Buying a projector could be a confusing decision, whether to chose a short throw projector or a long throw projector. Considering the factors like zoom range, brightness, resolution, contrast ratio and many other specs make the decision a difficult one. Short throw projectors or long throw projectors is the question.
What is a projector throw?
It is the ratio between the distance of the projector to the wall and the horizontal measure of the image produced by the projector.
Its value is high for long throw projectors and lowers for short throw projectors. So therefore a short throw projector would be placed closer to the screen of the projector than a long throw projector.
What’s the difference between a long throw and a short throw projector:–
The simplest difference between both the projectors is that how far these projectors are to be placed from the screen. Long throw projectors having a high throw ratio are to be set far from the projection while the short throw projectors are to be set closer to the screen.
Short throw projectors:-
As they are intended to be set closer to the screen so they possess a chip that actually modifies the image geometry. So that the angled projection of the image projected should appear as a normal rectangle on the surface. Therefore, due to this extra modification factor, the short-throw projectors produce excess heat as compared to long throw projectors.
Pros of short throw projectors:-
There are many advantages of owning a short throw projector.
For the ones who has just started, short throw projectors will save your space. The short throw projector which has a throw ratio of 0.4 then for that a screen that is four feet wide would be projected at just 1’7 from the surface. This avoids the unnecessary shadows when someone gotta get up and passes in front of the screen.
As they can project from such a short distance, so they are ideal from projecting from behind the screens. It also lessens the likelihood of bumping of the projector when someone passes by.
Cons of short throw projectors:-
As the short throw projectors, processes extra and requires extra power to convert the rectangular images to the trapezoids that are capable of projecting a rectangle at an angle and due to this the short throw projectors get hot and to cool the unit down the internal fans are activated that causes the noise which is annoying.
As the image projected by short throw projectors is warps to be projected at a certain angle so projecting the image on an even surface will cause more warping of the image than long throw projectors.
Long-throw projectors:-
These projectors are on the peak of performance and they project the image long distance away from the screen of projection. As they have a greater throw ratio and therefore will always project an image that’s width will be smaller than the distance of projector from it.
These projectors are on high advantage than short throw projectors but also keep some disadvantages too.
Pros of long throw projectors:–
Long throw projectors project the images over large distances and thus making ’em an excellent choice when the screen is not present where the power source is. They are also a good resource when the room foot traffic is closer to the screen.
In an outdoor space, these projectors will give you less image distortion if they are even places on an uneven surface. Also the image produced by these projectors would also be less distorted on the uneven screen surfaces .As they don’t need to geometrically transform the image so therefore they are priced usually more moderately.
Cons of long throw projectors:–
The shadows from the people and also from the wildlife, that blocked the screen ,by projectors is the most general con of all the projectors but a particular one for the long throw projectors . As we know that these projectors are placed a longer distances from the screens so they are more vulnerable to be blocked by something in it’s way.
An another con to the long throw projectors is that these projectors cut out a huge usable portion of the screen in a home theater space as a backlight. Due to angle of projector, which can be fixed . and by the way, long throw projectors are prone to more glare.
Which one is better for you?
To decide which projector is actually better for you , different factors matter but three are the most important.They includes :
the home theater space, placement of the projector and the screen size of the intended projector.
Conclusion:-
Choosing a right and better projector for yourself is about balancing your preferences and something that will come down to your personal choice. Short throw projectors or long throw projectors? Infact, there is not any perfect way to choose a projector but there’s the perfect way that suits your taste. The decision will ultimately depend on your needs and we cannot say about a single setup to be universally good.