Optoma HD131Xe 1080p 2500 Lumen Full 3D DLP Home Theater Projector with HDMI (Black)

Optoma HD131Xe 1080p 2500 Lumen Full 3D DLP Home Theater Projector with HDMI (Black)..

GET Optoma HD131Xe 1080p 2500 Lumen Full 3D DLP Home Theater Projector with HDMI (Black) By Optoma

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77 of 80 people found the following review helpful.
Maxed out Performance Value, Still Needs Some Polish.
By P. Vo
Purchased this at $769. For the price I paid and the performance of this projector, I am getting more than the requisite 80% performance while having paid less than the 20% fare. But this projector is not without its faults. Thankfully, aside from a loss of brightness in 3D, a problem inherent in all of today's 3D display devices, none of these faults are related to image quality. So here they are first, the Cons..........

Cons:
1. Aside from a zoom lens, no placement flexibility. Additionally, vertical offset adds a dimension of difficulty with setup.
2. No 12 volt trigger.
3. Hourglass meter shown when streams are being switched during blu ray playback. Input identification also is shown.
4. Remote presses are unresponsive and/or IR receiver has a very narrow reception angle requiring user to be precise when using remote.
5. Light spillage from front grill. Thankfully, this does not manifest on the screen.
6. Menu screens not completely elegant in navigation setup. Some selections exist on a second page when they could have been included on a single page. This makes going back to change a setting like retreading back through a maze.
7. Only one user setting. Although, it does appear that 2D and 3D settings are stored separately.
8. Contrast boosted during 3D playback causing washed out image.
9. Lens cap not included.

Pros:
1. Awesome image processing post calibration.
A. Silky smooth. No image tearing during camera pans.
B. Very good blacks.
C. Very good shadow detail.
D. Very good colors.
E. Reduced mosquito noise effect for a DLP.
2. Should street for less than $800 soon.
3. Less than $200 bulb replacement.
4. Very organic 3D performance. No artificial pop-out book effect. Even with films transformed into 3D like Beauty and the Beast.
5. No cross-talk in 3D.
5. DLP Link and RF glasses sync at 144hz.
6. About as loud as a long exhale of breath.
7. Onboard audio is better than most LED TV's (not that any projector user will ever use this long term).
8. Comes in black!
9. Every inch of performance, operation costs, enjoyment are absolutely maxed out at this price (under $800).

There may be some projectors that are going to be a hair less in price than the HD131Xe, but other drawbacks with those projectors will put them below the HD131Xe in value. When splitting hairs with cost, a bulb replacement of under $200 should not be discounted when price is a consideration. The cost of bulb replacement of other projectors is going to run $350-$500. Some projectors may be brighter, but at the cost of being louder. And there is no projector at under $800 that can match its black level performance. The only way to gain on the performance of this projector is to pay more. And the only reason I am hesitant to give it a perfect 5-star rating has more to do with Optoma's laziness than the limitations of the actual projector. Optoma has its roots in the business class projector arena. That these business class vestiges are still around really is why this projector isn't perfect in its class. Take for instance offset. With 4 people huddled around a projector with an image being projected high up on a wall, offset proves valuable in say circa 2004. But in today's world where virtual meeting software allows everyone to view the presentation on their own private laptop screen or without even being in the same room, offset is not needed. The idea that a projector serves the dual purpose of being a business projector that can be used for entertainment doesn't exist anymore. Projectors are either Home Theater projectors or large venue projectors for business use. Optoma needs to get rid of this silly offset. They are really shutting out the basement theater room and low ceiling folks from buying their products. Give some lens offset to widen the potential market and flexibility for users. Most viewing devices today get thrown all sort of media at them: video games, blu rays, TV, sports, internet rips, etc. None of these media sources are equal. So it really is cripling to users for Optoma to have only included one single user setting. And that this is the case is an indictment towards Optoma's laziness. Optoma, realize that the landscape for business projectors has long since eroded. Projectors are no longer going to be fed just Microsoft Windows from a laptop. Using the same resources already at Optoma, programmers could very easily give users at least just one more user setting for different media types we are throwing at it. Prolonged refusal to do this is just plain laziness. In a home theater environment, where the user is attempting to duplicate the moving going experience at home, we don't need to be reminded that our efforts are artificial by having a ticking hourglass displayed with streams are being swtiched during blu ray playback. Improve those HDMI handshakes and get rid of these nag screens. These things that I mention as cons are really the polish that is needed to lift Optoma projectors from the respected and reputable, and into the reverent elite and beloved.

