Those big HD LCD panels are fine, rather extravagant! The only grouch I have with them is that they are rigid and fixed (or placed) at one place and you have to go to them (in the living room or where ever they are placed) to watch your favourite movie or other media contents. You cannot even think of carrying it (the LCD panel) along with your collection of movies or presentations stored in you PMP, portable HDD, pen-drive or laptop to meetings or to show to your friends all the time. And you wonder if there could be a device, small and portable, yet capable of displaying images big enough for a reasonable gathering.
Well! BenQ, leading provider of networked digital lifestyle devices, has just the right device for you?the little ?Joybee GP1?! Of course, if you have the dough?Rs 38,000 to be precise!
The recently launched ?Joybee GP1? mini projector is not exactly pocketable (as claimed by BenQ) unless you are wearing a trench coat or a very baggy Cargo, but still very palm-able, light weight (just 640 grams) and cute.
Resembling a young girl?s ?trinket box? in size and shape, the very adorable Joybee GP1 has a white plastic body with black top in glossy piano finish and looks a bit chunky and feels a bit heavy for its size (136 x 54 x 120 mm).
The top lid has a focusing knob and all the other controls, including a blue backlit power button, and mind it, they are all touch sensitive, though they don?t appear like ones, and you realise it only after jabbing them for a few times with your finger.
On the front it has the projection lens (F-2, f-17.7 mm) set deep in a protective slot. The cooling fan is also logically placed on the front panel, to save the spectators sitting behind from the gush of hot air.
The rear panel has a proprietary CEA 30 pins (iPod like) connector port, an USB port and a 3.5 mm audio-out jack socket for most of the connectivity options. The power (DC in) socket is on the left panel and a height adjustment screw (for tilting up) and a tripod mount threaded slot is tucked away on the bottom panel.
The sleekly designed Joybee has rounded corners and feels sturdy.
Setting up Joybee is no rocket science, simply plug in the power supply and place it anywhere in front of a wall or to that matter any flat surface. Download your contents to the pen-drive or portable HDD and connect it to the USB slot. The projector will automatically recognise the media and display it on the screen.
Menu options are simple and user-friendly. In case you wish to connect your notebook or DVD player as a source, use the accompanying ?CEA? 30 pins cable. The CEA cable, though short in length, has both, the ?D-Sub 15pin VGA? (for computers) and ?composite? (for DVD players etc.) input options.
Though the BenQ ?Joybee GP1? has a 2-watt integrated speaker, it is very feeble and rickety. I used my desktop ample-speakers with good effect; you may even connect it to your home theatre system for dramatic audio or plug in your headphones for more personal listening.
BenQ used its latest 3LED (RGB) technology for light source instead of the usual bulb, leading to clean and exceedingly bright images with vivid colours. The projector has lumens of 100 ANSI, contrast ratio of 2000:1 and native resolution of 858×600?good enough to project images of up to 80 inches in size with optimised brightness. You don?t exactly require a white surface for projection, even coloured walls will do, the Joybee has a wall colour correction preset function for most shades.
The accompanying card size remote is basic and at times confusing, but still good enough to operate the Joybee without shaking your legs.