Casio XJ-A257 Portable Laser Projector Review – Picture Quality

Casio XJ-A257 Portable Laser Projector Review – Picture and Sound Quality: Color Modes, Video Image Quality, Text and Presentation Quality, Audio Quality

The Casio XJ-A257 Portable Laser Projector offers five standard color modes, consisting of Standard, Game, Graphic, Theater, and Blackboard.  Of these five, Standard mode is the brightest and is a good all-around selection for displaying colors in an accurate way.  Game mode is good at displaying brighter colors, Graphic mode works well for presentations.  Theater mode provides the best color for viewing films and documentaries, though it does display what should be a vivid red as more of a maroon, which is pretty standard among DLP projectors.  Blackboard is the least bright, and is designed to be projected onto a classroom blackboard.

When ECO Mode is deactivated, there are only two color modes; ECO Off and ECO Off Bright.  ECO Off provides good color coupled with decent brightness, and is a good choice for use when ambient light would wash out the color of the ECO On color modes.  ECO Off Bright is the typical, dreaded green tinted mode that every projector offers as a last-resort for use in super bright environments, and thus should only be used when nothing else will suffice as color quality is sacrificed in a big way in favor of brightness.

For best color quality, all the photos in the slideshow above were taken using Theater mode.  Skin tones look great, and most colors are displayed accurately.  I have really enjoyed playing video games and watching video content, as well as using the onboard media player to display photos.  The images from IMAX: The Last Reef: Cities Beneath the Sea, Bill Nye Saves the World, and Ted Talks are all enjoyable.  My camera doesn’t do the picture quality justice, so please keep that in mind when perhaps the color seems a little off.

This portable laser projector by Casio excels when it comes to sharpness and clarity of text and presentations.  Text is easy to read and graphics look great on the screen.  Powered focus and powered optical zoom allow for crisp and clear presentations, and digital zoom allows for close-ups on graphics and photos to reveal extra detail.  Using optical zoom, I was able to project an image that measured 110” inches diagonally in my living room with no loss of quality or readability.

The Casio XJ-A257 is perfect for that on-the-go professional, traveling to important business meetings where a bright and vivid projector for your presentation is essential.  Or, maybe you’re an educator who teaches in multiple classrooms or at multiple sites and must have equipment that can be easily transported, and can make a major impact in your lessons; this is your projector!