Sony VPL-EX175 Projector - Physical Tour

The Sony VPL-EX175 is a nice looking projector - finished in shiny white, with dark grey/black grillwork in the front. It's taller than most in its class. The lens is recessed, and located toward the right (when facing the projector).The lens offers manual focus and zoom. Those are controlled by two vertical adjustment rings located on the right side of the projector, next to the lens. Venting of hot air is out the front.

Setup of the Sony VPL-EX175 is generally simple, except, of course for networking, which... is networking, and best left to those who understand it, and the network the projector will be on. (Thus the concept of network specialists and IT "guys".)

The Sony EX175 remote control is a smaller affair. It's not quite as small as those pesky credit card remotes (most of which are at least somewhat limited on range). This Sony remote's range is not an issue, it worked at 20 feet with no problem. Buttons are pretty good, some perhaps, a touch rubbery. No backlight, of course, very few non-home projectors offer a backlight (too bad, there are times when a backlight on a remote is a real convenience).

OK, the power switch (press once for on, twice for off), is green and in the upper right corner. The rest of the buttons are light or dark gray. Immediately below, left to right are three more round buttons for Input (brings up a menu, or you can hit Input repeatedly to scroll through the choices). There's the APA button (auto pixel align) for locking in on analog PC signals, and the Eco button for the standard Eco mode setups (lamp brightness, standby features), or you can customize.

Next come flat Menu and Reset buttons, and below that, the navigation arrows in a diamond shape, with center Enter button. The next grouping include Return, Aspect Ratio, Keystone, and (test) Pattern.

Finally, there's digital zoom (up and down), Volume (same), a Freeze button and separate buttons for Picture and Audio muting. No remote mousing, no pointer, no laser, but a good basic small remote. It's also nothing exciting to write about, but it gets the job done.

The rear of this Sony projector is fairly well endowed in terms of inputs and outputs. That said, the most obvious missing input is HDMI. That's OK, as is the case last year, a good number of the projectors aimed at schools do not offer HDMI.

Except for the power recepticle, all the connections are on the back just below the top. The power is below on the left. The easiest way to run though all of these, is from left to right, as you see them in the photo: