Epson PowerLite 955WH Projector Review - Hardware Tour

Posted on April 17, 2016 by Art Feierman

Epson PowerLite 955WH Projector - Hardware Tour: Appearance, Connector Panel, Lens Adjustments, Control Pad, Remote Control

Appearance

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The Epson PowerLite 955WH, while larger than pico and pocket projectors, is still a compact model that could easily be moved between classrooms. It is a well built classroom class projector packaged in an attractive white colored case. As shown in the 1st photo above, its lens is positioned toward the right side of the projector’s front panel and with a ventilation grill on the left side of the front panel (when the projector is placed on a table and viewed from the front).

The projector’s air filter is accessed from the right side of the projector, as seen in the 2nd photo above, where a ventilation cover snaps off so that the air filter can be removed for periodic cleaning.

When placed level on a table-top the image is projected upward at angle, such that the bottom of the projected image is nearly level with the projector’s position. There are adjustable feet for setting up the projector on a table. For a permanent installation the projector can be mounted in the inverted position using a ceiling mount (extra cost optional accessory).

The projector's control pad and lens zoom and focus are on the top panel as seen in the 3rd photo above. The connector panel and the projector's single speaker are located on the rear panel, as also seen in the 3rd photo above.

Connector Panel

The connector panel is shown in the photo below.

The connector panel includes, from left to right across the top:

USB-A and USB-B connectors
RJ-45 wired network connector
HDMI 1 and HDMI 2 inputs
Analog computer #1/Component Video (15-pin VGA style) input connector

The middle row of connectors includes:

Power cord connector
S-video connector
Composite video connector
Left and Right Analog audio connectors
Computer #1 Analog audio (mini-phone jack) input
Analog computer #2/Component Video (15-pin VGA style) input connector

The bottom row of connectors includes:

RS-232c serial connector
Stereo Microphone input (mini-phone jack)
Analog Monitor Video Output (15-pin VGA style) connector
Analog audio output for use with monitor (mini-phone jack)
Computer #2 Analog Audio (mini-phone jack) input

The projector has IR receivers, for the remote control signal, on both the front and rear panels. The small round window for the rear IR receiver is located just to the right of the lower group of input connectors.

The projector’s single speaker (not shown in the above photo) is located to the right of the connector panel at the rear of the projector.

Lens Adjustments

Toward the front of the projector’s top panel are the controls (see photo below) for the lens focus and zoom (mechanical controls), a slider control of the horizontal keystone adjustment and a mechanical tab used to slide the lens over open or closed. When the lens cover is closed the projector goes into A/V Mute mode, if the projector is still tuned on.

Control Pad

The buttons for the basic projector controls, see photo above, are located to the rear of the top panel. Included are the buttons for powering the projector on/off plus buttons for menu, electronic vertical keystone adjustment, input source selection and audio volume. The keystone and volume buttons, along with the “enter” button also serve as the 4-way menu navigation buttons. There are also status lights for the lamp and an over temperature warning.

Remote Conrol

The PowerLite 955WH is supplied with a fairly compact remote control measuring approximately 5.6 x 1.8 x 1.0 inches. The remote is neither backlighted nor glow-in-the-dark, making it somewhat difficult to operate in a darken room.

The group of buttons toward the top of the remote include the power on/off button and buttons for input source selection.

Below that is a numeric keypad with three of those buttons doing double duty for "MHL" (for when connected to a MHL enabled source device), “Auto” (automatically adjusts position, tracking a sync settings for analog signals), “Aspect” ratio, and “Color Mode”.

Below the numeric keypad are the buttons to display and navigate the projector’s menus. Also there is a “Pointer” button which displays an on-screen pointer that can be moved using the navigation buttons.

Below the navigation buttons are pairs of keys to (1) “Page” thru presentation slides, (2) electronic “Zoom” (i.e., to enlarge a portion of the image), and (3) a “Volume” control.

Finally at the bottom of the remote there are three buttons for (1) “A/V Mute” which turns off the picture and sound and places the projector in a lower power mode, (2) “Freeze” which freezes the current image being displayed, and (3) “Help” which displays help information for the projector.