23 of 23 people found the following review helpful.
Excellent Budget 1080p Projector with 144Hz DLPLink or RF3D Support
By Miwo
Extremely happy with my purchase. I highly recommend buying this projector if Bang/Buck, Quietness, and 1080p/3D are your most important factors in selecting a projector. Completely blows away by 720P LED 500 Lumen Projector I was using previously. I'm not qualified to do professional Lumen measurements, or direct comparisons between similarly priced 1080p projectors, but take a look at some of the points I've highlighted. If you have anything you want to ask me or have me check that doesnt require professional equipment, leave me a comment. Thanks for reading!

Pros:
+ Noise: Nearly Silent in ECO Mode. My seating position is directly under the projector and I do not hear it over my HTPC/PS3 located in the corner of the same room. Bright Mode is slightly audible, but does not emit a high pitched fan noise. I cannot stress this point enough. My central air is much louder than this...If the projector wasn't throwing a giant image on my screen, I wouldn't know that its on. Its that quiet to me!
+ Price : I got this on Preorder for $ 7 6 9 . It seems to be in price flux with supply/demand. If you see this for above $9, just buy the HD25e (similar specs, brighter, more contrast, white color). Excellent value and Bang/Buck. It will be great if the price settles down to under $800 again.
+ Black Levels and Colors were very good right outside of the Box. Several Color Presets available as well as Fine Tuning of Color Temperature (Warm/Cool), Color Space (RGB Full 0-255 or RGB Limited 16-235 or YUV), and Hue/Saturation/Gain Levels for Red/Green/Cyan/Magenta/Blue/Yellow. RGB Adjustment on White. If you want to fine tune and professionally calibrate, you should be able to. This is a budget projector, but Shadow Details were pretty good. On projectors with horrible black levels, even the empty black side borders (like a 2.35:1 aspect ratio movie on a 16:9 screen) will be a washed out black or light grey.
+ Input Lag : This projector is very responsive. I play 3D Fighting Games which require 1-Frame Links (Button Presses with 1/60th of a second timing) to execute combos. I did not have any problems playing demanding video games on this projector. It should not hinder your gameplay. I have most post processing features turned off (BrilliantColor, Dymaic Black, Noise Reduction, Edge Masking, Zoom).
+ RF 3D: I paired this up with the Optoma RF 3D Glasses and 3D Emitter. Watched Avengers in 3D without any problems. Very impressive, did not notice any dropouts or abnormalities even when viewing from the opposite side of the room.
+ Lamp Replacement is affordable: A quick google of the 190W BL-FU190E shows $179 replacement cost. The Lamp is rated at 6000 Hours in Eco Mode, or 3500 in Bright Mode. 6000 Hours is about 4 years using the projector for 4 hours a day

Cons:
- Remote Control Backlighting: Extremely bright blue blacklighting. Borderline offensive
- Flimsy Plastic Zoom and Focus: Does not feel sturdy at all. Very loose. I havn't noticed focus or zoom drifting though
- Did not come with Lens Dust Cap (although manual refers to it)
- Placement requires more pre-planning due to no Horizontal/Vertical Lens Shift

Other Comments (neither pro or con)
1. 2D/3D Color Settings are maintained separately. Meaning you have to be in a 3D Mode (SBS, T&B, Seq) to alter your 3D color settings. It definitely saves different settings in 2D/3D modes

2. If 3D is a top priority, you may still want to get a brighter projector like the HD25e or HD25-LV. Brightness takes a big hit when you put on 3D Glasses (I used Optoma RF ones). I'd recommend putting the projector in Bright Mode or having a very well light controlled room for Eco Mode 3D.

3. Power Consumption Read from a Kill-a-Watt Meter:
STANDBY: 0W
ECO-Mode: 200W
BRIGHT-Mode: 234W

4. Did not and will not test the speaker. I think its a useless feature for a home theater projector

22 of 28 people found the following review helpful.
Best Bang for your Buck
By Ryan S. Waters
First off, I'll say that this is about the 4th review I've ever written, but I felt as if I NEEDED to write one as a thank you to optoma for the deal that this thing is. I have been looking to buy a new projector for over a year. I have had 4 projectors over the course of the last 10 years, so I'm not an expert, but I have a few projectors to compare to. My old projector was great, but I had a buyer lined up for it, and I just needed to find the right projector to replace it.

I debated on the HD33 when it came out, on the benq 1070 and then the optoma hd25 and 25lv. As you can see from the projectors I have been looking at, they all have about 3 things in common. They all have 3d, they all have around 2000 lumens, and they are all under 1500.00. When I saw the optoma hd131xe come out at under 800.00 that met all my criteria, I waited to see a few reviews before I pulled the trigger. I almost waited for CNET because I love and respect their reviews, but my anticipation got the better of me. Boy am I glad it did!!!!! For the money, you WILL NOT find a better projector. Right out of the box this thing looks amazing. It's more than bright enough on eco mode (6000 hour rated), that I don't even see myself using bright unless it's in 3d. The blacks are good, NOT OUTSTANDING, but for the price really unbelievable. The picture is greeeeaaaat, even my wife complimented on it, and she could care less about my man cave.

