Recommended Home Theater Projectors

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Buying the right projector that suits your needs can be tricky. And since projectors are often designed for different purposes, picking the wrong one can mean you’ll end up wasting money. 

That’s why I’ve identified those projectors that will give you the best bang for your buck. The projectors I’ve chosen are versatile and should suit most people’s requirements.

Here are my top picks with links to their respective Amazon listings:

Product	Brightness	Contrast Ratio	Resolution	Lamp Life
BenQ HT2050A	2200 Lumens	15,000:1	1920 x 1080 (Full HD)	Up to 7,000 hours
Epson Home Cinema 3800	3000 Lumens	100,000:1	3840 x 2160 (4K)	Up to 5,000 hours
Hisense PX1 Pro	3000 Lumens	100,000:1	3840 x 2160 (4K)	Up to 30,000 hours (LED)

Also, check out my recommended projector screens.

Budget Projector Under $1000 – BenQ HT2050A

My budget recommendations are usually under $500. However, based on my research on home theater projectors, going below this price range means you’ll have to compromise on image quality.

Though there are plenty of projectors available for lower prices, they are generally designed for business or academic presentations and rarely work well for movies.

That said, for under one grand, you can still get a really good projector that will give you a beautiful, bright, and vibrant picture. 

The BenQ HT2050A (an oldie but a goodie!) offers amazing value for its price and is perfect for a home theater novice who’s looking to bring the big screen experience home.

What I like about the BenQ HT2050A

• Bright image with great color and contrast

With a brightness of 2200 Lumens, the BenQ HT2050A can project a quality image not only for a dedicated home theater room but also in a living room that may have other sources of ambient light.

You may not get  4K but with its resolution of 1080p, you can be assured of a crisp, clear image without visible pixels. 

The image is bright enough for the colors to come out accurately and even the contrast ratios are pretty good compared to the other similarly priced projectors.

Since it is a DLP projector and not LCD, it doesn’t suffer from motion blur (where fast-moving images appear blurry).

• Flexibility in placement 

The BenQ HT2050A includes a basic vertical lens shift and 2D keystone adjustment so you don’t need to worry about getting a trapezoid-shaped image if you haven’t placed your projector exactly in line with the screen.

Thanks to its 1.3x zoom lens, you have some flexibility in the distance at which you place the projector from the screen. You can choose to mount it to the ceiling or place it on a bookshelf. 

BenQ has a handy distance calculator where you can enter your room dimensions and other details to help you figure out how to install it and whether it or not it would work in your space.

• User friendly 

Beginners will find this projector easy to use- just a one-time setup and you’re good to go. 

It comes with a remote as well, that’s user-friendly with plenty of direct-access keys. Picture modes include Bright, Vivid, Cinema, 3D, etc. 

• Multiple connection options

You’ll be able to connect most of your devices, even your legacy gear to the projector. Connection options comprise of  2 HDMI inputs 2 (1.4), PC input, Analog RGB, USB port (you can power a streaming stick), audio input, and output.

• Good for gamers too

Gamer-friendly features include an input lag of 16 milliseconds, as well as a game mode option.

• Decent audio quality

Like flat-screen TVs, A/V projectors generally don’t have the highest quality speakers. 

The BenQ HT2050A has a 10-watt chambered speaker, which is adequate considering this is a budget model.

• Design and build

It’s an attractive-looking projector, with a pleasing curved design with a sturdy build, and a lamp life of 3500 hours in normal mode and about 7000 hours in Eco.

What I found missing

• The lens shift is very basic. You can’t tilt it downwards and the zoom doesn’t adjust very far. However, getting these features for this price is not common.

• Being an older model, it doesn’t have the latest HDMI version.

• The image may appear washed out in a very bright room.

• The fan makes a little bit of noise. But if you’ve mounted it on the ceiling, it may not bother you that much. Alternatively, you could work around this by increasing the volume of your speakers.

• As a DLP projector, it may be subject to the rainbow effect. The rainbow effect is noticed by some viewers wherein they perceive flashes of color around a bright object against a dark background. Read this article to learn more about the rainbow effect. 

Not everyone is bothered by it or perceives it, so this doesn’t have to be a deal-breaker for you. 

