Most Helpful Customer Reviews
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22 of 23 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Big screen, little room? This is the ticket!, March 22, 2009
I was looking for a simple solution for my "tiny" downstairs game room. I needed something I could plug the Wii into without worrying about a sound system, a bunch of components, speakers, etc.
I did a little research and found this right in my sub-$500 price range.
I picked this up last week and got everything hooked up yesterday. So far, it is a big winner!
It is very simple to set up. Instructions are very clear. There are no cables included other than the power cable. You'll need audio/video cables for whatever you plan on inputting into the projector. For me, I used the Nintendo Wii component video/audio cable. I needed an adapter cable to convert the L/R audio connection on the Wii cable to the Mini-Stereo Plug (like on headphones) on the projector. The connection panel located at the front of the projector has inputs for component video, HDMI, S-Video, VGA and analog audio. The remote control is also very simple to operate as are the settings in the menu screen. I added photos of the input panel and the remote to customer images.
The unit it self is pretty big. Much larger than I expected when I took it out of the box. I imagine this is to accommodate the built-in speakers. I have it sitting comfortably on an ottoman in the game room, less than 4' from the wall. Even though it is heavy, it is not too big/bulky. I can easily store it (in the ottoman!) when we're done playing.
At less than 4' from the wall, I get a 90" diagonal screen! Absolutely awesome for playing games on the Wii. In fact, it makes them significantly more fun. Because of the "short throw", there is plenty of room behind the projector for players/participants to move around.
The unit appears to be well built. A nice black metallic finish coats the casing. The unit is adjustable for height via rubberized "feet" underneath. Hot air, from the fan, exits to the left of the projector. It is rather noisy when running. Thankfully the sound volume cranks up high enough to drown out the fan. BTW, the sound quality is excellent.
The picture quality is great for the Nintendo Wii. As good as and much larger than the 42" LCD flat panel TV the projector replaced. I also hooked up my laptop to watch a DVD and was quite pleased with the results. Not HD-quality, but very clean, clear and very enjoyable. What's not to love about a movie on a 90" screen. :)
Pros:
- Less than $500
- Built-in speakers and great sound
- Easy to set-up and operate
- Short throw means a big screen in a tiny space
- Perfect for the Wii!
Cons:
- Not HD-quality
- Large Form factor
- Noisy fan
- No dedicated L/R audio input
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13 of 13 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
Staring at a wall has never been so much fun! Just make sure you're aware of the downfalls..., May 24, 2009
I'd been toying with the idea of a projector for a while and I finally decided to get one. I spent about 15 hours over several days researching prices and reading reviews. This is the cheapest "real" projector I could find, beating it's nearest competitor by about $50. After a lot of deliberation, I decided to order this projector.
I had two things in mind for this: DVDs and video/PC games.
Movies are great on this projector. This is by no means an HD projector, so don't expect to be dazzled by the sharpness and clarity. That said, it's still great for movies. While 1100 lumens isn't record-setting, viewing movies with the lights off just fine (although the picture is very washed-out with too much ambient light, but turning off the lights was enough for me). The color struck me as being really good on this projector. I found myself wowed several times while watching the first Lord of the Rings on it. While the brightness is hard to match, watching a DVD output to this projector from my MacBook Pro (with it playing on the projector and the computer) revealed that the color is even better looking to me on this projector than on my MBP (which has a great screen!). Watching any colorful movie is a joy on this projector, and while darker scenes won't wow you, they still look good. The massive screen size that can be achieved counts for a ton in itself; I'm writing this review with my Mac hooked up to the projector on a ~8 by ~4.5 feet, and gosh are movies fun to watch on such a large screen. I have a vaulted ceiling that I sometimes project onto so I can lay in bed and look up at the enormous screen above me (although popcorn on the ceiling affects the picture).
Video and computer games are not as wonderful on this projector due to the slight but obvious lag in this projector. The big-screen factor is enough for me that it's better computer games on the projector than on my laptop's (very nice) screen, but when the bulb dies I will be springing for a higher-end projector rather than 2000 more hours on this one. This is not to say that playing Super Mario Kart and Galaga on a 10-foot diagonal screen on my ceiling is anything less than awesome. The novelty might wear off of the projector though and make the lag a bit less tolerable. If you want to mainly do gaming on a projector, I'd recommend seeing if there are any good low-latency options out there. After spending several hours with Mario Kart on SNES, Serious Sam: The Second Encounter on PC, and Ratchet and Clank: Goin' Commando on PS2, I can say that this does provide an experience beyond what any 27 or 32 inch TV can provide. The lag did get a tad annoying, but once I was getting into the game, I quit noticing for the most part. And if you think Ratchet and Clank is fun normally, try playing it on an 11-foot screen... it's awesome!
Here are a few things to note:
-The short throw is a big consideration for getting a giant picture without having to have the projector way behind the viewers and for small rooms
- 1024x768 looks nice on a big screen on OSX and XP despite the relatively low resolution of this projector
- Perhaps because of the short throw, the top left and right corners are very blurry compared to the rest of the screen, although I just noticed this today with computer use where sharpness can really be easily discerned. I didn't notice this playing DVDs or old video games over the last 5 or 6 days. Not a huge deal, but hte picture isn't great everywhere
- It's somewhat noisy from the fans, but it never has bothered me and I haven't really noticed while watching/playing anything
- The 5.1 speakers in here are AWESOME! I didn't even use them at first but when I took this to a friends house to watch The One, we used them and were very surprised at the quality of the sound. It's not my 1000-watt system I have at home, but they're more than great for playing a movie in a living or bedroom (just don't expect to fill an auditorium with sound). These beat the puny speakers in other projectors
- Actually looks nice!