Will this projector contend with higher end projectors ???? probably not. It doesn't have a lot of bells and whistles and it doesn't seem like their is a lot of adjustment options (I've only played with it for about a week and haven't felt like I needed to adjust it much). Make sure you do a little research on that, if that's important for you! Lens shift would have been nice, and limits where you can mount it. That is my only REAL complaint, but again you aren't touching that feature at this price, so I live with a little bit of an offset throw. One of the reviewers was right about the mount holes being small and awkward. The universal mount that I also bought here on amazon didn't fit it, and I really had to make shift a solution. The holes are really close together and I was only able to get 2 legs to mount. "The bottom line" is that the minor bads on this projector aren't BAD. Price taken into consideration this projector is A NO BRAINER! I don't foresee anyone being able to beat this feature set, for this kind of price for awhile. 3D, Native 1080p, 2500 lumens, AND 18000:1 contrast. Do yourself a favor and if you reading this review and debating BUY IT as it is the BEST BANG FOR YOUR BUCK!

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Aaxa KP-600-01 P300 Pico/Micro Projector with LED, WXGA 1280x800 Resolution, 300 Lumens, Pocket Size, Media Player and HDMI

Aaxa KP-600-01 P300 Pico/Micro Projector with LED, WXGA 1280x800 Resolution, 300 Lumens, Pocket Size, Media Player and HDMI..

Special Price Aaxa KP-600-01 P300 Pico/Micro Projector with LED, WXGA 1280x800 Resolution, 300 Lumens, Pocket Size, Media Player and HDMI By AAXA Technologies

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40 of 43 people found the following review helpful.
HD pico projector! best I've used.
By peatreat
Purchased directly from the manufacturer before it was available on Amazon and was very impressed. The 300 lumens was much brighter than the other picos I used in the past and the high resolution makes all my videos look MUCH better. It is slightly larger than my first pico projector but the performance totally makes up for it.

What I liked most about this pico projector was the optional battery pack. There aren't any other pico projectors with this brightness on battery power. The battery doesnt take any additional space as it fits right into the projector.

Installation takes 2-3 minutes which wasnt too bad. Three screws, place battery in and close. Very much worth the time since I like to watch shows on my backyard wall. I even set up a giant piece of white vinyl as a projection screen.

19 of 20 people found the following review helpful.
Big Things Can Come in Small Packages
By W. Zide
I wanted a compact projector for occasional use that would not break the bank, has good resolution, reasonable brightness (up to a 10' projection distance) and could be easily carried in my laptop bag. The Aaxa P300 fit my needs perfectly. It is relatively quiet. I found the LED projection system to be a big plus - no need to wory about vibration or accidental bumping damaging the projection bulb or the need to carry a spare. I also liked the flexible small tripod for holding the projector. It made finding an optimum projection angle a breeze. Focusing is a little tricky as the focusing knob is a bit course. As the unit warms up, you may need to adjust the focus. Setting the resolution to match my XP laptop was inconsistent. The WXGA 1280x800 is the best display setting but I had difficulty switching my PC to it when the P300 was connected through the display connector. I found it easier to set the PC resolution before connecting the P300. The onscreen display is easy to navigate and it is reasonably intuitive as to what most of the icons refer to. The user manual is a bit terse. They invite you to call the company for user support and to provide feedback, but I have not found a need to do so. The transformer (110-240VAC) cord is 6' long. Best to bring your own extension cord if you will be farther from a power outlet. The P300 does not have a lens cover nor does it come with a traveling case. I use 2 ziploc plastic bags, a 1qt bag to protect the projector and a 1 gal bag to hold the projector, transformer, tripod and display cord.

24 of 28 people found the following review helpful.
It delivers
By Dean
This was the first projector I ever purchased, so I was concerned about the return policy. When Amazon started selling it directly, I took the chance.

The projector has been a great find. It's bright enough for the rooms I use it in, which are partly to fully lit office conference rooms with whiteboards. I haven't tried to use it on a really big screen or wall, and probably never will.

You CANNOT run powerpoint slideshows directly from this device's built-in media manager software. You need to export your deck to Pictures (on Powerpoint's File menu), then copy them to the media (I use a microSD card, you can also use a USB stick).

