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Featuring a tapered magnesium alloy chassis and an air intake fan with a slightly retro look, the rather expensive Compaq iPAQ MP4800 projector is likely to attract those wanting to impress their audience before the presentation even starts.
However, if you're more concerned about colour quality, you might find that its performance doesn't quite live up to its appearance.
Using a Digital Light Processor (DLP) chip from Texas Instruments, the iPAQ MP4800 provides a native resolution of 1,024 by 768 pixels, while the internal 200W lamp gives it an impressive maximum brightness rating of 2,000 ANSI lumens.
This should be more than enough for presentations without the need for a darkened room, although its contrast ratio will be better with the lights turned off.
While not as light as some, the iPAQ's 2.6kg carry weight makes it portable and it has a solid, durable feel. All the connectors are located on the left-hand side of the body, including DVI-I and VGA ports for digital and analogue signals.
Next to these are composite, S-Video, USB and audio-in connectors. The USB connector lets you use the supplied remote control as a mouse.
In operation, the iPAQ MP4800 is quiet, even more so if you engage the lamp saver mode which cuts fan noise dramatically. As you'd expect from a DLP-based projector, image reproduction is sharp, with no misconvergence problems and a quoted contrast ratio of 800:1.
However, you should note that the DLP engine might create a faint strobing effect in high-contrast images. Overall uniformity is good, but automatic calibration for analogue signals required a small amount of manual adjustment to eliminate phase jitter.
With the iPAQ MP4800 being such a bright projector, you might find that the top end of the greyscale is slightly bleached, but this can be trimmed with the brightness and contrast controls.
Graphically, the menu panel looks like an iPAQ PDA and is simple to use, but you might find that some features, such as keystone adjustment, are more easily accessed via the remote control.
What lets this projector down most is its colour reproduction. Although the clear section of the DLP colour wheel increases the level of brightness, it decreases colour gamut, so produces rather flat tones and a dull overall appearance.
However, it's extremely bright for its size, is easy to set up and use and has a pair of 3.5W speakers for basic multimedia presentations.
If reproduction and price are less important than portability and quiet operation, the iPAQ MP4800 is worth a look.
Specifications:
Display technology: DLP
Native resolution: 1,024 by 768 pixels
Contrast ratio: 800:1
ANSI lumens: 2,000
I/O: VGA, DVI-I, S-Video, composite.
Price: £3,099 (ex. VAT)
Contact: Compaq 0845 270 4222
www.compaq.co.uk
See also:
The Optoma EP753 provides a level of performance and features that easily justifies its price. 03 Jul 2002
All Projectors
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