How We Ranked the 5 Best Projectors for Church

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Reviewed By

Evan Shephard
Updated Jun 13, 2024 7:02 PM
best projector for church guide that shows the top best projector model

A whopping 75% of electronic and appliance reviews are untrustworthy. That’s why every reviewer gets a Trust Rating so our True Score System filters out the fake reviews. See how we do it.

If you need a projector for your church, you want to provide an immersive visual experience for your members. Look for key features like brightness, color accuracy, and input lag. You need a projector that supports a screen size of at least 150 inches to ensure visibility for large congregations and an SDR brightness of over 1500 lumens to provide clear and bright images in any light.

In our comprehensive review, we evaluated over 28 projectors and certified 5 as the best choices for church use. We analyzed 10,195 reviews, filtering out fake or low-quality reviews. Our unique approach uses our scientifically proven True Score system to ensure only the top-performing projectors in testing made the list. The winning projectors excelled in brightness, color accuracy, and ease of setup​​​​​​. This rigorous evaluation process helps us identify and recommend the best projectors for church settings, ensuring that each selection meets the specific needs of congregational use with superior visual performance.

How Did We Rank the Best Projectors for the Church?

To determine the best projectors for church use, we meticulously reviewed over 200 sources, examining various testing methods and customer reviews. We evaluated expert reviews and integrated our findings with our proprietary true score system. Our comprehensive analysis identified 2 required test results, 1 nice-to-have feature, and 1 must-have specification. This approach ensured we highlighted projectors that deliver exceptional brightness, clear image quality, and easy installation, meeting the unique needs of church environments.

Our commitment to unbiased reviews is powered by our ‘True Score’ system, targeting low quality and fake reviews. When you shop through our links, you’re backing our mission. Dive deeper to see how.

?️ Minimum Specifications

  • Max Screen size is at least 150″

? Test Criteria

  • SDR Brightness: Equal to or greater than 1500 lumens or more to help produce a bright and clear display.
  • Color Gamut: At least 90% of the Rec.709 color gamut, providing rich and vibrant colors.

? “Nice To Haves”

  • Input Lag: An input lag of less than 100 milliseconds to prevent delays between what’s on screen and your reaction to them in games.

Latest Updates

  • 06/13/2024: Republished the list to include the best projectors for the church based on our True Score system.

Top Projectors for Church For 2024

Prices accurate at the time of publishing

See how we test the testers

  • Runner Up

    Best Value

    Best Budget

    gr recommended award

    Best Mid-Range

    JVC DLA-NZ8

    For church coordinators prioritizing vibrant visuals, the JVC DLA-NZ8 excels with unmatched color accuracy and brightness, ideal for varied lighting.

    JVC DLA-NZ8 Review →

    True Score

    95
    96
    4

    Experts

    99
    4

    Customers

    $16,000.00
  • Runner Up

    Best Value

    Best Budget

    gr recommended award

    Best Mid-Range

    JVC DLA-NZ7

    For church leaders seeking a valuable projector with vivid colors for sermons, the JVC DLA-NZ7 offers vibrant, accurate visuals in various light settings.

    JVC DLA-NZ7 Review →

    True Score

    88
    92
    4

    Experts

    88
    7

    Customers

    $8,995.18
  • Runner Up

    Best Value

    Best Budget

    gr recommended award

    Best Mid-Range

    Epson Home Cinema 3800

    • Best For Epson

    Epson Home Cinema 3800 offers vibrant, clear visuals with high contrast, perfect for churches, at an affordable price and a large max display.

    Epson Home Cinema 3800 Review →

    True Score

    84
    85
    6

    Experts

    88
    1k

    Customers

    SAVE $100
    $1,699.99
    $1,599.99
  • Runner Up

    Best Value

    Best Budget

    gr recommended award

    Best Mid-Range

    Formovie Theater

    • Best For Short Throw

    The Formovie Theater projector excels for church use with its bright display and vibrant colors, ideal for engaging congregants in well-lit halls.

    Formovie Theater Review →

    True Score

    78
    79
    8

    Experts

    81
    43

    Customers

  • Runner Up

    Best Value

    Best Budget

    gr recommended award

    Best Mid-Range

    Epson LS800B

    • Best For Daylight Viewing

    Epson LS800B excels with top brightness, sharp images for well-lit venues, and vibrant colors, ideal for churches and presentations.

    Epson LS800B Review →

    True Score

    74
    75
    4

    Experts

    77
    98

    Customers

    $3,484.97

Which Criteria Matters for Testing Best Projectors for Church?

By focusing on these criteria (2 required, 1 nice to have), anyone can quickly and easily compare these projectors and how they’ll perform. This helps you make an informed decision and purchase a projector that will meet all of your needs.

CRITERIARANGEREQUIREDDEFINITION
SDR Brightness (lumens)> 1500 lumensYesThe amount of light the projector outputs from the lamp/bulb and projects onto the screen when playing SDR content.
Color Gamut % (Rec. 709)> 90%YesThe % of colors a projector can produce defined by the gamut. Rec. 709 is commonly used by HD TV, and is also known as BT.709.
Input Lag < 100 msNo (Nice to have)The amount of time it takes for inputs to be registered and processed by the projector and shown on screen.

Our Trusted Data Sources

We looked at 86+ projector reviewers and found that 16 are trustworthy (60%+ Trust Rating). The three we have listed below are our most trusted for projector.

  1. Pierre-Olivier Jourdenais – Rtings, LinkedIn
  2. Geoffrey Morrison – CNET, MuckRack
  3. Kam Valentine – Projector Reviews, MuckRack

Interested in a comprehensive analysis of our data sources? We’ve got you covered. Below, you’ll find a detailed list of every projector review website we’ve identified, organized by their respective Trust Ratings from highest to lowest. But we didn’t stop there. We’ve meticulously reviewed each publication and verified the data by checking whether the authors have bio links to MuckRack or LinkedIn. We’re committed to not only checking the facts but ensuring their veracity.

