Projector Contrast Ratio
One of the factors that affect the image quality of a projector and that one needs to consider while buying a projector is its contrast ratio. Considering this, let’s take a look at what contrast ratio is and how can it affect a projector’s displaying image quality.
What is Contrast Ratio?
Contrast Ratio, as the name suggests is a ratio; a ratio of whites to black or brighter shades to the darker shades, it’s white vs black on the screen. You see, for an image to be displayed clearly there has to be an optimal range and ratio between the dark and bright spots. A contrast ratio has to be maintained to avoid unclearness and lack of visibility due to brightness or in other cases, dimness due to darkness.
Native Contrast Vs Dynamic Contrast
Native or Static Contrast is considered as the projector’s ‘true contrast’. It’s the contrast of the brightest spot vs the darkest spot of an image at a particular time from a particular source. It’s called native as it is the tested results during when the device was manufactured and when the panel was made.
Dynamic Contrast is ratio measured at varying time and display settings. Dynamic Contrast is when you measure the brightness of a bright image on ‘bright mode settings’ and sometime later, you measure the blackness of a dark image on dark mode settings.
In practicality, Dynamic Contrast isn’t attainable. Manufacturers claimed that the device was capable of achieving dynamic contrast during varying scenes but this claim turned out to be merely a hype as the viewer isn’t able to experience dynamic contrast range in one scene.
Different technologies and contrast ratio of projectors
To know whether or not a technology affects the contrast ratio, we must know which technologies are there for projectors.
The two main display technologies that vary projectors based on content that it projects are – DLP (Digital Light Processing) and LCD (Liquid Crystal Display).
LED is not a display technology but rather a lightning technology. When DLP and LCD Projectors use LED light sources, we refer to them as LED Projectors.
Which one has a better contrast: DLP Projector vs LCD Projector vs LED Projector
A typical projector has a contrast ratio of 3000:1.
The contrast ratio of DLP is higher than that of LCD. DLP Projectors’ contrast ratio range from 500:1 to 100,000:1. LCD Projectors show a poorer contrast as compared to DLP but a better picture quality than DLP because of some other factors that step in.
LED provides improved and much-enhanced contrast.
- Different Manufacturing Brands Of Projectors and the technologies they use:
Some of the projector brands and the technology they use are mentioned here for your convenience:
| Brand | Technology |
| BenQ | DLP |
| Canon | LCoS or LCD |
| Dell | DLP |
| Epson | LCD |
| Hitachi | 3LCD |
| InFocus | DLP |
| LG Projectors | DLP with LED lamps |
| Optoma Projector | DLP |
Contrast Ratio Standards: How to measure CR?
There are two common methods of measuring the contrast ratio of projectors — Full-On and Full-Off (FOFO) Contrast and ANSI Contrast.
- ANSI: usuallyuses a checkerboard pattern of 16 squares (eight white and eight black squares) and so 50% black and 50% white and measures and averages the black, similarly measures and averages the whites, followed by comparing the ratios of the two
ANSI is difficult to manipulate, produces more valid and smaller numbers of hundreds to one. - FOFO: It measures the ratio of brightness of full black screen (Full Off) to full white screen (Full On).
FOFO is easy to manipulate, it produces misleadingly large numbers and thus of thousands to one.
FOFO is misleadingly mainly used by manufacturers to attract customers, because of the fact that average consumers tend to think of higher numbers as being “better”. It is entirely wrong on the manufacturer’s side to use FOFO merely for advertising.
What do Contrast Ratio numbers mean?
Contrast ratio is written as a ratio of numbers, does not have any units. Let’s say a projector has a contrast ratio of 50000:1. This means, brighter shades are 50000x brighter than the darker shades or in other words; the white is 50000 times whiter than the black displayed on the screen. And that, there are 49998 shades of gray in between the white and black
Higher Vs. Lower Contrast: Is Higher contrast better?
Higher is the contrast ratio, sharper is the color and clearer is the image. Higher contrast is capable of efficiently displaying the rich and intricate details. Whereas, Lower Contrast does not mark the distinctness in details. There is dullness and shades of colors faint.
So, higher contrast is always better than a lower contrast.
External factor that affects contrast ratio
Higher Contrast does not necessarily mean a good contrast because there are other factors that decide the overall ratio. Mainly, it’s the light that may be sunlight or light any other than the projector’s. This ambient and stray light can drop the contrast drastically regardless of the higher contrast ratio. Ambient and stray light can badly affect the contrast ratio and drop it to an extent where a projector is not able to contrast between different shades of color.
Why is contrast ratio important?
Contrast ratio makes it possible to distinguish between the shades of colors that are displayed on the screen. It decides and configures the details of an image, quality of an image, and clearness or visibility of a display.
How does it affect the visual quality in gaming, videos, etc?
Contrast is a major factor to enhance visual quality and clarity. In such a wide and dynamic range of colors, higher and optimum contrast is a must-have, especially in gaming and videos to show the right amount of dark in a shadowy dull game scene and the right amount of bright in a bright movie scene.
How can we make sure the projector we are about to buy has a good contrast?
When you look at a projector and you see well-defined color contrast, diversified range of natural color saturation, deepened dark black, and intensely lit white, you should know it’s a high ANSI Standard contrast projector.
So you can also compare two projectors to know how their contrasts differ as it will be easy to know which one has a better contrast just by looking.
One should never look at the contrast specs in the manual and decide. Because it’s mostly the FOFO that’s mentioned there. A projector may have a higher 100,000:1 contrast but has a fainted and dull color spectrum because of a low ANSI range.
Advertising specs are mostly misleading and a trap by the manufacturers. Only a few manufacturers who deliver value use the ANSI Standard because most customers are captivated by huge numbers of Full On-Off.
How Projector Brightness (lumens) affect contrast
A brighter projector has a better contrast ratio.
When external light such as ambient and stray light step in, contrast ratio is affected so in such cases, brightness or projector’s lumen fight with this light and minimizes its effects.
Brightness of 2000 to 3000 lumens will make it possible for a projector to be able to contrast again.
Conclusion
There are a few measures that you can take before buying a projector that suits you.
- Live Demo is Important: ‘Try before you buy’. Live Demo can be of great help if you can visit the store. You can also compare projectors to know which one is best for you.
- Read Reviews: If you are making an online purchase, the best thing you can do to avoid any loss is read review articles of the product. You can read a blogpost about the device, or simply watch a video on youtube. But I suggest you, do both to have a clear and better understanding of where your device stands overall.
- Blogs: Review articles and blogs before buying. Compare the device to other devices. A comparison will always suggest the better option.
- Youtube: Youtube can be a great source for a visual understanding of the product. Search for the product and check the reviews.
- Lastly, you can check customers’ reviews and ratings on websites like amazon.
- Contrast Ratio for various projectors mainly depends on the location, the external lights, reflection from the walls, and spaciousness. So, below is mentioned a roughly estimated contrast ratio range of various projectors.
Classroom Projector: 4,000:1 to 30,000:1
Outdoor Projector: 10,000:1 or higher.
Home theatre projector: 10,000:1 to 100,000:1
Gaming projectors: 5,000:1 to 100,000:1