Although far more established in the business world than it is in the living room, ViewSonic isn't afraid to have a crack at the home cinema world from time to time. In fact, it scored a major hit recently with its latest 30in LCD TV, the N3000w. But now it's out to appeal to the serious movie lover with a tidily specified LCD projector - the PJ1165.
Whatever else we may discover about the PJ1165, we can say one thing for sure: by the standards of most of today's home projectors, it's huge. The black plastic covering and lack of any design swankiness merely exaggerates further what a monster it is. Still, at HCC we often like our AV gadgets big, so provided it knows its picture quality onions we won't hold its bulk against it.
PC-friendly
Connectivity is okay, if a little complicated - and proves that the PJ1165 is certainly designed at least as much for PC as for video use. So, for instance, alongside a normal set of component video jacks, there are five BNC offerings, while the digital video jack is a PC-style M1-D device rather than a standard DVI one. Still, with the right adaptor the M1-D will do the jobs of a normal DVI jack - especially as it's compatible with HDCP digital rights management protocols, meaning this projector should be able to show Sky's high-definition broadcasts when they start.
If the looks and connections hint at the PJ1165's PC bias, its specs scream it from the rooftops. For starters, the alarmingly high 3,500 Lumens brightness rating is about three-times what I'd expect from the average affordable video projector, and is clearly aimed at eking the best out of PC rather than film sources. Also, tragically, it transpires that the PJ1165's LCD chipset is in a native 4:3 ratio, rather than 16:9, which is used by most digital media. This could instantly make the PJ1165 a no-no to many HCC readers.
More positively, the screen accepts progressive scan, has a pretty good (by LCD standards) quoted contrast ratio of 800:1, boasts horizontal and vertical keystone correction, and can take all forms of high-definition feed.
