Customer Reviews

Benq MP610 DLP Home Theater Projector

5 star:		(6)
4 star:		(4)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

I was looking to upgrade to a newer projector later on in the year but was fortunate enough to receive one of these BenQ MP610 babies as a gift from my father-in-law. He had bought the MP610 (without consulting me first) and discovered how confusing the device can be to setup even for the experienced projector user and more so for the inexperienced user.

And that's pretty much my only knock on the BenQ MP610. It can be a bit daunting to setup and get working although its good at automatically picking up available output signals from video devices with no real issues there needing addressing.

I have mine paired up with a 96" pull down movie screen and a Toshiba 300W DVD/VHS Surround Sound system that cranks out a heck of a lot of great, crisp sound even at a fairly low volume. It fills the room its in right now at level 10 of 50 and the room is 14' x 12' x 8'.

Right now, I have the component video hooked up via the RGB-to-Component cable that comes with the unit. Beware however that some cheaper DVD players that pipe out component video may not come out correctly on the BenQ projector. They may appear all green or all red and it isn't the setup, it's the DVD player as I have a Desay DVD player (another cheapie) that does the same thing on my 30" LCD TV. That's the reason I upgraded to the Toshiba DVD\VHS surround sound system instead of the cheap Insignia DVD surround sound system I had originally installed previously and was using with my older InFocus projector.

My plans are to use the component video for gaming since I use the projector more for gaming than for movies and then use the S-Video connector for the movies. I have watched movies on both the S-Video and Component Video settings and I have a tough time telling the difference between the two to be honest. However, when you switch back to regular RCA video you can definitely see the difference.

It works quite well in a brightly lit room at the standard 1600 lumens but you can bump that up if you need more brightness for any reason. The keystoning works great thankfully. Zoom is also easy to use. Plus, the setup allows you to set any one of your video inputs to a 4:3 or 16:9 presentation which is a great feature regardless of whether you are using RCA, S-Video or Component.

The cons, well despite the fact that it tends to run a little hot, as long as you have it in a well ventilated room that shouldn't be a problem. The only other negative I could find was the setup which took me about 30 minutes to get used to on the remote and I am very familiar with projector technology. Those who have little experience might get easily frustrated ala my father-in-law, bless his generosity.

All in all, I highly recommend the BenQ MP610 as a home theater solution for someone who wants to setup a low cost home theater in their home or apartment.

Dont be fooled by the low price of this projector. I have a movie room i just built and got everything but a projector i researched many and for the quality i wanted i was looking at 2000 dollars. I found this and was amazed when hooking it up to my xbox 360 in HD and my Comcast HD cable box. Watching the red sox game is a blast at 150 inches. Even at that big the quality is better than a 6000 dollar plasma. If you are building a entertainment room it is perfect.

When I first began searching for projectors, I saw them only as a very distant alternative to a flat-panel. I wanted to save space in my room and spend less than $700, so I figured a flat-panel display would be perfect for me. However, when I went searching for these TV's I realized the biggest screen I was going to get (for my budget) was somewhere between 23"-30" (if I wanted something with half-decent picture). At this point, I started looking for something I had previously only dreamed about, a projector. But I still only wanted to spend under $700. Needless to say, I spent many hours online searching for a projector to match both my price specifications and quality. I narrowed my selection down to 3 or 4, the MP610 eventually won me over. I have had this projector only for this long 4th of July weekend, but I have tried my best to put it through its paces. Currently, I have everything connected to the Mp610, inclding: cable, Ps2, VCR, and my laptop. All look fanastic. The only problem I have with the Mp610 is the lack of connections that came with it. I had a hell of a time connecting the audio (through computer speakers), and spent about $75 on misc. wires and connections. If you know your AV equipment than this item should be a fun challenge (as i thought it was), but if you don't then maybe get a more user friendly projector. Overall, this is a great buy (so far), and I have no real complaints. The projector looks great, runs quiet (but a little hot), and the picture is fantastic for the price.

