Tech

Which projector is best for showing movies outdoors in the summertime?

The answer depends on the size of your screen and the darkness of your viewing area. Most projectors are designed for indoor use, so you'll need one with enough lumens (i.e., the brightness generated by the projector's lamp) to offset ambient lighting from, say, street lamps or tiki candles. A 700-lumen projector will suffice for a 10-foot diagonal screen (or a white wall), but manufacturers often inflate their products' lumen ratings somewhat, so look for one with a rating of at least 1,000 (the more, the better).

Three of my favorites are the Optoma HD-70 ($949), the Optoma HD-80 ($2,700), and the Epson Cinema Home 1080 UB ($2,500). They all possess excellent brightness and contrast and are designed for "home entertainment environments," which means they can project a wide-screen format. Don't try to cheat by "borrowing" a projector from work. The color perception in office projectors is more suited to spreadsheets and PowerPoint presentations than viewings of Spider-Man or Ratatouille. David Birch-Jones

David Birch-Jones is a projection expert and the West Coast contributing editor for Home Entertainment Magazine .

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