XGA-Projectors & HD

[lojack1976]

I have an XGA projector and in all honesty the difference between 1280x720 vs. 1024x768 is extremely small and pretty much insignificant. My projector is native 4:3, but it does support 16:9 and it will accept a 1080i signal. As with my Panny plasma that is 1366x768 feeding the best resolution it will accept makes all the difference in the world. The Panny can accept a 1080p signal by the way.

If the projector or TV can accept a better source such as 720p, 1080i, or 1080p then it will be interpolated and give you a picture nearly as good with little loss of quality. It will be scaled down to fit the pixels, but it will still look better than feeding it its native or a lower resolution assuming it has a good scaler of course.

Basically, I would say look at the quality of the projector as being more important. There are many XGA projectors that just outright perform better than many 720p projectors. The resolution difference really is minor. Yes, a 720p native projector is preferred, but you may very well find an XGA projector in your budget with a better picture just as there are many 720p TV's that produce a better picture than some 1080p sets. Pioneer had a 720p set that outperformed everyone else's 1080p sets for at least a good 2 years.

Take a look at my gallery. My first foray into a projector setup is an XGA and I think the results came out pretty good. I'll move up to 1080p eventually, but its not a priority. My Kuro puts out a better picture with of course much better blacks, but my projector still looks damn good with very accurate colors and the huge picture easily trumps the 50" TV. I'm very happy with my budget projector setup. By the way, what model projector are you looking at?