This is the third video projector I have purchased in the past few years, and having worked in movie theatres for years I am well aware of what light output is required for acceptable presentations. An indoor auditorium of average size (40′ diagonal screen) usually used a 2000 watt xenon short arc as a light source when projecting 35 MM film. Drive-ins used to have carbon arcs that were far more powerful than that for the 100 foot wide screens that were often used. Fast forward to home projectors.
The old 8 MM movie projectors with 25 to 50 watt halogen lamps gave a tolerable image on a silver screen about five feet wide. We got used to it, as 16 MM film was expensive for home use.
For a toy home VIDEO projector this one is OK and significantly better than an 8 MM film projector in a number of ways, but there is a problem with the brightness of the output as described.
This explanation may get a little geeky, but in the end you will see why the ratings given to projectors are useless. The consumer is led to believe that the brightness of a projector output is rated by a standard measure of “lumens.” There is some deception in that. A real “lumen,” as described in my ancient high school physics book is “The amount of visible light flux which falling normally on one square foot of area will produce an illuminance of one foot-candle.” Translated, light a common candle made of whale fat, hold a sheet of paper that is one foot in height and one foot in width exactly one foot away from that candle, and the light falling on the paper is (Ta-Da!) a foot-candle and a lumen. Two candles – twice as much light. Simple.
Look at the box a light bulb comes in. Somewhere on it will be a lumen rating. As an easy example, an old 60 watt screw-in incandescent light bulb puts out about 600 lumens. So since this projector claims to have 7500 lumens it should be super-bright, right? It is in fact no where near capable of outputting that many lumens.
I mentioned that I had purchased three video projectors. My main one is a solid BenQ projector with a halogen lamp similar to one you might see used in an art gallery to illuminate a painting. That projector has a rated output of 3,000 lumens. It projects onto my 14′ diagonal screen with a brightness that is easily equal to what I was used to in movie theatres. I have been more than satisfied with its performance.
My second projector purchase was a little Crenova I bought to play around with. It is an LED projector (meaning the light bulb in it is a long lasting and forgiving LED) and has a rating of 1200 lumens. I would put that rating as inflated, but would not be surprised if it in fact put out 800 real ANSI lumens. I knew it wasn’t going to be great shakes.
Now we come to the projector in this review. It is rated at 7500 lumens. To compare the three projectors, I just now projected the same movie from the same source onto my 14′ diagonal screen, using each of the three projectors. The BenQ, at 3,000 lumens filled the entire screen with gorgeous brilliant images, even with ambient light.
The little Crenova, at 1200 lumens made a barely acceptable image on about half the screen (8′ diagonal)
This TMY projector, brand new, put out an image that was about twice as bright as the Crenova, but less than a third the brightness of the BenQ with a six year old halogen lamp in it.
So what is going on? The definition of “lumen” is the problem. The BenQ, I suspect, used the original definition of lumen in an honest measurement environment. The little LED projectors use a different lumen called an “ANSI lumen.” The American National Standards Institute (ANSI) decreed a different lumen measurement to be used in evaluating projectors. Unfortunately, rather than calling the new measurement “SquintHard” or something other than lumen, they co-opted the name, and stuck an “ANSI” in front of it. Carton designers have no reason to know a lumen is different than an ANSI lumen, and “lumen” gets stuck on the box and in advertising today.
So what is an ANSI lumen? – apparently whatever you want. Supposedly it is the noticeable difference between a 100% white, a 95% white, and a 90% white that a projector puts on a screen in nine different locations, where the differences are just noticeable, with the screen size taken into account via a formula. Try to get the actual IT7.215 ANSI spec sheet and you run into a paywall. Gee, how consumer friendly…
I can’t say that a 7500 (ANSI) lumen rating is a lie, but I can say that some people in product testing are troglodytes, eat lots of carrots and can see in the dark, while most of us slog along as average folks with developing cataracts and other issues.
Bottom line – do NOT believe the ANSI lumen ratings of any of the LED projectors as a meaningful method of comparison. My BenQ projector uses almost 300 watts in operation, with the bulk of that going to power the lamp and cooling. If you want light out, you have to put power in. If you want bright, understand that you may need to trade off and accept some bulk and heat. OTOH, if you want an inexpensive toy for kids or to use on a back porch while you swat madly at mosquitoes until giving up and going inside, the LED projectors may work for you.
I’ll keep this one because of A: the low price, B: A slightly easier menu system than the Crenova, and C: for jokes, like projecting ghosts on Halloween. I won’t be using it to project “Lawrence of Arabia” or start a drive-in. I am deeply disappointed in the lack of brightness compared to what was advertised, but not overly surprised. If chocolate bars and cereal boxes can shrink in size for the consumer, why can’t light?
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