Complete Review of my Benq Joybee GP2 LED Projector
Hello Friends,
As promised, I am posting a detailed review of my Benq Joybee GP2 LED based mini projector. I apologize for the delay as I was on a short vacation to a beautiful country-Bhutan. I enjoyed every bit there but more on that later.
Coming back to the pj, I got my GP2 from Benq Dealer at Ranchi only. So no shipping involved @ this stage. Also got a 6X4 map type screen.
The projector is in combination of glossy white & black colours. The top is glossy black, all other dimensions finished in glossy white. The glossy black takes record of your finger prints like an FBI agent and its tough to keep it free from these prints. But due to glossy finish, its easier to clean the dust away. Basically its a square when seen from top, but its bottom end is a square of smaller dimension, hence it flares up slightly outwards from bottom to top. Fairly small in size, still will not fit in your palm completely. It has most of the connectivity ports & DC-in jack on the right side when looking from rear. An SD memory card slot is the only port at the rear & right side is free from the duty of housing anything except ventilation holes. It has jog dial type but touch buttons on the top & a full function remote control is supplied; batteries included. The pj has an inbuilt iphone/ipod dock which will be a great connectivity option for the people blessed with Apple products. Just drop in the iphone/ipod in the dock & its ready to go. This was a feature which I personally did not need, at least for now as I don't have any Apple product, but for the package, I had to pay the premium for this option too, irrespective of utilization. Same goes for the optional battery feature, though its 'optional'.
Contents in the package:
1. GP2 Projector (of course)
2. Adapter (19.6V laptop style)
3. Adapter connector extension (for plugging in 220V socket)
4. VGA/ RCA (AV)/ Composite all in one cable (which is of course proprietary)
5. USB streaming cable; used for accessing the internal 2 GB memory and video streaming from your computer/ laptop through USB port.
6. Mini HDMI converter
7. A fully pictorial instruction manual (hard copy)
8. Detailed instruction manual CD
9. A nice black velvety case to carry the PJ.
Now, the performance. When switched on, a blue standby light with blink upto eternity indicating that the PJ is in standby mode. Press, rather touch the button once on the upper panel to fire up the PJ. LED tech powers it on quickly & we are presented with a colorful Benq Splash Screen stating LED tech used in the PJ. After a few seconds, it automatically presents with the main menu. The default home screen is the apple connectivity section and takes a few more seconds to initiallize so that you can browse through other sections: HDMI In, Composite Video In, PC VGA/AV (RCA) In, Apple Dock in, USB Streaming In, Internal Memory In, SD Card In, and finally the Settings menu. I was literally amazed that how many devices the PJ can accomodate! Be it your set top box, PC, camera, DVD player, iphone, ipod, ipad, memory card, external HDD, flash drives...you name it & I connect it! I am yet to find a device at home which cannot be directly connected to this PJ. Definitely thumbs up for connectivity options. Another thing that amazed me is the short throw. Only with a distance of 4-5 feet, it was doing ~85 inches of diagonal screen. With a distance of 8-10 feet, screen size became gigantic ~ 150 inches, more than what most of us need for home entertainment.
I plugged my Laptop with HD content with VGA port as my old lappy lacks an HDMi connectivity. I connected the audio out of the laptop to the PJ's audio in through a simple el-cheapo 3.5mm connectors. Good to notice that the PJ has an audio-out option too. I was already impressed with connectivity options anyway but its a great tool while playing through HDMi or other input modes which support direct audio through same channel. Audio-out will be handy to connect to the home theater system for great sound. So definitely gets some brownie points esp when some more expensive pjs lack this support.
The image quality & the experience:
Before taking a demo of this pj, I was reluctant to buy a PJ with just 200 lumens on it. But with ambient light in tight control, I had my doubts cleared. It really didnt feel like just a 200 lumen pj when in action but with no light. Images were bright enough with fairly good contrast. Black levels were good. Images were crisp enough.
But I noticed focusing issues with this PJ. Though not at all noticeable while playing videos, but while reading documents I noticed slight blur in text at some areas, esp near the edges. I adjusted the focus ring which in turn made the edges crisp but now the text in the middle became blur. I waited for the PJ to become warm enough but this did not improve and I accepted it as a fact. However, while playing videos, this is not an issue at all. To compesate this, Brightness uniformity across the whole screen was great.No fading edges at all.
Ambience light is an issue with all LED pjs & this PJ is not different. Turn on any of the lights & the image is severely washed away. However, slight light squeaking from another room will not hamper the image much & it is very much watchable & enjoyable.
Image quality is fantastic & colors are thrown with precision. HD content playback was exceptional. Colors, contrast, brightness, temperature of color can be adjusted and saved as 'user' along with basic audio settings. I switched on the auto keystone correction to obtain a picture of perfect dimension and it worked like a charm.The fan noise is not high enough to disturb you; hence a good thing. The remote control is full function hence you dont have to touch the pj, once set in place. But the remote sensor in built in front which is ridiculous for home theater PJs esp with short throws. This will be taken more kindly in office presentation environment, but absolutely a bad placement for home theater use. The remote also has a set of keys to access your iphone/ipad. However, placement of sub-menus is fantastic & accessing them is simple & quick. To change the input source, there is only one place - The Home Screen.
