Portable projector round up

Trying to make a successful presentation with your audience crowded around a laptop screen is anything but ideal, so why not give your efforts that big-picture punch? A new breed of projectors has the resolution to match your laptop screen, the brightness to defeat ambient light in any room, and a whole lot of smarts that will see you set up in seconds and get you outta there just as fast.

We’ve rounded up nine DLP and LCD projectors that all boast a native XGA (1,024 x 768) resolution, the equal of most business laptops, and brightness ranging from a respectable 1,500 lumens to a whopping 3,000. These new projectors also provide the kind of automation features that ought to sidestep any embarrassing tech hiccups at the start of a presentation, making you look more professional. With most projectors now offering automatic input detection and automatic image synchronisation, you should be able to put an accurate picture on the screen every time. With some of our test projectors, notably the NEC LT25, any flat surface will do, as different image modes will compensate for coloured walls and even blackboards.

Other features to look out for are fast startup times so you see an image onscreen within seconds, automatic focus and automatic vertical keystone correction to ensure your picture is square no matter what kind of tilt the projector is on. When it comes time to head to the next appointment, some projectors we tested even let you pull the plug and pack the projector away while the fan continues cooling.

A VGA cable is still the default method of connection to a computer, but the Panasonic LB50NTEA ups the ante somewhat with the choice of wi-fi connectivity. For home theatre, the purchase of an adaptor cable will allow you to input component video from a DVD player to the VGA input of most of the projectors in our test, and all offer S-video and composite connections as well. The Hitachi CP-X250W is generous enough to offer a component RCA connection, and the Mitsubishi XD460U even provides a DVI input.

We’ve tested projectors ranging in size and shape from the tiny 1kg Viewsonic PJ256D to the 3.9kg Sharp Notevision XR20X, and each has its strengths and weaknesses. What they all share is the ability to successfully project static images and video alike.

Mitsubishi XD460U
Hot: Excellent all-round performance.
Not: High price; video ­image noise.

A full $2,000 dearer than any other projector in our group test, the XD460U (left) comes at a premium price but if excellent image quality is what you’re after, this projector does deliver. The XD460U is the only projector in our group to offer a DVI output among its generous selection of other connections and this, coupled with a five-segment colour wheel for greater colour accuracy, plenty of image tweakability and picture-in-picture capability make it a good choice for home as well as the boardroom.

A breeze to set up with a centred lens, horizontal and vertical keystone and manual zoom and focus controls with a good positive action, the XD460U has no problem delivering an easily viewable image in any environment, with a very high 2,600 lumens brightness. Interestingly, the XD460U has a built-in upward offset of its lens throw angle of about 5%, which makes it excellent for table-top setup but may restrict how you can install it for home theatre use.

Connected to a PC, the XD460U produces a terrifically crisp image with no discernable pixel structure. Colour is realistic, balanced and well saturated with a great dynamic range. Contrast is excellent with great blacks, very good shadow detail and highlights under control. Text display is crisp, line drawings, maps and graphs have great clarity, and photos and paintings are handled very well with accurate colour and great detail.

When it comes to movies, the Mitsubishi excels again on the colour front with a lovely saturated palette and great skin tones. Blacks and shadow detail are also excellent. Despite only a 2x speed colour wheel there aren’t many rainbows to be seen, but there is a problem with image noise and some pixelation with movement.

The large remote provides excellent mouse control and a laser pointer along with a dedicated button for picture-in-picture control. A carry case, VGA cable, composite video cable and USB cable are provided.


NEC LT25
Hot: Setup automation and features; very good performance.
Not: Colour a little inaccurate.

Moulded white plastic bodies have become an NEC signature and the LT25 is a chip off the old block. Build quality is reassuringly robust and while the LT25 retains a pretty standard box shape, it is not heavy at just 2kg.

A host of automated features make this projector a breeze to set up and pack away. It comes with auto input detection, auto image synching, auto focus and auto vertical keystone adjustment. Zoom is manual and has a good positive action.

A unique and very handy feature of this projector is its wall-colour correction, providing for presentations where you have no screen. Eight colour options compensate for blackboards and walls ranging from pale yellow and green to blue and pink. When it comes time to switch off, you can pull the power cord out immediately and pack the LT25 away while the fan continues its work. In the worst-case scenario, a clumsy delegate can even kick the power out while the projector is on and do no harm.

