Optoma Projector:

For many home theater enthusiasts, a theater isn’t really a theater unless you have optoma projector. Until the advent of the plasma flat panel , projectors were really the only choice for big screens (bigger than the approximately 40-inch limit of CRT direct-view TVs, at least). And while 60-inch plasmas are now on the market, you still need optoma projector system to get a really big picture. (Front-projection screens can be as big as 10 feet or more across!)
But projection systems don’t need to break the bank either. Rear-projection systems (RPTVs) are perhaps the best value in home theater, at least in terms of bang for the buck. For a few thousand bucks — or even less, as new technologies like DLP (Digital Light Processor) begin to saturate the market — you can get a picture as big as a plasma, in full HDTV glory. You can’t hang one of these units on the wall, but visually, the picture is at least as good as (and often better than) plasma, for thousands less. In particular, RPTVs are much better than most plasma displays at reproducing blacks on-screen, which means you get superior reproduction of darker scenes when you’re watching movies or television.

Choosing between front and rear optoma projection
The first big decision to make when evaluating projection systems is, for most people, the easiest: front or rear projection. We say this is the easiest decision to make because we find that most people choose a rear-projection system. They are cheaper (generally speaking, though high-end rear projectors can definitely cost more than low-end front-projection systems), and they are easier to set up and integrate into your home theater. Having said that, let’s define the difference between these systems. It’s quite simple, really:

 Front optoma projection: A front projector is very similar to a movie projector (except it doesn’t use film). It includes a projector unit (which is usually mounted on your ceiling but can also be on a lift, on a floor mount, or in the rear wall) and a separate screen. Video sources (such as DVDs, cable, and satellite TV) are routed into the projector, which then turns these signals into light. Then, the light is (ding ding ding, you guessed it) projected onto a separate screen that’s mounted on a wall at the front of your home theater. Figure 14-3 shows a front-projection system.

 Rear optoma projection: These are the traditional big-screen TVs that have been sold for years and years. If your Uncle Vinnie got a big screen back in 1987 for Superbowl XXI, this is what he has. Now some people, having seen the lousy, washed-out picture on Uncle Vinnie’s TV, think that rear projectors trade picture quality for size. Nothing can be further from the truth. A good-quality, well-set-up rear projector can offer an awesome picture. A rear-projection TV (or RPTV) has both parts of the front projector (the projector and the screen) in a single, all-in-one box, and the projector illuminates the back of the screen instead of the front.

Now, we’ve already come right out and said that for most people — most people, not all people — rear- projection systems are probably the best choice. As we mention earlier, the lower cost and easier setup make rear optoma projectors more consumer-friendly. (You don’t have to spend nearly as much time getting the projector properly aligned and aimed at the screen with a rear projector — though you do have to spend some time doing this.) But with the advent of new, computer-based technologies such as DLP (Digital Light Processor) chips, front projectors have begun to drop in price from the stratospheric to the reasonable (well under $2,000), and the setup of these new systems is easier, too

Selecting a projection method
As you move past the rear- versus front-projection decision, you’ll find that you really haven’t decided anything at all. Four main technologies that are currently on the market do the actual work of converting electrical video source signals into light that can be projected onto the screen. Each of these can be found in either front- or rear-projection units. Keep in mind, however, that new variants of these technologies, as well as entirely new ways of projecting video, are being invented all the time.

Catching On To The Cathode Ray | CTR | Deciding on a DLP | Deciding on a DLP 2 | Deciding on a DLP 3 | LCD CTR | LCoS | Projecting with LCDs |