Looking for ways to make your cheap projector look good, shine brighter and generally become better? You’ve come to the right place.
In this article, we’ll take a look at some ways lots of projector owners swear by that are guaranteed to make your cheap projector better. Let’s get down to it.
1. Use it in dark environments
It’s no secret that cheap projectors aren’t as bright as their pricey counterparts. You’ll find that their lumen rating is generally below 400 ANSI lumens, which is not great for brightly-lit rooms. What happens is that the ambient light becomes too strong for the lamp’s brightness to withstand resulting in washed out images.
You should use your cheap projector for outdoor movie nights or wait till full dark to get the best image quality. Alternatively, you can get yourself cheap blinds to block natural light streaming in through the windows.
2. Paint your room’s walls and ceiling
A good quality projector screen will set you back at least a few hundred dollars and will work best with an expensive projector. So that’s out of the question.
What’s left is painting your room’s walls and ceiling a dark color or shade. This will increase contrast and reduce the likelihood of image washout.
3. Use projector screen alternatives
It’s worth mentioning that there are many materials you can use in place of a projector screen but they won’t be as good in my experience. They’ll certainly be better than a painted wall although not by much.
You could use white art paper from Amazon and proceed add a coat of white eggshell paint on some sheets. Then finish by taping them to your room’s wall.
Another material you could use is wrapping paper. Follow the same instructions but use wrapping paper in place of art paper.
4. Keep your room’s temperature down
If your room is not well ventilated, your cheap projector will overheat. This will cause dimming of the lamp and eventual burnout. As this happens, the fans will rotate faster producing a loud whirling noise that may drown out the sound from the onboard speakers.
To prevent overheating, ensure the windows and door of your room are opened for a few hours during watching marathons and/or turn on an air conditioning unit if you have one.
5. Regularly maintain your cheap projector
There are many tasks you can perform regularly to make sure your projector lasts as long as possible as we have already discussed in another article (Read it here). But when it comes to making cheap projectors better, you should focus on two of them: cleaning the lens and keeping the filters free of dust.
The lens is the ultimate exit point for the lamp’s light. When it’s dirty, you can be sure that the projected images will be blurry or lack clarity. To clean the lens, you’ll need compressed air, non-abrasive cleaning solution and a soft microfiber cloth, all of which are affordable.
And as far as the dusting, get yourself a small PC vacuum cleaner to suck the dust out. You can also use a PC blower to blow the dust away.
Click here to check out this vacuum cleaner on Amazon
6. Make your screen size tinnier
Every projector enthusiast I’ve met or heard of wants a big screen out of their projector. And it’s what I’d recommend if you owned one of those expensive models. But when it comes to cheap projectors, such a big screen would negatively affect image quality.
By focusing the lamp’s light with the wheel on your projector or moving it closer to the screen, you’re guaranteed a smaller but clearer picture.
7. Connect peripheral audio devices
As I’m sure you know, cheap projectors don’t usually have the best sound quality. However, they have an audio mini jack port to connect peripheral devices whereas others support wireless connectivity.
Be sure to connect your headphone, speaker or soundbar to your cheap projector for even better sound quality and volume.