• Keystone Correction
• Weight
• Lamp Hours
• Resolution
• Ansi Lumens
• LCD/DLP
• Ratio
• Response Time
• Contrast Ratio
• Lens Shift

Resolution

The resolution is the accuracy of the image that the projector casts. Most projectors fall into two categories - SVGA (800 x 600 pixels) or XGA (1024 x 768 pixels). Similarly, most computers output a signal which is either SVGA or XGA.

(Home cinema users - please note the majority of dedicated home cinema projectors project a native 16:9 (widescreen) image and fall into one of three resolution categories - WVGA (854 x 480 pixels), WSVGA (1024 x 576 pixels) or WXGA (1280 x 720 pixels). The 'W' stands for 'Wide'.

If you use a PC, you can check which signal you're using. Go to Control Panel and select 'Display', then click the Settings tab. Next to 'Screen Area' you'll see a slider which shows what resolution you're using. If it's 800x600, you use SVGA. If it's 1024x768, you use XGA. You can move this slider and press 'OK' to see the difference between the resolutions.

If you use a Mac, you can check which signal you are using by going to the 'Monitors' or 'Monitors and Sound' control pannel (depending on which Mac OS version you are using).

Most projectors sold today are XGA. This is because most computers sold today are moving to XGA resolution as standard. You can project an SVGA output signal with an XGA projector without significant loss of quality. However, projecting an XGA signal with an SVGA projector can make your presentation look unsightly.