CASIO ECOLITE XJ-V1 PROJECTOR - PERFORMANCE

Posted on April 21, 2015 by Art Feierman

CASIO ECOLITE XJ-V1 PROJECTOR - Performance: Brightness, Contrast, Audible Noise The Casio EcoLite XJ-V1 projector evaluated for this review was a pre-production unit. It is possible that the production projectors will have somewhat different functional and/or performance characteristics.

Brightness

Brightness
Color Mode	White Lumens
Max. Bright	2240
Bright Color	1738
Standard	1590
Graphics	1109
Theater	1032
Blackboard	774
Natural	1313

Notes:

1. Lens set at mid-zoom position for all lumens values in table

2. Contrast adjustment was set to -4 for the lumens reported in the table. This was done to eliminate clipping of near-white levels. This reduced the light output a little as compared to using the factory default contrast setting. For example, in Max. Bright mode the brightness increased from 2240 to 2340 lumens when going from a contrast setting of -4 to a setting of 0 (factory default).

3. Factory default color balance setting used for all color modes

4. Except for the Max Bright and Bright Color modes, all other Color Modes were operating in Eco power mode.

Additional Brightness Measurements:

a. When the zoom lens was set to maximum zoom the lumens output in Max. Bright mode increased by 3.7%

b. The lumens value shown in he table for Theater mode was with the default "Normal" color balance setting. When is was changed to "Warm" the white lumens decreased to 959.

c. Color lumens when the projector was operating in Max. Bright mode measured 68% of the white lumens value reported in the table

d. Brightness uniformity was good with max. 14% brightness drop-off between the center of the image and any of the corners.

The EcoLite XJ-V1 is rated by Casio to provide 2700 lumens in its brightest mode. The most lumens I could get was with the zoom set to its max. value and with the contrast adjustment set to the factory default value of zero (0). With these settings I measured about 2400 lumens for the maximum brightness. The unit reviewed as a pre-production model and it's possible that the production units may be somewhat different in terms of image brightness.

Unlike other projectors that I have reviewed, the preset color modes can only be used with the Eco power setting turned on. This operates the light source at lower power. When Eco power mode is turned off there are two higher brightness modes available that Casio simply labels (in the menu) as normal and bright. For this review I am calling these two non-Eco modes Bright Color and Max. Bright respectively.

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Contrast

The on/off native contrast ratio measured 2752:1 in the max. bright mode and 1333:1 in the preset Theater Color mode. These values are 2 to 8 times better than for a typical 3LCD classroom or business projector and are perhaps a little above average for this class of DLP projector. When viewing projected images in an environment with moderate, or brighter, room lighting you would probably not notice any advantage for this DLP model over a competing 3LCD projector. However, when used in a dark environment, with very good ambient light control, the images from the XJ-V1 will have darker blacks and the image will have more 'pop'.

Casio spec's the XJ-V1 to have an on/off contrast ratio of 20,000:1, but as I have noted in other projector reviews, such manufacture's rating for contrast ratio are of little value. This is because they frequently use a measurement of the black level when the projector has activated a dimming function for the light source and that dimming is not being controlled fast enough to improve the black level while actually displaying video or presentations.

Audible Noise

The Casio specifications for the EcoLite XJ-V1 do not include a value for the audiable noise produced by the projector. I did not attempt to measure the noise levels in the available power modes. However, I would note that the noise produced by the XJ-V1 includes not only the usual fan noise from the cooling air flow but there is also a whining noise that some people may find distracting when the projector is used in an otherwise quiet environment. I don't know if this was just a characteristic of the audible noise produced with the specific pre-production unit I received for the review, or if it will be absent, or present, on the production EcoLite XJ-V1 projectors. Overall, noise level in Eco power mode is fairly quiet and I would guess in the range of 25-28 dB while the noise level when operated in max. bright mode is higher and perhaps in the range of 32 -35 dB.