Know that you are thinking about creating the ultimate home theater, but not sure where to begin? Here’s a list of common first-timer questions that should be helpful in guiding you in the right direction to finding the right home theater projector for you and your home. However you choose to design your HT it will have the following:

• A large screen TV appropriate to the room size
• A surround sound system
• Seating arranged to best view the image
• Sources of material including cable, sat., DVD, or internet media
• Options include HT computers, DVD jukeboxes, hard drive based file servers, Tivo devices, and many others.

Most people consider a HT to be based around a high definition display although that isn't required. High Def will give you vastly better picture quality but in practice very little HD programming is available compared to standard DVD and cable. You will be watching your HT on non-HD sources most of the time but given virtually all large screen displays are HD capable this article will assume the HT is high definition.

Brightness

Determining how bright your home theater projector should be is dependent on many factors. With business projectors, lumen output is of primary importance, and contrast (difference in brightness between maximum white and deepest black in an image) is a secondary concern. Home theater projectors are the exact opposite. Contrast is arguably the single most important measurable quality in a home theater projector. A high contrast projector produces a picture with a rich, dynamic look, good shadow definition, and deep color saturation. Contrast gives "depth" to video images. A projector with excellent contrast can make a two-dimensional image appear almost three-dimensional.

One of the major factors to consider is where you plan on setting up your home theater. If you are planning to have a dedicated home theater room where there aren’t any windows or there isn’t a lot of ambient light (which is the growing trend among technology-savvy home owners), then you can choose a home theater projector with a lower lumen count.  Brightness is measured in ANSI lumens (or just lumens), and the more lumens produced by the projector, the brighter the projected image will be. Therefore, if you are planning on setting up your home theater projector in a room with large windows or one that receives a lot of ambient light from other adjacent rooms, you will need a projector with a higher lumen count to produce a quality image. A good rule of thumb for a home theater projectors is that it should have a lumen count of 700 or better if you plan on using it in a dedicated setting, 900 or better for rooms with some ambient lighting (rooms where lights can be dimmed and there still be some light coming in from windows or an adjacent room), or 2000 lumens or more for rooms with high ambient lighting (rooms with large windows where lighting cannot be controlled). Experts recommend the following lumen outputs:

• Dedicated home theaters need 1000 lumens or better.
• Rooms with some ambient light should have at least 1200 lumens.
• Spaces with high ambient light need about 2000 lumens.
  

Higher resolution HDTV signals for high-quality image

Using a home theater projector will allow you to bring cinematic quality right to your living or family room. In order to obtain optimum image quality, there are some essential rules to follow. Of course, you will want to match your computer's resolution with the native resolution of the projector for the best quality image. However, keep in mind that XGA, or high resolution native widescreen formats like WXGA, are the best choice for HDTV, DVD's, and other home theater applications.

Digital TV starts at 480p, but there are higher resolution HDTV signals as well - primarily 720p and 1080i. While the resolution of HDTV is measured in lines, a digital projector doesn’t produce lines but pixels, so it has to convert the TV signal to its own native resolution. The conversion may lose you some a little sharpness or detail, but any XGA projector or better will give you a higher resolution image than standard TV.

Be sure to match the native resolution of your home theater projector to your source material, be it HDTV signals or a progressive scan DVD player. This can sometimes be tricky because your home theater projector’s resolution is measured in pixels and HDTV and DVD signals are measured in lines. HDTV signals are not completely standardized, but 720p and 1080i signals are most common. A progressive scan DVD player has a 480p signal. These measurements can be compared to the height measurement of projector resolution. A home theater projector with an 800 x 600 resolution consists of 600 lines. As confusing as this is, most projectors come equipped with video scaling technology that allow them to improve the appearance of a signal that isn’t the same as the native resolution of your home theater projector. Even with that in mind, it is recommended to purchase a home theater projector with as much resolution as you can afford. Resolution is a measurement of the clarity and sharpness of the image, and the more resolution, the better quality image. Having more resolution can’t hurt you, but having too little resolution can. Also, buying a home theater projector with higher resolution future-safes your home theater to evolving technologies.

