for a few weeks or months, people quickly come to notice the flaws in their image – any jagged edging, uneven brightness or lack of vibrancy. What now seems so painfully obvious wasn't just a matter of weeks ago.
Consider these points and you'll have a much higher chance of being happy with the quality of your projector's image for many years to come.
What resolution?
Resolution refers to the number of pixels (dots) that make up the picture. The more pixels, the sharper the image. A higher resolution takes greater advantage of any high definition sources you intend to play through your projector (HDTV, high-definition DVD etc).
For a home-theatre projector, you will want its native resolution to be 16:9 (widescreen). That means that for every 16 horizontal pixels, there are 9 vertical pixels.
Why widescreen (16:9)?
DVD movies are being delivered in widescreen format and it looks as though they will continue to be for years to come. If the native resolution of your projector is 16:9, you will be able to get a bigger, better widescreen image when you watch your movies. If a projector's native resolution is 4:3 (for every 4 horizontal pixels there are 3 vertical pixels), you will still be able to watch DVDs in widescreen format, but the image will most likely be smaller.
Widescreen resolutions you should consider include WXGA (1280 x 768) and WXGA-H (1280 x 720). These resolutions offer sharp, crisp images. Lower resolutions look jagged and splotchy by comparison.
You're limited by your sources
The DVD player and cabling you use to send an image to your projector can limit the quality of your on-screen image. A low quality signal will produce a low quality result. Many flaws in an image that weren't apparent on a smaller TV screen may suddenly become glaringly obvious. If you're not ready to upgrade your DVD Player, at least make sure you use the highest quality cable connection it will allow.
What connections produce the best results?
Projectors are typically very 'connective'. They have lots of inputs for viewing various image formats.
Here is a general breakdown of the types of cable connections and the quality of signal they provide:
Composite: Analogue image signal (Good)
S-Video: Analogue image signal (Better)
Component: Analogue image signal (Better still)
DVI: Digital image signal (Best)
HDMI: Digital sound and image signal in one cable (Best)
Be sure you choose a projector that at least has a component input.