Last Updated September, 2018: This post was last updated with new picks for 2018 and includes a section for projectors under $100
Dreaming of having a super-sized home system? Most people do at some point. For a lot of people, bigger means better when it comes to having the best viewing experience. While big screen TVs becoming much more affordable, not everyone is content with the specs. Whether you want a splash of Blu-ray, intensifying your gaming experience or even just watching pictures and slides from a mobile device, a home cinema projector is the box-office ticket to match with your big white wall or your large projector screen.
To help you decide which big screen you would want to bring home, we have tested some of the best home-cinema projector models in the market. They vary from portable, budget-friendly HD beamers and the cinema-grade 4K Ultra HD beasts. Gone are the days where this equipment is only limited to celebrities or movie stars – there are modern models that are much cheaper than you’d think. Read on and be guided on which one to choose.
Best Projectors
Optoma HD142X Home Theater Projector
Bring the fun of a movie theater right into your home with the Optoma HD142X 1080p 3000 Lumens 3D DLP Home Theater Projector. Ideal for any theater room, this projector can fill a screen of 66 inches from eight feet away or a screen of 107 inches from 12 feet away. It offers an incredible brightness of 3000 ANSI lumens to ensure that you can watch movies or play your games in any environment with vibrant colors. Emulate your favorite big screen with its sharper, more detailed projections of 1920 by 1080 pixels, ideal for enjoying a BluRay film without any compression or downscaling. The Optoma HD142X boasts an extended lamp life of up to 8,000 hours, so even if you watch a full-length two-hour movie every single day, the lamp in the projector should last up to or over 10 years. Its integrated 10 way speaker can complete your home theater room with its crystal clear, powerful sound without the need for pricey add-on speakers. You can enjoy full, true 3D displays from virtually any 3D broadcaster including BluRay players and game consoles. It has a rapid refresh rate of 144Hz to ensure that the images are smooth and free from flickers. The images from the Optoma are adjusted automatically to the lamp output based on the brightness of every frame to create truly stunning visual displays.
DBPOWER T20 1500 Lumens LCD Mini Projector
With the DBPOWER T20 1500 Lumens LCD Mini Projector, you can create your own movie magic right from the comfort of your own home. This projector is a mini home projector that has a projection image size of anywhere between 32 inches and 176 inches through a projection distance of 1.5 meters to 5 meters. This offers a big screen experience to no matter what it is you’re doing–from watching the game to enjoying movie nights with friends and family to playing your favorite video game. Adjust the image size by moving the projector further to or further from the projection surface. It offers low fan noise thanks to the double tube cooling technology that comes with heat dispersion. The fan sound can also be cut in half thanks to the noise suppression. The fan noise is lower than any other basic LED projector so that your viewing activities are not interrupted. Ultra clear images are projected onto the surface with this DBPOWER T20 thanks to its 1500 lumens. You can get the same visuals that you would get on any television, tablet or laptop. The extended lamp life of this unit offers up to 50,000 hours. This means that even watching a two-hour movie every day, you will have a projector lamp that is able to last up to or more than a decade with the DBPOWER Mini Projector.
Epson 2040 1080p 3D 3LCD Home Theater Projector
No matter what you hope to watch on the big screen, the Epson Home Theater Projector can bring it to you. Whether you want to see every detail of your favorite video game, want to catch all of the crucial moves of the basketball game or are just interested in enjoying a movie with some friends, the Epson Projector can help. It offers ultra bright, full HD 1080p widescreen performance that can be used up to 300 inches on any screen, wall or other projection source. The colors being displayed will be up to three times as bright as usual thanks to the inclusion of its 2200 lumens that are used during any given frame. The color brightness offers more vivid, accurate color and even crisper whites and blacks no matter what sort of lighting environment you may find yourself in. The dynamic contrast ratio of up to 35,000:1 offers totally rich detail in dark scenes so that you do not miss a moment of the action. You can stream HD videos without a hitch on the Epson due to the MHL-device support. It includes Chromecast, Roku streaming stick support and more. Its innovative 3LCD screen technology offers amazing action scenes without fear of a rainbow effect, and its Image Enhancement and Frame Interpolation allows for ultra smooth and crisp images to be seen.