A longer throw lens means the NEC must be positioned further from the screen than some others in our test, but it throws an excellent bright image free from any visible pixel structure. Clarity is excellent and colour is natural, balanced and nicely saturated. Blacks are great and there is plenty of shadow detail.

PROJECTOR GLOSSARY

Aspect ratio: All projectors in this test have a native 4:3 aspect ratio. This is the same as a standard TV image, and refers to the dimensions of the image: slightly wider than it is tall. However, each of these projectors can also be switched to the 16:9 widescreen ratio for the projection of movie images. DLP: Digital light processing is a display technology invented by Texas Instruments that uses a digital micro-mirror device coupled with a spinning colour wheel to produce an image. The micro-mirror device is essentially a processing chip covered in thousands of tiny tilting mirrors that represent each pixel. The mirrors tilt towards the projector’s light to turn a pixel on, and away to turn it off. The colour wheel synchronises with the mirrors to produce images onscreen. The advantages of DLP are a very fine pixel structure, improved blacks and superior contrast. A disadvantage for some people is the appearance of rainbows in the image as a result of the fact that DLP relies on persistence of vision to create a picture by sequentially projecting red, green and blue parts of the image. Keystone correction: The keystone effect happens when you project an image from any angle other than straight onto the projection surface. This results in an image that is not square. Keystone correction controls can digitally compensate for this offset to produce a square image. Many smaller portable projectors offer just vertical correction to compensate for projector tilt, but some also offer horizontal correction if the projector is off to one side of the screen. LCD: Liquid crystal display technology employs three separate LCD glass panels for red, green and blue parts of the image. As light passes through the glass panels, individual pixels can be opened to pass light through or closed to block it off. The red, green and blue parts of the image are then combined before the image is projected on the screen. A traditional advantage of LCD is superior colour saturation in an image. Lumens: The scientific explanation is quite esoteric but lumens are essentially a measure of brightness. In our test all but one projector is capable of a 2,000 lumens brightness or better — this is at the high-performance end of semi-­portable or portable projectors. Advantages of this high brightness are the ability to handle more ambient light in a room and to produce a bigger image onscreen without a significant loss of image quality. Native resolution: All projectors in this test have a native XGA resolution. This means they have 1,024 × 768 pixels with which to create an image. Lower resolution source images will be scaled up to match this native resolution and higher resolution source images will be scaled down. It should also be remembered that when these projectors are switched to the 16:9 aspect ratio for widescreen movies, some resolution is lost. Throw: The throw distance of a projector’s lens will tell you how big an image the projector can produce at a given distance from the projection surface. A short throw lens will project a bigger image from a short distance, while a longer throw lens will need to be further away. For portable business projectors placed on a table a short throw lens is handy, but in a permanent home theatre installation where you want the projector behind the audience, a long throw lens can be an advantage.

On text display I found I had to bump up the sharpness control but the text then look crisp and black. Line drawings looked similarly sharp, as did maps and graphs. Photos and paintings also looked excellent in all respects, but the colour was just a touch off being accurate.

On movies, the LT25 did a very good job with great blacks and shadow detail, excellent clarity and negligible image noise. There was a tiny bit of pixelation with pans and zooms and fast motion but nothing serious. Colour looked realistic and balanced with good skin tones, but wasn’t as saturated as some others in our test. DLP rainbows only made an occasional appearance.

The NEC’s remote doesn’t provide mouse functions out of the box but does provide page up/down for Power Point and, uniquely, offers direct access to the lamp mode. A carry case and VGA cable are supplied.


Viewsonic PJ256D
Hot: Incredibly small and portable.
Not: Poor colour; runs hot.

Unbelievably small and lightweight at just 1kg, the PJ256D gives new meaning to the word portable. This projector could actually fit inside your briefcase.

Being so small, the PJ256D is easy to get where you want it when setting up and does provide vertical keystone through dedicated buttons on the remote. Zoom and focus are both manual, but the focus is touchy and image uniformity didn’t seem to be the best either, with some loss of focus at the edges.

At 1,500 lumens, brightness is down on other projectors in this group, but it still copes well with ambient light, providing an easily viewable image. In fact, you wouldn’t want any more lumens out of this machine because light means heat and this projector runs hot as it is.

