ViewSonic PJD6543w

The ViewSonic PJD6543w provides an appealing combination of basic features: WXGA resolution, easy portability; good brightness for its weight; a good set of connection choices including LAN connectivity, and 3D readiness among them. Data image quality is solid if unspectacular, and video is good enough for typical business or classroom use.

The ViewSonic PJD6543w offers native WXGA (1,280 by 800) resolution, at a 16:10 widescreen aspect ratio. It is fairly bright at a rated 3,000 lumens, a tad brighter than the Editors' Choice Epson PowerLite 93+'s 2,600 lumens. As perception of brightness is logarithmic (it takes a lot more than doubling a projector's rated brightness to make it appear twice as bright), the difference between it and the Epson might be hard to detect.

Connectivity
The PJD6543w has a good set of ports for a portable data projector, 2 VGA-in ports (which double as component video) and 1 VGA-out port for a monitor; audio-in and audio-out jacks; S-video; an RCA composite video jack; a mini-USB port for remote mouse control; and an HDMI port. It's also networkable, with an Ethernet port. It comes with Crestron LAN control software, allowing the projector to be remotely controlled and managed from a PC. (Crestron supports remote control of multiple projectors.)

The projector measures 3.7 by 11.6 by 8.0 inches (HWD) and weighs 4.6 pounds, which makes it highly portable, though it lacks a carrying case. The lens has both zoom (albeit a modest 1.1x) and focus wheels, both large and easy to manipulate, and I had no trouble bringing the projector to a good focus.

Testing
I tested the projector from about 8 feet away from the screen. Our test image, measuring about 60 inches diagonally, stood up well to the addition of ambient light.

In our data image testing using the DisplayMate suite, image quality proved suitable for typical business and classroom presentations. Colors were somewhat muted, some white areas showed a slight yellow tint, actual yellows looked a bit mustardy, and I noticed some green tinting in grays. None of these issues should be a problem unless your presentations require exacting color. There was a little bit of pixel jitter when I tested over a VGA connection; switching to HDMI eliminated it, but otherwise had little effect on image quality. In our text testing, text was blurred at the smallest white-on-black size and fuzzy at the next smallest size; black-on-white text was readable down to the smallest size.

I noticed traces of the rainbow effect in images that tend to bring it out. People sensitive to the effect, a common phenomenon in single-chip DLP projectors, may see little red-green-blue flashes in still or moving images, most often in bright areas against dark backgrounds. The effect was mild enough in data images that it shouldn't be a problem, even to people who are sensitive to it.

The rainbow effect was more pronounced in video, and would likely be distracting to people sensitive to it (and in a classroom or business situation, there's no way of knowing how sensitive to it your audience is). Thus, with this projector you're probably best sticking to short video clips as part of a presentation.

Audio from the PJD6543w's single two-watt speaker was of decent volume, suitable for a small to mid-sized conference room or classroom.

As a DLP projector, the PJD6543w provides 3D readiness using the DLP-Link system, although you need to get your own active-shutter DLP-Link glasses. The Editors' Choice Epson PowerLite W16 3D WXGA 3LCD Projector is also 3D-ready, a rarity among LCD projectors. It matches the PJD6543w's rated brightness, and has slightly better data image quality and significantly better (and rainbow free) video quality, though it lacks LAN connectivity.

The Editors' Choice Epson PowerLite 93+ ($549 direct, 4 stars) provides superb data and video image quality and loud audio. However, the ViewSonic PJD6543w has its own selling points: it's more portable, has higher (WXGA, to the 93+'s XGA) resolution, and it is brighter than the 93+ as well. They both offer LAN connectivity.

The ViewSonic PJD6543w's WXGA resolution is a plus in showing presentations that include intricate or detailed graphics, though the projector's overall data image quality proved mediocre in our testing. Otherwise, its mix of features, including light weight, decent brightness, long lamp life, a good range of connectivity choices including Ethernet, and 3D readiness, should prove appealing to many businesspeople and teachers.

Source: http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/ziffdavis/pcmag/~3/mETOV_H5XIQ/0,2817,2419197,00.asp

kenny powers carl hagelin triple play james neal virginia tech emancipation proclamation april 16