Lamp projectors are becoming a thing of the past as Laser projectors are quickly becoming smaller and more cost effective. Not to mention there are several advantages to using a laser projector instead of a lamp projector.
While lamp projectors have been around for over thirty years, laser projectors aren’t exactly new, having been in the marketplace for the last decade. However, before this year, there weren’t a lot of manufacturers, the projectors were large and the cost high.
Today’s post will focus on the differences between the two technologies.
Major Differences Between the Two Technologies
Brightness
Lamp: A traditional lamp projector’s bulb will start dimming after ten minutes of use and will continue to lose energy throughout the presentation. Projector lamps will dim down to 50% of their original brightness as they age.
Laser: A laser projector can have up to 10,000 lumens and never dims. It will be the same light quality three years from now as it is today.
Bottom line: Brighter rooms and outside meetings need a projector with higher lumens. For dark rooms, 1000 to 2500 lumens should be enough, but the disadvantage of dimming the lights is people cannot take notes easily.
Light Quality
Lamp: Traditional projector bulbs require the light to broken down into blue, green and red lights which combine to produce a white light. This process is inefficient and consumes energy, which creates a fair amount of heat from the unit.
Laser: Laser projectors create only the colors they need yet provide far more colors than conventional ones because they can create any wavelength. In addition, the units can produce the images with less waste, thus decreasing the energy required from the projector.
Longevity
Lamp: Old-style projectors have a lamp life of 3,000 hours. While a trained eye might know when the bulb is about to expire, it might be embarrassing if you’re in the middle of a presentation and the bulb dies. While you can take a break to change it or swap out projectors, there’s still a disruption in the flow of the presentation for at least 10-15 minutes.
Laser: Laser projectors have no physical bulbs so it’s the life of the projector you must be concerned with. Projectors last between 20,000 to 30,000 hours, which is a long time. For example, a projector that’s rated for 20,000 hours of use, can run for 12.5 years or more. That’s if it’s used for 8 hours a day, five days a week.
Overall Concerns with Lamp Projectors
- Increased Maintenance costs
- Downtime for bulb replacement
- Can be noisy due to the fan
- Can get hot and requires a cooling period after presentation
- Lumen dimness occurs over time
Advantages of Laser Projectors
- More reliable, with little or no maintenance
- Higher image quality
- No bulbs to replace
- Quiet
- Does not get hot
- Better lumens that do not dim over time
- Can blend multiple projectors together for consistent imagery
Laser Projector Overview: Panasonic PT-RZ970B
This projector has a brightness level of 10,000 Lumens, a native resolution of 1920 x 1200, produces images up to 50 feet and has a wireless remote. This is great for large venues, especially where multiple projectors are chain linked together.
Rentacomputer.com Has Laser Projectors
If you are interested in demoing or taking a look at our Panasonic Laser projector rentals, call our A/V sales team at 800-736-8772 or request a free quote. Let us find the perfect laser projector for you!
