With the uptake of digital projectors for home cinema and games, as well as their traditional use in business presentations and slide shows, prices continue to drop. The latest trio of releases from Viewsonic start at £339 and even this PJ556D, the top of the three, has an RRP of just £499 including VAT.

The specification is good. It has a native XGA resolution of 1,024 x 768 and is HDTV compatible with the 480p, 720p and 1080i formats. It can display 16:9 widescreen, though its native aspect ratio is 4:3. It has a brightness of 2,000 ANSI lumens, so should display well even in lit offices or living rooms, and it has a typical contrast ratio of 2,000:1.

There are a few telltales in the spec sheet as well, though. The audio noise output is quoted as 36dBA, which is quiet but noticeable. You can reduce this by selecting Eco-mode, which also lengthens the typical life of the bulb from 2,000 hours to 3,000 hours, but at lower light output. The projector is not particularly wide-angle, giving a picture of 150cm x 80cm at a throw distance of 250cm.

ViewSonic uses a Texas Instruments Digital Light Processor (DLP) chip, which builds up the picture by flicking an array of micro-mirrors on and off. DLP normally guarantees a bright picture which doesn't fade with time, as some straight LCD technology does. The picture is certainly bright in presentation mode, where Windows screens and Powerpoint slides look clear and sharp. If anything, white is over-accentuated, though this is only a problem in TV and video playback, where white can begin to 'glow'.

ViewSonic's product team claims this device is only suitable for office presentation work, so it's odd that its publicity should sing the projector's video qualifications. You can adjust the brightness of individual colours down, but we agree that the projector is not that comfortable with movies or TV.

The control menus can be operated from two buttons and a four-way button disc on the projector's body, or using the supplied remote. This is a neat little unit, with separate buttons for keystone adjustment and picture freeze; there's even a laser pointer built in.

At the back of the projector are inputs for VGA from a PC, S-Video, composite and a separate audio connection. Cables are supplied, as is a component video to S-Video converter lead. The lens has focus and zoom controls on simple manually-operated rings.

Verdict
The PJ556D is a compact DLP projector at a very attractive price. It has a good specification, but isn't particularly good at handling moving images. It's aimed more at the presentation market, where it does well, rather than as a home cinema device, to which it's not ideally suited.

Company: ViewSonic

Contact: 01293 643900

Tags: video graphics array video graphic display resolutions viewsonic lumen (unit) digital light processing video projector high-definition television