So far, the firmware doesn't let you choose the slide transition animations, so you are stuck with having the projector's software embed its own randomly chosen transitions... imagine all the cheesy floating in, flipping, sliding, pixelating, etc. that Powerpoint offers, and you have the idea. This can't be turned off, so even if you don't want animated effects between your slides or pictures, too bad, you are getting them anyway. Hopefully this is changed in firmware updates very soon.

But overall, the transitions are a tiny irritation for a projector that will never need a bulb replaced, fits in a pocket in my bag, and doesn't need a laptop *or even electricity* to show a meeting-length presentation.

No regrets here, I am very happy with the purchase.

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Optoma HD25-LV 1080p 3200 Lumen Full 3D DLP Home Theater Projector with HDMI

Optoma HD25-LV 1080p 3200 Lumen Full 3D DLP Home Theater Projector with HDMI..

GET Optoma HD25-LV 1080p 3200 Lumen Full 3D DLP Home Theater Projector with HDMI By Optoma

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35 of 38 people found the following review helpful.
Bright HD Projector For Man Cave
By RJ
Over the past 10 years, this is the third and best projector I have installed in my basement recreation room.
Previous projectors included an XGA LCD projector displaying on a 92" diameter, fixed frame, 16:9, zero gain screen. I did have black bars top and bottom that became annoying so I updated the projector to a DLP model with an anamorphic lens. The second projector was great - much better ANSI contrast and more realistic color display than the LCD model. Over seven years, brightness faded and I decided to buy a new projector instead of purchasing a replacement lamp for $450(!).

I was torn between the Optoma HD25 and HD25-LV knowing that with higher brightness color fidelity would suffer a bit. In my recreation room I often leave reading lights on in the seating area (away from the screen) and full lights on in the back room, so the higher brightness projector made sense. Also, if I ever decide to view 3D videos or play 3D games a brighter projector helps to offset brightness lost when wearing 3D shutter glasses.

I am totally thrilled with the purchase. Contrast, color and brightness are HUGE improvements compared to my last projector.

Pros
Bright, really bright image
Contrast is amazing
Colors are good
Set up was easy, compared to previous projector with anamorphic lens

Cons
With lights off - image is too bright, but there is a setting that allows brightness to be dimmed
Fan can be heard during quiet scenes, but not as noticeable as my last projector - I did not notice the buzzing noise mentioned by another reviewer
Set up would have been easier with vertical and horizontal lens shift - I know this would add great expense to the projector so I opted to save $$$

So far, so good. I highly recommend the HD25-LV.

11 of 11 people found the following review helpful.
3D on this projector has to be seen to be believed
By Klaatu Barada Nikto
I bought this projector strictly for 3D use as I am still content with my Mitsubishi HC3800 for 2D. After much research, where I seriously considered projectors such as the BenQ W7000, the BenQ W1070, and the Acer HD6510BD, I settled on this one because of the extra lumens. I'm glad I did! The quality of the 3D is superior to my (much-loved) Optoma HD66. I can say with confidence that the 3D experience with this projector exceeds the movie theater experience. I've loved 3D movies for almost five decades, currently have more than 80 3D Blu-rays, and I'm now tempted to watch every one of them again. I highly recommend the Optoma ZF2100 RF glasses for use with this projector, as the RF glasses never lose sync, even in very bright scenes, a problem I occasionally had with DLP-Link glasses. (I understand that the eStar ESG6000 glasses, which are less expensive than the Optoma glasses, are also highly regarded.) As mentioned elsewhere, be sure to purchase glasses that support 144hz.

I've watched six 3D movies from beginning to end thus far and I can only describe the 3D as flawless. Zero crosstalk, perfect sync, and the emitter even figures out the correct 3D polarity so I have not needed to "flip" the left-eye right-eye sequence (normally something that is only needed at the very beginning of viewing). I took a long time to figure out the best projector I could get for a reasonable price, and I could not be happier!

12 of 14 people found the following review helpful.
HD25-lv
By Tim
Upgraded from the HD33 optoma, to this one to get the brighter screen and better contrast.
Not much to really say if you already have an HD33. THe HD33 had a red tint when in 3d mode and the fan was on high, so a bit of noise going on.

The HD25-lv is relatively quiet when in 3d. The fan is bit noisier, not much to worry about, but compared to the HD33 which is nearly silent in normal mode. So a bit of a trade off.

Definately worth the money, however one problem, i had to purchase optoma's dlp-link glasses, the high end ones to work on it, my RF glasses which worked on the HD33 wouldn't work on this one.

sooo, a bit pricey until i can find some low end ones that will work.

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ViewSonic PJD5132 SVGA DLP Projector, 3000 Lumens, PC 3D-Ready/120Hz

ViewSonic PJD5132 SVGA DLP Projector, 3000 Lumens, PC 3D-Ready/120Hz..

