Panasonic's new business projector, the PT-LB10NTE is a stunning little unit for its price and size. It features a bright 2000 ANSI lumens rating - powerful enough that the projection is clearly legible even with the fluorescent boardroom lights on, and a wide 500:1 contrast ratio.
It's capable of throwing an 84cm to 7.62m diagonal picture from 1.1m to 10.7m which makes it ideal for most, if not all, boardroom and meeting circumstances.
While the PT-LB10NTE is a pretty good projector by itself, its ace is the PC Card slot (with bundled 802.11b card) that allows for full wireless control and projection. While not a new concept - dongles have been available for a long time allowing similar functionality - the Panasonic takes wireless presentations that extra step by allowing up to four presenters to use the projector at once from either wirelessly equipped PCs or notebooks.
The projector requires a small application to be installed on each presenter's machine to allow them ingress, but once that's done the unit is easy to operate. Modes for selecting presenters include preview modes with full toggling to one main projection and smaller 'thumbnails' of the other screens below, and picture-by-picture selection. This latter mode can also be used to run two, three or four presentations at once.
It's 802.11b, not g, so you won't be streaming wireless video to the PT-LB10NTE but then it's designed for data, not video.
Another handy new feature is the ability to rip the mains cord out and still be able to pack the projector away safely. Do this with a normal projector without giving it the time to power down and you're looking at burnt lamps and fried components. In a $4000 plus projector that's an expensive mistake.
The Panasonic keeps enough juice in its capacitors to keep the cooling fans running even if you accidentally kick the power cord out. It's a small feature, but it might just save your skin.
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