Save Money - Use Projector Bulbs

Halogen lights have become popular as an overhead projector light. These projector bulbs provide high-intensity light that gives the presentation better lighting and dimming that ensure positive image precision. Here are the characteristics of the projector bulbs that you should consider in purchasing one. The projector bulb comes in many design, brand names, model, wattage and voltage. To identify whether the projector bulbs would fit your projector equipment, make sure learn your projector bulbs before purchasing. These bulbs have been used in:



- Business presentations

- School reporting

- Home-based cinema



1. Type and Shape



Check the base and note its type and shape. Make sure you know what the brand and model number of the projector bulbs for your projector - they should be listed in the user manual. If you happen to have lost your user manual, try the company website - they likely offer for download the user manuals that you can print off. This would ensure you don't go to the store and end up coming back with an incompatable bulb. If you are not aware of the brand, describe the shape of the projector bulbs base to the attendant at the light store. You could specify by telling the assistant about the shape of the bulb itself.



2. Size Matters



The size of the glass bulb is important. Basically, projector bulbs differ in the sizes of the bulbs' envelope or casing. The size of the projector bulbs would distinguish your bulb purchase if it is a foreign brand, if your projector is used in movie projectors or for slide show projector alone.



3. Knowing Is Half The Battle



The tungsten filament is a wire that reacts to the heat that occurs when the lamp is turned on. The shape of the filament would help you ask for the exact model or projector bulbs. Since each model makes use of varieties of wires and places the wire in different locations on the bulb, it would be easier for you to break down your choices for your projector bulbs? purchase.



4. The voltage and wattage



These items determine the overall output of the projector bulbs. The projector bulb that gives out brighter light does not necessarily mean that the wattage is higher than the bulb that produces a dimmer light. Make sure that you are aware of the consuming voltage and wattage of your projector bulbs.



Note:



All of the bulbs that are purchased for projectors are coded into three letters (e.g. ELH, DEK). These letters are assigned to all models that have the same filament reactivity, wattage and voltage. Since the material of the glass base does not have anything to do with the codes, you could choose your own style and could still purchase the exact bulb needed. These codes have no connection with the brand of the projector bulbs. This is done because choosing the perfect projector bulbs is vital in the handling of the projector, the bulb manufacturers follow a coding for their costumers to purchase easily and avoid confusion. Knowing this three letter code would be an advantage for you and the assistant at the store.



- It is advisable to purchase a lower-powered projector bulb

- Bulbs last up to 2,000 to 4,000 hours, depending on the usage amount of the projector

- Projector bulbs are made up of halogen lights

About the Author:

For more great projector bulb related articles and resources check out http://www.light-bulb-stop.com

Home Theater - Plasma TV VS Projectors

Many homeowners are struggling with an important, electronic question: What is the ideal display for my home theater? Many people have fought this debate, but I'll try to make clear some important considerations.

The most important detail to consider when deciding between a projector and a large plasma television is ambient light. A room with lots of windows presents a problem for a projector because every little bit of ambient lighting degrades the projected image. The ideal environment for a projector is one where you have total control over the lighting. If your home theater uses a projector, you are limited to using it when you can eliminate other light. A plasma screen can be used anyplace, anytime.

Assuming your home theater has blackout curtains, or exists deep underground; let's examine differences between a plasma television and a projector. One advantage of a projector is that you can get a much larger picture than is available in plasma. Projectors can produce images comparable to an 81-inch screen and larger. This just isn't possible with a plasma screen. However, plasma's have the advantage of not needing any amount of space. A projector must have a long enough corridor to project its image on the wall or screen. To get an 81-inch or greater image, you need a decent distance between the projector and the target. Second, a projector's image is dependent on more than the quality of the projector; you must be projecting onto a specialized surface or you lose detail. A top of the line HD projector with a very high native resolution would be wasted if you were just projecting the image onto a wall. You need an equally high quality screen with features such as a matte finish to eliminate reflection and glare. A plasma display requires no additional equipment.