Four picture modes are offered including a user setting and, unusually, it features six-colour adjustment: cyan, magenta and yellow as well as red, green and blue. Another unusual control is ‘white intensity’ to tweak white peaking in image highlights, but I found it best left at its maximum default.

On screen, image clarity was good with text well rendered, if a bit bold, but colours were way off, looking unrealistic and lacklustre. Unfortunately, no amount of tweaking could produce accurate, vibrant colour and this showed on photos, paintings and other images.

While blacks were good, shadow detail was also lacking and any attempt to boost contrast from its mid-point default simply blew out image highlights.

These same problems carried over into movie images, with skin tones being a particular problem. On the upside, I noticed few rainbows and the Viewsonic handles fast movement well, although there was significant noise in the image along with jitter in panning and zooming shots.

The Viewsonic doesn’t respond that well to its remote, but the remote does offer limited mouse functionality and a laser pointer. A carry case, VGA cable and composite video cable are provided.


Panasonic PT-LB50NTEA
Hot: Portability; wi-fi; setup automation; very good all-round performance.
Not: Noisy fan in high mode.

Panasonic’s LB50NTEA really ups the ante for portable presentations with a slim, sleek, lightweight body and wi-fi connectivity. Exactly the size of an A4 piece of paper, just 57mm thick and weighing 1.9kg, this projector will fit in any briefcase and once you’ve got it onsite, you won’t need an AV cable snaking across the boardroom table.

Like the Sony VPL-CX20, the LB50NTEA provides automation for smooth operators. It has automatic input detection, auto image synching and automatic vertical keystone correction. Zoom and focus are both manual with good positive action and accuracy. Startup is a fast two seconds and when it’s time to go you can pull the plug and pack up while the fan continues its cooling.

A short throw lens puts up a big picture from close to the screen, and the Panasonic’s image is very bright without intruding pixel structure. A cool feature that works well is Daylight View 2, which uses a sensor to measure ambient light and pump up the picture accordingly.

The LB50’s image has good clarity with decent blacks and shadow detail and highlights are kept under control. Colour is natural, balanced and nicely saturated, with good tonal gradation.

On text display I found I had to bump the sharpness control to get the required clarity, but the text looked good and black. Line drawings were nicely rendered, as were graphs, charts and maps. Paintings and photos had good accurate colour and clarity and blacks and shadow detail were very good for an LCD machine with a 400:1 contrast ratio.

On movies it’s a good idea to turn the lamp mode to low anyway, but on this machine it is a necessity: otherwise the fan runs at a noisy 39dB.

Apart from that, however, the LB50 makes a very good fist of video. There are a host of menu tweaks you can make but with even just a few the image was very good. There is negligible noise, just a little pixelation with fast movement and a few de-interlacing jaggies but no noticeable jitter. Colours looked natural and properly saturated, and blacks and shadow detail were pretty good, too.

The Panasonic’s remote provides a pointer as well as page up/down controls for PowerPoint. A carry case, VGA cable and software CD for wi-fi connectivity are supplied.


Sony VPL-CX20
Hot: Compact; cool design; setup automation.
Not: Noisy fan in high mode; mediocre image quality.

Sleek, slim and sophisticated with a brushed aluminium body, the Sony VPL-CX20 is one of a new breed of highly automated portable presentation projectors. Just 52mm thick and with a footprint slightly smaller than an A4 sheet of paper, it will easily fit in any briefcase that will accommodate a notebook computer, and at 1.9kg it’s not going to slow you down.

Automation is everything with this projector, so you can set up fast and be gone just as quickly. A transparent acrylic cover replaces the lens cap so you don’t have to think about that; it also has power tilt with memory settings, auto input detection, auto image synching, auto vertical keystone and auto focus. Zoom is the only button you have to push independently. When it comes time to go, you can pull out the AC cord and pack the projector away while the fan continues cooling.

With 2,000 lumens on tap, the VPL-CX20 has no problem with brightness, but as with many machines that cram a lot into a small body, there’s a trade-off. Sony advertises this projector as running with fan noise of 32dB, but that is in low lamp mode. In high mode it is a noisy 41dB and it whines.

