Viewsonic Pro8200 Special Features

Posted on July 16, 2013 by Art Feierman

PIP and POP

Picture in Picture, and Picture On Picture (which is actually side by side images), allow you to view two sources simultaniously. This can be an effective presenting tool, say with a video running along side a presentation, or it can be fun at home, say watching the game on the big screen, with your laptop's screen projected in the smaller window, with your fantasy football numbers up there. Or maybe a second game.

Pro8200 Lamp Life

Hello, lamp life! Viewsonic makes one of the best lamp life claims yet, short of an LED light source. If not the best, darn close. Viewsonic says the Pro8200 projector will get 4000 hours at full power, and 6000 in eco-mode. While I have seen a 5000 claim at full power, and a 7000 hour claim in low power as the best, the Pro8200 also has to be considered as having exceptional lamp life. With many projectors still offering 2000/3000 hour performance, this is a huge advantage.

Figure this way, even if you are using full power, that's 4000 hours. If you watched 40 hours a week, that's still two full years off of one lamp. For most people, usage is a lot less (not for me, though), so many will get years, and years out of one lamp. That should help keep cost of ownership down. Hey, if you "only" watch only two or three movies a week on average, the lamp would last a decade.

1.5:1 Zoom Lens

The Pro8200 is following a trend - DLP projectors that are finally offering more than the absolute minimal 1.2:1 zoom lenses. I'm never sure how many people buy 3LCD projectors over DLP projectors simply because of placement flexibility advantages of the typical 3LCD projector, but it is a lot. That said, the Pro8200 still lacks adjustable lens shift so it can't be (high) rear shelf mounted, although with the longer zoom range, in some rooms that aren't too deep, you could mount the projector under a shelf on the rear wall. Ultimately, though, a projector either works in your setup or not. The Pro8200 has more chance of working, then, say the lower cost Optoma HD20, or the BenQ W1000+ which are more limited.

Related to the zoom lens, is the Pro8200's compatibility with using an anamorphic lens, which it does. The Pro8200 projector offers two anamorphic modes. In addition to the normal mode for working with an anamorphic lens, mode 2 let's you view non Cinemascope content, with the anamorphic lens still in front of the lens. Translation - no pricey, motorized sled is needed. (Having a motorized sled with an anamorphic lens does, however, offer the highest performance.

Image from the trailer for last summer's Star Trek movie:

Click Image to Enlarge

Pro8200 Projector - Built-In Speakers Microphone, and Audio Inputs

A respectable speaker (2 by 10 watts) is important if you plan to double the Pro8200 as your business projector. That it supports a Mic input is another plus. The reasonable brightness, plus the sound, will help you carry a mid-sized room, not just smaller conference rooms.

The audio also can come in handy, if you are using the Pro8200 for home entertainment, and it's not convenient to hook up to a sound system. OK, we're not talking wall shaking bass, so it's not exactly the ideal solution for an action movie, but, still, sound is better than none, and having a pair of 10 watt speakers, is exceptional for a projector of this size. Note, with a week to Superbowl, I might set up this Pro8200 on the back patio with a portable screen - for the 2nd half of the game (it will be dark enough). It's the built in audio, though, that makes that practical.

The original early Pro8200 produced a lot of loud static when the projector was turned off. This ties to their mode allowing the Mic /audio system to operate with the rest of the projector off. There is a Green mode, that turns off the Mic, which didn't get rid of the static on the first projector, but we had no static problems with the newer firmware. The only time I heard any static, was once, and that was with an hdmi cable the projector just didn't like.

As is not uncommon with portable education and business projectors, this Pro8200 offers a large number of audio inputs (3), and an audio output. You won't find that on normal home theater projectors.