For those that are new to the idea, a multimedia projector takes any digital media, e.g. DVDs, games, photographs, music, presentations, etc and projects them in large format either onto a plain, light coloured wall or on a purpose made screen. The size of the picture is determined by the distance between the projector and screen, roughly speaking, the further away you are, the larger the picture.

So good are modern projectors that there is no compromise in either picture or sound quality. Of course there are variations between models and it has to be said that the parameters are quite wide. The Optoma-DVD100-Home-Cinema-Projector-With-In-Built-DVD-Player for instance is a very compact machine and that built in DVD player makes it extremely portable. It can be taken anywhere and quickly set up as you literally plug in and play!
Although most families will probably use their multimedia projector for watching DVDs and playing computer games digital cinema, the power of these projectors can easily be utilised in the board or class room which gives additional versatility.
Connected to a lap top or PC, projectors such as the Canon LV-7265 will easily display presentations at maximum size without loss of quality. All projectors will have built in speakers, but should you need extra sound, say for a large meeting room or even an out door stage, additional speakers or a mixer can be plugged in to provide the boost. There are bound to be good deals on multimedia projectors this Christmas, but before snapping at the latest offer, take a look at your family priorities.
Machines can be biased towards one genre or another so if games are your thing, read some gaming reviews, if the board or class room is your main area of interest you’ll probably need to go as large as possible so pay attention to maximum screen size before waving the plastic!