Projectors and Lenses
A projector is the playback device that projects an image onto your screen to allow you to view video footage. A good projector can really make the difference between a good and a great viewing experience.
Home projectors have come a long way in the last few years and can now offer a better than cinema quality setup in your own home. With 4k UHD models now available at affordable prices, there’s really no excuse to compromise on quality in this area. As a starting guide, there are three main factors to consider when looking at a projector: lumens, resolution and aspect ratio.
Lumens is how bright the projector can go, with a minimum of 1000 lumens as a recommendation.
Resolution corresponds to the quality of video footage, e.g. 1080p, 4K UHD and so on. As mentioned previously this isn’t an area to compromise on with it being much more affordable and with lots of 4K UHD films out there on Blu-ray and streaming services.
Finally, native aspect ratio is an important consideration to make, as your projector will display its best picture in this mode. 16:9 is the standard for home cinema projectors, however, this isn’t always the best way to view your film as many suit an aspect ratio of 2.40:1 (read about aspect ratio here). Switching to the correct mode for this ratio by zooming out causes a loss of pixels, meaning a 4K projector will be putting out 3K, that’s where lenses come in.
Anamorphic lenses change the native resolution using optics and not processing power, to suit the 2.40:1 ratio. This allows your projector’s processor to use up all of its pixels, creating a brighter, sharper widescreen image that is perfectly suited to widescreen films.
At JacobsAV we recommend Sony or Barco projectors and are an authorised dealer for Panamorph Anamorphic lenses.