Onscreen, the Sony’s pixel structure is barely visible but the image lacks clarity. There are limited image modes, just dynamic or standard and the choice of text or graphics display. Within those modes you are pretty much restricted to brightness and contrast adjustment.

On text display the Sony did not do well, looking blurry and grey, probably as a result of its low 300:1 contrast ratio. With photos and paintings there was the same lack of clarity. While colours looked natural they were unsaturated, especially the reds. Blacks and shadow detail also suffered due to the limited contrast.

These same faults carried over into video presentation, with poor blacks and a lack of shadow detail and image clarity. Colours were out of balance with the greens overdone and the reds underdone. On the upside, the image was not noisy but it did show some pixelation and jitter with panning and zooming shots and fast motion.

The Sony’s remote is a very simple little unit with no mouse functions or pointer. A carry case and VGA cable are supplied, along with cable for the proprietary Sony AV connector you must use to input S-video and composite signals.


Sharp Notevision XR-20X
Hot: Best video performance in test; quiet fan; virtual lens shift; DVI input.
Not: Bulky; data images lack clarity.

Weighing in at 3.9kg, the Sharp XR-20X is the big boy in our test group, but it is by no means the most expensive and its video performance was second to none.

A good-looking and solidly built machine, the XR-20X is generous with inputs and sports a control panel on top with big, well-labelled buttons. Zoom and focus are manual with a good positive and accurate action. One unique trick of the XR-20X is a virtual vertical lens shift function when using the 16:9 aspect ratio. This means you can move the image up and down to suit your screen without changing the geometry of the image — dead handy for a casual home theatre setup.

The Sharp offers a fast three-second startup but not a fast shutdown. Source detection is automatic, as is image synching and vertical keystone. A notable feature of the XR-20X is a very quiet fan that runs at just 33dB with the lamp in its high mode and 30dB in low mode.

With 2,300 lumens at its disposal, the Sharp throws up a very bright image that will cope with any environment with ease. Five picture modes are on offer. In the standard setting I found the image to be crisp and detailed with accurate colour that was nicely balanced, if a little conservative with the saturation.

On text display, the XR-20X had good clarity and contrast but I could see too much of the pixel structure and wanted to lower the sharpness. Unfortunately, no sharpness control is offered with a VGA input. Maps and charts looked good but line drawings weren’t that sharp or detailed. Photos had good, balanced colour but tonal gradations weren’t great and this carried over into paintings.

However, on movies, after a quick bit of setup with the brightness and contrast controls, the XR-20X really hit its stride, providing the smoothest video image of any of the projectors on test. Sharp’s True Vision processing did a great job of preventing any video nasties from appearing, and the image overall was excellent. In addition, the XR-20X has a 3x speed colour wheel that greatly reduces the appearance of DLP rainbows if you are susceptible to seeing them.

The small remote doesn’t offer mouse functions or a pointer but gives direct access to source inputs and picture modes. A VGA cable is supplied.


Hitachi CP-X250W
Hot: Component RCA input; LAN input for monitoring.
Not: Uninspiring design; image lacks clarity and contrast.

Hitachi’s CP-X250W isn’t going to set any hearts aflutter in terms of its form factor. It’s a pretty basic box weighing a pretty average 2.8kg, but it’s the only projector in our group that offers standard RCA connectors for a component video cable, so it scores points in terms of home theatre friendliness.

Like other projectors in our group test, the Hitachi offers fast startup and shutdown. One unique feature is a LAN connector for monitoring and control of the projector over a network.

Setting up, the Hitachi offers auto source detection and auto image synch. Keystone is vertical only and both zoom and focus are manual with a good positive action. There are three preset picture modes and, generously, four user memory settings. My one complaint about the menus is that they don’t get out of the way when making picture adjustments.

Onscreen, the CP-X250W produces a very bright image, especially in Dynamic mode, and has a nicely refined pixel structure. Colour is accurate and balanced and nicely saturated, but the Hitachi’s weaknesses are a lack of contrast and a certain softness to the image. For text display, I had to knock back the brightness and bump up the sharpness control. When it came to photos, I had to push the sharpness to maximum to get the required clarity, but the pixel structure then noticeably intruded. In addition, blacks are not really black and there is a corresponding lack of shadow detail.

Line drawings, paintings, graphs and charts all suffered from the same lack of clarity and I found that the bright Dynamic mode tended to create a colour caste. On the upside, colours looked great throughout.