Overall, a projector has the potential of creating a beautiful image, but it needs too much to work effectively. If you're creating a private movie theater with lighting control and an investment in a screen, mounting equipment, and blackout curtains, then a projector is your piece of equipment. For everyone else, I suggest a plasma television.

About the Author

Jakob Culver is founder of the website www.plasmatvarena.com providing information, articles and reviews about plasma tv's. To find more articles like this one visit the site http://www.plasmatvarena.com/

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How to Select the Right Home Theater Projector

How to Pick the Correct Projector for Your Home Theater

You're finally making the jump to the holy grail of home theater video displays; the front projection system. There's nothing else that delivers that really big, impressive video image like a front projection system. It's how you get that real cinema experience in your home theater. Home theater projector prices have plummeted in recent years, and the size of the units have shrunk right along with the prices. No more do have to live with a coffin sized box on your ceiling. As sizes have decreased, the image quality and brightness have actually improved dramatically. You'll notice image quality and brightness are two separate issues.

How do choose the correct home theater projector for your application from the myriad of projectors on the market today? There are so many different units, each with their strengths and weaknesses. First of all, there are two main projection technology categories, analog and digital. Analog projectors are based on CRTs, a mature technology that's been around for decades. Those are the projectors with the separate red, green and blue picture tubes and three lenses on the front. The other projectors use one of the newer digital technologies. These projectors have a single lens on the front. There are three major types of digital projectors on the market today; LCD (Liquid Crystal Display), DLP (Digital Light Processing) and LCOS (Liquid Crystal On Silicon). Each type of digital projector has it's advantages too.

You need to evaluate your specific requirements in order to make the proper decision. First of all, look at the room. Is it a dedicated home theater or a multi use room? Do you have complete control of the light? What aesthetic concerns are you dealing with? What is your projector budget? How large of an image do you want? Do you watch primarily DVD movies, TV movies, sports, or other TV programming? What specific source components will you be using with your projector now or in the future? Is picture quality the most important thing, or are other concerns, such as noise, size or brightness more important? Are you installing the projector yourself, or are you hiring a custom installer to do the installation for you? Where must the projector be placed? Can you get the required video and control cables to that location? These questions must be answered to ensure you get the proper projector for your home theater. If you are using a custom installer, they will take into account these factors and specify the appropriate unit for you.

Dramatic improvements in the picture quality of digital projectors notwithstanding, CRT projectors still deliver the most film like image. They have no pixel structure and deliver rich, deep blacks. Properly set up and calibrated, with a good video processor, and with the proper size screen, a CRT projector will deliver simply stunning picture quality. You'll need to use a good quality projection screen, typically with 1.3 - 2.5 gain depending upon the size, viewing angel and ambient light in the room. Prices on really great CRT projectors have fallen like a rock in the last year or two. You can get a 9" CRT projector that used to cost $35,000 to $50,000, for less than a third of that figure now. Many firms no longer make CRT projectors due to the decreased demand for projectors using this technology. In addition, the required video processors have decreased dramatically as well. Ten years ago a great video processor used to cost $10,000 to $20,000. Now you can get one for well under $5,000 and as little as $2,000, brand new. They also easily last 8,000 - 10,000 hours when properly set up.

If they are so fantastic, why doesn't everybody still use CRT projectors? Well, there are many detriments to a CRT projector as well. The best ones, with the 9" tubes, are simply huge. It's like hanging an upside down bathtub on your ceiling. If you want to put one under a coffee table, it'll be one large table. They are also very heavy, around 150 - 200lbs, so you need the proper structure to support them. CRT projectors also require precise placement. They must be perfectly square with the screen, at the correct elevation for good picture quality. In addition, while many digital projectors have zoom lenses, allowing the projector to be placed at a range of distance from the screen, CRT projectors must be at a very precise distance for a specific screen size. These factors severely limit placement options. While the larger CRT projectors put out more light than their smaller counterparts, they have pretty dim images compared to even the least expensive digital projectors. Finally, CRT projectors require specialized setup in order to get a watchable, much less an optimum image. Every 6 months to a year, they must be re-calibrated to ensure you are still getting optimum picture quality.

