Video-Projector Reviews

After reading several great reviews about the VT540 in Presentations Magazine and online in AV Avenue I decided to check out the VT440. I did'nt need a high resolution projector like the VT540 since I usually use PowerPoint and videos for my presentations. The VT440 is also about $1,500 less expensive.

When using my XGA notebook the VT440 did a great job of displaying my PowerPoint slides and appeared much brighter than my old projector. I also noticed that colors appear much bolder and accurate.

Setting up the projector is simple. All you have to do is make sure that you make all your connections before turning on your computer and projector. If you follow the proper sequence the projector automatically adjusts to the computer and fine tunes the image.

I also noticed a huge improvement in the display of videos that I use to introduce my company during training sessions.

The VT440 is a little larger than some of the 6 pound projectors on the market, but it performs much better than the other models that I tested. I usually travel by car so a few extra pounds is not a big deal.

The thing that really won me over was the service program offered by NEC. If the projector needs to be serviced during the first two years you own it NEC sends out a replacement projector instead of making you go through the hassle of finding someone to fix it.

Overall I am extremely happy with the VT440

I recently got one of these items, and they are a hot hot hot item. I connected all manner of devices to it - dvd player, laptop, and consoles. All had excellent visual quality, even when displayed on a wall with 100 inch diagonal equivalent image. The picture was extremely bright and vibrant, and it was visible even with lights on and such. This item will serve as the centerpiece of my new home theater setup. There are so many connections.... it's got some many features.... you would be well off to buy this, inexpensive as it is for a quality projector.

When researching projectors I was looking for a product that would easily connect to my notebook for Power Point presentations and excel spreadsheets. The VT540 automatically adjusted to my notebook computer so I did not have to make any adjustments to the image. Immediately I noticed that the VT540 projector displayed the pure white backgrounds on my presetations without any discoloration and the colors were rich and vibrant. To my suprize, when I connected a DVD player to the VT540 the image quality surpassed that of my big screen projection television in my high end home theater.

If your looking for an easy to use XGA projector that provides colorful, detailed images for a conference room or a home theater, I highly recommend the NEC VT540.

My practice has owned 3 Presentation projectors in the past several years (a Sony, a Viewsonic, and now this NEC VT460). The Sony is still one we use, ... and has 1200 lumens. We like it but its connectors are a bit limited and the remote is a bit finicky. The viewsonic was gotten rid of VERY quickly as it did not interact with the computer and the Viewsonic "service" was terrible. This NEC VT460 is absolutely the nicest inexpensive projector any of us at the practice have every used. Is it the smallest? No. Is it the brightest? No. Does it cost 1/3 as much as the others with its features? YES!... The picture (for SVGA) is as good as the Sony that cost us twice as much. The flexibility of being able to have S-video, component video, computer, and audio input from different sources all at once is wonderful. One of the nicest features is the "Eco" mode that drops the lumens to about equivalent with our 1200 lumen unit, drops the fan noise to almost nothing, and extends the life of the bulb by 2x (so NEC claims). The warranty is top flight at 3 years with "Instacare" 3 day replacement service.

I just bought this thing from Amazon and all I can say

is WOW!!!!

This is probably the best purchase I have ever made.

This thing is everything I ever expected and more!! It's

very easy to use as well!

I have bought other brands before, and this one just

blows everything else out of the water! I have to say,

everyone out there who is thinking of buying this, stop

thinking. I bought it and I am extremely happy with it

the moment I powered this thing on. YOU ABSOLUTELY

POSITIVELY CANNOT GO WRONG WITH THIS PURCHASE! I

GUARANTEE IT!!!

These projectors are one of the greatest computer peripherals invented! Simply by plugging the projector in and snapping two computer cables into place you are ready to go.

Now you can run your presentations, training seminars,etc., right off your lap top or pc. And it doesn't take a computer technician to operate it!

We bought this projector in lieu of a big screen TV. It was an excellent investment! We were able to set up a VCR or DVD in one room, with the projector, and have a movie night as a family. On other nights we would send the kids in the "movie room" to watch a kid's film. We were then able to watch a "grown-up" film in the living room without worry about the children. The quality of the picture is very good and the bulb lasted a long time. The only drawback is the bulb is difficult to find to replace - but well worth the effort.

For people who want the extra size view without the weight or price of the alternatives . . .

Picture quality - XGA is beautiful; most people should be very pleased. Daylight and other light sources outside of the projector do affect the viewability of the picture, but it is not extreme. Dark parts of movies or games may be harder to see during the day. Different settings - economic, presentation, vivid, video may improve the picture. During dark hours, no problems exist, even in economic mode.

