The world’s brightest flashlight produces 90,000 lumens—enough to light up an entire mountainside at night.
To project an image in a conference room, you won’t require quite that much power. But if you want your image to be visible without dimming the lights, your projector will have to be a bit more powerful than the standard 1200 – 1500 lumens offered by home theater projectors.
This is basically the only thing that separates conference room projectors from their home theater counterparts. So if you hate turning off the lights at the start of every business presentation, you’re going to want to make sure that your conference room projector is capable of producing 3000 – 5000 lumens.
Another important thing to ask yourself before purchasing a conference room projector: Do you intend to use the projector exclusively for PowerPoint presentations that will only be seen by a small group of internal employees in conference rooms that look like this? Or will the projector ever be used to show non-internal employees (i.e. potential clients) things that aren’t PowerPoint presentations (i.e. videos)?
If the first scenario describes your conference room situation, you may want to consider going to your local Best Buy and purchasing the first $300 projector you see. It doesn’t matter what the specs are and there’s no need to do any research beforehand: If a reputable outlet is willing to sell it for $300, it will be more than adequate for the task at hand.
But for those who want to impress clients with videos that aren’t blurry, dim, and look as though they were filmed through a screen door, you may want to consider some of the conference room projectors on this list.
BenQ SU931
Projection System: DLP
Resolution: 1080p (1920 x 1080)
Brightness: 6000 Lumens
Contrast Ratio: 3000:1
Weight: 15lbs
Price: $3445.00
The BenQ SU931 produces a whopping 6000 lumens (three times what most higher end home theatre projectors produce), which should be enough power to cancel out your conference room’s ambient light even if it’s lit like Wimbley stadium.
Optoma EH500
Projection System: DLP
Resolution: 1080p (1920 x 1080)
Brightness: 4700 Lumens
Contrast: 10000:1
Weight: 8.2 lbs.
Price: $1199.00
For half the price of the BenQ SU931, Optoma EH500 offers an image which—although not quite as bright as the BenQ—is still extremely bright. Its low weight makes it ideal for businesses that can afford multiple conference rooms but can’t afford multiple projectors.
Sony VPL-CH370 Projector
Projection System: 3LCD
Resolution: Wide UXGA (1920 x 1200)
Brightness: 5000 lumens
Contrast: 2500:1
Weight: 12.5 lbs.
Price: $2864.00
For a projector that’s light, bright, offers a crystal clear high-resolution image, and isn’t prohibitively expensive, look no further than the Sony VPL-CH370.
Optoma EH505 Projector
Projection System: DLP
Resolution: Wide UXGA (1920 x 1200)
Brightness: 5000 lumens
Contrast: 2000:1
Weight: 18.6 lbs.
Price: $3295.00
By most metrics, the Optoma EH505 is identical to the Sony VPL-CH370. The only major difference is that the Optoma uses the DLP projection system (which is what most movie theatres use) rather than LCD (which is what most TVs use).
For more information regarding the difference between DLP and LCD, click here.
Epson PowerLite Pro G6470WUNL
Projection System: 3LCD
Resolution: WUXGA (1920 x 1200)
Brightness: 4500 lumens
Contrast: 5000:1
Weight: 21.5 lb
Price: $5,179.00
If you’re tempted by the Sony VPL-CH370, but wish it had double the contrast for double the price, then the Epson PowerLite Pro G6470WUNL could be the projector for you.
JVC DLA-RS400U Reference Series 4K Projector
Projection System: D-ILA
Resolution: 3840 x 2160
Brightness: 1700 lumens
Contrast: 40,000:1
Weight: 34lbs
Price: $3999
Although it may not be powerful enough to project a clear image in an already bright room, JVC DLA-RS400U is ideal for conference rooms that have dimmer switches. If you can find some relevant 4K media to play, the resolution is bound to knock clients off their feet. (Although this projector doesn’t technically offer true 4K, 3.84K is so close that clients shouldn’t be able to tell the difference).
NEC NP-P501X Projector
Projection System: LCD
Resolution: 1024 x 768
Brightness: 5000 Lumens
Contrast: 4,000:1
Weight: 14 lbs
Price: $1749.00
For spectacular brightness at an affordable price, the NEC NP-P501X can’t be beat. As far as resolution is concerned, however, the NEC certainly can be beat. So if your business meetings involve wooing clients with stunning 4K videos, you may want to look elsewhere.
Sony VPL-VW1100ES Native 4K 3D SXRD
Projection System: SXRD
Resolution: 4096 x 2160
Brightness: 2000 lumens
Contrast: 1,000,000:1
Weight: 44 lbs
Price: $27,998.00
If you’re fairly confident that you won’t get fired for purchasing a conference room AV product that costs as much as a car, you can’t go wrong with the Sony VPL-VW1100ES Native 4K 3D SXRD. Turning this thing on during a business meeting will have the same psychological effect as picking up your clients in a MacLaren F1 and taking them on a tour of the world’s most expensive restaurants.
Conference Room Projectors & Connectivity
No matter which conference room projector you end up purchasing, it’s important to make sure that your end users will be able to easily connect to it. Most of the projectors listed above come with a wide variety of video inputs (HDMI, VGA, mini DisplayPort, etc), so if you purchase a large collection of cables and adapters (some of which are listed here), your end users should only face 5 to 10 minute delays getting their laptops connected.
Alternatively, you can invest in a wireless presentation solution which will allow your end users to connect to the projector in 1 second no matter what video outputs their laptops come with.
ADDITIONAL READING
5 Must-Have AV Products For Your Conference Room
Wireless Conference Rooms vs. Cabled Conference Rooms: Which Has the Better ROI?
Death of the Shared Conference Room PC