BenQ MW663

The BenQ MW663 has a lot going for it as a data projector for business or classroom use: good brightness and resolution, solid data image quality, portability, a good selection of connectivity ports, a substantial zoom ratio, and 3D capability among them. What's more, it provides better video quality than the vast majority of DLP-based data projectors.

The projector measures 4.9 by 12.3 by 9.6 inches (HWD) and weighs 6.1 pounds, making it quite portable. It has a WXGA (1,280 by 800) native resolution, and a rated brightness of 3,000 lumens. It is black on the top and the base, with white sides and rounded corners. It has metal focus and zoom rings inset behind the lens; the zoom ratio is a useful 1.3:1.

The MW663 has a good range of connectivity choices, including HDMI; 2 VGA ports (which can double as component video); monitor-out; S-video; 3 RCA jacks for composite video/audio; audio-in; audio-out; serial, a mini-USB type B port for connecting with a computer for USB Display (which emulates what's on your computer screen) as well as for downloads, and a USB type A port for running a presentation from a USB thumb drive. (File types supported are JPEG, JPG, BMP, PNG, GIF and TIFF). An optional Wi-Fi adapter, which plugs into the USB A port, is available for $50.

Data Image Testing
The MW663 projected an image to fill our test screen, about 60 inches on a diagonal, from about 6 feet away. The image stood up to a good amount of ambient light without notable degradation.

In data image testing, using the using the DisplayMate suite, the BenQ MW663's image quality proved suitable for typical business use. Though some colors were on the dull side (yellows and reds), the projector showed good color balance, with suitably neutral grays throughout the range from very light to very dark. The only traces of tinting I noticed was some mild yellow fringing at the borders between certain dark and light areas. When using a VGA connection, there was slight pixel jitter in some images that tend to bring it out; switching to HDMI eliminated it. In our text testing, the MW663's performance was typical of a data projector; there was some blurring at the two smallest white-on-black type sizes, with the smallest size not readily readable.

Video and Audio
Video quality was suitable for showing longer clips as part of a presentation, and you could even use it to show movies. Although a few images showed traces of the rainbow effect?little red-green-blue flashes, usually in bright areas against a dark background?it's milder than is typical for a DLP projector and unlikely to be distracting, even to people sensitive to the effect. Color balance and skin tones were good. There was occasional loss of detail in bright areas. Though the MW663's video quality doesn't approach that of a good home-theater projector, it's better than most data projectors.

Audio from its single 2-watt speaker was of modest volume, loud enough for a smallish room, and of reasonable quality.

The MW663's expected lamp life is up to 6,500 hours. EcoBlank mode lets presenters easily take a break, blanking the screen out and lowering energy consumption up to 70% while it's paused. The projector will also automatically enter EcoBlank mode after 3 minutes without a signal. SmartEco mode automatically adjusts lamp brightness, depending on lighting conditions.

This projector is 3D-capable, with support for 3D Blu-ray via HDMI as well as Nvidia 3DTV Play, enabling it to display 3D content from Nvidia 3D Vision. Active-shutter 3D glasses are not included, and can cost more than $70 per pair. You may be hard-pressed in outfitting a classroom with them, as you could easily end up paying several times the cost of the projector itself.

This projector is the same resolution and essentially the same brightness as the Editors' Choice NEC NP-M311W, a 3,100-lumen WXGA data projector. Like the NEC NP-M311W, the MW663 has excellent video quality for a data projector, though its data image quality isn't quite as good as the NEC NP-M311W's and its audio is softer. The MW663's rated bulb life, though impressive for a data projector, can't match the NEC NP-M311W's 8,000 hours in Eco mode, and its zoom, though ample, is short of the NEC NP-M311W's exceptional 1.7:1 zoom range. However, the MW663 is 3D-capable, though, while the LCD-based NP-M311 isn't.

The Editors' Choice ViewSonic PJD6683ws is a short-throw projector with excellent data image quality. But while the MW663 showed less of the rainbow effect than a typical DLP data projector, with the PJD6683ws it was more pronounced than usual, making the BenQ better for video.

The BenQ MW663 is easy to recommend as a projector for business or classroom use, offering solid data image quality, very good video, 3D capability, long lamp life, and a good port selection. Although other projectors with similar performance are more feature rich, the MW663 provides a good mix of attributes at a competitive price.

Source: http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/ziffdavis/pcmag/~3/MUcH02eR3Ek/0,2817,2420675,00.asp

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