My main reason for going this route for my home theater was to tie the unit in with my computer. I previously installed a tv tuner card and a DVD burner in my home-assembled computer. Since most projectors, including the Benq, have a vga input port (the 6200 even comes with the cable), the connection couldn't be simpler. I also use a 4-input switchbox to handle my VHS player, XBox and anything else that comes along (for example, a regular DVD player, a tv, my son's Gamecube etc.) I set my computer to 1280x1024 which the Benq can handle, compressing it to 1024x768.

Tips -

1) Placement If you own your home, you could work a ceiling mount. I used a very reasonably priced étagère.

2) Screen I can't comment on how good a white wall works, because mine isn't white. I made my own 4:3 ratio screen from 1x2 douglas fir and 2 yds of 54" wide blackout cloth (from a regular fabric store). Many people on the internet offer advice on how to do it. Mine is quite light. I used two plastic anchors and extra long screws to hold the bottom edge of the top of the frame on the wall. Since many alternatives for a screen drive up the price of an economical "luxury" system, they were not for me.

3) Bulb (Lamp) With a lifespan of 2000-3000 hours and the price of a replacement currently running at $400, I am picky about when I plan to use the projector tv - only for special events (when I get an HDTV tuner card for the computer, I might feel differently) . . . Video games - often . . . Movies - virtually every time . . . Computer/internet - occasionally When any of these sources are well done, one is interested on any size screen.

4) Sound The Benq only handles the video signal. I'm using my computer sound card, which can handle 5.1 sound. With my quality 5.1 speakers, I'm in home theater heaven. Which brings to my last item, where I could use a tip.

5) Wires With the Benq projector I have a power cord, a vga cable, an s-video cable, and a composite video cable. Add to that all the cables for the aforementioned items, and you have cable jungle - guaranteed not to please any woman that I know. I plan to handle part of it with throw rugs. As for the rest . . . help!

Lastly, I need to mention two things. First, Benq is coming out soon with a replacement for the 6200 with the latest DLP chip from Texas Instruments. Second, the 6200 keeps track of how many hours that it has been used, which you can monitor from its menu program. It will warn as the hours limit approaches and actually refuse to start at 3000 hours, until you replace the lamp.

I did a fair amount of research prior to the purchase of this DLP projector and found nothing to sway my decision to make this purchase. Generally you can find BenQ offering some kind of special, in the last couple of months they've offered a free lamp (retail cost about 4 hundered) and at the time of my purchase they had a two hundered dollar rebate. By a good margin, you get far more for you're money in this unit than in any other that I could find to compare, including the 1/3 cheaper version PB6100 that has a 800x600 resolution.

After unboxing the unit, I set it up to test on a couple milk crates and shot the image on my wall at about 85" wide. Plugged in to my PC my native desktop of 1600x1200 had to be reduced down to 1024x768 before I could switch the VGA cable over. Checking the image closely I looked for flaws such as blank patches, rainbows, or any other types of problems that would cause a reduction in enjoyment of the picture. I found that the pixels are way more pronounced fully zoomed in from the unit than if I were to just move the projector back to get a bigger picture. I also noticed that the whites and blacks were displaying very nicely considering I was shooting on a semi tan color wall (no screen).

Bulb life is rated at 2000 hours, but from what i've read, if the unit is set in economy mode it will extend the life about 1000 hours. Under heavy usage of 8 hours a day or so, that would equate to approximately an entire year of use. Average use of about 2-4 hours a day would extend bulb life to over 2 years.

Though I havent seen it project over 85" yet (my plans are a 110" screen), the projector is rated to shoot a 300" screen. Feel free to compare any of those numbers to a plasma or projection big screen of any kind. DLP projectors yeild the most bang-for-the-buck available.

I was able to play a video game at 1280x1024 85hz on it and it performed flawlessly. DVD movies are just incredible, I cant wait to get it hooked up in the living room.

I bought this projector largely on the basis of cost (about $NZ1000 cheaper than anything equivalent)and am generally pleased with it. The lightness of construction is a bit of a worry: I am used to Sanyo projectors with magnesium alloy bodies but this has a plastic case and parts such as the plastic height adjustment leg don't look too robust to me. The remote control is tiny, and provides minimal functionality. My old Thinkpad, used for running the machine, lacks a USB port, so I can't work the computer mouse through the projector remote, but the remote is so tiny and fiddly I wouldn't want to anyway. But although at first sight it all looks a little flimsy, closer examination shows it is well put together and so far, it seems quite hardy enough. It is certainly very light. There is a basic but useable soft case.

Set up is easy and the documentation is excellent. Focus and zoom are only manual but in practice this doesn't matter and in fact I find it faster and easier than electronic control. There is limited connectivity: enough for one PC and 1 video but that is all I (and I think 95% of users )need and I won't be rushing out to buy the optional enhanced connectivity module.