GET ViewSonic PJD5132 SVGA DLP Projector, 3000 Lumens, PC 3D-Ready/120Hz By ViewSonic

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115 of 117 people found the following review helpful.
A great projector
By K. Norris
I purchased this projector to be used at functions for a social club. We generally show DVD's in a room that is only slightly darkened, with the projector about 15' from the screen, and club members view it from 20 - 50 ft away. So we needed a projector with some muscle to get an image large and crisp enough to be enjoyed from the back of the room. I researched lots of projectors, and this one seemed to offer the best quality for a reasonable price. We weren't disappointed - the image is about 8' wide and very sharp. It has lots of fancy features which we probably won't use, but the basics are easy enough to figure out. My one gripe is that there is no operating manual - only a CD with the manual on it, which might be convenient if you have a dedicated laptop you are using with the projector, but useless if you are using it with a DVD player.
If you are a first-time projector buyer (like I was), I recommend the following link, which I found on the Radio Shack website:[...] They had a very nice explanation of what all these specification acronyms actually mean in terms of a good picture. In a nutshell:
Lumens - higher number means brighter picture in a less than dark room (very important for us)
Resolution - the fineness of detail (i.e. high-def - see the website for details) This projector isn't really high-def, but it seems you have pay twice the price for the next higher level.
Contrast ratio - higher number means a greater difference between the lights and darks - (important since our DVD's are shot in low lighting)
Throw ratio - how big the picture will be - a smaller number actually means a bigger picture. The Viewsonic website has a nifty calculator that helps you see how big your picture will be at a given distance.
Hope this helps the non-techies out there! Happy viewing!

25 of 27 people found the following review helpful.
projector
By Yogesh N. Badiani
very good product.
pros
1. excellent picture quality.
2. all computer files and dvd can be viewed using this projector.
3. 2 computers can be connected to input and one to output.
4. dvd player can be connected and viewed. very good picture quality.
5. for beginners, very user friendly, just connect yellow cord of video to projector ,adjust zoom and focus.

cons
1.no hdmi port.
2.just small mini mono speaker is built in which is not good quality for music.
3. red and white sound cord of your dvd player must go to your external sound system for better sound quality.
4. remote is not lighted.
5. sound cord of your lap top must go to your external sound system for better sound quality.

15 of 17 people found the following review helpful.
Phenomenal Product! Would buy again!
By ResaHJ
HOW I USE IT

I conduct numerous workshops, meetings and gatherings in the midst of my organization. I needed a light-weight, easy to use product that had good to excellent picture quality; and that was easily transportable.

HOW IT ARRIVED

The Projector arrived packaged in a standard box encased by Styrofoam, and wrapped in a typical protective covering. It shipped by UPS ground and arrived on schedule.

My First Use

When it arrived, I wanted to make sure the projector worked properly and had all the cables needed to power it up and connect to my PC. There are a number of thorough reviews here so I am going to focus specifically on my experience right out of the box.
I unpacked it, powered it up and connected it to my PC. Without having to do anything else -- accept adjust the height to meet my 80-in screen - I turned on my PC and was EXTREMELY surprised by the high, picture quality and vivid colors, even in a well lit room. After closing the blinds and turning off the lights, I was even more astounded -- especially given the price and my level of expectation. It was BEYOND my expectations.

I decided to test things out on my husband and kids. So, I logged into my Netflix account and begin playing the latest episode of Power Rangers. My son immediately thought that I had set this up "just for him" -- and wanted pop corn, and for me to leave the room so he could watch a movie. My husband began talking about movie night with the family, and I knew I had chosen well.

The biggest highlight for me, however, was that all I had to do was turn it on using the remote, turn on my PC and adjust the height. From setup to sitting down watch Power Rangers took about 13 minutes. The light didn't have to heat up and I didn't have to look at the initial instructions a single time.

I do, however, plan to become familiar with the functionality of the projector and learn to use the remote to make the best of my experiences. The other reviews on this site cover the "details" very well, so... I didn't think it was necessary to restate those things.

I am VERY SATISFIED with my purchase and experience. Great product and even better price.

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AAXA P4 P4X Pico Projector, 95 Lumens, Pocket Size, Li-Ion Battery, HDMI, Media Player, 15,000 Hour LED, DLP Projector

AAXA P4 P4X Pico Projector, 95 Lumens, Pocket Size, Li-Ion Battery, HDMI, Media Player, 15,000 Hour LED, DLP Projector..

