As someone who grew up with a slide projector in the house, I have fond (and frustrated) memories – but the difference between a slide projector and a modern projector is that of a horse-drawn to a Tesla! Both devices project an image onto a screen (or a white wall), but the technology and experience are vastly different!
One is a home entertainment device, an additional computer monitor, and an alternate way of displaying your images. The other is, well, a novelty fire hazard from history! My advice this winter, though, is not to let memories like that put you off getting a projector to enhance the family viewing experience – it can be great to enjoy family photos and videos movies together as a group (as well, of course, as setting up the classic 'home theatre')
For those who remember packing projectors up, I have to direct your attention to the brilliant Nebula Mars Air 3
An exciting kind of projector is the short throw – which you can place on the media center in much the same place you might put a TV. It is arranged to project the image in a way which may seem almost unnatural to photographers used to lens optics, but, hey, for years we coped with pentaprisms just fine! A striking recent example that is heavily discounted this Cyber Monday is this from AWOL vision which seems to be making waves:
If you're looking for something in between, then one other stand-out device I've seen and reviewed this year for the best projectors guide is the Nebula's bigger brother, the 4K Cosmos. Sure, it's not FULLY laser, but it's easy to move around, which is handy, and the price isn't as overwhelming as a true cinema projector!
If you do have slides, by the way, get one of the best slide viewers or best film scanners!
