Best home projector 2021 under 500 movie#
Best home projector 2021 under 500 full#

“Even with 2,000 lumens, once you start calibrating it, the peak brightness goes down,” he says. When Lin was looking at projectors for a small space in his home, brightness played a key role, as he needed something that would show up against a good deal of ambient light.

Best home projector 2021 under 500 full#

“Anything less than 500 isn’t usable, it’ll lose all the contrast and black levels with ambient light,” he says, “It’s awful, it’s almost unwatchable.” He also notes that for projectors with built-in rechargeable batteries, the projector won’t shine at full brightness while on battery power, so it’s important to account for that if you’re planning on using it away from an outlet. Steinberg says a projector’s brightness, which is measured in lumens (the amount of light emitted), is one of the most important things to look out for in a projector. Here are some of the best portable projectors you can buy online. I also looked at reviews from our colleagues at the Verge. To find out what makes a good portable projector stand out, and what to avoid, I tested a few projectors in my home and outdoors and spoke with Mark Steinberg, a senior technologist at B&H Photo, as well as Eric Lin, a cinematographer based in Brooklyn.

Best home projector 2021 under 500 movie#

These compact projectors are all about convenience and portability, so they won’t be as bright or sharp as a high-end projector, but for an impromptu movie night indoors or out, they can’t be beat. Once they’re connected to a streaming device, laptop, smartphone, or game console via Bluetooth or cables, they can play movies, YouTube videos, or any other type of multimedia (with some limitations due to Digital Rights Management protections more on that, below). They are small - the smallest are also known as pico or pocket projectors - typically more affordable than their larger counterparts, and easy enough to move from room to room or bring to a rooftop hang or a BBQ. Portable projectors can give you an instant theater space, and not just at home.