Pacific Media Associates (PMA) has released its findings on the current use and future purchase intentions of consumer projector users.

This is the final set of important results from PMA’s sixth biennial large-scale (1000 responses) and statistically-representative survey of United States users and intenders of front projectors, both individual consumers and organizations. The survey focused on topics of timely interest, including requests for additional or modified questions from PMA’s extensive client base of front projector manufacturers. This set of findings focused on end-user consumers who own, or plan to buy, a home theater projector.

“Our 2011 survey showed an increased interest in front projector use in the home, compared to our previous survey, conducted in 2009,” says Dr. William Coggshall, President of PMA. “In 2009, 11 percent of the survey respondents expected to buy a projector vs. another type of large-screen display. Our recent 2011 survey showed that figure has increased to 18 percent.”

Results also showed that movies are the preferred content type for current projector owners, with 25 percent of owners using their projectors to watch movies and other pre-recorded videos. Watching TV, which ranked number one in the previous survey, lost ground in the latest survey. Movies, 3D Sports, 3D games, and  3D TV programs also gained popularity as reasons to buy a 3D projector.

Expectations for placing a projector in a dedicated home theater were significantly lower than in PMA’s 2009 end user survey, possibly because consumers have cut back on large-scale remodeling projects that might be associated with dedicated media rooms. This could explain why a lot of the high-end/luxury projector brands have moved down-market over the past year year, offering products at compelling prices.

Sony (whom respondents considered the “best” brand), Panasonic, Acer and LG are among the most-owned brands, while Sony, LG, and JVC are among the most intended brands.