Grab Now AAXA P4 P4X Pico Projector, 95 Lumens, Pocket Size, Li-Ion Battery, HDMI, Media Player, 15,000 Hour LED, DLP Projector By AAXA Technologies

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197 of 203 people found the following review helpful.
Very good, but has some issues
By Mark Asch
I purchased this projector in Oct 2011 directly from Aaxa. I am a teacher working in two schools and I use this projector nearly every day. I connect my iPhone 4 and iPad 2 to it and also play video files from the internal drive or a flash drive, mostly successfully. The specs are the best in this category at the moment, and the design is good. There are a few details that other reviewers have not mentioned, however:

* The fan noise is more than noticeable. It's actually a little annoying.
* The power button is situated such that the P4 can be switched on in a crowded bag pretty easily.
* The buttons are not very responsive. My feeling is that this is more of a system software issue than a purely hardware issue. Button clicks frequently get no response or a delayed response. I feel like the system software is not quite ready for prime-time.
* While it's impressive that they included any sort of internal speaker, it's only usable in a very quiet environment and then really only for speech. There's really no point at all to listening to any sort of music track with it. If you plan on using headphones, then you're fine, but if you need to run a cable to a pair of external speakers then you're losing the cable-free benefit of a battery-powered device. If you don't mind plugging it in for power then you might as well get a brighter pico projector.
* The P4 does NOT mount properly on any external computer, and I've tried several Mac and Windows machines. The manual says very clearly that it should be able to do this. When connected via USB, it might mount for just a moment, but then it will immediately unmount or produce some kind of error message. I've had absolutely no success transferring files directly from a computer to the P4. When I contacted their support staff about this, I was told that I should put my files on a flash drive, and then move them from the flash drive to the P4. This is very disappointing and inconvenient. (Are other users having this problem? I'd like to know.)
* Transferring files from a flash drive involves going into Windows CE, which requires the additional purchase of the little USB keyboard. The keyboard is pretty cool, but it's somewhat expensive, and because it's so small, it's awkward to use.
* When copying files, I've frequently had weird anomalies where the P4 seems to think there are two copies of the file, with slightly different directory paths, and it gives me error messages that it is unable to find the second file. Irritating!
* Video playback always starts with the first video in your directory, requiring you to stop playback, go back to your directory listing, and select the file you want.
* Although the internal flash drive is 2 gigs, the operating system takes up a great deal of that, so there isn't more than a couple hundred megs onboard, and that's not much room for decent-quality video. I have not tried using an SD card.
* The color reproduction, even on a flawless white wall in a dark room, is mediocre at best. There are a few settings to adjust the color, most of which are totally unusable. My expectations were not that high, but I wouldn't want yours to be, either.
* The P4 doesn't sync as readily via VGA as you'd expect. If your cable gets jerked out, you can't just plug it back in. You'll probably have to manually re-sync it or possibly restart the P4.
* The battery does not last more than 70 minutes.

None of these issues are substantial enough for me to return the unit or recommend against buying it, but they might matter to you, depending on your planned use. The basic utility of the P4 is massive, although the shortcomings are constantly annoying. I look forward to future units from Aaxa, where we'll hopefully get 120+ lumens (laser driven?) from a longer-lasting battery, better and more adjustable color, and perhaps some kind of wireless a/v streaming. But for now, this is a very handy and useful device.

127 of 130 people found the following review helpful.
Great little projector
By rickjames8
I did a lot of research on Pico and Pocket projectors before deciding on this one. At the time of this writing (March 2012) I think its the best Pico projector out there in the $300-ish range. It has a few quirks, but all the projectors I read about did, and I felt these were the most manageable. The main issues that people seemed to have were the inadequate speaker and the fan noise. I already owned an X-mini II speaker, and it makes a perfect companion to the P4. The Xmini is also super small, and packs a LOT of sound in to it's tiny package. Also, the Xmini internal battery lasts 14-hours. I've never used the P4 without it. So the P4's speaker isn't an issue. And the fan is a bit noisy, but it's easy to tune out. If you listen for it, you'll hear it, but I don't really notice it.

I'm not a huge fan of the operating system on it. For instance, if you use the USB stick and have 100 files in 10 folders, the menu just shows those 100 files. I like systems which keep my files in folders for easy navigation - really handy if you're plugging in a 500GB external drive with several thousand files. Large drives are no problem for the P4, but sifting through thousands of files is more time consuming that clicking through 3 levels of folders.

Also, the on-screen display only seems to go away after you've hit the play button. If you hit the FF or RW button the display will stay on the screen, then you'll need to hit pause and play so the display will disappear. Perhaps there's a fix for this, I didn't call tech support because it doesn't bother me too much. Also, the FF and RW only goes forward in 7 minute increments, making it impractical to rewind to hear a line in a movie you couldn't understand. Also, the display doesn't read the time quite right. For a 2:14:00 movie, it lists the time as 2:134:00.

