NEC NP-MC382W Projector Review – Hardware: Control Panel, Remote Control, The Menus
The Epson BrightLink 710Ui’s control panel is located on the left side of the projector next to the cool air intake vents. It is the same layout as the BrightLink 696Ui I reviewed last year. The control panel is inverted – that is to say, it is upside down when looking at the projector on a table top, as I have it set up for reviewing. That is because this projector is meant to be wall mounted, with the lens facing downward, which then makes the control panel face the right direction.
Starting at the left, there is a blue Power button next to the Home and Source Search buttons. Source Search, when pressed, cycles through the available source inputs until it finds one. This is a quick way to navigate between your sources. To the right, there are the four directional arrow keys surrounding an enter button to navigate the menus. Those four arrow buttons serve a dual function, with the up and down arrows controlling horizontal and vertical keystone correction, and the left and right buttons affecting the zoom. Now, that’s digital zoom, as ultra short throw lenses are fixed lenses that do not have zooming capabilities. There’s a button on either side of the up arrow key – Menu to the left, and Esc to the right.
The remote control for the NEC NP-MC382W is light-weight and fits comfortably into the hand. It’s not backlit – I always put this in the Cons sections of my reviews, if the remote isn’t backlit – which would have been nice. Art’s been hounding projector manufacturers for decades to include this in their remotes. That the remote control is light colored with darker buttons helps, but I still would prefer that all remotes in existence have a backlight feature.
At the top of the remote, there are the Power On, StandBy, and Source buttons. Those exist above a numeric pad with the dual function of direct input/function selection. NEC, like other manufacturers, uses the same remote control for multiple projectors across various price points, so some inputs or buttons do not work for this projector, but still appear on the remote.
1 = HDMI 1
2 = HDMI 2
3 = HDBaseT (This projector does not have this function)
4 = DisplayPort (Nope)
5 = Computer
6 = Auto Adjust
7 = Video
8 = USB-A
9 = USB-B (Definitely not)
0 = Apps (That’s a hard no)
On either side of the 0 button is the ID Set, and the Clear button. The Clear button doubles as the PIP button, but this projector does not have this function. Below that, we have the A/V-Mute and Freeze buttons.
Underneath that is the standard navigational buttons for up, down, left, and right surrounding an Enter button. At the top left corner of this configuration, we have the Menu button, the Exit button at the top right. Digital Zoom + and – lives at the bottom left corner of the navigational buttons, and Page Forward and Back at the bottom right.
The next section consists of 10 buttons on a slightly raised rectangle. Starting with the two buttons at the top, we have the Left and Right Mouse click buttons. Under that is a series of 8 buttons, stacked on top of one another.
The first six are ECO, Keystone, Picture, and below those are Help, Focus/Zoom (which are for projectors that have powered zoom and focus – this one is manual), and Aspect. Next to these buttons at the Volume + and Volume – buttons, which are stacked on top of each other.
That does it for our tour of the NEC NP-MC382W's hardware! Next up is our discussion of the projector's picture and sound quality.
NEC NP-MC382W Projector Review – Hardware: Control Panel, Remote Control, The Menus
The Epson BrightLink 710Ui’s control panel is located on the left side of the projector next to the cool air intake vents. It is the same layout as the BrightLink 696Ui I reviewed last year. The control panel is inverted – that is to say, it is upside down when looking at the projector on a table top, as I have it set up for reviewing. That is because this projector is meant to be wall mounted, with the lens facing downward, which then makes the control panel face the right direction.
Starting at the left, there is a blue Power button next to the Home and Source Search buttons. Source Search, when pressed, cycles through the available source inputs until it finds one. This is a quick way to navigate between your sources. To the right, there are the four directional arrow keys surrounding an enter button to navigate the menus. Those four arrow buttons serve a dual function, with the up and down arrows controlling horizontal and vertical keystone correction, and the left and right buttons affecting the zoom. Now, that’s digital zoom, as ultra short throw lenses are fixed lenses that do not have zooming capabilities. There’s a button on either side of the up arrow key – Menu to the left, and Esc to the right.
The remote control for the NEC NP-MC382W is light-weight and fits comfortably into the hand. It’s not backlit – I always put this in the Cons sections of my reviews, if the remote isn’t backlit – which would have been nice. Art’s been hounding projector manufacturers for decades to include this in their remotes. That the remote control is light colored with darker buttons helps, but I still would prefer that all remotes in existence have a backlight feature.
At the top of the remote, there are the Power On, StandBy, and Source buttons. Those exist above a numeric pad with the dual function of direct input/function selection. NEC, like other manufacturers, uses the same remote control for multiple projectors across various price points, so some inputs or buttons do not work for this projector, but still appear on the remote.
1 = HDMI 1
2 = HDMI 2
3 = HDBaseT (This projector does not have this function)
4 = DisplayPort (Nope)
5 = Computer
6 = Auto Adjust
7 = Video
8 = USB-A
9 = USB-B (Definitely not)
0 = Apps (That’s a hard no)
On either side of the 0 button is the ID Set, and the Clear button. The Clear button doubles as the PIP button, but this projector does not have this function. Below that, we have the A/V-Mute and Freeze buttons.
Underneath that is the standard navigational buttons for up, down, left, and right surrounding an Enter button. At the top left corner of this configuration, we have the Menu button, the Exit button at the top right. Digital Zoom + and – lives at the bottom left corner of the navigational buttons, and Page Forward and Back at the bottom right.
The next section consists of 10 buttons on a slightly raised rectangle. Starting with the two buttons at the top, we have the Left and Right Mouse click buttons. Under that is a series of 8 buttons, stacked on top of one another.
The first six are ECO, Keystone, Picture, and below those are Help, Focus/Zoom (which are for projectors that have powered zoom and focus – this one is manual), and Aspect. Next to these buttons at the Volume + and Volume – buttons, which are stacked on top of each other.
That does it for our tour of the NEC NP-MC382W's hardware! Next up is our discussion of the projector's picture and sound quality.
