When I saw the EC-PJ10 at FYE for $99, I was confused. I had never seen a projector so cheap before, and thought that Sharper Image was out of business. Fast forward a month later, I received the projector for review, and it's not going to be a fun review. For $99, you can't expect much, but you would expect better than this.
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v3.../original1.jpg
First up, and this is one thing that is bothering me, is that Sharper Image has made two claims about the projector that is flat out, untrue.
First, Sharper Image claims that the projector has a 60 watt lamp. This is not true, in reality, a 50 watt lamp is present in the projector. Not that the difference would be that major, it would help it's rather dark picture. Luckily, the projector uses an MR16 lamp, in which you can pick up a 75 watt lamp that the cooling system should be able to handle, for a couple bucks at Lowes.
The second false claim is the "Built In Stereo Sound!". In fact, this is so false, I have actually contacted Sharper Image for an answer on this, but don't expect one, from the past conversation I had with them. Inside the projector, is one single speaker. Yes, one, mono. Since the projector has a headphone jack, I thought perhaps that was stereo. Nope, not even that! It's the same sound on left and right, dual mono. That is rather disappointing.
A very annoying, but not deafening issue, is the cooling fan. It is quite loud, and I wouldn't recommend a quiet movie, because you won't hear it. But if hearing it is least of your concerns (because hopefully you would plug your DVD player into a stereo system), the picture quality will be a problem.
The lens barrel in the projector is either of very bad quality, or incomplete and not designed correctly. The picture is rather hazy, as if the lens is fogged up, when it's perfectly clean. See pictures below for example:
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v3.../original2.jpg
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v3.../original3.jpg
Being a photographer, I realized that a simple stop down would fix this problem. A piece of paper with a penny sized hole, and the picture is cleared up remarkably. But the fact remains, you should NOT need to do this! This is a clear design flaw with the projector, and only shows that the projector is working as it should, but the lens is just poorly designed. Problem with using a stop down however, is light output is reduced. Luckily in this case, not that much at all, just enough to clear up the picture without large light reduction.
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v3.../modified1.jpg
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v3.../modified2.jpg
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v3.../modified3.jpg
In terms of resolution, it's conflicting. If you ask Sharper Image, they won't even tell you. Bed, Bath, & Beyond claims 640x480. A few websites claim 640x240. In all honesty, it appears to be QVGA 320x240, but 640x240 may be right. See, if you look at the cleared up screenshot, with the simple stop down converter, you can see that the pixels are "staggered". They aren't straight like a conventional LCD monitor.
Would I recommend this projector to anyone? No, not at all. The lens problem is disappointing enough to want to return it, but the fact that Sharper Image made a couple claims that simply aren't true, is disappointing.
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v3.../original1.jpg
First up, and this is one thing that is bothering me, is that Sharper Image has made two claims about the projector that is flat out, untrue.
First, Sharper Image claims that the projector has a 60 watt lamp. This is not true, in reality, a 50 watt lamp is present in the projector. Not that the difference would be that major, it would help it's rather dark picture. Luckily, the projector uses an MR16 lamp, in which you can pick up a 75 watt lamp that the cooling system should be able to handle, for a couple bucks at Lowes.
The second false claim is the "Built In Stereo Sound!". In fact, this is so false, I have actually contacted Sharper Image for an answer on this, but don't expect one, from the past conversation I had with them. Inside the projector, is one single speaker. Yes, one, mono. Since the projector has a headphone jack, I thought perhaps that was stereo. Nope, not even that! It's the same sound on left and right, dual mono. That is rather disappointing.
A very annoying, but not deafening issue, is the cooling fan. It is quite loud, and I wouldn't recommend a quiet movie, because you won't hear it. But if hearing it is least of your concerns (because hopefully you would plug your DVD player into a stereo system), the picture quality will be a problem.
The lens barrel in the projector is either of very bad quality, or incomplete and not designed correctly. The picture is rather hazy, as if the lens is fogged up, when it's perfectly clean. See pictures below for example:
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v3.../original2.jpg
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v3.../original3.jpg
Being a photographer, I realized that a simple stop down would fix this problem. A piece of paper with a penny sized hole, and the picture is cleared up remarkably. But the fact remains, you should NOT need to do this! This is a clear design flaw with the projector, and only shows that the projector is working as it should, but the lens is just poorly designed. Problem with using a stop down however, is light output is reduced. Luckily in this case, not that much at all, just enough to clear up the picture without large light reduction.
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v3.../modified1.jpg
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v3.../modified2.jpg
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v3.../modified3.jpg
In terms of resolution, it's conflicting. If you ask Sharper Image, they won't even tell you. Bed, Bath, & Beyond claims 640x480. A few websites claim 640x240. In all honesty, it appears to be QVGA 320x240, but 640x240 may be right. See, if you look at the cleared up screenshot, with the simple stop down converter, you can see that the pixels are "staggered". They aren't straight like a conventional LCD monitor.
Would I recommend this projector to anyone? No, not at all. The lens problem is disappointing enough to want to return it, but the fact that Sharper Image made a couple claims that simply aren't true, is disappointing.
