Benq W100 Review |
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Reviewed: 05 May 2007
Design
For such an inexpensive unit the w100 has a suprisingly good quality feel about it. A clean finish however doesn’t quite compensate for cheap plastic materials and messy design lines. No problems with the remote control which is larger than most, but possibly for easy operation, the way they should all be.
Features
Arguably the most significant feature of the W100 is something it's not - that is, HD Ready. The native pixel resolution of 854x480 on its DLP chipset simply isn't high enough to satisfy the HD Ready specification wish list.
Resolution: 854x480 Brightness: 1100 ANSI Lumens Contrast: 2,500:1 Dimensions: 260(w) x 220(h) x 84(d)mm Weight: 2.7kg OTHER FEATURES: CONNECTIONS:
This does not mean the W100 can't actually play high definition, though. It has no problems producing analogue HD pictures via its component jacks from an Xbox 360 or the component outputs on the Sky HD receiver, and as we mentioned a moment ago, digital sources via the HDMI outputs on our Sky HD receiver and Marantz upscaling DVD player.
Other specifications of interest include a seven-segment colour wheel, an excellent (for this price point) claimed contrast ratio of 2500:1 and an unusually bright 1300 ANSI Lumen light output.
Setting the projector up is more or less effortless. Simple drop-down legs help you get the picture angled onto your screen, there's an adequate amount of zoom available in the lens, and the onscreen menus work well with the remote.
Performance
The performance of the Benq W100 has to be placed into its context as one of the cheapest projectors around. At under £400 we were considerably lowering our expectation of what this unit could achieve.
Dark picture areas suffer from greater than average amounts of green/grey pixel noise to a greater degree than most DLP or even LCD rivals. As well as making dark pictures look quite grainy and fuzzy, this also slightly reduces the impact of the W100's black level response.
In addition the relatively low pixel count relative to many rivals means that any sizeable picture (over 100in) gives the noticeable on screen 'Chicken-Wire' effect. The lack of resolution probably also explains why HD sources look somewhat softer on the W100 than on more expensive rivals.
Also evident is the Benq W100's rainbow effect, with brighter parts of the picture producing noticeable flashes of pure red, green and blue stripes.
Finally, the picture is not as solid as most of its rivals, and is relatively noisy.
So why with all of this criticism do we still thing that the Benq W100 is worth considering?
Ultimately the Benq W100 is pound for pound the best value projector out there. For under £400 nothing comes close to delivering a home cinema experience to this degree.
Conclusion
Most DLP and even LCD rivals outperform the Benq W100, but none of then offer as much value for your investment or pound for pound enjoyment.