Projector Test Data & Results

Disclaimer:

Projectors are complex and difficult to test and evaluate, requiring extensive testing on the same level as televisions to paint a complete picture of how any given unit performs. Unfortunately, the testing behind projectors isn’t as rigorous, and a lot of the data we’ve compiled from expert reviewers has been incomplete at times. With different brightnesses measured from different sources, different color gamut tested and spotty contrast ratio measurements, we’ve done the best we can to leverage the available data when putting together these lists but have also trusted our True Score to help us make decisions when the data isn’t available.

1. SDR Brightness (lumens) Test Results

Projectors have two ways you can realistically measure brightness: in lumens or in nits. Lumens are more common, but brightness in general matters because projectors have to project light strongly enough that it overcomes ambient light without losing detail or color.

Most of the time, a projector is going to be used in a fairly dark room to help give the unit the best chance of displaying content the way it was intended, but higher lumens output let you watch content in progressively bright spaces – or across longer distances on bigger screens. For standard dynamic range content, we recommend at least 1500 lumens for most home applications, but more isn’t a bad thing, and 3000 lumens or more are ideal.

SDR Brightness (lumens; higher is better; 0 = No Data)

2. Color Gamut % (Rec. 709) Test Results

If you watch a lot of high-definition TV such as HD sports, you’ve experienced the Rec.709 gamut. This gamut is employed mostly by HD television, so covering as much of it as you can is ideal. Fortunately, the Rec.709 gamut is smaller than the DCI-P3 gamut, so if you have good coverage of DCI-P3, it’s very likely you have good coverage of Rec.709. This gamut is also known as BT.709.

Regardless, we recommend you have a Rec.709 coverage of at least 90%, especially if HD TV is what you spend most of your time watching. Not covering enough of the gamut directly contributes to seeing inaccurate colors on things like sports uniforms or otherwise vibrant sets on your favorite TV shows.

Color Gamut Rec. 709 (%; higher is better; 0 = No Data)

6. Input Lag (ms) Test Results

Input lag is primarily an issue when it comes to playing video games on your projector. If you’re trying to enjoy fast-paced shooters or are using projector to play competitive modes, you’ll need a low input lag to “keep the projector out of your way”, so to speak. High input lag causes delays in your inputs and makes it harder to react to action on screen because your own physical reactions start to count for less than the projector’s ability to process what you’re doing.

For this reason, we recommend an input lag of 100 ms or less, but lower is always better, and for really competitive games we’d recommend less than 15 ms. Any more than that and your projector is better suited to playing games casually, though if you don’t play anything fast paced, input lag is less of an issue.

Input Lag (ms; lower is better; 0 = No Data)

Best Projectors for Church: Mistakes To Avoid

  1. Ignoring Ambient Light: Churches often have varying levels of ambient light due to windows, lighting fixtures, or skylights. Ignoring ambient light conditions can result in poor visibility of projected content. Choose a projector with high brightness (measured in lumens) to ensure clear visibility even in well-lit environments. For these settings, opting for a projector for bright rooms or the best projectors for daylight viewing is crucial, as they are specifically designed to offer excellent performance in environments with substantial ambient light, ensuring that the congregation can see images clearly regardless of the time of day.

  2. Resolution Mismatch: Just like in classrooms, ensure the projector’s resolution matches the content you’ll be displaying. For church presentations, a higher resolution (1080p or higher) is recommended to ensure clarity, especially for text-heavy slides or videos.

  3. Lack of Connectivity Options: Churches may use a variety of devices for presentations, including computers, DVD players, or media streaming devices. Ensure the projector has multiple connectivity options such as HDMI, VGA, and USB to accommodate different devices and setups.

  4. Not Considering Throw Distance: The size and layout of the church venue will determine the optimal throw distance for the projector. Failure to consider throw distance can result in images being too small or too large for the projection screen, affecting visibility and clarity. When deciding between a short-throw projector vs long throw projector for your church, consider that short-throw projectors are better suited for smaller spaces or where the projector can be placed relatively close to the screen, while long-throw projectors are ideal for larger venues where the projector needs to be placed far from the screen without sacrificing image size or quality.

The Best Projectors for Church Tests Compared

Product
True Score
SDR Brightness
HDR Brightness
Contrast Ratio
Color Gamut % (DCI P3 uv)
Input Lag (ms)

JVC DLA-NZ8

  • Best for Best Overall

95
  • 1,999 lumens

  • 1,973 lumens

  • 0

  • 95.11%

  • 38.5 ms

$16,000.00
88
  • 1,633.5 lumens

  • 1,636 lumens

  • 0

  • 85.3%

  • 37.17 ms

$8,995.18
84
  • 2,176 lumens

  • 0

  • 23,971.05:1

  • 76.85%

  • 28 ms

$1,599.99
$1,700
$100

Formovie Theater

  • Best for Short Throw

78
  • 2,837 lumens

  • 2,676 lumens

  • 1,916.6:1

  • 106.81%

  • 41 ms

Epson LS800B

  • Best for Daylight Viewing

74
  • 4,084 lumens

  • 0

  • 0

  • 92.6%

  • 21.75 ms

$3,484.97

Projector for Church Questions (FAQ)

What features should I look for in a projector for church use?

Key features to consider include high brightness (measured in lumens) to combat ambient light from windows and other sources, high resolution for clear image quality, and a suitable throw distance that matches the size of the venue. Also, ensure the projector has good color accuracy to display vibrant and engaging content.

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