The Casio XJ-H2650 has its lens recessed and offset to the right side of the projector when facing it. There is a tethered lens cover that protects the lens when not in use. To the left of the lens is an IR receiving eye and an air vent. Directly behind the lens, on the top of the projector, are tabbed zoom and focus rings. There is a center height adjustment foot, as well as two height adjustable feet in each of the rear corners. The left and right sides of the projector consist of air intake-exhaust vents.
On top of the projector, toward the rear directly behind the lens, is a control panel with the following functions: Power On/Standby, Input, Auto (adjust position, frequency and phase for RGB sources), Menu, Navigation (Up, Down, Left, Right and Enter) and Escape. There are also indicator lights for Power (on or standby), Lamp (warning for failure) and Temp (warning for overheating), as well as the ambient light sensor for the Auto Eco mode. Just to the right of the lens focus and zoom rings is the 10-watt built-in speaker.
he rear panel of the XJ-H2650 sports, from left to right along the top, the following: a USB Type A jack, a LAN jack, an HDMI input, a VGA monitor output and two VGA computer input jacks. Below these connectors, from left to right, an IR receiving eye, a serial port for RS-232 control, one 1/8” audio output jack, two 1/8” audio input jacks (one for each computer input), stereo audio RCA input jacks, composite and S-video inputs and a USB Type B jack. Along the bottom of the rear panel is the power connector and a Kensington lock port.
The Casio XJ-H2650 was fairly quick to set up. The projector reaches full brightness in only 8 seconds, so you’re able to start positioning right away. Typical of DLP projectors in this price range, the XJ-H2650 only has a 1.2X zoom, so you don’t have much leeway in how far you place the projector from the screen. Next, if you’re using the projector sitting on a table or cart and you don’t have a fairly level surface, the image height can be quickly adjusted and leveled with the front and rear adjustment feet. If the projector is still not level and you’re in a hurry, the auto-keystoning feature works quite well for small adjustments and will square the image to the screen with minimal edge distortion. We always recommend that if you have to use keystone adjustment, you should keep it to a minimum to avoid unwanted picture distortion. You can also use the manual keystone adjustments to ensure that your keystone correction is minimal.
Once set up, the user brings up the menu, goes to the Image Adjustment 1 section and selects the desired Color mode (Standard, Graphics, Theater, Blackboard and Game), depending on the intended use. There are no User modes, but the usual picture adjustments (contrast, brightness, saturation (color), tint and sharpness) are available for each mode. In addition, there is the ability to choose between three different color temperatures and make individual RGB adjustments to the Normal color temp. There is also the ability to turn the lamp Eco mode (On by default) off, but once off, none of the Color modes can be selected or adjusted. There is an Image Adjustment 2 menu that is only used for setting positioning and timing for sync a non-standard RGB source.
Other menus allow you to select the automatic features, set up network presentations and the other usual presentation adjustments. There is also an Eco power setting that allows for manual selection of 5 different levels of brightness. When this setting is on Auto, a brightness sensor on the top of the projector automatically detects the ambient light level in the room and adjusts brightness accordingly. More about that feature in the Special Features section of this review.
Image Adjustment
Color balance
Color Mode
Eco Mode
The XJ-H2650 remote is small and straightforward with a minimal number of buttons, all nicely spaced. The buttons are gray on a white background, which are easily accessed even without backlighting or glow-in-the-dark ability. There are buttons for the most important functions, which include: Power, Input/3D, Auto adjustment, Blank (to blank out the screen), Freeze, Volume, Color Mode, Digital zoom plus/minus, Keystone plus/minus, Bright and Eco lamp modes, Aspect ratio, Function, Menu, Navigation (Up, Down, Left and Right), Escape and Enter.
There is also a button to activate an on-screen pointer, which can be moved and changed by the navigation keys.
Overall, the remote is appropriate for its intended use. Unlike many projectors in its class, the buttons are fairly well spaced and contrast well enough with the color of the remote to make locating them easy.
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