ANSI lumens?

Among all the factors considered while buying projectors, either it’s LCD or DLP, brightness is always a core indicator. The higher the brightness is, the better the display effect will be with the same ambient lighting condition.

Many projectors available on the market now are marked with 1,000 ANSI lumens. Well, there are several tricks customers might step into if they are not aware of this ‘smart describing of lumens’.

Several concepts about brightness for the projector:
First of all, ANSI refers to American National Standards Institute.
ANSI Lumens

Lumen is a kind of unit that measures the brightness of projectors, referring to the luminous flux emitted from projectors. ANSI lumen is a method developed by American National Standards Institute to measure the luminous flux of a projector.
The specific method is as follows:
(1) the distance between the projector and the projection screen is 2.4m;
(2) size of the projection screen is 60 inches;
(3) use the illuminometer to measure the illuminance of each point on the nine intersection points of the image which is like Chinese character “田” on the screen, then get the average illuminance of the 9 points;
(4) the average illuminance multiplied by the projected picture size is ANSI Lumens.
9-point test for ANSI Lumens

9-point test for ANSI Lumens

One simple equation:ANSI lumens = lumens x 7 (not accurate, more in a general concept)

That is to say, 1,000 ANSI lumens generally equals 7,000 lumens, as a matter of fact, most models in home theater projectors haven’t reached that extent of brightness yet.

ISO Lumens
ISO is no stranger to anyone. If there’s only lumens in the product description, not ANSI lumens, then the measurement is purely lumens, careful not to get misled by the number.
ISO refers to International Standardization Organization, which has detailed testing standards for brightness testing.
The ANSI standard is usually used in early days as well as in projectors produced by European and American manufacturers. The ISO standard has been increasingly used in Japanese manufactured products and new models.