Best Projector Under $2000 – Epson Home Cinema 3800

This living room-friendly projector from Epson, one of the most reputed projector brands, is super bright and offers you a lot of flexibility. 

What I like about the Epson Home Cinema 3800

• Amazing brightness to suit multiple conditions

With a whopping 3000 lumens of brightness, the Epson Home Cinema 3800 is perfect for those whose living rooms have a lot of ambient light. 

If you don’t have a dedicated home theater room, you can use its different modes such as Dynamic, Bright, Natural, and Cinema, to suit the different lighting conditions in your room.

For instance, you can choose a brighter setting for the day and lower the brightness at night using the Eco lamp mode. 

You also have multiple options to adjust the image. And since it’s not a DLP projector, there is no rainbow effect.

• Great picture quality

With its 4K Pro UHD enhancement technology, you’ll get a clearer image than most LCDs in this budget, though not as good as 4K.  

The color accuracy and contrast ratio (100000 to 1) are superb with support for high dynamic range display technology such as HDR10 and HLG. 

• Provides flexible placement options

The lens shift is both horizontal and vertical (great for this price range) allowing you to adjust the projected image as per your room’s layout. 

Thanks to the high zoom (1.6x) and keystone correction feature, you can adjust the picture without worrying about distorted shape (trapezoid) and place it at the distance you want.

That gives you the freedom to install it either in front or rear of the ceiling or on a tabletop or bookshelf.

• Good for gamers too

You can enjoy gaming at a full 60 frames per second with 4K HDR (60Hz)playback support and barely noticeable input lag. 

• Audio support and connectivity options 

It has dual 10-watt speakers and Bluetooth support (aptX)to wirelessly send sound to a sound system

Other connectivity options include HDMI 2.0 inputs and an audio port. There’s also a USB port where you can add a streaming stick. 

• User friendly

Easy to set up with intuitive controls

What I found missing

• The lamp’s life isn’t as long as some other brands in this price range. However, the replacement bulb does not cost much.
• Big and heavy.
• Not technically 4K.
• No Wifi.

Best High End Projector – Hisense PX1 Pro Trichroma Laser Cinema

The Hisense PX1 Pro is a feature-packed home theater projector that uses a triple laser light engine to project vivid images rich with color.

What I like about the Hisense PX1 Pro

• Fantastic image quality and color

The Hisense PX1 Pro will give you the full range of BT2020 colors producing a vibrant image.

It delivers an amazing picture with sharp 4K clarity (90 x 130 inches) and deep contrast thanks to its HDR 10 and HLG support. It also supports Dolby Vision.

In ‘Filmmaker’ mode, it adjusts the settings of the projector so you can watch a film exactly how the filmmaker intended.  

Other features include MEMC for smoother images and laser auto turn-off when someone is close by.

• Great flexibility in the placement, suitable for most rooms

One of the best features of this projector is its excellent short-throw design which allows it to fit in most rooms without any problem. You can place it at less than a foot (0.9ft) and still get a clear projected image.

• Very good audio support for a projector

With two built-in 30-watt stereo speakers that use Dolby Atmos, this is one of the best projectors for sound quality.

If you’re new to home theater and don’t want too much audio equipment lying around, the speakers are up to the task. 

The eARC port enables you to get lossless audio playback on your surround system.

• User-friendly with Smart Features

Easy to set up and use, this projector comes with a remote, has Google Assistant built-in, and works with Alexa too. Other features included integrated Android TV 10 and a TV tuner. 

You can install apps from Google Play and use its Chromecast abilities to mirror your phone or tablet to the projector 

• Multiple connection options including wireless options

Plenty of connectivity options here too including Bluetooth, WiFi, 2 HDMI inputs 2.1, eARC, 2 USB ports, 1 optical, 1 RF Antenna

• Gaming mode 

Gamers will love that it comes with  ALLM (Auto Low Latency Mode) which  automatically detects when gaming is activated. 

What I found missing

• No internal Netflix app
• No 3D support
• Not great in bright rooms

Conclusion

And that wraps up my top recommendations for versatile, value-for-money projectors. My advice would be to carefully consider your requirements- your room size, the lighting conditions, and how you will use the projector (for movies/sports/gaming) before you go out and buy one.

Thanks for reading! Check out all my recommended home theater equipment.