With movies the Hitachi showed similar strengths and weaknesses but its image was admirably free of noise. I noticed some pixel­ation and jitter in panning shots and some de-interlacing jaggies with fast movement, but nothing serious.
The Hitachi’s remote offers page up/down controls for PowerPoint and direct access to the keystone control. A carry case, VGA cable and composite video cable are supplied.


Epson EMP-X3
Hot: Sharp price; short throw lens; very good all-round performance.
Not: Slightly obvious pixel ­structure.

Epson’s EMP-X3 brings a bit of style to the equation with a distinctive futuristic look. It is well built and a lot of thought has gone into providing the user with easy setup and operation. All inputs are clearly marked and control buttons on the projector are big and well labelled. Manual zoom and focus controls even get adjustment levers for fingertip control and the focus has a particularly positive and accurate action.

The EMP-X3 is endowed with fast startup and shutdown capa­bility, along with automatic source detection and automatic picture synching. It also provides automatic vertical keystone to compensate for projector tilt. The lens itself has one of the shortest throws in our test group, meaning it will display a big image with the projector just a short distance from the screen. Six preset image modes are provided, including a Blackboard mode so you can successfully employ a blackboard as a screen.

Onscreen, the Epson throws a good bright image that easily handles any ambient light and the image is satisfyingly crisp. Being an LCD, the pixel structure was a bit more prominent but this was also a factor of the Epson’s short throw lens putting up a bigger picture at its minimum zoom setting.

Colours were accurate and natural­looking, with nice tonal gradation and good dynamic range.

Text display was sharp with good contrast and line drawings, graphs, maps and PowerPoint slides were all crisply rendered. Photos and paintings were rendered with good clarity and detail and accurate colour, but blacks were not quite black, although shadow detail was still good.

For video, the EMP-X3’s Theatre mode is a very good default setting needing no further setup, and if you set the lamp mode to low you’ll be rewarded with a whisper-quiet fan noise of just 30dB.

On movies the Epson performed very well. Colours, clarity and detail were great and it suffered from no noise, pixilation or de-interlacing problems. Blacks were a little bit lacking and this also reduced shadow detail a little but not significantly. Movement onscreen was handled smoothly, as were panning and zooming shots.

The Epson’s menus are particularly attractive and easy to navigate, and the good little remote provides some mousing capability, a pointer and direct access buttons to sources, image modes and even the help menu. A carry case and VGA cable are supplied.


Dell 2400MP
Hot: Killer price; brightest projector in test; generous accessories.
Not: Poor image quality; wildly inaccurate colour; long throw lens.

On the face of it, the Dell 2400MP looks like a great deal. It is the cheapest and the brightest model in our test group and easily the most generous with accessories, supplying every cable you could ever need and a proper padded case, but onscreen it just could not deliver.

A bog-standard and bulky shape and with underwhelming build quality, the 2400MP nonetheless sports automatic source detection, automatic image synch and both vertical and horizontal keystone. Vertical keystone can also be set to automatic so the image automatically compensates for projector tilt. The Dell has the longest throw lens of our test group, meaning it must be further from the screen to produce a big image. Uniquely, menus run along the bottom of the screen like a dock or task bar, which looks good and doesn’t take up screen real estate.

Fired up at its default settings, the 2400MP produced an image with wildly over-saturated and inaccurate colour, overstated blacks and practically no contrast or shadow detail. Checking the presets, I found colour, brightness and contrast controls at halfway, and colour temperature at its middle setting. Initially, then, there looked like room for improvement, but nothing would correct the image. Backing off the colour did nothing, boosting contrast was useless, and maxing out the brightness brought the image somewhat out of the darkness but completely washed it out at the same time. No available menu tweaks were able to remedy the situation. Consequently, while text looked sharp, photos, paintings, line drawings, maps and PowerPoint slides all looked poor.

With movies it just got worse. You name a problem, the 2400MP has it. Colours were wrong, with reds out of control and skin tones awful. There were good blacks — but everything was black, with no shadow detail. The image wasn’t overly noisy and it was sharp, but there was severe pixelation and de-interlacing jaggies with any movement, and jitter in panning shots. Ringing was present at all sharp transitions from light to dark and there was regular colour banding and blocking. Not acceptable.

