Casio XJ-L8300HN 4K UHD Business/Education Projector Review

The Casio XJ-L8300HN is a 4K UHD, commercial-grade large venue projector claiming 5,000 lumens. The projector features a hybrid laser/phosphor light engine. In other words - the XJ-L8300HN is lamp-free. The solid-state light engine, combined with the new Texas Instruments 4K DLP chip, makes this 4K UHD projector one to be considered for advanced business and education applications, such as lecture halls, auditoriums, large conference rooms, and more.

The XJ-L8300HN has a substantial list price of $11,999.99, but it’s no surprise given the resolution and impressive sharpness of this projector. It's hard to get a feel for street pricing, as this projector is sold primarily through installing local dealers.  That said, figure there's probably some good education discounts, and some respectable margins built in.  I would expect purchase pricing to be way below MSRP.

I’ll get into more on the Special Features Pages, but here’s a taste: it has advanced networking features, a good warranty and a generous amount of lens shift. This projector has good placement flexibility which, in a large venue environment, will definitely work in your favor. Now, onto the good stuff.

We wish to thank Epson America for sponsoring this year’s Best Classroom Projectors Report. 

The Casio XJ-L8300HN, as mentioned, has a list price of $11,999.99. You’re paying a premium for the laser/phosphor light engine, which has a better value proposition than lamp-based projectors in terms of lifetime and maintenance costs, as well as for advanced networking features and high brightness. The projector should be able to combat most forms of ambient light, but know this – the larger your screen, the more lumens you need.

I have found the projector online for much less than its MSRP (street price is approximately $7,008 - waiting on confirmation from Casio). AV integrators and dealers are the usual source for commercial-grade projectors in this class. They install the projector in large venues such as university lecture halls and classrooms, auditoriums, museums, entertainment venues, houses of worship, command and control facilities, etc. Count that as a plus, because this projector is heavy (43.7 lbs). This is one serious projector and needs to be properly and professionally mounted. Wrestling with about 50 lbs of projector and ceiling mount is a challenge, and I don’t envy the installer who has to ceiling mount it.

The XJ-L8300HN has very good connectivity, with ports for advanced networking and command and control, and compatibility with multiple networking environments such as Crestron RoomView. Though the inputs and connectors panel is somewhat simple when compared to other commercial-grade business/education projectors, this one should have all the ports you'll need for your applications. We’ll discuss that in full on the first Hardware Page. Just one spoiler before I move onto the Highlights – the HDBaseT function supports video signals of up to 3840 x 2160. For reference, there are projectors at a much higher price point that can only run up video up to 1080p over HDBaseT.

• 5,000 Lumens
• 4K UHD Resolution (2716x1528x2) (for a total of 8.3 megapixels
• Hybrid Laser/Phosphor Light Engine
• 20,000 Hour Rated Light Engine Life
• DLP Technology
  • Single chip design for sharp image
  • Uses color wheel
• 20,000:1 Contrast Ratio
• Generous Amount of Lens Shift – 25% Horizontal, 60% Vertical
• 1.5:1 Manual Zoom Lens
• Advanced Networking – Crestron RoomView, PJLink, HDBaseT
• Great Warranty – 3 Years on the Projector, 5 years or 10,000 Hours on Light Engine