You’d think finding out what are the best projector under £1000 is easy, right? You just go on Amazon, search for “Best Projector under £1000” and that’s it. The thing is, you get thosands of results (at the time of writing). Not cool.
So you need to start researching. Luckily, researching stuff to buy is what I love doing so I took the liberty of doing a little bit of research to find out what the best projector under £1000 is. This is not intended to be a complete projector buying guide by all means. If I am missing anything, feel free to let me know in the comments below.
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The Best Projector under £1000
Let me guess. You can’t decide whether you want to buy a new TV or a projector. There are pros and cons for both of them but I’m gonna come back to that in another post. You decided to buy a PlayStation or an Xbox console and found the best deal there is out there. In both cases, well done you. Going for one of the projectors on the list bellow, you will have a massive screen, its size measured in feet rather than inches and it would cost you less than a £1000. So let us begin with our list.
Epson EH-TW5650
Get it at Currys.co.ukFor large screen viewing in the comfort of your own living room, this Epson model is a really brilliant option.
One of the leading projectors for home cinema use, the full HD display will project onto a screen up to 300”, meaning you won’t miss a single grain of action. You don’t just have to use it to gather around the latest film either, as it also works well to display games, live sport and pictures.
It doesn’t matter which device the media is on, as HDMI, USB, VGA, and Wi-Fi connection abilities will allow you to pair it with pretty much anything you own.
For a projector of its quality, it is really compact and lightweight. This makes it perfect for placing anywhere in your home, and the 1.6x zoom gives terrific pictures from any angle. As it isn’t DLP, there is no rainbow effect on your projection.
The only downside is the fan gets louder after a few hours of use, but you’ve probably got the volume turned so far up that you won’t even notice any external noise.
It may be at the top end of the under £1000 price range, but if you want the best quality long throw projector that money can buy, then it is justified.
ACER Predator Z650 Full HD Gaming Projector
Get it on AmazonBuying the latest game only to have it displayed like it is years old is annoying. But with the ACER Predator, games are shown just how the maker intended.
Full HD 1080p resolution and a 20,000:1 contrast ratio provides vibrant colours and details, which are often lost when a picture is magnified like this. It can project to a 300” screen without losing quality.
Not got the space for such a huge screen? Don’t panic. The short throw option allows you to project to a screen of 100” instead, at a distance of just 1.5 metres. You are also in good hands if you like to be able to capture your best gaming moments to keep forever, as the Predator can do this for you with a few presses of a button.
Inbuilt speakers mean it is all you will need for a fully immersive experience with friends, or Bluetooth will allow you to connect it up to your personal headset, so you don’t disturb the rest of the household. The sound quality is really top notch despite coming from a built-in speaker.
Optoma GT1080
Get it on AO.co.ukThe Optoma GT1080 is the 1080p model in Optoma’s gaming projector range. It is fully compatible with Xbox One, Xbox 360, PlayStation 3, PlayStation 4, Nintendo Wii and Nintendo Wii U and utilises a short-throw lens. That means you get a whopping 100-inch image from just a metre distance. Most Amazon reviews mention how great the short-throw capability and the buyers seem to love it but again a few reviews mention the fan noise.
The Optoma supports a 1920×1080 resolution with a 25000:1 contrast ratio and a brightness of 2800 Lumens. That makes it possible to get good image quality even in a slightly brighter room.
2 HDMI ports mean that you can connect your gaming console and your set-top box or laptop. You also get an MHL port for those moments when you need to share the IPhone video of your friend embarrassing himself on a massive screen.
The lamp has a 5,000-hour life, so you probably won’t need to change it until the first hologram projectors hit the market.
The guys from Optoma have really done their homework, the GT1080 has an input lag of under 25ms making it the ideal PS or Xbox projector. Change the video settings to 1080p and see it in action here:
EPSON EB-S41 Office Projector
Get it on AmazonWith the ability to display on a screen up to 350” without losing any crispness or contrast, this is an excellent choice for anybody who needs maximum detail. It is best suited to an office environment but works really well in allowing you to watch television and play games as well.
Whether you are showing the office all of the latest data and figures or need to show a class-full of pupils a presentation, you are in safe hands. Images and text are displayed in full detail, and 3LCD technology means no rainbow effect.
3LCD technology and an output of 3300 lumens give an optimum picture even if the sunlight is streaming in so you won’t have to close the blinds and leave everyone in the dark. The lamp will last for years to come, too; up to 10,000 hours to be precise. That is about one film per day for the next 15 years. No need to worry about whether it can handle displaying an Excel spreadsheet or two.
As a bonus, it is also designed with portability in mind. There is a handy carry case included in the purchase, and you only need an HDMI cable connected between the two devices to get going – no scrabbling around for multiple wires.