There are some very good reasons why most people are using digital projectors in their home theaters today. Many are small and light, require minimal setup and calibration (compared to a CRT), are quiet and have a bright, sharp image. But, there are many different digital projectors, ranging in price from around $700.00 to over $100,000.00. Which one is the best for your specific application? Thankfully, the situation is changing, but many of the digital projectors marketed for home theater use are really just re-badged presentation units. Presentation projectors sacrifice good video quality for brightness. Brightness is much more important when giving a Powerpoint presentation in a lit room than the correct color palate or the black level. The red on the pie chart looks great, no matter what, as long as you can see it from the back row.

You want to choose one of the newer units that has been truly designed for home theater applications. The actual technology used for the imaging chip is not all that important, there are great examples using all three of the digital technologies. Companies such as Sony, Runco, InFocus, Vidikron, Marantz, Benq, Panasonic, Sharp, Optima and Sanyo and some others all make great home theater projectors. The projector will have great black levels, to accurately reproduce detail in the darker areas of the picture and give great contrast. Absolute brightness is not extremely important, unless you have a multi-use room without complete light control or you have a lot of people over for sporting events. If you are entertaining many people for sports, it's nice to have some light on in the room, so a brighter projector is advantageous.

Projectors come in a number of different resolutions. The lower the resolution, the smaller the screen you can use before you can see pixel structure. Also, the lower resolutions will not support true HDTV. Most will display HD, but at a decreased resolution. The lowest end projectors typically have resolutions of 800 x 600. The Texas Instruments Matterhorn chip is popular on budget priced wide screen projectors, and has a resolution of 1024 x 576. Anything over a resolution of 720 will allow for true HDTV. The TI series of HD-2 DLP chips has a resolution of 1280 x 720. In April of 2005, TI announced new DLP chips with 1920 x 1080 was ready for production, allowing for true 1080p resolutions. Projectors with this chip will begin shipping in Q1 of 2006. Blu-Ray Disc has stated they will support 1080p, so by late 2006 there will be commercially available 1080p content besides Microsoft's WMHD discs.

Another very important aspect of home theater projectors is the internal video processing. This is one of the primary differences between good home theater projectors and presentation projectors. Digital projectors must display progressive scan images at the native resolution of the chip, so any interlaced signal, such as 1080i HDTV, must be de-interlaced and then scaled to the native chip resolution. Poor quality video processors, weather in the projector or external units, cause all sorts of video artifacts that can get in the way of a satisfying video presentation. This subject alone is too in depth for this article, as entire texts have been written on the subject. However, one common video artifact is "jaggies" where diagonal lines are jagged instead of straight. Another annoying artifact caused by poor video processing is moire'. This is a pattern seen as alternating light and dark lines that change position as the image moves.

You'll want to be sure your projector supports the HDMI or DVI with HDCP copy protection to allow you to connect a HD-DVD, scaling DVD player or Blu-Ray Disc player. These devices will only allow maximum resolution on a display that has a digital video input with HDCP copy protection. In the future, cable TV and satellite providers may restrict the maximum resolution to their digital outputs too.

When choosing your new home theater projector, make sure it has the video quality, brightness, size, auditory and budget characteristics that you need. Projectors are a large investment, choose carefully and you will be rewarded with years of thrilling video in your home theater.

About the Author

Steve has 15 yrs in electronics. He is a CEDIA certified designer with ISF and THX certificates. His experience includes: installer and programmer; system designer; business unit director for an a/v importer; sales rep for a CE distributor; and principal of a $1.5M+ CEDIA firm. He's now senior sales engineer for Digital Cinema Design in Redmond, WA. Go to: The Home Theater and Automation Guide#BREAK#