ANSI Lumens

A standard for measuring the light output, used to compare projectors. Unfortunately, there are enough variables, which the eye does not always agree with the scale ANSI. ANSI lumens are by far a great comparison of "apples" with "apples". If, for example, a projector uses halogen lamps and other metal-halide, halogen projector will see a noticeable loss even if two units of the same rank. Other variables, including type of LCD technology (active matrix TFT Poly-Si, passive), type of color technology (DLP vs LCD vs CRT), and contrast ranges, etc... Any effect generates the final result.

For business projectors the actual lumen output may be lower when in video mode, due to the lower luminance output from video signals. Home Theater projectors are typically measured in video mode, for a more accurate specification for brightness. Projectors for home theater also offer better video scaling and contrast ratios than business projectors.

ANSI stands for the American National Standards Institute. ANSI is a non-profit organization that developed the standards for determining light output or brightness, measured in lumens. Lumens are the standard measurement for light output and the higher the lumen count, the brighter the projection.