The PE5120 from BenQ is a native widescreen projector, and while it’s happiest displaying DVDs and home theatre inputs it also performed well with desktop and text projection.
Its native resolution is 845 x 480 though, so you need to set your PC or notebook up accordingly if you’re going to use it for data projection. Also note that this projector does not have a RGB D-Sub connection, opting for a far superior DVI port.
Under test the unit’s contrast levels were great, with extremely good white level saturation and near perfect dark black levels. Its colour flair was also pronounced in DisplayMate with good scaling and tracking. Everything else was bang-on what you need or would expect.
In our real-world tests we were surprised at the clarity of text and the desktop even though the display resolution is lower. While not perfect, the display quality bettered many of the other projectors here. Oddly, we also found that the PE5120’s ability to display fast-moving 3D games was slightly better than its ability to do the same with DVD.
Its base specifiactions are nothing to sneeze at either, with 1100 ANSI Lumens, a 2000:1 contrast ratio and DVI, S-Video, composite and Component video inputs which make it compatible with most – if not all – home theatre components such as DVD players and consoles.
It’s a good looking projector, small, light and unobtrusive and is a couple of hundred dollars cheaper than some of the other models reviewed here.
A small and quiet projector, the BenQ PE5120 does its job quite well and comes with plenty of connections.
This article appeared in the July, 2005 issue of PC Authority.
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