BenQ HT2150ST 1080p Short Throw for Gaming Movies and Sports
Just because you want to enjoy a movie at home instead of a theater does not mean you have to sacrifice the quality and the thrill of a big screen. With the BenQ, you can enjoy a movie quality picture and big screen enjoyment from the comfort of your own living room. The BenQ projector offers a truly immersive cinematic experience that is delivered through an impressive 2200 lumens of brightness and unimaginable color. You can watch the film come to life on a 100-inch screen from only five feet away. Its short throw technology and its 1.2 big zoom lets the projector be positioned into any small space without a lot of hassle. It has a faster response for those who want to use the BenQ HT2150ST. The low input lag offers a much greater response time so you can be sure you are always one step ahead of the enemy with an eye on all of the details. It has customized gaming settings as well to further optimize your gameplay, helping to brighten each scene and bring out any hidden details in shadowy parts of the game. Professional sound quality is also available with the 20-watt speakers.
RAGU Z400 1600 Lumens Mini Portable Projector
The RAGU Z400 Mini Portable Projector makes watching your favorite films either indoors or outdoors a breeze. This portable projector is ultra lightweight and compact, making it ideal for moving from room to room or even for moving to the backyard for plenty of streaming power no matter where the family wants to gather. It is a great projector for creating both indoor and outdoor theaters, ideal for football night, movie nights, parties and more. The RAGU Projector offers 1,600 lumens of brightness with each use, offering you plenty of color that you would not see anywhere else. It provides you with incredible projection of 50 to 130 inches in size with a five to 13 foot projection distance depending on your needs and high-resolution images of 800 to 480p. The RAGU is able to project onto any screen or wall and even runs quietly, making it ideal for use in any space. It has a powerful cooling system that keeps the fan noise to a minimum, letting you enjoy your movie or game without any excess fan noise distracting you or the other people enjoying your film. Connect any media player to the projector using things like the HDMI port, USB port, SD card slot, AV/TV port or 3.5 millimeter audio jack. You can even attach your own external speakers to make the sound that much more impressive and immersive.
TENKER Q5 1500 Lumens LED Mini Projector
With the TENKER Q5 1500 Lumens LED Mini Projector, you can enjoy an affordable way to project all of your favorite video games, football games, television shows, movies and more onto any platform or screen. This unit features 1500 lumens that brightly light the screen to provide you with brighter, sharper images no matter what sort of lighting environment you are watching in. The projector may be small and portable, but it boasts all of the power of a large projector all the same. The projection size of the TENKER Q5 Projector is exceptional and provides you with an amazing theater experience with its 35 to 150 inch projection display. You can position the unit anywhere from 1.15 to 3 meters away from the projection surface to get the size of screen that you want to beam your media onto. A projection distance of around two meters is suggested. This cinema projector can support a number of connections with any sort of media player including laptops, computers, TF cards, USB drives, game consoles and more. It has a reduced fan noise that puts the focus on the action on the screen and does not take you out of the moment with its loud whirring sounds. This is due to the cooling system inside of the projector and its immense heat dispersion alongside of its noise suppression technology. Enjoy fewer distractions and twice the visuals.
NEXGADGET YGLife Mini Video Projector Cinema
With its modern design and its portable nature, the NEXGADGET YGLife Mini Video Projector is ideal for watching movies, sports games, TV shows, playing video games and more. This projector offers a high definition, ultra crisp image that can be projected onto virtually any wall, screen or any other projection surface available. You can bring a truly cinematic experience from the movie theater to your home with this mini video projector. Ultra lightweight, this unit can be moved from room to room with ease, letting you watch a film in any standard room of the house or letting you use it in a dedicated theater room. It offers clear, bright images in dim rooms and has an LED lamp life of 30,000 impressive hours. This means that you can watch a two-hour movie every day without dimming the lamp light for many years to come. Cost effective and long lasting, the NEXGADGET offers 800 by 480p resolution with either a 4:3 or 16:9 aspect ratio. This lets you project your entertainment onto any wide screen that is as large as 100 inches in size from a distance of three meters away.
