Sanyo PLV-Z4 projector review: Overview 3

Looking at the left size (from the back), are the new lens shift controls (originally on the front on the Z1, Z2, and Z3). The horizontal and vertical lens shift offer exceptional range (especially the vertical). The wide range lets users position the projector anywhere from half a screen height below the bottom of the screen, to half a screen height above the top of the projector screen. This pretty much means that you can forget about needing digital keystone correction (that degrades the picture quality).

If you have a low table, or are ceiling mounting the projector in a room with a high ceiling you will appreciate this wide range to the projector's lens shift. Myself, I have a 19.5 foot high ceiling, and despite a fairly high mounted large (128" diagonal) screen, my current BenQ PE8700+ projector has to hang down more than 5 feet from the ceiling. By comparison, if I mounted this Sanyo Z4 in my room, I could mount it within 1.5 feet of the ceiling, making it less obtrusive.

range, but for those that do, this might tip them in favor of the Sanyo Z4 home theater projector over the Panasonic PT-AE-900u projector. By comparison, the BenQ PE7700 (a DLP home theater projector), lacks lens shift, so the correct mounting has the center of the lens even with the top of the screen (ceiling mounted), or even with the bottom of the screen (table mounting).

OK, to the top of the Sanyo projector. A simple control panel consists of a large power switch and three warning lamps (Replace lamp, Warning, and Power) Below them are a pad with Menu, Input, four arrow keys and "OK" (Enter) in the center of the 4 arrow keys.

Lastly, is a service port (RS232) for remotely controlling the projector and its many functions.

Time to see how the Sanyo PLV-Z4 home theater projector performs in terms of that all important Image Quality.