Looking for the best match of projector (either 1080p/1920 x 1080, or 4K Ultra HD/3840 x 2160) with an iMac - is the output HDMI resolution always the same with all models of iMac?
Windows, Windows 11 (26100)
No.
You need to identify the specific model and determine its maximum resolution capability. At present that maximum is 6k for the current production iMac model — far in excess of the 4K Ultra you mentioned.
Not necessarily. 6k (like 4k) is little more than a marketing term so you have to endeavor to get specific details. For example "4k Ultra HD" has been defined to be 4096 x 2160. Not exactly 16:9.
I was mistaken about the current production iMac, which has a maximum external display resolution of 8k. Specifically, 7680 x 4320 (which does happen to be 16:9).
Yes if you think 7680 is a bit short of 8k you're right. That's marketing for you. The exact number of pixels is eventually agreed upon when film or video producers settle upon a standard.
Lots of luck finding an 8k projector. 4k is phenomenal enough.
Are you designing a home theater?
John Galt wrote:
Not necessarily. 6k (like 4k) is little more than a marketing term so you have to endeavor to get specific details. For example "4k Ultra HD" has been defined to be 4096 x 2160. Not exactly 16:9.
4K UHD is 3840x2160 – an aspect ratio of 16:9. A lot of people who are referring to monitors and TVs leave out the UHD part.
4096x2160 would be one of the DCI (Digital Cinema System) resolutions for a 4K motion picture distribution.
Thanks John - much appreciated
No not a home theatre but for a church - tired of stressing out with PC's (needing to do an update in the middle of a service!!!) and want to move to Apple - but need to find best overall solution. Agree 4k is excellent, so 16:9 aspect ratio become important to not get black bands to fill the unused screen.
For what it's worth black bands (if you have them given the content being projected) are very easily ignored. Besides, with the rapid advance in display technologies and the correspondingly different implementations of them, it's just not worth getting obsessed about them. Video standards are different than film standards for example.
If you do get obsessed about them, projectors have easily manipulated settings designed to constrain the displayed image to 16:9, meaning of course some of the horizontal or vertical dimension gets lost. Personally I would rather have black bands than lost content.
Designing a home theater can be enjoyable. Implementing a display presentation for a church (both audio and video) involves the same details, minus the architecture.
I suggest that you give strong consideration to the Apple TV 4K - Apple. If you are looking for a projector there are a myriad of considerations. Audio, even more. It's a lot of fun. On that subject I wish Apple would come out with an AVR... but that's a whole other story.
Thanks for that - for a 6K output, is that still 16:9 aspect ratio?
If so, does that mean pixels horizontally = 6000, vertically = 3375, Total pixels = 20.25M?
I think more in terms of cinema, for home theater use. The point is that "4k" is little more than a marketing term.
what resolution is used on the hdmi port to drive a projector