The image quality is very acceptable. For powerpoint presentations the image is clear and bright, and can be used in a very well lit room. Text in 20 point Georgia(gold on blue) could be read from more than 50 feet away. Although it is only SVGA I have projected Word and Excel documents quite readably to small audiences. Video is adequate.The video image lacks some of the colour depth and contrast of other projectors, even ones with a lower ANSI-Lumen rating but it is smooth and quite sharp.

Overall, a very adequate, easy to use, basic projector that does the job and at the price, is very good value for money.

Our office needed a second InFocus machine and I lobbied for this unit. We currently use an LP280 but that was purchased for road use-which is why we need a second unit, the other's always out of the office.

I wanted this unit as this is the only product I have found in this price range that uses DCDi by Faroudja. Considering this technology used "to cost alot of money" this is an incredible bargain. Basically, it smoothes the jiggles of still AND moving images. We do a lot of process control work and use a lot of animation. This solves a common problem in many LCD and DLP projectors, and seems to make non-native resolution use much better (the LP500 is SVGA native resolution). It appears this model was a carryover from Boxlight before they were bought out by InFocus, and used an exclusive contract with Faroudja, who has also been bought out twice, but the model retains this critical technology that still leads the industry. The "money" more we spent on this vs. the LP280 was worth it for this feature alone.

This unit has a dual voltage/lumen feature that increases bulb life and reduces heat. (A big plus as changing bulbs on these puppies is a royal-and time consuming-pain.) This lower setting also increases contrast for blacks, which is helpful for theater use.

The unit comes with GOOD MANUALS! A lot of the time you have to sort of read the manual and intuit what the heck they are trying to say. That's not the case here. The manuals are clear, concise and complete!

This is a far superior unit stylistically-very modern and attractive, unlike the LP280 which, though a modern device, nevertheless always seems to project a 1950's feel sitting there in the middle of a meeting.

On the downside, the input are basic but adequate. The remote is just OK-it's small and clumsy to use in dark room situations, but once you get acclimated to it it's passable. The bulb's difficult to replace and-as usual with these things-relatively expensive. However, the aforementioned dual voltage/lumen feature should reduce the frequency changes overall.

I can't attest to this unit's traveling characteristics since it hasn't moved from the center of our conference table since it was unpacked. However, the case and accessories seems sturdy and well designed. Our LP280 does well and I'd imagine this one would as well.

The accessory package is fairly complete. There are some adaptors for more varied inputs available as well as other accessories, but we see no real need for them. My experience has been these things cost more than the value they add.

An excellent unit, especially if your presentation requirement border on "theatre" type conditions. A lot of value for the money with this puppy!

I purchased this projector two weeks ago and I am very pleased with it. When I connect it to my computer the image is very bright and I do not need to darken the room much at all to view it. The room needs to be a bit darker when viewing TV or DVD/VHS movies. My son uses it to play GameCube games--which is really fantastic because of the size of the image! However, for some of the games (Lord of the Rings) we really need to darken the room to see the screen well.

I have used LCD projectors for the past five years in educational settings. This is the first one I have purchased and I am extremely pleased with it. The only negative comment I can make about it is that the zoom feature doesn't change the size of the image by much. I wanted to set the projector on a stand near one wall and project it to the wall on the other side. When I do this the image is bigger than the wall space and I can't change its size by much using the zoom feature. Instead I have to move the projector into the middle of the room and operate it from there. Even with this inconvenience, I still think it is an excellent projector and so far I would recommend it to anyone who wants to see beautiful color images larger than life!

I saw a review about this projector about a year ago on a tv show called screen savers,which airs on tecTv.They gave it a good review so i gave it a try,AN LOVED IT.I only bought it to watch dvd's on an it works perfect for that.I have a huge wall in one room of our house an simply painted the wall white an use it as the screen.A 20 foot screen no less.It's the ultimate home theater,just add your surround sound an boom.No reason to ever leave your house for the movies again.Yes the lights do need to be low,or in my case i like it dark.But its got a great picture an more then worth the price.We've had nothing but fun with it ever since i bought.Its the perfect projector for those on a buget or for anyone that just dos'nt like to waste a lot of money on something like watching movies..............

How many people do you know who have 100inch tv's and paid less than $1000. I'm guessing not too many. I guess a picky person could find some faults: not as bright as a tv in a well lit room, no manual lens zoom, makes more noise than a tv. Still I really do love mine. It takes up about 1/100th of the space of a large tv, I can pack it in a backpack if I want to take it to a friend's, I can move apartments without hiring 5 movers to cary it down the stairs, I can play 4 person video games (Mario Kart Double Dash!) and everyone gets their own 50 inch tv, the colors are brilliant, and the price is decent enough.

Go buy one and you won't be unhappy.