Showing posts with label Projector. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Projector. Show all posts

BenQ W1350 Home Entertainment Projector

The BenQ W1350 is marketed as a home entertainment projector, which means it is aimed towards being used for television, sport, gaming and the odd movie. It features lens-shift, full HD picture quality, 3D content support, an internal 10 watt speaker and wireless connectivity (via a kit sold separately).



The front of the unit has the lens on the right and the exhaust vents for the hot air on the left. At the bottom of the front plate is a push button adjustable leg for altering the title and/or height of the projector (depending on the positioning of the other legs). The keystone and lens shift features allow this projector to be placed at almost any angle to the projection surface. Also it can be ceiling mounted so that it can be used while being out of the way.


There are 9 buttons for menu navigation and a power button on the top of the projector. Also there are three indicator lights to inform the user when the projector has power or if it is experiencing problems with the temperature or lamp. The projector is completely controllable with the included remote, which has separate on and off buttons and plenty of quick access buttons so you don’t need to navigate the menu. The remote has a solid weight to it and is of much better build quality than remotes which run off a single flat cell battery. This remote requires two AAA batteries.


The rear of the projector includes a great selection of connectivity ports. These include: two HDMI ports, a component port, a VGA connection and audio input/output with composite and phone sockets.


This projector was connected as a secondary display to a computer. The first test was done by running the benchmarking program Heaven. The projector gave a very pleasing and immersive picture to watch. However as this projector uses a RGBRGB colour palette there was experience of a rainbow effect when looking away from the display.

As gaming is one of the uses this projector is marketed for the second test was done by playing a few minutes of some AAA games. The display was found to be bright and immersive with no sign of the rainbow effect from the fast paced motion of the visuals. Finally the projector was connected up to a Wii U console and a few levels of Mario Maker were played. Again the colours were nice and bright without being oversaturated.


It was remarked that the internal 10w speaker (although not fantastic for home entertainment) was of much better quality than the speakers of other projectors in the market.

Conclusion:
Overall this is a fantastic home entertainment projector. There are plenty of connection options and the out of the box colours are very good, with some tuning the colours should be even better. The only downside that was seen with this projector was the rainbow effect which was caused by the RGBRGB palette used. This was only apparent when looking away from the display and not seen for fast paced visuals. This projector runs a lot cooler than other home entertainment projectors due to its two internal fans and the internal speaker is of a much better quality.



Product link: https://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B00SL4KGGU
by BenQ
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Optoma H114 Home Entertainment Projector

The Optoma H114 projector is marketed as a home entertainment projector; this means that it is designed with the purpose of watching television shows, sports or movies and also for playing video games on. As such I have tested this product with its targeted uses in mind.


The projector comes in black and looks very sleek; its design would fit perfectly in most home entertainment setups. This unit is lightweight, weighing 2kg which places it in the portable projector category.


All ports are featured on the rear on the unit and for video input you have the choice of HDMI, VGA or composite (yellow only) connections. For audio input the options are HDMI (as HDMI supports simultaneous video and audio) or a 3.5mm audio input port. The projector has a built in 2 watt speaker, however the audio quality is pretty poor for use in home entertainment. Instead I would recommend connecting up a set of external speakers to the 3.5mm audio output port.


For testing, the projector was connected to my computer as a secondary display via the HDMI port, with my bedroom wall used as the projection screen. I opened up my Steam client (an online gaming store application) and played a few minutes of each of my AAA games. The screen size made for some very immersive game play, particularly with first person games. The projector was set to game mode and I found the colours to be vibrant without oversaturation. Also there was no noticeable input lag.

For movie watching I played the movie short of Big Buck Bunny and again I was impressed by the screen size and the vibrant colours. However I found that with a light source present in the room, the blacks were more of a grey as they were not very dark.


Finally I tested the projector by connecting up my Wii U and playing a few levels of Mario Maker. I found that with this game in particular (due to its limited audio range) the projectors internal 2 watt speaker was ideal. After 30 minutes of play I observed a peculiar effect when looking quickly away from the screen. An outline of the colours would briefly persist and break into a rainbow effect. This is probably common with all projectors, but it was the first time I had noticed this.


After several minutes of each use I found myself needing to open a window as the projector put are a lot of heat. The unit itself does not get very hot as the internal fan does an excellent job of extracting the heat. However the extracted hot air quickly heats up its surroundings and slowly increases room temperature. This is common with all lamp-based projectors, a problem which can be resolved by having the projector ceiling mounted or instead buying an LED projector.


What is in the box:
The projector came boxed with mains adaptors (UK 3 pin and european 2 pin), remote control, on disc user manual and a quick start guide.


Build quality:

The projector build quality is very good, made from a durable plastic.


Pros:
+ Large immersive display
+ Easy to setup

Cons:
- Runs hot
- Poor internal speaker



Conclusion:
Overall this projector is very good for its designed purpose as a home entertainment projector. It is great for gaming and for watching movies on a large screen and it makes them very immersive. The projector does put out a lot of heat, but this can be remedied by opening a window or having it ceiling mounted. The internal speaker is not sufficient for home entertainment and so connecting a pair of external speakers is recommended. This projector would be ideal for any first time projector users who are looking to compliment their home entertainment setup with a projector.

To see the projector in action, please check out my video review below:



by Optoma
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If this review has been helpful, we would appreciate a vote on our Amazon review found here:
https://www.amazon.co.uk/review/R2TZG2YKC9QD16
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