Projector Resolutions Explained
Every image a projector creates consists of thousands of little dots called picture elements, or pixels. Like your digital camera, a projector’s resolution refers to the number of pixels in its display and it’s these pixels that display a wide range of colors to create the image. While digital cameras are classified by 5, 6, 7 or more megapixels, projectors are classified as SVGA, XGA, UXGA and several others. Also like with digital cameras, the more pixels you have, the more clear your images are and the more you can see. Resolution is generally the most important factor in buying a projector, and it’s important to thoroughly understand why.
4:3 Projector Resolutions
Defining resolution is very easy. A resolution is the number of horizontal pixels and vertical pixels in a display, often preceded by an acronym. Today’s entry level resolution is the SVGA (800 x 600) resolution; SVGA is a good resolution for presenting PowerPoint slides that do not have very detailed images or small font text. SVGA is also very good at projecting low quality video or SDTV. SVGA projectors also tend to be the cheapest, with some priced as low as $500 USD. Depending on what you are going to be using a projector for, you might only need an SVGA projector, and from there, you can decide on what other features you need in a projector.
While SVGA is the entry level resolution for a projector, it is quickly being replaced by the XGA (1024 x 768) resolution. Because it is becoming cheaper to manufacture XGA projectors, XGA will quickly phase out SVGA as the new entry level projector resolution. Coincidentally, most personal computer desktops also use XGA by default, making it easier to match up a projector’s native resolution with the desktop resolution. Matching resolutions is very important when using a projector for reasons we will look at. Because of the widespread use of XGA as a format in applications and on webpages, it is an excellent choice for a resolution. Ever wonder what it meant when a webpage had a footnote of “Best Viewed at (1024 x 768) or Higher” at the bottom of the page? That’s the resolution that the webpage was built around and at what resolution it is properly navigable. For example, aboutprojectors is best viewed at (1024 x 768) or higher. As stated before, higher resolutions can display more information in the same area; XGA appeals to people who use spreadsheets and small text in their presentations because it allows for more of a picture to be seen clearly.
Above XGA are the SXGA+ (1400 x 1050) and UXGA (1600 x 1200) resolutions. These resolutions are not in as widespread use as the SVGA and XGA resolutions, but they are slowly becoming less rare and are not restricted to just corporate environments anymore. The high amount of displayable pixels on these two resolutions allow for more data to be displayed on a projected image, much more. UXGA displays almost 250% more data than a XGA projector. While SXGA+ and UXGA offer high resolution images, they come at a very high cost, with the least expensive SXGA+ projectors starting at around $5,000 USD.
16:9 Projector Resolutions
For home theaters and other entertainment purposes, there is completely different aspect ratio than that of office projectors. Since films are displayed on a screen that is wider than it is tall, a special kind of projector is needed to display a widescreen image. For every 16 horizontal pixels, there are 9 vertical pixels, giving the ratio of the screen 16:9. There are several 16:9 formats, ranging from WXGA to HD, available on the market right now. WXGA (1280 x 720) is the most common widescreen format and is considered to be a HDTV standard. WXGA is very popular for projecting DVD movies and video games.
Above WXGA is the HD (1920 x 1080) resolution used for projecting High-Definition content such as the new Blu-Ray and HD-DVDs, as well as some television broadcasts. While relatively new and somewhat expensive, this is probably the best quality resolution for displaying native widescreen content.
But what are native and maximum resolutions?
When looking though aboutprojectors, you’ll see that we list two different resolutions for most projectors, and we’ve also mentioned native and maximum resolutions earlier. These two phrases often cause much confusion as to what they really mean. But they are really simple once explained. The most simple way to define native and maximum resolutions is to say that a native resolution is the resolution that a projector’s display chip has on it physically, and a maximum resolution is the highest resolution that chip can display through scaling and compressing the image. High maximum resolutions are never as good as high native resolutions. If you were to project this digital photo that measured 1600 x 1200 pixels:
Now, on an SVGA (800 x 600) native resolution projector with a maximum resolution of UXGA (1600 x 1200), the projector would scale and compress the image down to something like this:
As a side note, it should be noted that this photo really isn’t 1600 x 1200, but is scaled down to a more manageable size, however, for purposes of this article, the amount of scaling done is the same as what a SVGA projector would do with a full 1600 x 1200 image.
To finish the point, if you were to take that same 1600 x 1200 photo and put it on a UXGA (1600 x 1200) native resolution projector you would see that since there is no scaling, the image would look exactly the same. So while you may use the maximum resolution occasionally, it is not recommended that you rely on it as your primary way of doing presentations, as it can seriously impact the quality of a presentation if not used properly.
Sometimes, you’ll need to scale and image either up or down, and a loss of quality can not be avoided. While you can’t control the size of your presentation content all the time, it is good to plan ahead for what you will be presenting the majority of the time. There are plenty of other less known or obscure resolutions out there as well, but the ones listed here are the common and the ones you’ll likely have used the most.
