How to find the right projector for your presentation

With our purchasing guide, you will save time in selecting a suitable projector for school or university. Here we tell you everything you need to know about projectors for educational institutions – nothing more, nothing less! Only relevant know-how and tips from education technology experts.

Projectors for every room – from classroom to lecture hall

Relevant information before you buy an education projector

Before you decide on an education projector, you should consider these three factors:

Room size

For every room, there is a suitable projector, which makes optimal use of the available space and thus delivers the best results. The choice of the projector type is essential here.

Projector type	Room size
Short-distance and ultra-short-distance projectors	Short-distance and ultra-short-distance projectors are very well suited for small and medium-sized rooms. Especially if you want to use a short-distance interactive projector.
Projectors with conventional lenses	Projectors with conventional lenses, on the other hand, are very well suited for medium-sized to large rooms, such as large classrooms and lecture halls. However, this type of projector cannot be used for interactive applications.

Image resolution

Image resolution is one of the most important factors when choosing a suitable projector for educational institutions. After all, the audience should be able to recognize all relevant image details of a presentation.

For satisfactory results, we recommend a projector with an image resolution from WXGA (1280 x 800) and upwards. This image resolution has established itself as the standard for a modern minimum image resolution. Furthermore, it matches the common 16:10 aspect ratio.

However, you should prefer a Full HD projector over a WXGA projector, as Full HD is universally suited for large and small viewing distances. This also applies to WUXGA (16:10). This resolution is very common with presentation projectors.

Image resolution	Aspect ratio
WXGA (1280 x 800)	16:10
WUXGA (1920 x 1200)	16:10
Full HD (1920 x 1080)	16:9

Brightness

The brighter, the better – that is the rule of thumb for most presentation projectors. For rooms that can only be dimmed slightly, we recommend projectors with at least 3,000 ANSI lumens. For bright rooms powerful projectors with values starting from 5,000 ANSI lumens are absolutely necessary. For optimum picture quality, it is recommended to darken the room slightly.

Room	Brightness
slightly dimmed	from 3,000 lumens
not darkened	from 5,000 lumens

The right projection screen for school

A projection screen should be selected according to the used projector and considering the room conditions. The screen type should also be taken into account. For example, stationary screens must be mounted on the ceiling or a wall beforehand. Mobile screens, however, are ready for use in just a few minutes. These screens can be flexibly taken to, set up and used in almost any classroom.

Screen type	Projector type	stationary	mobile
Tripod screen	mobile Beamer
Framed screen	ultra-short-distance projectors (not interactive)
Frame screen (mobile)	Installation projectors
Motor-driven screen	Installation, short-distance and standard projectors
Roll-up screen	Installation, short-distance and standard projectors

Learn everything about projection screens in our projection screen buyers’ guide.

Projector speakers: specifically for school & university

Often a presentation needs to be supported by convincing examples. In these cases a good audio playback capability is essential.

Essentially, you can choose from a projector with integrated speakers, a passive speaker system with an amplifier or an active speaker system. All these three alternatives have their advantages and disadvantages.

Speakers	Advantages	Disadvantages
integrated	no additional speakers necessary quick setup	only recommended for small rooms
passive	more flexible positioning large selection	need an amplifier
active	do not need an amplifier	positioning restricted by limited length of power and audio cable

Learn more in our projection speakers buyers’ guide!

 

Projector connections: the most important connections for a presentation projector

The most important connections depends on which devices you want to connect to the projector

Generally, you can also connect older playback devices such as video recorders to a projector. Most devices have analogue cinch connectors for audio and video signals. Some models are still equipped with analogue inputs for YUV component connectors. This allows for the easy use of older DVD and Blu-ray players.

However, most commonly used are HDMI and VGA connectors. Nearly every multimedia device, such as a notebook or a DVD player, has one of these ports. If you have the choice between HDMI and VGA, we recommend using the HDMI port. With HDMI, you get a much better image quality plus simultaneous audio signal transmission. VGA is only suitable for transmitting image data. It does not transmit audio signals.

Fore pure data transmission, most projectors are equipped with USB sockets or LAN connectors.

Learn everything about how to connect a projector correctly. Here you also learn how to connect a Mac via a Mini Display port or a USB-C cable.

 

Accessories for presentation projectors

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Interactive teaching with whiteboard, projector & document camera

Interactive whiteboards and document cameras immensely increase the quality of a class by adding interactive elements and a time-saving, efficient handling. In addition, they not only make it easier for the teacher to prepare and present the teaching content but also help learners to absorb the subject matter more efficiently. The involvement of students also increases the understanding of the material.

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You can choose from 3 solutions:
1. Document cameras with an interactive full whiteboard set
2. Interactive projector and an interactive whiteboard
3. Interactive full whiteboard set

For non-binding individual advice on the selection, installation and launch of interactive whiteboard and document camera solutions, feel free to contact our experts on education technology.

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