But I still give this unit 5 stars. Why? Because it's awesome at what it should be. A light and powerful projector that can be thrown in a backpack. I can hook up any other source (like my portable video drive with RCA-outs which behaves just like I like it to) and have a great little theatre. None of my previous projectors could play files, so the fact that this one does with some minor quirks, is like a bonus.

One thing I noticed when looking at Pico/Pocket/Portable projectors is that most don't list the size/weight of the plug-in adapter in the description, unless you really search for it - and with many of the pocket projectors you get an adapter about the size of a laptop adapter, which to me makes it much less portable. With the P4 and some other Picos, the adapter is more the size of a cell phone adapter, which was the big draw for me.

36 of 42 people found the following review helpful.
Great pico projector
By Ahmad
The P4, after research was the pico projector I decided to go with. It is surprisingly bright for its small size. The images are crisp and clear. I mainly use it to project movies from my laptop but it comes with Windows CE so if you're one to do presentations, with a USB mouse you can use the built in software to access word/powerpoint/excel. I have used an apple vga adapter to mirror my iphone 4S as well and it works brilliantly. I would definitely recommend this projector if you are in the market for a small, portable projector.

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BenQ W1080ST 1080p 3D Short Throw DLP Home Theater Projector (White)

BenQ W1080ST 1080p 3D Short Throw DLP Home Theater Projector (White)..

Buy BenQ W1080ST 1080p 3D Short Throw DLP Home Theater Projector (White) By BenQ

Most helpful customer reviews

20 of 22 people found the following review helpful.
Benq 1080st review
By Sally Ortiz
I have been searching for a projector since last black Friday. Over the past year I have had many models reach the top of my list. I did extensive research on all products, 3d glass, cables ect.... The end result was my purchase of the Benq 1080st. I can honestly say it was one of the best purchases of my life. It will truely change the way you watch TV or movies. I use it everyday for TV viewing and 3D movies. I have it about 7 feet from the wall and it displays about 140 inches. Think about that for a second....140 inches of 1080p glory.

Set up:
Very easy (took maybe 10min, most was moving calbe wires and stuff).
Anyone semi familar with an HD TV should have no problems navigating the menu on the Benq. Changing the colors, brightness and contrast will seem familar. Setting the lamp to the power setting is too easy (econo is still bright enough to use for everything). Setting the zoom and adjusting the focus is easy and fun to play around with. As with most other reviews I would highly recommend an additional sound system of some type.

Picture Quality:
The TV I replaced was a 46inch Samsung. I can honestly say this has a better picture. It is bright, crisp and clear. If you have some form of Comcast (Xfinity) most show are displayed in 720p. That is no fault of the benq but the original broadcast signal. Still looks really good. Any 3d movie rental on comcast is displayed in 1080i. That looks very close to movie theater 3D. Bluray and Bluray 3D display at 1080p. When I saw the picture for the first time in 1080p 3d, I laughed in hysteria because I could not believe my eyes! It was amazing! The nice thing about the benq is that every time you either change a channel or switch inputs, on the top left of the display it show the input source and image (720p, 1080i or 1080p). That is how I discovered Comcast was broadcasting in 720p and quick call in confrimed this. However you watch or whatever you watch the picture is going to be bright. Adjust the colors alittle and you have a great looking movie theater in your house.

The Benq 1080st projector itself:
Very good quality. The unit feels very well built. It looks nice and sleek. The fan noise to me is almost non-existant. It not nearly as loud as an Xbox 360. It does have a fan to keep everything cool and I would say it is not even as loud as a computer. Really it is a non issue. All the correct inputs are there. I even had a conversation with my friend on how the Benq must have been made so there would be no issues. The people at Benq must really looked at every customer complaint before making the 1080st. It is very impressive.

3D quality:
Very good. At first in to be very honest I was not too impressed. Then I adjusted the brightness down and contrast up, changed the gamma level and adjusted the CMYK color levels up by 12 on each.....my jaw dropped (changing these setting is very easy to do). It has good depth and is very clear. I bought the rechargable 3D glasses and would highly recommend them. The screen does have a red hue when your glasses are not on and 3D is playing, agian a non-issue. It is simply amazing lifting the glasses up on your face and then putting them back down and seeing how the 3D works. Regular boradcast 3D in 720p is not bad at all and if you do plan on gettig a 3D bluray play you will be amazed. No reason to ever to the movies again. I found myself constantly talking through the movie on how great it looked and how it doesnt seem fair to have this in my house.

Overall this is worth every penny. Every single person that has been lucky enough (lol) to see this in my house thinks I spent at least 5k on this projector. Thats what you get from Benq: big picture small price. I have read hundreds of reviews before my purchase of the 1080st. All I have to say is read this review and then buy it. You will be very happy you did. Enjoy!!

