The Ultimate Home Theater Projector Buyer’s Guide 2022-2023

Posted on January 1, 2023 By Phil Jones

In this report, we look at all the home theater projectors and home entertainment projectors we have reviewed over the past year (or so). 2022 was another great year for home theater enthusiasts. With the continuing Covid-19 Pandemic, many people decided to create their own or enhance their existing home theaters.

Whether you are looking for a value projector for casual use or a premium unit for your dedicated home theater, you should be able to find an option that fits your budget and application.

In this year’s report, we have broken the projectors down into these categories:

• Projectors under $1,000
• Projectors between $1,000 – $2,000
• Smart projectors between $1,000 – $2,000
• Projectors between $2,000 – $5,000
• Projectors between $5,000 – $10,000
• Projectors over $10,000

The purpose of this comprehensive guide is to assist you with insight and information as you enter your Home Theater projector-buying journey and ensure you find the best suited to your unique needs.

This guide includes all the Home Theater and Home Entertainment-focused projectors currently on the market that we have reviewed over the past few years. If you need a condensed list of the best home theater projectors, explore our article on the best home theater projectors for 2023.

More and more manufacturers are introducing 4K capable ultra-short-throw smart projectors commonly referred to as “Laser TVs”. Laser TVs are easy to install and offer an unbelievable picture in a much larger image than a traditional flat-panel TV. They can produce a really big image in your living room, family room, and other “common” areas of your house while sitting only inches from the screen. These projectors are intended to be TV replacements, so they include all the smart features and apps found in a modern TV along with an upgraded, built-in sound system. With the number of ultra-short throw (UST) projectors continuing to grow in popularity and the significant increase of USTs available in the market, we have created a separate UST buyer’s guide dedicated to that category.

Also when many people think about projectors, they visualize them in a dedicated home theater, or man cave. Since many projectors are specifically designed for those types of spaces, they include technologies designed to deliver amazing picture quality on a larger screen so they can be larger, bulkier and sometimes sensitive pieces of equipment.

However, an increasingly popular way to use a projector is outside so we also have an Outdoor/Portable Projector Buyers Guide which not only covers our favorites models but also goes into more detail and describes the technologies that make a projector truly “portable” and not simply “movable.”

WHAT’S INSIDE OUR HOME THEATER PROJECTOR BUYER’S GUIDE

This year we considered dozens of projectors and decided to feature those we found would best fit the needs of a home theater or home entertainment user. Breaking them down by price point and features (in the case of the Smart projectors) we hope to make this guide easy-to-use.

We wish to thank Sony for sponsoring the 2022-2023 Home Theater Projector Buyer’s Guide

You will also see several award-winning projectors throughout this report — these are the projectors that caught our attention for different reasons throughout the year. Projectors focused on home entertainment are often announced at one of two major US trade shows which are CEDIA in September, and CES in January. We will continue to update this report well into 2023 as new home theater projectors are announced and reviewed throughout the year.

You will not find the full reviews for any of the projectors feature here, however, there are links to all their reviews if you want to learn more.

We would, once again, like to thank Sony for sponsoring this guide and you will see several Sony models throughout, including some of the best projectors available on the market today. Be sure to check out their full line-up in addition to all their projectors we reviewed in 2022.

Looking forward to another great year of Home Theater here at Projector Reviews! Thank you for being a part of it.

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