NEC P525UL Laser Projector Review – Hardware: Overview, Control Panel, Inputs and Connectors, Remote Control, Menu
The P525UL is considered a compact installation class projector but is still significantly larger and heavier that the typical 5,000 lumen business or classroom projector. We have reviewed several installation projectors that weighed over 50 pounds and the P525UL is much smaller and much lighter at under 20 pounds. In fact, P525UL is similar in size and weight to a mid-size home theater projector, such as the Epson Home Cinema 5030.
The projector’s lens is located on the left side of the front panel. Focus is done manually by turning the lens focus ring. The image can be zoomed in and out via the zoom lever next to the lens. The window for the IR remote receiver is located toward the right side of the front panel.
The top of the projector has status lights along the left side of the front edge and the lens shift adjustments under a cover on the top right side.
On the left-front side of the projector is a mono speaker and the control pad is located toward the rear. The entire right side of the projector is covered with an exhaust ventilation grill.
The center rear of the projector has all the signal and power connectors and near the top-left corner is a cover over the connection for the optional wireless network module. A cooling inlet air vent is located on the right rear above the AC outlet and below a 2nd IR remote receiver.
The P525UL has its control pad on the left side of the projector. At the right top of the control pad is the power button. The input button (to select the desired signal input) is located on the top left. The 4-way menu navigation buttons plus the enter button are in the middle. Below those are the Menu button (to display the on-screen menu) and an Exit button.
There are 3 lights along the front edge of the projector’s top panel. The left light is the Power indicator which shows if the projector is ON/OFF/SLEEP/STANDBY. The right light indicates if the projector's laser light engine is in Normal or Eco mode. The Status light is located in the center and when combined with the other indicator lights can provides projector status information by blinking a variety of colors.
The power and signal connectors for the P525UL are located on the rear panel of the projector and it has a USB-A input, a computer input, two HDMI inputs, an HDBaseT port and a LAN part. There is also an Audio IN/OUT stereo mini jack and a PC control serial port. On the left rear side behind a small cover is the connection for the optional wireless LAN module (NP05LM1) as well as a USB Type B service port.
The projector’s lens has a manual zoom level along with a focus ring at the front of the lens barrel which is rotated to focus the projected image. The P525UL has a 1.6:1 zoom ratio with a throw ratio of 1.23 to 2.0.
The P525UL has mechanical lens shift adjustments, located behind a cover on the top panel of the projector, for vertical and horizontal optical lens shift, as shown in the 2nd photo above. The lens shift range is reasonably wide with +/- 25% (of screen width) in the horizontal direction and +62%/-0 % (of screen height) in the vertical direction.
The supplied NEC remote control is a compact size with no backlight. The Power On and STANDBY and the Source (Input) buttons are located at the top of the remote. Below that is a group of buttons that do double duty as either a numeric keypad or direct input source selection
Next, are buttons for AV Mute, Freeze (to freeze the current on-screen image), Below those are buttons to access and exit the on-screen menus. The next group of buttons contains the 4-way navigation buttons with an enter button in the center.
Below navigation buttons are rocker buttons for Digital Zoom and Page (used with the Viewer App).
The next row contains two buttons for mouse right and left click functions (does not work with this projector model). The final two rows of buttons are for placing the projector in ECO mode, making keystone corrections, making picture adjustments, controlling the speaker volume, displaying the Help information, Zoom/Focus (does to work with this projector model), and selecting the display aspect ratio.
The P525UL has a well laid out menu structure. When the menu button is pressed the top-level menu is displayed offering 4 groups of menus across the top (i.e., Source, Adjust, Setup and Info). The images of the menu included in this section represent only a small number of all the sub-menus available. I tried to show the submenus that contain frequently used adjustments (image, setting, and networking, etc.).
NEC P525UL Laser Projector Review – Hardware: Overview, Control Panel, Inputs and Connectors, Remote Control, Menu
The P525UL is considered a compact installation class projector but is still significantly larger and heavier that the typical 5,000 lumen business or classroom projector. We have reviewed several installation projectors that weighed over 50 pounds and the P525UL is much smaller and much lighter at under 20 pounds. In fact, P525UL is similar in size and weight to a mid-size home theater projector, such as the Epson Home Cinema 5030.
The projector’s lens is located on the left side of the front panel. Focus is done manually by turning the lens focus ring. The image can be zoomed in and out via the zoom lever next to the lens. The window for the IR remote receiver is located toward the right side of the front panel.
The top of the projector has status lights along the left side of the front edge and the lens shift adjustments under a cover on the top right side.
On the left-front side of the projector is a mono speaker and the control pad is located toward the rear. The entire right side of the projector is covered with an exhaust ventilation grill.
The center rear of the projector has all the signal and power connectors and near the top-left corner is a cover over the connection for the optional wireless network module. A cooling inlet air vent is located on the right rear above the AC outlet and below a 2nd IR remote receiver.
The P525UL has its control pad on the left side of the projector. At the right top of the control pad is the power button. The input button (to select the desired signal input) is located on the top left. The 4-way menu navigation buttons plus the enter button are in the middle. Below those are the Menu button (to display the on-screen menu) and an Exit button.
There are 3 lights along the front edge of the projector’s top panel. The left light is the Power indicator which shows if the projector is ON/OFF/SLEEP/STANDBY. The right light indicates if the projector's laser light engine is in Normal or Eco mode. The Status light is located in the center and when combined with the other indicator lights can provides projector status information by blinking a variety of colors.
The power and signal connectors for the P525UL are located on the rear panel of the projector and it has a USB-A input, a computer input, two HDMI inputs, an HDBaseT port and a LAN part. There is also an Audio IN/OUT stereo mini jack and a PC control serial port. On the left rear side behind a small cover is the connection for the optional wireless LAN module (NP05LM1) as well as a USB Type B service port.
The projector’s lens has a manual zoom level along with a focus ring at the front of the lens barrel which is rotated to focus the projected image. The P525UL has a 1.6:1 zoom ratio with a throw ratio of 1.23 to 2.0.
The P525UL has mechanical lens shift adjustments, located behind a cover on the top panel of the projector, for vertical and horizontal optical lens shift, as shown in the 2nd photo above. The lens shift range is reasonably wide with +/- 25% (of screen width) in the horizontal direction and +62%/-0 % (of screen height) in the vertical direction.
The supplied NEC remote control is a compact size with no backlight. The Power On and STANDBY and the Source (Input) buttons are located at the top of the remote. Below that is a group of buttons that do double duty as either a numeric keypad or direct input source selection
Next, are buttons for AV Mute, Freeze (to freeze the current on-screen image), Below those are buttons to access and exit the on-screen menus. The next group of buttons contains the 4-way navigation buttons with an enter button in the center.
Below navigation buttons are rocker buttons for Digital Zoom and Page (used with the Viewer App).
The next row contains two buttons for mouse right and left click functions (does not work with this projector model). The final two rows of buttons are for placing the projector in ECO mode, making keystone corrections, making picture adjustments, controlling the speaker volume, displaying the Help information, Zoom/Focus (does to work with this projector model), and selecting the display aspect ratio.
The P525UL has a well laid out menu structure. When the menu button is pressed the top-level menu is displayed offering 4 groups of menus across the top (i.e., Source, Adjust, Setup and Info). The images of the menu included in this section represent only a small number of all the sub-menus available. I tried to show the submenus that contain frequently used adjustments (image, setting, and networking, etc.).
