By James Chan, Director, Projector Product Marketing
Presentation Products Division, Mitstubishi Digital Electronics America

The dreaded Dog & Pony Show. It’s a reality that few of us embrace with enthusiasm. But you’ve got products to sell, budgets to pitch, and results to share. And you want your presentation to be easy—to write, to produce, to deliver. So how can you put on an easy but effective Dog & Pony Show?

Thanks to electronic display projectors, presentations can be colorful and exciting, helping you to make your point more effectively and communicate with impact. All you have to do is to focus on organizing your thoughts and leave the rest to an impressive presentation. It’s as simple as creating a presentation on your computer or laptop, plugging in a few cables, turning on the projector, and communicating a message to your audience that is colorful and exciting.

There are a number of manufacturers that make portable, “luggable,” and installed projectors, and it’s important that you compare each model with a critical eye. But what do you look for in a projector, and how can you be sure that you’re getting the best projector for your needs?

What You Need to Know Before Buying a Projector
Projectors are an investment, and before you go on a shopping spree, there are a few important features you should evaluate before you make your decision: color accuracy and brilliance, weight, brightness, resolution, and price. This article will focus on the importance of color accuracy in your projector and projector specifications.

Color Counts Color is very important, not only in projectors and all display systems, but life in general. Can you imagine a world without color televisions, color film, color cameras, color printers, or color presentations? Unfortunately, as important as color is, it’s often not scrutinized enough when buying a projector.

When you see a demonstration of a projector, examine how each model lets you change or enhance colors. Are there adjustments for each of the major color inputs: red, green, and blue? And what about the other colors in the technology palette—cyan, magenta, and yellow? Be sure you can adjust each of these six colors independently to increase the hue of the colors intended, without skewing the other colors. Furthermore, a saturation adjustment can allow users to simply intensify certain colors more precisely, bringing images into a vivid and vibrant piece of art. Adjustments should be menu-driven and user-friendly so that you can easily get the desired color output quickly.

Why Is Color Consistency Important?
Electronic devices such as projectors, LCD monitors, digital cameras, laptops, and printers usually display colors based on individual manufacturers’ presets. This means that the same color presented on each device (or over the Internet) can look vastly different than the actual image.

But Microsoft and others have developed a color standard for projector displays, and some manufacturers offer Microsoft’s sRGB Color Profile in its projectors. The sRBG Color Profile reproduces the same natural color tones as most CRTs displays, and other sRGB-compliant products, therefore eliminating the differences in color reproduction inherent to color display systems. This means that the presentation you create on your computer should look the same through your desktop monitor, laptop monitor, and your projector. Color accuracy is especially important when using company logos or showing color product on screen.

So accurate color reproduction is one more feature to look for in a projector. When colors are reproduced more accurately, you’ll be more confident in expressing your ideas, and you’ll create more dynamic, vibrant, influential presentations.

It Ain’t Heavy, It’s My Projector
When considering the weight of a projector, determine how often it’s going to be carried. If you’re on the road a lot, then a micro-portable might be just the thing. If cost is a greater concern, then you might trade off a few pounds for a few dollars. Or if you’ll need the projector in a board room or conference room, then an installed projector, which can be ceiling- or wall- mounted, might be best.

Projectors are categorized into the following weight levels:
Category	Weight Range	Targeted Markets or Applications
Micro-Portable or Micro-Mobile	6.5 Pounds or under	Road Warriors (often in sales)
Ultra-Portable	From 6.6 to 11 Pounds	Frugal Road Warriors
Desktop Portable or Luggable	From 11.1 to 20 Pounds	Mostly interoffice, conference rooms and universities
Fixed Installation	Above 20 pounds	Staging use in churches; large conference facilities; auditoriums; corporate boardrooms

Table 1: Weight Category vs. Targeted Markets or Applications Blinded By The Light Projector brightness is expressed in ANSI lumens. ANSI stands for American National Standard Institute, and lumen is a standard unit described as a system of brightness measurements. The ANSI lumen standard enables different projector brands to be measured and compared fairly. Projector brightness, though one of the most important features that is considered when buying a projector, is still a rather elusive standard. Because the brightness of a projector is largely a function of its lamp, lens, and optical engine, it will vary from projector to projector, even in projectors of the same make and model, or with one projector, depending on the age of its lamp.

Is It All About Weight and Brightness?
Projectors are usually better when they are brighter. But the question of what is bright enough depends on a few factors, including the size and weight of the projector, the room in which it will be used, and of course, your budget. Your room or venue where the projector is to be used Suggested minimum brightness Reasonable weight range for suggested brightness required Small conference or meeting room with controllable ambient lighting 1,000 to 1,200 3 to 8 lbs. Small conference or meeting room with non-shaded window lighting 1,500 to 1,800 7 to 10 lbs. Classrooms, courtrooms, big conference rooms or boardrooms with controllable ambient lighting 1,500 to 2,000 11 to 15 lbs. Classrooms, courtrooms, big conference rooms or boardrooms with non-shaded window lighting 2,200 to 2,500 13 to 15 lbs. Auditorium or meeting halls with controllable ambient lighting 2,500 to 3,000 13 to 15 lbs. Auditorium or meeting halls with non-shaded window lighting 3,500 or brighter 13 to 20 lbs. Outdoor venues such as a ball game or the rose garden 10,000 or brighter Over 100 lbs.

Table 2: Brightness and Weight vs. Room Type Weight and brightness in a projector is almost always inversely proportional. The brighter you need your projector to be, chances are, the heavier it will also be. As your preference turns to lighter weights, brightness may not be the only feature that may be compromised.

XGA or SVGA? What is Resolution and Why is it Important?
Resolution pertains to the number of picture elements, also known as pixels, that makes up your screen area. If you have gone shopping for a digital camera or a desktop monitor before, chances are you have a basic understanding of resolution. It helps to understand that computer screens are fixed in size—therefore, a higher resolution does not make the display any bigger, it simply shows more information in smaller sizes. So the idea that “the higher the resolution the better” does not necessarily apply.

So what projector resolution should you buy?
Well, that depends on what you’re trying to present most of the time. It helps to know that the most popular resolution level are XGA (1,024 x 768), followed closely by SVGA (800 x 600). XGA is popular because almost all high-end notebook computers come standard with XGA screens, and most turn-key application software packages use XGA as the standard resolution. SVGA, on the other hand, remains popular because of its price. Entry level notebook computers incorporate SVGA screens, and almost all Internet homepages are designed using SVGA as standard resolution.

So what resolution is the best one for you?
Here’s the rule of thumb. If most of what you present are PowerPoint® or similar computer-generated slide presentations, then you can save money by buying an SVGA notebook computer and projector. But if you’re doing more than PowerPoint®, then you must consider at least XGA resolution. If you already own a laptop, then always match your projector resolution to your computer.

What Now?
If you’re a first time projector buyer, always buy from someone who can demonstrate all the features in a projector. Professional audio video dealers are usually the best people from which to buy. Be sure to see the projector in action; view colors with a critical eye, determine your applications and weight requirements, and you should be able to choose the best projector with the best value from the best vendor. Now get out there and make your Dog & Pony Show great!

James Chan is the senior product manager of Presentation Projector Products at Mitsubishi Digital Electronics America, based in Irvine, California. An expert in various display technologies including those used for desktop, presentation, and public displays, he is often invited to speak to user groups and trade associations about display technology. He has been involved in the product development and marketing of projector displays since 1996, and currently plays a major role in the introduction of Mitsubishi Digital Electronic's state-of-the-art presentation projectors.