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BenQ PB6100 by Teluan - Oct 10, 2005
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| SVGA (800x600), 1500 ANSI Lumens, 5.6 lbs, $999 (MSRP) |
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| Personal Experience |
| 15 month follow up: Well, after 15 months of using the BenQ 6100 in my dedicated home theatre room, I thought I’d write another review for those who are interested in this inexpensive projector (Note: current model number is BenQ 6110). Original review can be found here http://www.projectorcentral.com/part_opinions_details.cfm?opinion_id=4085 A quick recap on my setup: - BenQ 6100 (now with 879 hours on th bulb with no apparently loss of light output) - An Athalon XP 2400+ HTPC (used mostly for DVDs) - Panasonic SEH-70 Dolby Digital/DTS 5.1 receiver - Xbox (soon to be an Xbox 360) - A recently added Bell ExpressVu 9200 HDTV DVR/PVR 250GB HDD (same as Dish 942 in the US) - 850 watts of sound power (350 just for the sub) My BenQ 6100 is mounted 16.5 feet from the screen with a seating distance of 11.5 feet. I am running all video signals to the projector over a 15 foot VGA cable, with a cheap ($20) VGA 4 way switchbox (works just fine with component as well…you can find the VGA to component pin outs in the link below) that switches from HTPC, HDTV and my Xbox with ease. My screen is simply a white wall (Behr Ultra White paint from Home Depot) where I am projecting an 8 foot wide picture. I am running the projector in Game Mode for the Xbox, Vivid mode for the HTPC, and Vivid mode for HDTV. First things first let me share with you a few things that I do not like about the BenQ 6100: - The auto source (scans the inputs looking for a signal to lock onto) keeps turning off for some unknown reason. I am constantly having to manually scan through the different source inputs, finally locking on, then go into the setup menu and turn auto source on again. Auto source works anywhere from an hour to no more than a day or 2 then it turns off again without warning? It’s not too big a deal, but it is annoying. - Every now and again, when switching between sources (got worse once I had the switchbox), the projector would loose a colour (e.g. Red, Blue or Green) and the image would look out of whack (e.g. if I lost red, the image would look very green and bluish). The only way to rectify this problem is to power down the projector, wait for the fan to shut off (about 60 seconds) HARD power it down via the rocker switch on the back, wait a few seconds then power it back on again and everything works fine. The HARD power down is the ONLY thing that works, a soft power down and then on again will not resolve this issue (which indicates it is not a cable issue, but rather a projector issue). - Switching between sources is quite slow, sometimes it takes upwards of 15 to 20 seconds to go through all the sources and lock on. No big deal, but it would be nice if it was faster. I have not seen my Xbox start up screen ever since I got this projector (not really missing anything of course) - The remote sucks the big one. You have to point the remote directly at the projector for it to work and the buttons just feel cheep. - Not 16:9 which has become my only source of viewing, hence black bars on the top and bottom With this list of things that I do not like about the projector you might think that I was not satisfied…this is not at all the case! This was my first projector and my expectations were fairly high even though this was a low end unit. As you can read in my original review I was concerned that 800x600 would not be adequate (this resolution certainly on a PC sucks). This could not be further from the truth. No doubt a higher end projector would produce a crisper picture, but this little projector will please all but the most critical viewers. Friends and family are all VERY impressed when they see the image the 6100 produces and they comment on how good it looks and compare it frequently to the movie theatre. I know it sounds almost unbelievable, but the picture is really very good and very smooth looking. To reduce the screen door effect (which is already not bad on DLP projectors) and make the image look less digital, I slightly defocused the projector (a technique that seems to be build into some new higher end projectors). A quick comment on rainbows as this seems to be a huge concern for most people. I almost never see them, and when I ask others if they do, they are not even sure what I am talking about. Rainbows are a non issue for my audience. I recently got HDTV and to my surprise the image looks even better than a good quality DVD, though I am not sure how this is possible as the 6100 really can not display anymore pixels than a DVD? My HDTV receiver (Bell ExpressVU 9200 / Dish 942) can force the video feed to whatever resolution you want. I tried 16:9 480p first, but felt that the16:9 720p looks better and less digital. BTW, the DVR (digital video recorder) in the 9200/942 is awesome. I have been recording HD Lost, HD Invasion and tons on HD movies and watching them when ever I want. TV is much better when you can skip commercials (commercials kind of kill the movie ambiance experience of HDTV). One area that I was not expecting when I built my home theatre room was how much the whole family uses it especially my 3 year old daughter and 4.5 year old son. In fact, my kids use the home theatre more than I do. All of their friends come over and watch movies on rainy or cold days. I’ve had up to 9 kids in my home theatre room cheering and clapping watching movies like, the Incredibles, Cinderella, Monsters Inc. and Spy Kids 3, Shark Boy and Lava Girl 3D (yes 3D works on this projector very well) among many others. Yes…we have the cool house on the block. If I was to buy a projector today I would not hesitate to purchase the BenQ 6110 again. If I was to go higher end I would consider the Panasonic AE900 or Sanyo Z4 as the reviews look good and the price is right. If you have any questions, please feel free to post a reply of PM me. BTW Ara Derderian and Braden Russell from www.htguys.com, I’d love to be a guest on your program to talk about my low cost home theatre room and how your listeners could join the fun. VGA to Component Pin Outs: http://www.myhometheater.homestead.com/files/vga-component.jpg |
