REVIEWS
STRAP
VIDEO PROJECTOR
HEAD
Sony CPJ-100E
INTRO
A serious video projector for less than
£1000? You’ve got to be kidding... The Sony CPJ-100E is no joke, though it does
have its funny side, as Rick Maybury has been finding out
COPY
Video projectors are big expensive, lumpy
things, right? Normally yes, but in the past two years a new generation of
compact single-element LCD projectors, costing less than £1000, have come onto
the market,. The trouble is they’re not really up to serious home cinema
applications. The two models we’ve seen so far, from Marantz and Citizen, can display
images of up to 50-inches across, but because they use relatively small LCD panels,
and low power lamps, the pictures tended to look quite coarse, and are only
viewable in conditions of near total darkness.
Now Sony have joined the fray with the CPJ-100E.
Like the others it’s a small table-top design, and it sells for just under
£1000. In performance terms it comes somewhere between the two budget models
and the cheapest serious home video projector, which is the £1800 Sharp XV-315P.
The picture quality of LCD video projectors is largely determined by two
factors, the number of pixels in the display element (or elements), and the
brightness of the lamp. In this respect the CPJ-100 does quite well; the 1.3-inch
LCD panel has 180,000 pixels, that’s more than either the Citizen or Marantz models,
and almost two thirds as many as the Sharp 315. The lamp is rated at 55 watts,
so the image is reasonably bright, in fact it’s still just about watchable if
there’s some incident light on the screen. It’s looks even better when shown on
Sony’s optional screen (STJN90), though
this adds a further £180 to the price.
The design is very unusual, with almost all
of the electronics and projector components built inside a cylindrical housing,
about the size of a small milk saucepan. It’s attached on one side to a stand,
that allows it to rotate through 90 degrees. This simplifies screen alignment,
but more significantly, it means it can project an overhead image, on to a ceiling.
This opens up all sorts of possibilities, including the obvious one of watching
TV or video in bed. In fact the CPJ-100 doesn’t have a built-in tuner, so it has
to be connected to a VCR in order to view television programmes, but that’s the
way it is with most video projectors. Sony tell us it can be used with the
optional tuner available for their TRV series of camcorders, in which case the
projector might be of interest to campers and caravanners, though they would
need access to a mains supply as the projector has quite a healthy power consumption,
and can’t easily be driven from a battery.
The projector can handle both PAL and NTSC
formatted signals, from composite or S-Video sources; it has a stereo sound
system, though the two small speakers, mounted either side of the case, have a
fairly limited frequency range, and audio output is quite low, moreover they
have to compete with two cooling fans mounted above and below the projector
lamp. The bulb has a quoted life of around 400 hours -- it comes with a spare
-- and it can be easily changed in just a couple of minutes. The only other item
requiring routine maintenance is a removable air filter, which needs to be cleaned
periodically.
It has few controls. On the top of the housing
there are three buttons, one for on/off switching, the other two are for setting
the volume; relative level is shown by a simple on-screen graphic display. On
the side there’s a knob, for adjusting image brightness, and next to the AV
input sockets (three phono and one S-Video connector) there’s a switch for
selecting PAL or NTSC operation. Focus is set manually, by turning the lens
barrel.
It’s at its best in near dark conditions,
preferably using the high-performance screen, though even on a plain white painted
surface brightness, contrast and colour fidelity are still good. LCD projectors
often have trouble with subtle shades and tones but this one isn’t too bad at
all, though reds are a little exaggerated. Patterning, caused by the pixels on
the display element are fairly obvious at larger screen sizes, it’s a bit like
looking through a fine mesh curtain, but on images between 30 and 40-inches across
it’s not too obvious; slightly de-focusing the image helps a little.
Whilst the CPJ-100E isn’t really an alternative
to more powerful single and triple-element projectors it certainly has its
uses. In the dark, on a good screen it does quite well; coupled to a decent
surround sound system, it’s just the job for the occasional big-screen
presentation, or showing home video movies. It’s also a lot of fun in bed,
though finding a suitably firm spot to stand it on can prove awkward...
BOX COPY 1
THE OPPOSITION
The only other ‘budget’ video projectors are
the Citizens 30PC (£800) and Marantz VP500 (£700). The 30PC has a maximum
screen size of 50-inches and the 35-watt lamp isn’t terribly bright, but the
LCD element is only a little way behind the Sony model with 170,000 pixels, so
image quality is reasonably good. The little Marantz projector has an even more
modestly-powered lamp, rated at just 25 watts. The display is made up from just
100,000 pixels, so the picture is quite coarse, but like the CPJ-100 it can
project an image vertically, this time using a swivelling lens. Screen sizes of
up to 50-inches are possible but picture quality is fairly average once you get
past 30-inches or so. It also does quite well in the bedroom, moreover it can
be powered from a car battery, so it might appeal to camcorder owners, who can’t
wait to get home to watch their home video movies, and don’t fancy taking a TV around
with them. The ‘cheapest’ home cinema
projector, that’s worth considering, is the Sharp XV-315P, though at £1800 it
is hardly an impulse buy. Nevertheless, it’s capable of projecting an image up
to 100-inches across with reasonable clarity in pitch darkness, though it’s at
it’s best on 50 to 60-inch screens where the pixel patterning is less
intrusive.
BOX COPY 2
DATA STREAM
Sony CPJ-100E £1000
Pros: Simple
to use, fairly good picture, swivelling lens great for bedroom viewing
Cons:
No tuner, tinny sound, ‘pixellation’ apparent on larger images
Size 123 x 162 x 157 mm
Weight 1.5kg
Telephone Sony (01932) 816000
Performance 8
Build quality 9
Value for money 8
Overall Total 88%
---end---
Ó R. Maybury 1995 1007
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