16 of 18 people found the following review helpful.
My First, and I Love It
By Douglas L. Engelhardt
This is my first personal projector, otherwise I've only seen other people's and the ones I buy for work presentation setups. But I have to say, in my opinion it is absolutely fantastic, clear crisp picture that even manages to ignore nearly all the light pollution that comes from the door of my split level, the only exception is when the scene is super dark/black for obvious reason, if there is any real light to the scene, you really cant tell.

Like I said, the image is sharp a vivid, great brightness, everything just looks right, I pretty much feel like I have a 100in TV on my wall. Absolutely love the short throw, I have a moderately small man cave and on top of that I wanted to be able to do motion stuff with kinect, wii, etc. so I needed to be able to keep movements from getting in the way, mission accomplished, I can stand 4ft from my screen and not be in the way of the projection, giving me plenty of space to move around.

Other Notes:
+Runs very near silent, the only time I notice the fan is when there is nothing else to hear.
+Never used the built in speaker so can't comment but others make it sound like its decent, really though, if you're doing something like this, don't cheat yourself using built in speakers, get a real setup, even if its only like 2.1 or 3.1 or even just a sound bar(they make some pretty good ones these days).
+As others will tell you, adjustments are to account for angels etc are very limited so be careful and get it right.
+I don't feel I notice any of the classic projector visual oddities, I have a pretty nice fixed frame screen from Elite Screens. Check them out, good quality/price and they really aren't that hard to get put together. Manual isn't always 100% clear so be careful but its still pretty good.
+Haven't picked up glasses yet. Looking at some after I finish this review.

4 of 4 people found the following review helpful.
Bring movie theater at your home..
By Amit
This is my first review on Amazon. Although, I keep buying many items from Amazon and I really liked few of them and were worth giving 5 star rating, none of the item impressed me so much to write a review. But I am so much impressed with this buy that I decided to write my 1st review.

I have already used Vivitek Qumi Q2 and IncrediSonic LED projectors. These are very small size portable projectors with long lasting LED lamp. Although these projectors project good quality image, they can not produce vivid colors. I use to feel like I am watching old days Eastman color movie.
LED technology in projector has still long way to get mature. For this reason, I decided to buy normal lamp projector even though such projectors are not very portable and requires costlier lamp replacements.

After about 2 months research I finalized buying either BENQ W1070 or W1080ST. Both projectors are same except throw distance. Finally I ordered W1080ST.
I got this projector on 23-Jan. It is manufactured in Nov-13 and has FirmWare ver. 1.04. It has backlit(red color) remote.

Here is my observation

1) Image quality is EXCELLENT with vivid colors and as good as what you see in movie theater. I am not using any screen and projecting image on bare wall.

2) Brightness is very good and I can watch movie with few lights on. But with all lights switched off, I feel like I am watching 120 inch LED TV.
Even in movie theater all lights are switched off for better viewing experience. So, do not set your expectations to unrealistic levels. LCD/LED TVs will always have better brightness than projector image.

I always use Smart Eco mode with brightness level 55 and than is more than enough.

3) Projector speaker produce loud enough sound and I am still using it while watching movies. But watching a 120 inch screen with inbuilt speaker is not a good idea and I plan to buy sound system to get a real movie theater feeling. If I connect projector to laptop using VGA cable then sound do not come from projector speaker(it will be from laptop speakers). If I use my chromecast then sound comes from projector speakers.

4) Projector keeps track of lamp hours used and you acn see it in menu.

Do not listen to professional reviewers who criticize this projector for light leakage, fan noise, rainbow effect. Earning bread and butter by criticizing every good product is their job.

5) My observation is that there is minute amount of light leakage but this projector produces image which is 1000 times brighter than leaked light and I won't notice leaked light even in dark scene.

6) Fan noise is very minimum. My laptop fan produces more fan noise than projector. Maybe projectors which are manufactured in Nov-13 might have lesser fan noise.

7) After watching 100 hrs of movies, I have not yet seen rainbow effect.

8) Remote works fine and it is not necessary to point remote at projector to operate it. Remote has "Light" button on right side and when I press this button entire remote gets illuminated with backlit red color light. Then I can see and press whatever button I want to use. This is nice feature till the time I get familiar with button locations.

I wish BENQ had provided USB port on this projector. They provided all kinds of input/slots but forget to provide a USB port. My Chromecast needs USB power and I have to keep laptop nearby to provide power to it. Projector has Mini USB B port and I need to check if I can power up Chromecast using mini USB B to USB female connector.

Finally, I am Very Happy with this purchase. The last time I was so happy when I was teenager and my father gifted me motor bike.
I already have recommended this projector to many of my colleagues.

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