10 Best Projectors in the Philippines 2026 | Epson, Xiaomi, and More

Projectors come in either Liquid Crystal Displays (LCD) or Digital Light Processing Displays (DLP). Essentially, these dictate the factors that affect image quality, such as pixel count, contrast, and color spectrum. Now, with LCDs, you're getting affordability, higher maximum brightness, and an adequate contrast ratio. 

These make them usable even in well-lit environments, though their colors can look washed out. Additionally, they require regular maintenance as the filters attract dust during use. Unattended, this will make your image have blurry quality or, worse, dark spots.

On the other hand, DLPs are more complex, employing a combination of a light source, color wheel, and microscopic mirrors. While these give you shake-free projection and sharper colors—think blacker blacks—it comes at the cost of light sensitivity. These are great for viewing high-quality and fast-paced media, though they're only best in dimly lit environments.

Put simply, your light source determines the life of your projector. Currently, projectors that employ light-emitting diodes (LEDs) last for 20,000 to 60,000 hours. These are also less prone to failure and will maintain their brightness over their life cycle. The only downside is that most of these aren't replaceable, so once they die out, you might need to buy a new projector or get it professionally changed.

Lamp projectors are the opposite. They only last from 3,000 to 5,000 hours, but you can always replace them with third-party bulbs. This reduces the need to buy a new product. Just note, though, that lamps require more maintenance as the quality of their output will change over time.

Light output is important to get the most out of your projector. If the brightness is too low, then your resulting image will look muddy and blurred, even in a dark room. Thus, it's important to get a projector that’s bright enough, so you can use it outside on sunny days.

A theatre-like experience can be achieved by getting a projector with a brightness of at least 1000 to 2000 lumens. However, this level is limited to a dimly lit room if you want to get the best output. If you prefer to keep the lights on while watching a movie, try to get a unit with more than 3000 lumens.

Contrast is another thing to look out for. Essentially, you want a high contrast ratio to get blacker blacks and whiter whites. Otherwise, dark scenes will look greyish and washed out, impeding the quality of what you’re viewing. On average, you want to get a contrast ratio of 1500:1. 

This delivers a good enough contrast ratio for casual viewing. You can go lower, though, if you’re going to view media that doesn’t need a lot of visuals, such as business presentations. On the other hand, you might want to go for a higher contrast ratio—preferably 2000:1—if you have particularly keen eyes.

Display resolution determines how many pixels your projector can produce—in essence, how sharp your media will look. You probably heard the terms before—4K, 1080p, Full High Definition (Full HD), and more. But which resolution is best for projectors?

We recommend getting a minimum pixel count of 1280 x 720. This resolution provides the best balance between viewing quality and price. You can go lower, though, with 1024 x 768 and 1080p resolutions. While these still offer a good viewing experience, you will be losing visual clarity on some scenes.

Furthermore, it’s best to get a projector that supports the resolution you want natively. This means that the machine is capable of creating that amount of pixels rather than using digital techniques like upscaling to enhance the image. Unfortunately, while these techniques allow cheaper models to compete in image quality, they can also make the projection blown out, blurry, and dull.

One way to get sharper image quality is to adjust how far your projector is from the surface it projects on. By doing so, you spread out the pixels according to the required screen size to produce the best visual clarity.

Unfortunately, there’s no definite answer here as each product will have a different optimum distance. You can do a trial-and-error approach until you’re satisfied with the image quality, but if you want to simplify the task, try checking the manual for the recommended distance.

It’s always important to check what connections your projector comes with. These allow the machine to connect to the device that's playing the media, such as your laptop or PC. Traditionally, you want to go for a product that has HDMI or VGA connections, as most recent hardware supports these.

If you want to spread out your options, some projectors also offer Wi-Fi connectivity. This allows you to connect your devices without the need for cables. Others even support memory card compatibility. This lets your projector accept and play information from storage devices like flash drives and SD cards.

Aside from the integral factors mentioned, you may want to look out for some extra improvements to make your projector use more enjoyable. Listed below are a few of the most sought-after features for you to consider.