An eagle might, but the human visual system can't. Sit far enough back from a screen, and you won't be able to tell the difference between a 4K image and VGA (640-by-480-pixel) resolution. Another reason is that your eyes (with apologies to them) aren't exactly the Hubble Telescope-there's only so much detail you can see. One reason is that your perception of image sharpness and detail depends on other factors besides pixel count, including contrast, lens quality, and video processing, at which Epson's Pro-UHD projectors excel. That sounds like only half of 4K, but surprisingly, Epson's approach delivers image resolution-in the sense of ability to resolve detail-that's indistinguishable from models based on TI's pixel shifting. The Epson scheme uses three 1080p LCD chips and puts two sets of 1,920 by 1,080 pixels onscreen per frame.Įpson's Pro Cinema 4050 is one of the company's Pro-UHD 4K projectors. Your eye integrates all four sets into a single 4K image.Īt this writing, the only projectors in this price range that use a different pixel-shifting technology are Epson's 4K Pro-UHD models. This technology breaks each 4K frame into four sets of 1,920 by 1,080 pixels, then displays all four sets on screen one at a time, shifting the pixels' position between each set. The majority are based on 1080p DLP chips that use TI's XPR fast-switch pixel shifting. That's partly because of a trick called "pixel shifting," and partly because there are limits to human visual acuity (whether or not you need glasses).Īlmost all projectors that offer a 4K image or its equivalent at prices below about $4,000 use one of two pixel-shifting techniques. The same is not true, however, for 4K projectors. But no matter how high-quality its lens, the resulting image will have a soft focus versus that of an otherwise identical projector with a real 1080p chip. A projector with a 1,280-by-720-pixel chip can accept a 1080p (1,920-by-1,080-pixel) signal and downconvert it to a 720p image on screen. Native resolution-the actual number of pixels that are physically on a chip-is a big deal for lower-resolution projectors. The Native Resolution: Must My Projector Have a True 4K Chip? Let's examine each issue in turn, starting with those specific to 4K. And some-display technology, light source, audio, and input lag-are essentially the same as for any other projector. Others, such as brightness and portability, need to be considered differently with 4K versus lower resolutions. What issues come into play at 4K resolution? Some factors were newly introduced with 4K projectors, notably support for high dynamic range (HDR) imaging, and a different approach to native resolution. But if you choose carefully, you'll have a big-screen image you'll love-at least until 8K becomes the norm, and that's not going to happen anytime soon. If you're shopping for a 4K model, you need to know that some issues shake out a little differently than they do with 1080p and lower resolutions, and some new factors come into play, too. So while 4K resolution (3,840 by 2,160 pixels) has long since taken over as the standard for flat-screen TVs, only now are 4K projectors dipping below $1,000 to reach the sweet spot as consumers' preferred resolution. TVs, desktop monitors, and even laptops have embraced more pixels at lower prices, but high-resolution home theater and office projectors have lagged in affordability.
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