Epson EB-1775W

Data Projector

By Harley Ogier, Auckland | Thursday, 14 July 2011
Epson’s EB-1775W is a slim, lightweight business projector, designed for mobile presenters – salespeople, executives and other road-warriors.

In its high-brightness mode, the company claims the Epson has a light output of 3000 lumens. What does that really mean? The projected image is crisp and clearly visible, even in indirect sunlight. There’s a low-brightness mode that reduces the noise output from the projector’s fan and presumably increases the bulb’s lifespan, but it’s really only useful under dim lighting or in darkness.

Projection size varies from 76 to 760 cm, with a throw distance of 0.67-8.18m. For a nominal 60-inch screen, you need a throw distance of just 1.35-1.62m: this really is a short-throw, boardroom-table friendly model.

The projected resolution is 1280 x 800 pixels (16:10 aspect ratio), which is fine for PowerPoint presentations and web pages. For software demos or training sessions, it might prove a little on the low side.

Setup is a breeze, with automatic keystone correction. Epson takes it a step further, automatically scaling the projected image to whatever screen you have available. This is great in meeting rooms and offices with ready-installed projection screens, or if you’re using a portable screen. More impressively, it works most of the time. When it doesn’t, the EB-1755W provides quick and easy perspective correction: you can individually manoeuvre each corner of the projected image into place using the buttons atop the projector, or using the remote.

Connecting a PC is equally easy, with VGA, HDMI, composite and component video connections supported.
For wireless connectivity, Epson includes the ‘Quick Wireless Connection USB Key’ –
a tiny, rubberised flash drive that installs the ‘Quick Wireless Connection’ software. After the initial setup, connection to the projector is theoretically easy: plug in the drive, its end glows reassuringly orange, and there’s your image projected on the wall. Well, when everything is going smoothly. When you’re connected wirelessly in ‘quick’ mode, it uses your laptop or desktop’s wi-fi adapter to connect directly to the projector: if you were relying on wi-fi for your internet connection as well, it just dropped out. To avoid that, you need to delve into the projector’s settings and convince it to connect to your office network which is unintuitive – to say the very least. Once it is up and running, however, it works as easily as advertised.

Image quality via wireless is limited, looking much like a low-quality JPEG image. Presentations just don’t look their best, and I found video playback far too stuttery to be useful. Wireless is a nice feature if it works, but the quality makes its usefulness questionable.

Whether or not you are using wireless, there is another downside to the EB-1755W: excellent brightness means a powerful lamp that produces a lot of heat. That, combined with the projector’s tiny form factor, means a loud and powerful fan. I never found the projector too hot to handle, so the fan does work – unfortunately, it’s likely to prove a distraction in small meeting rooms and quiet environments.

Overall, the Epson EB-1755W is a compact and capable business projector. If you don’t really need the wireless feature and you value high brightness over quiet running, it’s a model I wouldn’t hesitate to recommend. The EB-1775 ships in New Zealand for an RRP of $2899 including GST. Epson digital projectors are distributed by Ingram Micro and Synnex.