Overall, I'm happy although when this one goes out, I think I'm going to get a different one. I could've gotten an XGA (1024 x 768 rather than 854 x 480) projector for $400 or one of several 800 x 600 models at that price. I'm not sure if I'd be happier because the short throw lets you pull of a huge screen in small spaces, so I might not have been able to get such a nice size screen. I'm not sure if any of those are better in terms of response time and I don't know how much better 2000 lumens would've looked rather than 1100. I don't regret this purchase though--just make sure you do your research as there may be much better for a bit more money. If this is your first projector (as it is for me), then you almost certainly won't be disappointed but if you've had a projector before, then this probably will be a downgrade (for how cheap it is, how could it not be?).
Bottom line is that you can have a huge, okay-definition screen for a small price. Just know the few disadvantages of this projector and if it still suits your needs, then I think that you'll be happy with it--I am. :)
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11 of 11 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Unbelievable for the price, June 23, 2009
For $329.00, I thought this projector was probably going to be too good to be true. I don't know much about projectors, so I did some research to try to learn more about contrast ratios, lumens, resolution, DLP vs. LCD... I learned as much as I could to try to make an informed decision. This projector is not just less expensive than other competitors, it's a LOT less expensive than competitors. The closest comparison that I considered buying had only VGA and composite inputs, yet it was over $100 more than this one. After a few weeks of debating and considering options, I finally took the plunge and ordered this. If it was truly too good to be true, the best way to find out was to test drive it. I was afraid that the price would go up or it would not be in stock by the time I settled on my decision.
This projector is not "too good to be true"... it's very very good and all that you are reading here from the other reviewers and me IS true. This projector would probably not satisfy the true audio/videophile, but I imagine that even someone that tech savvy would say you got a great deal for $329.
The two things that matter more than I thought they would are the short-throw lens and the location of the inputs on the front of the machine. If you do not have the ability to place the projector 4 feet or less from your screen and/or do not plan to place your dvd player, game unit, etc. on the "lens side" of your projector, this projector may be inconvenient for you. I had no real master plan for the room that has ended up being my home theater, so I had to set up the room to accommodate the projector. I'm surprised how well that ended up working for me, but your situation may differ. If you don't have the flexibility to (re)arrange things to accommodate the projector's design, you may want to bite the bullet and buy something else. Oddly, now that I've set everything up and see how practical this projector's design is, I'd consider this design to be an "upgrade". If this projector ever breaks, if I cannot replace it with the exact same thing, I will look for this type of design in the future and would pay more to have it. In a room that otherwise would only have gotten maybe a 50-60 inch projection (I used someone else's projector in that room as part of my research) I am getting 100+ inches of "screen". I'm going to paint one of my walls white and use the entire wall as the screen. Since the projector is going to sit only 4 feet from the wall, having the inputs in the front works really well because I can easily unplug everything and store the projector on the same shelf as my stereo pieces. This is, in my opinion, the type of smart design that comes from real life use.
The fan is quieter than I expected. It's not "whisper quiet", but you have to pay bigger bucks for a quieter fan. I'd be able to live with a louder fan for this price, so the sound level of the fan is a plus in my book.
The picture, in general, is great. The contrast is excellent. Blacks are nice and dark, whites are bright, etc. I am still figuring out my settings, the best placement of the projector, screen size, etc. A 100+" image is a bit harder to get in perfect focus and lacks a bit of crispness, but the novelty of having such a large image is still so much fun that I blow the picture up as big as my wall will fit. I'll figure out how to make the picture a little more crisp and clear once I stop messing around with the settings. I've had it a little less than a week, so I'm still playing around with it.
One of the menus shows the signal quality and it says the picture is 1080i when I plug my PS3 and Apple TV in via HDMI, so for those wondering about whether or not it's HD, I can say that much. I compared the picture via HDMI vs. component video and I prefer HDMI.
The variety of inputs is awesome. I've primarily used the HDMI input, but having composite, component, S-video and VGA also means this is like the swiss army knife of projectors. Audio inputs are also varied, but I do find it rather odd that they have a yellow composite input for video, but not the corresponding red & white inputs for audio. Instead there is a stereo jack, coaxial digital input and the HDMI for audio. One nice feature of this projector is the ability to mix & match the audio and video inputs. So, you can do HDMI for video and coaxial digital for audio, and other mix & match like that.
The speakers are pretty good. You won't replace your surround sound system with these speakers, but for "on the go" purposes the speakers are solid and convenient. I plan to use this outside for outdoor movie nights, and the speakers are great for that type of use. For home theater use, you'll probably just bypass these speakers entirely and hook up a home theater worthy sound system.
All in all, I consider this machine to be an outstanding value. It's worth much more than the $329 that Amazon is currently charging. Since Amazon is online only and this product is exclusive to Amazon, there's no way of seeing it in action before purchasing it. I read the other reviewers comments a few times before making my decision to buy it and found them very helpful in making my decision. Hopefully this review helps inspire someone else to take the plunge! Get while the getting's good.
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