Plus- I bought from amazon, standard shipping. Amazon estimated a 10-day delivery and it got here in 2-days. AWESOME.

With it's 2000 lumens and sleek black casing this projector ROCKS! The color saturation is one of the best that I have seen in it's price range. It also has a 4000 hour lamp (in eco mode) and is very quiet. The only disappointment is when you play XBOX360 in HD 1080i resolution the image does not fill the whole screen, (it's like watching a wide screen dvd movie w/ the black bars on top and bottom.) This is due to it's native resolution. For the price I feel that it was a very good investment and would recommend this to anyone who enjoys video games, sports and movies.

I have read several reviews before I bought this one, and found them to be very helpful. This projector is very quiet and user-friendly, and I couldn't find a better one for the money.

I wanted a reasonably-priced projector primarily for home theater use, secondarily for my wife to use when giving lectures. This unit provides us with both... Quick, easy setup, stunningly bright and clear picture, very quiet operation. No complaints at all, only continued surprise at the gigantic, super-bright picture we enjoy regularly. We use it with this 99" pull-down screen [...].

We bought this projector for training presentations. We are now in the processes of returning it. The 5 year old projector we have has a more legible text output. I'm not sure what the problem is, from other reviews this projector is great for movies. If you are looking for a VGA presentation projector this is NOT the solution.

I purchased the MP610 to use for powerpoint presentations & Movies. While it does OK on powerpoint presentations it is usually unable to read movies. The worst part is fiddling around with it for hours then it works for a bit, set it up in front of a group and it lets you down!

At first I thought I might have done something wrong, but not even my geek friends could get it to work for more than a few minutes. It's been used for less than 60 hours but I'm ready to replace it with another brand. I'll never buy Benq again.

Hey guys and gals! If you are looking for a projector to love then I would say you found a good one! I've had the projector for a couple of months now and I'm realy happy with it. Living in the apartment lifestyle where you move about once every two to three years; this baby is going to save me some serious strain from one of the heaviest things to move... The TV. This bad boy looks great for my tastes. my favorite feature is that you can change to color scale of things to specific settings pre-programed into the projector (catagories like TV, Movie, games, photo, etc.). This feature saved the extended edition LotR party I had recently. It was great! Another great thing is the diverse amount of ways to plug things into the projector. It takes nearly everything from USB and laptop to the plugs for videogames and DVD/VCR. I don't know about the claims of HD... I'm not there yet, but when I am... boy howdie you will know it here! With all that good stuff said and done the four starts comes down to some serious heat output. Although if you live in a small apartment like me and don't like to pay for heat this thing will heat up a living room fairly quickly! tehe...

Seriously, I can't believe I got this thing for $599 thru Tiger Direct.

I hooked up my cable over a regular old RCA cable and the picture was great, with the occasional blurry spot. I moved up to S-Video and any fuzziness was gone completely. I have the projector sitting 12 feet from a white, painted, sheetrock wall and the picture is probably about 8' of amazing detail. I'm going to upgrade to Hi-Def soon (you have to get a component to vga adapter for that ~ $10-30).

Just to give it the real test, I plugged in the Matrix, on a progressive scan DVD, hooked to my component-to-vga cable. It was practically a religious experience. The pictures are crisp, the action is sharp. It is a true movie theater-like experience I can't wait to get a nice screen, as I've read that makes it even better (which I can hardly imagine).

I'll admit that there is a MAJOR difference between having the room bright, or dark, but even with the lights on full blast I can see the picture clearly, though large dark spots are a little weak in very bright light (but large dark areas are really rare on anything but movies, and who watches those with the lights on?). My den has a dimmer, which I highly suggest, and once I take the lights down to 75% the dark spots become a non-issue.

I also didn't find setup or the menus to be very difficult. If you've used a projector before, you'll have no problem I think. It auto finds input sources, so if you have only one, it will zip right to it. The video mode feature is nice too -- if the color isn't quite right, push the mode button a few times until its perfect.

Seriously, buy this now, you will be floored by the value.