Best 4K Projectors
Sony VPLVW285ES 4K HDR Home Theater Video Projector (2017 model)
Sleek, black and modern looking, the Sony VPLVW285ES 4K HDR Home Theater Video Projector is able to easily fit into any home theater room’s decor without clashing with it. This unit offers a native 4K resolution that offers four times as much resolution as Full HD, meaning that you are getting a picture that is so stunningly realistic it will appear as if you are looking at the real thing. This Sony Projector has separate images for red, green, and blue channels which allow you to have all 8.8 million pixels in their richest, fullest forms at every turn. This unit is compatible with the latest content being produced using high dynamic range for ultra wide contrast and an even larger range of colors and brightness levels. Its high brightness of 1,500 lumens also affords it a clear and bright picture with rich, stark blacks no matter how well lit the room might be. With the MotionFlow aspect of the Sony VPLVW285ES 4K HDR Projector, your pictures stay silky smooth and without glitches or flickers. This allows razor sharp pictures to occur no matter if you are watching high speed chase scenes or watching sports and do not want to miss a single crucial second. With its TRILUMINOS display, color comes to life as it reproduces more textures and tones than any standard projector system. Not only are colors brighter, but faces look sharper and more realistic as well.
Vivitek HK2288-WH 2000 lm Bright Ultra HD 4K DLP Home Cinema Projector with HDMI
With the Vivitek Cinema Projector, you can watch your favorite programming on a larger scale and in better color and resolution than you have ever experienced. The Vivitek allows you to take advantage of its ultra HD 4K resolution that offers 8.3 million pixels of impressive visuals and uncanny details. No matter what sort of light setting you might find yourself in, this projector delivers with its extremely high 1 million-to-one contrast ratio. This offers super bright colors, ultra dark black levels and crisp, sharp images. It has up to 2,000 ANSI lumens for incredible brightness, and the advanced video processor inside of the Vivitek projector offers total stability while you stream your services onto the projector itself. This unit has a high dynamic range of HDR10 for enriched brightness and incredible vibrancy, offering intense natural reproduction of color. Bring it to any room in the house with enough space to project the images onto and you are good to go.
Optoma UHD60 4K Ultra High Definition Home Theater Projector
If you’re looking for a projection screen that can turn any ordinary room into a theater lover’s delight, look no further than the Optoma UHD60 4K Ultra High Definition Projector. This projector offers a top quality state of the art 4K home theater experience with an impressive resolution of 3480 by 2160 pixels. Razor sharp images coupled with 8.3 million pixels brings you incredible color the likes of which you have yet to see. The Optoma offers a high dynamic range display, which provides you with ultra realistic and lifelike color. The brightest of whites are displayed along with the deepest, richest of blacks to ensure that every single light and shadow is highlighted for you to see. It comes with a 1.6 times zoom and vertical lens shift that makes installation easy. The brightness level registers in at 3,000 lumens to ensure a crystal-clear picture in absolutely any kind of light. With the Optoma 4k Projector, and a sweet 4k projector screen set-up you can be sitting as far away as 10 feet and still see all of the 4K pixels that are being offered to you for an experience that is nothing short of immersive. The UltraDetail technology allows for fine adjustments to be made in terms of image clarity for clear viewing no matter the media.
Best projecters under $100
ELEPHAS LED Movie Projector
No matter how large of a space you want to project your media onto, the ELEPHAS LED Movie Projector can help. This projector offers excellent picture quality no matter if you have it on the smallest setting of 50 inches or the largest setting of 130 inches, although it is recommended that you have it on a 100 inch projection for best results. You can position the ELEPHAS LED Movie Projector anywhere from 4.95 feet to 13.12 feet and get beautiful picture, no matter what. It has an 800 by 480p native resolution but can support anything as large as 1080p. The ELEPHAS LED Movie Projector offers an ultra strong connection that can connect to any service such as a Roku Streaming Stick, an Amazon Fire TV Stick, Chromecast, DVD or BluRay player, game console, Chromecast and so much more. Ultra compact and portable, the ELEPHAS LED Movie Projector is lightweight and easy to move from room to room. It’s simple installation makes setting it up anywhere a breeze. This allows you to use it in a dedicated home theater room, in the living room during a football game, in a bedroom for a movie before you sleep and so much more. It is environmentally friendly as it consumes as little power as possible. The latest smart eco lamp has also been incorporated into it to ensure that you are using as little power as you can. The bulb can run for around 30,000 hours without burning out.