Room Size

Having life size projections is impressive and contributes to get more immersed into the movie action, but if you end up sitting too close to your big-screen TV, you will be able to see the flaws in the picture; this can be extremely distracting. Sit too far away and the impact will be lost.
Choosing the right size in particular is extremely important when working with rear projection TV systems - since here you are stuck with a fixed screen size. This is not the case with front projection.

As a rule of thumb, the viewing distance between you and your big screen TV should be twice to three times the screen width, while the furthest distance being no more than four to five times. This is not the ideal viewing distance but rather the range within which your TV viewing will be out of the trouble zone.

Ceiling mounting

This is a major decision that needs to be made before you decide to purchase a home theater projector. Although a good portion of home theater projectors can be ceiling mountable, not all are. Therefore, to keep your planning fail-safe, it is best to decide if you want a tabletop or ceiling installation first. Each choice has its advantages, but will be ultimately decided by how you want to use your home theater projector.

Ceiling mounting your home theater projector does offer a more “put-together” look and feel to your home theater. This will get any cables off the floor and leave table tops clutter-free. Another advantage to this approach is that you will only have to worry about setting up the projector once and then every time you want to use it after that, just turn it on. This is a great time saver and will allow you to focus on enjoying your home theater rather than setting it up in a timely fashion.

Keeping your home theater projector as a table-top projector offers the advantage of portability. You will have the flexibility to transport your projector to another section of the house, outdoors, or even take it to the homes of family and friends. However, you will need to set-up the projector for each use and will not look as professional as it would if it were ceiling mounted and you will want to make sure that your home theater projector is aesthetically pleasing as it will always be visible.

Setting up/ installation and more

There are plenty of features that make your home theater projector user-friendly. There are 3 basic weight sizes - fixed installation for the home market (100 lbs or more), the conference room variety (mid-range in weights), and the ultralight, portable projectors that are under 10 lbs. The simplest solution for setting up a projector is to mount it upside down on the ceiling. Really! All (or almost all) projectors today are designed to either sit right side up or hang upside down. If you mount it on the ceiling, the kids won't knock it out of alignment, you won't feel the heat the bulb generates, you won't hear the cooling fan, and it is easier to make sure there is a clear path. Automatic keystone correction and lens shift may sound complicated, but they are extremely helpful and easy to use tools that ensure you will get great image quality. Many times they are easy to use and pressing a button on the remote control. Remote controls that are full function allow you to completely control your home theater projector from your couch or favorite chair. Many home theater projectors have user-friendly menus to more easily allow you to control color and other functions without spending and hour looking for the setting. Simple video source switching allows you to switch from HDTV to video with the press of a button.

Some other features to consider in order to give your home theater projector installation that “wow” factor include picture-in-picture, automatic keystone correction, rear projection capability, and long lamp life. To make projectors easier setting up to a variety of rooms and help them accommodate different screen sizes, many projectors now incorporate zoom lenses and physical lens shift. Moreover, a variable lens shift feature can also ease installation for the do-it-yourselfer. Having the capability of shifting the image up or down and/or left or right can offer greater flexibility in where the unit is placed in your home theater. If the unit that you have selected doesn't have this feature, you might want to consider hiring a professional to complete the installation as you'll need to ensure that it's placed in precisely the correct location to obtain the proper image.

Picture-in-picture will give you the flexibility to watch the big game and another program at the same time. Automatic keystone correction is necessary for table-top home theater projectors to ensure good image quality for all of those situations when set-up conditions aren’t exactly ideal. Home theater projectors with rear projection capability are able to be set-up behind the screen and project the image from behind. This is a great way to show-off and hides those annoying cables to give your portable home theater a more polished look. A long-life lamp for your home theater projector means that you will have to replace it less often, saves money (replacements can cost anywhere from $200 to $400), and ensures that those outdoor movie marathons projected on the garage door can go just as long as you can.