I may be the first to comment about this projector when bought refurbished. Although the refurbished projector at $441 seems directly from Viewsonic themselves, I would think twice before buying at that great price. This projector for the few minutes that it stayed on looked wonderful. My first time seeing a 1080p home theater projector in person so I was amazed, UNTIL It shuts off about 3-4 min after being powered on for the first time. Disappointed but I didnt panic I decided to call Viewsonic to see if they had some troubleshooting advice. Nope. "Plug it into another outlet, if that doesnt work call Amazon since you purchased from them".. So I did. Amazon is currently contacting Viewsonic (or whomever the 3rd party is) to rectify this issue. Well see what comes of this, but I figured more people should give their honest review of something. Every detail counts, it could truly save someone else their time, money, and high expectation for what seems to be a good deal on a somewhat highly reviewed budget projector. I will update....stay tuned.
Travis S.
3
I purchased this projector primarily to watch content using a Raspberry Pi 3 running RetroPi and Kodi. I also have a Chromecast plugged into the hidden HDMI 2 slot--which is awesome for watching Netflix and Youtube from a phone or tablet. Overall I am content with this thing, but not totally happy. There are a few key annoyances that you should know before buying. Heres what I mean.... The good: * Very bright. Usable even during the day in a room with direct sunlight. * Great color--for the price. Movies, tv, and video games look great. Still looks good projected directly on an off-white wall. * Light weight * I LOVE the hidden compartment on the side. This is where I hide the Chromecast. The bad: * Audio quality. I thought this wouldnt matter because I intended to use great quality powered speakers via the audio out port. However, it turns out that the audio chipset has lots of noise and narrow spectrum. Even when you plug in decent headphones directly into the projector, mid-range and bass are totally lacking and there is consistent hissing and crackle. Its like listening to a phone on speaker playing in the next room over with the door closed. Audio is basically unusable and youll want to pick up an HDMI audio splitter or feed the HDMI through your amp first so that you can bypass the projectors audio all together. Im bummed that Viewsonic didnt add a better ($10) DAC chip. Forget about using Chromecast or Firestick if you expect decent audio. * Short Throw is not short at all. This might be a marketing error or Amazon product configuration snafu--who knows. At maximum zoom, the projector appears to be a 1:1 throw ratio. In other words, at 88" from the screen, the projector produces an image approximately 87" diagonal (~76" wide by ~43" tall). * Fan noise: its louder than I expected, and its pretty annoying. I have no way of measuring this, but it makes more noise than my PC. * Rainbow effect. I didnt even know what this was, but have started seeing it frequently. I will probably get a 3LCD projector when its time to replace this one. * USB Power: It has two HDMI ports, and next to each one is a USB port. However, ONLY ONE USB PORT IS POWERED AT A TIME. You can change what is powered using the system menus. If you have USB-powered devices in each port, to switch between devices you must not only switch inputs, but also which USB port is powered. If I were looking for a new projector, I would seriously consider one of the slightly less-bright 3LCD projectors from Epson that get great reviews. I cant tell for sure, but I would gamble on them having better sound and USB power.
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