Projector, Blusmart LED-9 Home Video Projector
The Blusmart LED-9 Home Video Projector is an LED projector that offers 60 percent greater brightness levels than a standard LED projector. It features a single color white LED lamp that is able to last for thousands of hours without needing to be replaced, allowing you the ability to enjoy a full-length film every night for the next few years with no need to change them out. With its upgraded cooling system, the Blusmart LED-9 Home Video Projector has a low fan noise, making it even quieter than a standard LED projector. This way, the only thing you are going to hear is the sound of the film, sports game, or television show you are watching. You can also enjoy playing your favorite video game on the projector with no influence of sound as well. No matter how big of a screen, wall or surface you want to project the image of the Blusmart LED-9 Home Video Projector onto, you can do it. It is able to be used two to 2.5 meters away from the screen to project anywhere between 30 inches and 150 inches of image onto the projection surface. The Blusmart LED-9 Home Video Projector will allow you to project images from an HDMI port, audio video unit, television, USB port, SD card and more. The 3.5 millimeter headphone jack will allow you to connect your own external speakers using the Blusmart LED-9 Home Video Projector to give yourself total surround sound.
GooDee Mini Portable Projector
Watch all of your favorite movies, television shows, football games or play the newest video games on the beautiful GooDee Mini Portable Projector. This small, portable projector offers a totally cinematic viewing experience with its high resolution 800 by 480p with 1080p support. The brightness levels of 1800 lumens helps to illuminate all of the colors on your screen to ensure the best picture possible with all colors being projected beautifully. The portable design of the GooDee Mini Portable Projector, which measures 8.9 inches by 5.75 inches by 3 inches, allows you to take it with you absolutely anywhere. Project your favorite movies onto any surface indoors or outdoors by simply moving it from room to room. With the help of its multi input connectivity, you can connect things such as an HDMI input, VGA, USB port, AV or SD card, or connect your laptop, tablet or DVD player to the GooDee Mini Portable Projector. Use the GooDee Mini Portable Projector to complete your home entertainment system with the power of its convenient 2-watt system. The speaker on the GooDee Mini Portable Projector offers a wall of crystal-clear sound that you can enjoy. Choose to set the GooDee Mini Portable Projector as close or as far away from the projection surface as you would like, anywhere between 1.5 to four meters to change the picture from 50 to 130 inches in size on the projection surface with the GooDee Mini Portable Projector.
DBPOWER 1200 Lumens LED Portable Projector
With its sleek black nature, the DBPOWER 1200 Lumens LED Portable Projector is easily able to fit into any existing decor in your media room or theater room and upgrade it instantly. This portable projector can be used to transform the way you play video games or watch your favorite movies, sports games, television shows and more. It is simple to connect the DBPOWER 1200 Lumens LED Portable Projector to any sort of output unit, including an HDMI-enabled computer, laptop, tablet, media players like BluRay or DVD plays, USB flash drives or even smartphones that are compatible. This makes your consumption of your favorite media more simple than ever before. The DBPOWER 1200 Lumens LED Portable Projector has a projection distance of anywhere between 1.5 meters and five meters so you can choose your own screen size depending on the audience or the projection surface that you are projecting onto. You will be able to choose an image size between 50 inches and 150 inches. The recommended projection distance is two to 2.5 meters. The native resolution of the DBPOWER 1200 Lumens LED Portable Projector is 800 by 480 pixels, but it can support up to 1080 pixels. The DBPOWER 1200 Lumens LED Portable Projector also has around 1200 lumens that light it up, making the image able to be seen even in the brightest setting. Its small nature means it can be used in any room, or you can take it outside during a party or barbecue.