Epson PowerLite 675W Ultra Short Throw Classroom Projector Review – Hardware

Posted on March 19, 2018 by Nikki Zelinger

Epson PowerLite 675W Ultra Short Throw Classroom Projector Review – Hardware: Overview, Inputs and Connectors, The Lens

Overview

The Epson PowerLite 675W will likely be wall mounted, and therefore projecting upside down.

The 16-watt speaker faces the audience when wall mounted

The top of the projector has the lens, obstacle sensors, control panel, and lamp cover.

This side of the PowerLite 675W has the hot air exhaust vent and the cable cover which hides the inputs and connectors panel.

This side of the PowerLite 675W has the cool air intake vents and, behind the easy-release door, the focus lever.

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The Epson PowerLite 675W is designed like all the other models in the PowerLite series – that is, I’ve seen the layout of the control panel, vents, input panel, etc., multiple times. I wouldn’t expect much of a difference in design amongst their ultra short throws – why change something that already works really well? I’m going to briefly go over where everything is on the projector, speaking of everything in relation to the 675W being wall mounted, and therefore, upside down.

Looking at the projector’s front, behind the lens, we have an IR sensor for the remote control. To its right lives the 16-watt speaker. Directly above that, at a slight angle, is the projector’s control panel, which is pretty typical in design. In front of that is the ultra short throw lens, along with the obstacle sensors. To the far right, you’ll find the Wireless LAN indicator light. Directly diagonal to that lens is the cover for the lamp.

Moving to the right side, we have the cable cover, under which dwells the inputs and connectors panel. On this same side, toward the back, is the hot air exhaust vent. On the other side, we have the cool air intake filters. There is an easy-release door that allows access to the focus lever. Now for the good stuff – the inputs and connectors.

Inputs and Connectors

The inputs and connectors panel is located on the side of the projector, and has plenty there for business and education applications. Along the top row, there is a Mic In next to an Audio Out, then an Audio In and Composite Video port. On the right is a USB Type-A input for USB flash drives and hard drives.

The second row has your VGA Computer In and Monitor Out ports, next to the obligatory RS232 connector for old school command and control. The bottom row has Audio 1 and Audio 2 ports, relating to computer audio. Then there are a USB-B, LAN, and three HDMI ports, one with MHL for streaming sticks like the Roku, Amazon Fire Stick, and Chromecast, which can be quite useful when needing to stream educational content from a service such as Netflix.

The Lens

The Epson PowerLite 675W has an ultra short throw lens.

The focus lever is located behind the easy-release door that conceals the air filters.

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The ultra short throw lens is pretty typical. It does not have zoom capabilities, as to be expected, and there doesn’t seem to be a considerable amount of bowing to the image projected. UST projectors nearly always have at least some curve to the top of the image, but in the case of the 675W, it’s not too bad. This isn’t likely to be a problem in business and education applications.

As mentioned, the focus lever is located on the side of the projector, under the easy-release air filter door. It’s easy to use and fast to get the projector in focus. The PowerLite 675W is a quick setup, thanks to the ultra short throw design, once you place the projector in its position and focus, you’re pretty much good to go.

The PowerLite 675W is capable of producing a large image with the projector sitting just inches from the screen. For example, the 675W need only be 11" away from the screen surface to produce a 100" diagonal image. That's about as big as any classroom needs. That's it on the lens! Time to hop over to the next page to complete our tour of the hardware.