The remote offers page up/down functions for PowerPoint and direct access to input sources, vertical keystone and picture modes. A padded hard carry case, VGA cable, component-to-VGA adapter cable, S-video cable, composite video cable and USB cable are all supplied.


Bright lights, big lumens

Projector

PCW rating

Display technology

Brightness

Contrast ratio

Zoom

Keystone

Lamp life (normal mode)

Replacement lamp cost

Fan noise high/low modes

Video inputs

Audio inputs

Control inputs

Dimensions (W × H × Dmm)

Weight

Mitsubishi XD460U1 $5,499 www.bdt.co.nz/projectors

8.0

DLP

2,600 lumens

2,500:1

1.2×

Vertical and horizontal

2,000hrs

$990

35dB / 30dB

• 2 × VGA (RGB/component) DVI (HDCP) • S-video • Composite RCA

• 2 × stereo RCA (L/R) • PC stereo mini-jack

• RS232 • USB (mouse)

310 × 100 × 245

2.9kg

NEC LT25 $3,499 www.espltd.co.nz

8.0

DLP

2,200 lumens

1,500:1

1.2×

Vertical (automatic)

2,000hrs

$988

37dB / 33dB

• VGA (RGB/component) • S-video • Composite RCA

• PC stereo mini-jack

• Serial (mini DIN-8 pin)

260 × 89 × 208

2kg

Panasonic PT-LB50NTEA $3,299 www.panasonic.co.nz

8.0

LCD

2,000 lumens

400:1

1.2×

Vertical (automatic)

2,000hrs

$620

39dB / 34dB

• Wi-fi 802.11b/g • 2 × VGA (RGB/component) • S-video • Composite RCA

• Stereo RCA (L/R) • PC stereo mini-jack

• Wi-fi 802.11b/g • Serial (mini DIN-8 pin)

297 × 57 × 210

1.9kg

Sharp Notevision XR-20X $2,999 www.sharp.net.nz

8.0

DLP

2,300 lumens

2,000:1

1.15×

Vertical (automatic)

2,000hrs

$849

33dB / 30dB

• 2 × VGA (RGB/component) • S-video • Composite RCA

• Stereo RCA (L/R) • PC stereo mini-jack

• RS232

315 × 120 × 294

3.9kg

Epson EMP-X32 $2,250 www.epson.co.nz

7.5

LCD

2,000 lumens

400:1

1.2×

Vertical

2,000hrs

$534

36dB / 30dB

• VGA (RGB/component) • S-video • Composite RCA

• Stereo RCA (L/R)

• USB (mouse)

327 × 98 × 246

2.6kg

Hitachi CP-X250W $2,990 www.boyd.co.nz

6.0

LCD

2,000 lumens

400:1

1.2×

Vertical

2,000hrs

$669

38dB / 33dB

• 2 × VGA (RGB) • Component RCA • S-video • Composite RCA

• Stereo RCA (L/R) • PC stereo mini-jack

• RS232 • USB (mouse)

306 × 86 × 249

2.8kg

Viewsonic PJ256D $3,370 www.dove.co.nz

6.0

DLP

1,500 lumens

2,000:1

1.2×

Vertical

2,000hrs

$674

38dB / 37dB

• VGA (RGB/component) • S-video • Composite RCA

• None

• USB (mouse)

198 × 57 × 148

1kg

Sony VPL-CX20 $3,099 www.sony.co.nz

6.0

LCD

2,000 lumens

300:1

1.2×

Vertical

2,000hrs

$740

41dB / 32dB

• VGA (RGB/component) • Sony multi-adapter • (S-video/Composite)

• Sony multi-adapter

• None

273 × 52 × 210

1.9kg

Dell 2400MP $2,099 www.dell.co.nz

5.0

DLP

3,000 lumens

2,100:1

1.2×

Vertical

2,000hrs

$315

36dB / 33dB

• VGA (RGB/component) • S-video • Composite RCA

• PC stereo mini-jack

• RS232 • USB (mouse)

273 × 212 × 101

2.5kg

Chart notes: All projectors have a native 4:3 aspect ratio and a native XGA (1,024 × 768) resolution. Ratings are based on design/usability, features/specifications, price and performance. Footnotes: ¹Editors’ Choice: best in test. ²Editors’ Choice: best value.