NEBULA Capsule Pocket Cinema Smart Mini Projector
Get it at AmazonPortable projectors are no longer just ordinary projectors but smaller. The NEBULA Capsule is the prime example.
It is the size of a fizzy drink can, so can work no matter where you are. With the ability to project anything from your phone, tablet or laptop thanks to Bluetooth, Apple Airplay and Wi-Fi capability, you don’t have to worry about wires and cables.
The 360° built-in speaker also means there is no trouble in everyone hearing the film clearly, too. It doubles up as a portable speaker, so can act like a complete all-rounder when you want to cut down on suitcase contents for a weekend away.
Understandably, it wouldn’t be able to hold the ‘portable’ description if the battery was poor. With up to four hours play time, there’s plenty of scope to watch the latest blockbuster or play your new game until your eyes need a rest. Just want to use it as a speaker? You have up to 30 hours play time. Basically, unlimited listening.
There are plenty of extra accessories available if you want to jazz up your viewing experience. A tripod could help to stabilise your projector, so you don’t have to worry about it tipping over and spoiling the movie marathon. A power bank is also a perfectly suitable method of charging it up if you are in the garden and don’t want to bring the party inside.
Optoma HD141X
Get it on AmazonNo real Best Projector under £1000 list would be complete without a portable projector entry. The one that made the list is the Optoma HD141X. In fact, if I were to write a Best Projector Under £500, this would be the winner by far. The MHL technology is probably the most important feature here. Being a portable projector, you will probably want to connect your mobile phone or tablet to it and the MHL technology allows you to do just that. The contrast isn’t as good as it is on the other ones at just 23000:1 but the 3000 Lumens makes up for that in my book. Did I mention that it is Full 3D 1080p? Unfortunately, it suffers from the same fan noise issue most budget projectors do but at this price and with so many good features, I think it still makes a sensible purchase.
So there you go. This was my projector buying guide and a few suggestions as to what I believe the best projector under £1000 and a few close competitors. Remember that it’s not about buying the latest, most feature-rich projector. Instead, you should think about how are you going to use it. Are you using your projector in a bright room? Are you bothered about the fan noise? Will you use the projector in a small room? Only after you have answered all of these questions (and probably others I am missing) you will be able to tell which is the best projector under £1000 or the best projector for you.
Thank you for reading my projector buying guide. If you have any questions about this Best Projector Under £1000 list, drop me a message in the comments.
Projector Buying Guide
The most important things that you need to look out for when buying a projector are its Brightness, Contrast and Resolution. You might have to compromise on one of the points in but, this is “Best Projector under £1000” not “Best Projector in the world”. Do you really want to pay for features you’ll never use? Didn’t think so…
High brightness (measured in Lumens) is important when using your projector for presentations and generally in environments where there is a source of light. If you are planning on watching movies or playing games in complete darkness, then you should not have to buy a projector that boasts more than 3,000 Lumens as it might hurt your eyes. If you’re using your projector in fairly bright ambient light then you might want to go for 3500 ANSI lumens or higher.
When deciding how bright the monitor should be, you should also take into consideration the screen size. The bigger the screen, the brighter the projector will have to be. If your screen size exceeds 70in, you will need a brighter monitor. This Projector Brightness advice calculator here should help: http://www.projectorpoint.co.uk/Projector-Brightness-Advice.htm
Contrast Ratio in this context is the ratio of the light reflected from an all-white image and an all black image and it is important because the higher the-the contract ratio number is, the clearer (more details) the image will be on your screen. So high contrast means high quality.
Resolution is the number of pixels that projectors can transmit. The four main resolutions are XGA (4:3 Aspect Ratio, 1024×768), WXGA (16:10 Aspect Ratio, 1280×800), High Definition (16:9 Aspect Ratio, 1920×1080) and 4K Ultra HD (4096×2160). I will not focus on the 4k projectors in this post since none of them made it onto our Best Projector under £1000 List. If you are wondering what Aspect Ratio means, it is basically the image shape the projector illuminates. People looking for a home entertainment machine should definitely go for the High Definition as its Aspect Ratio is the only one that supports playing movies and games on a full screen. To illustrate my point have a look at the picture attached underneath.
LCD vs DLP. These are the two main types of projectors out there at the moment. DLP offers a better picture quality and deeper colours but produces the so-called Rainbow effect. That occurs when very bright areas of the video move across very dark areas and causes some people to see flashes of red, green and blue. This happens due to the projector’s slow colour wheel. LCD models are not prone to the Rainbow effect but are pricier and the overall cost goes up due to higher maintenance expenses.
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