HdTV Projector

When purchasing an HDTV projector, it's important to make sure you'll get a high-quality picture. A digital projector designed to work with HDTV will come in one of two common formats, 1080i and 720p. The numbers mean the total number of horizontal lines per frame of video (also known as "vertical resolution" since you could count them from top to bottom on the screen).

The letters "i" or "p" refer to interlaced or progressive scan capabilities. An interlaced signal on an HDTV projector will transmit odd-numbered horizontal lines together and even numbered lines together, to reduce transmission bandwidth and speed up video translation. A progressive signal transmits all lines at once in succession. The end result is that interlaced signals transmit 540 lines at a time and progressive scans transmit 720 at a time.

What does this mean? This means that when you're making your choice in a digital projector, you should decide what you want. Technologically speaking, interlaced systems have higher actual resolution, while progressive projectors produce a cleaner signal with none of the fuzziness that interlacing machines can be prone to. The choice comes down to personal preference.

DLP vs. LCD
HDTV projectors come in DLP (digital light processing) and LCD (liquid crystal display) formats, which are distinguished by their pixel transfer process. Again, these distinctions are a matter of preference. A DLP projector uses thousands of mirrors to translate pixels, while an LCD projector translates color using filters. The bottom line is that all of these choices for HDTV projection are far superior to regular TV if you can afford to spend a few thousand dollars.