Our goal is to provide a great resource for consumers to help them make informed buying decisions when it comes to getting the best price for digital video projectors. We don’t care if you need it for a home theater, to rev up your gaming experience or as a business presentation projector, we want you to be an educated consumer. This is the aim of our site. But, we wanted to take up prime real estate on our home page to give you the down and dirty to the things you need to consider when buying a digital video projector. What you actually end up with will depend on your needs, but the aim of this post is to show you top buzzwords or things to consider when shopping for the projector, and using this information to get exactly what you need. There is no need to buy more than you need, and you don’t want to buy less than you need either.
Decide on Portable or Stationary When Looking for The Best Price for Digital Video Projectors
Size matters when it comes to getting the best price for digital video projectors. If you are going to be hauling the projector around a lot for business presentations, to friends so you can be the cool kid on the block or from room to room, then you may want something smaller. There are dozens of portable digital video projectors to choose from. You can even get handheld projectors that will fit in your pocket.
The Epson 705 HD PowerLite Projector and the Optoma HD20 DLP Projector are both portable projectors. We talk quite a bit about these projectors and they are great for a portable solution as well as a projector that stays in one place day in and day out. Knowing the size of the projector you need will help a great deal when getting the best price for digital video projectors.
Digital Video Projector Resolution
This is actually one of the first things most people think of when they are looking for a digital video projector. And, in 
fact, resolution is an important consideration. Especially if you are going to be watching high quality movies on Blu-Ray, or playing games with your HD Console like XBOX 360 or PlayStation 3 or future consoles that will be entering the market.
So let’s break down the resolution options you will probably be facing when looking for a projector.
- SVGA – 800 x 600
- XGA – 1024 x 768
- 720p – 1280 x 720
- 1080p – 1920 x 1080
Obviously 1080p is currently the top resolution available at the time of this writing. And, you will pay more for these types of projectors. Also, most source devices cannot yet output 1080p with the exception being Blu-Ray players and gaming consoles. The 1080p consoles will allow more room for future growth and technological advancement, but you will pay more for that luxury. Knowing the resolution you need will help you get the best price for digital video projectors because you will know what you need before you buy.
Lumens – One of the Key Ingredients to Get the Best Price for Digital Video Projectors
Many people do not understand what lumens are or their importance in relation to buying a digital video projector. I am here to tell you they are very important. And, they are very important to understand so you can get the best price for digital video projectors. Lumens measure the light output of the projector, or how bright the light is that is cast onto the screen or wall. This number becomes more important as the size of the screen grows or if you have a brighter room where the projector will be used. A projector with a rating between 1500 and 2500 lumens will work with a small screen and very little ambient light. If you have a medium sized screen or some dim light then you can get away with something in the 2500 to 4000 range. If you want to really kick it up though and cast it on a large screen or if you are dealing with a room with much light then you will want something over the 4000 range.
Digital Video Projector Inputs – Connecting the Toys
What good is a projector if you can’t connect anything to it. Well, its basically a very expensive paperweight because it is merely a device that casts an image onto a wall or screen. You may be connecting video game consoles, Blu-Ray players, Satellite receivers, laptops or smart phones. Everyone will have their own needs. Here are a few of the popular inputs you will want to look for when trying to get the best price for digital video projectors
- HDMI – This stands for High Definition Multimedia Interface. These cables support standard and enhanged definition video and audio in one cable. You will see these with high def players like Blu-Ray, PS3 and other gaming consoles.
- S-Video – This is a connection that carries an analog video signal into two separate channels.
- Composite – These are the older connections using a male connector (typically yellow) to connect the input device and projector
- Component
Digital Video Projector Ratio – See Math is Important
Many video projectors can handle multiple aspect ratios, but others may only support one. This is an important consideration when shopping for the best price for digital video projectors. Typical ratios are the following:
- 4:3 Aspect Ratio – This is the older ratio of non widescreen TVs. It is 4 units wide by 3 units high.
- 16:9 Aspect Ratio – This is becoming the new standard and most widescreen HDTVs use this format. Therefore it has become popular for home projectors.
Digital Video Projector Contrast – Don’t Get Too Hung Up When Looking for the Best Price for Digital Video Projectors
Contrast in a digital video projector basically deals with the ability to discern between the whitest whites and blackest blacks. The higher your projectors contrast ration then the higher number of colors you will have available. To put it simply there isn’t just one black color and one white color. So the higher number of colors available the better the image will be. However, you do not have to get too hung up on this number when trying to get the best price for digital video projectors.
It can be difficult for the human eye to discern ratios that are very high so you may not want to get too hung up on this number. But, this is a number that manufacturers use when marketing projectors to the consumer.
DLP Video Projectors and LCD Video Projectors
DLP and LCD are the two most common types of projectors today so that will be the two you will primarily be choosing from.
LCD is simpler to build and manufacture so they are a little cheaper compared to the DLP projectors. They do not have the capability of a DLP, but will probably suit most users just fine.
DLP is a technology that was created at Texas Instruments. It uses very tiny mirrors to spin color out onto the screen. That is a very simple explanation so stay tuned to see if we ever get more technical explaining that. One drawback to DLP with one or two mirrors is a rainbow artifact you see if you sit to the side of the projector. However, this has been corrected with newer models that use three of these mirrors.
These few items should give you a start when you are looking to get a projector. This, of course, is not an all-inclusive list, but this will be a good place to start when you are trying to get the best price for digital video projectors.