Choosing an outdoor projector

Choosing The Right Projector for the Outdoor Settings

Brightness

This is probably the most important characteristic for your outdoor projector.
The brightness is measured in ANSI Lumens. Because your projector will be used outside and there is always some light and we can’t completely control or you may want to start your movie before it gets totally dark. The recommendation is to have a projector 3000 Lumen or higher. When you order the projector from Outdoor Cinema Events the projectors we use are professional grade with 3000 Lumens or above.

Image Quality

       The most important characteristics that will determine projector’s image quality are its native resolution, image source and contrast ration. For native resolution the most common choices are Wide XGA (1280 x 800) and HD (1920 x 1080) with HD have twice the number of pixels as compared to XGA or roughly 1 million pixels vs 2 million. The best results can be achieved when we match the resolution of the image source with the resolution of our projector. Most blue-ray players, PlayStation 3 and XBox 360 put out 1080p image.
Which represents 1,920 pixels displayed across the screen horizontally and 1,080 pixels down the screen vertically. Compared to 720p which is 1,280 pixels displayed across the screen horizontally and 720 pixels down the screen vertically.
So can you tell the difference tween XGA and HD formats? The answer is that in most case you probably will not be able to tell the difference. However, when the screen size is 8 feet diagonal or above the HD formats provide a better viewing experience.
For this reason, when you rent your equipment with Outdoor Cinema Events we always use 1080p resolution projectors.
    The last part of the puzzle is a contrast ratio or another words the difference between the darkest and lightest part of the image. Here we are not only looking for a projector with high contrast ratio like 100,000:1 for instance, but also one that can display all the shades of grey in between (I hope you are a fan of the 50 Shades of Grey franchise). But seriously, we want to look for projectors with technology such as BrilliantColor and sRGB. I would say a good recommendation is for the projector to have 50,000:1 or higher contrast ratio, especially if we are dealing with an image projected on a large screen. Here in Outdoor Cinema Events our projectors are 50,000:1 or higher aspect ratio.
    Another important question that we often get asked is the image size. How big of an image can I produce with a given projector while maintaining high resolution and overall quality. This is not often listed when we are searching for projector in amazon for instance or a manufacturer website. This is because there are so many factors involved in arriving to this answer. We like to use this calculator made available by the folks at Projector Central. http://www.projectorcentral.com/JVC-LX-FH50-projection-calculator-pro.htm
Here you can specify your projector brand and model and you can a great way to figure out not only the image size but related stats which are equally critical such as recommended seating and throw distance.

Purchasing a high quality projector can be good purchase for your family. But as you can see the projectors that can be used outside to produce an amazing image on a large screen is an investment that will most likely cost over a thousand dollars. Unless you plan to use it on a regular basis it may or may not make sense for you, especially if you add a cost of high quality screen, speakers, and the cabling.
Here at Outdoor Cinema Events we specialize in providing high quality projectors, screen, speakers, Blue-Rays with all the cabling you need, delivered and setup for $200.  And did I mention the pop-corn machine is on us. By the you get to use the equipment anytime over the weekend. Friday and Saturday night for example.
Call us anytime 925-360-1285 or email @ outdoorcinemaevents925@gmail.com.
We have never found anyone who doesn’t enjoy an amazing movie experience on a big screen, especially under the stars.