Audio quality is more than what you will expect from a small unit as this one, but 2X2W speakers are adequate while enjoying in a less sophisticated setup. No complains with the audio.
Can be switched off without much waiting & it will ask once for confirmation, if you really want to switch it off. However, its instantaneous.
The PJ has an in-built document viewer which can handle MS Office documents. Also it has an inbuilt 2GB memory accessible by USB cable supplied but only with a Windows PC. What I have heard but not tested is that this memory is not accessible through Mac environment. This memory comes handy for storing documents for presentation, or any other multimedia content. The pj does not heats up much even after long usage.
One major cause of concern: It has mounts to be mounted on the ceiling, inverted. But I did not find any option to correct the inverted projected image upright Probably a bug(??) So ceiling mounting is not possible for this PJ.
& now the price which you were waiting for. I was quoted a price of 37,600/- initially for the unit. But I negotiated the price referring them to flipkart & finally scored it @ INR 36,500/-. With 14% VAT slapped on PJs in our state, I was satisfied with the price. Map Type 6X4 screen costed INR 1500/-. So total damage: 38K.
Am I happy? (Positives)
1. yes, as my viewing will be at night mostly, controlling ambience light will not be an issue.
2. Have no worries of burning lamp life- 20K hrs. in normal mode & 30k Hrs in eco mode. Eco mode is pretty much watchable too, should you want to extend 10K hrs more of lamp life, though not required.
3. Happy with connectivity options & Audio-out port.
4. Great image quality.
5. Good self-Audio.
6. Satisfactory price.
7. Uniform brightness.
8. Ultra short throw creates huge images from very short distances. Handy for bedroom viewing too.
9. Good full function remote.
10. Fully adjustable video attributes.
11. Good menu-sub menu set up
12. Does not heat up too much.
Negatives:
1. Focus issue while dealing with small font texts.
2. Short cables.
3. Glossy black top is difficult to keep finger print free.
4. No ceiling mounting possible.
5. Bad placement of IR remote sensor.
I hope you like my review and I have tried to cover everything in detail. Now attaching all the pictures & screen shots as I was not sure where the pics will show up in my post. Now Pics at your service with 'Yours Truly' in one of them.
Thanks for all your contributions for selecting a nice PJ. A big thanks to all.
Regards,
Saket.
Hello Friends,
As promised, I am posting a detailed review of my Benq Joybee GP2 LED based mini projector. I apologize for the delay as I was on a short vacation to a beautiful country-Bhutan. I enjoyed every bit there but more on that later.
Coming back to the pj, I got my GP2 from Benq Dealer at Ranchi only. So no shipping involved @ this stage. Also got a 6X4 map type screen.
The projector is in combination of glossy white & black colours. The top is glossy black, all other dimensions finished in glossy white. The glossy black takes record of your finger prints like an FBI agent and its tough to keep it free from these prints. But due to glossy finish, its easier to clean the dust away. Basically its a square when seen from top, but its bottom end is a square of smaller dimension, hence it flares up slightly outwards from bottom to top. Fairly small in size, still will not fit in your palm completely. It has most of the connectivity ports & DC-in jack on the right side when looking from rear. An SD memory card slot is the only port at the rear & right side is free from the duty of housing anything except ventilation holes. It has jog dial type but touch buttons on the top & a full function remote control is supplied; batteries included. The pj has an inbuilt iphone/ipod dock which will be a great connectivity option for the people blessed with Apple products. Just drop in the iphone/ipod in the dock & its ready to go. This was a feature which I personally did not need, at least for now as I don't have any Apple product, but for the package, I had to pay the premium for this option too, irrespective of utilization. Same goes for the optional battery feature, though its 'optional'.
Contents in the package:
1. GP2 Projector (of course)
2. Adapter (19.6V laptop style)
3. Adapter connector extension (for plugging in 220V socket)
4. VGA/ RCA (AV)/ Composite all in one cable (which is of course proprietary)
5. USB streaming cable; used for accessing the internal 2 GB memory and video streaming from your computer/ laptop through USB port.
6. Mini HDMI converter
7. A fully pictorial instruction manual (hard copy)
8. Detailed instruction manual CD
9. A nice black velvety case to carry the PJ.
Now, the performance. When switched on, a blue standby light with blink upto eternity indicating that the PJ is in standby mode. Press, rather touch the button once on the upper panel to fire up the PJ. LED tech powers it on quickly & we are presented with a colorful Benq Splash Screen stating LED tech used in the PJ. After a few seconds, it automatically presents with the main menu. The default home screen is the apple connectivity section and takes a few more seconds to initiallize so that you can browse through other sections: HDMI In, Composite Video In, PC VGA/AV (RCA) In, Apple Dock in, USB Streaming In, Internal Memory In, SD Card In, and finally the Settings menu. I was literally amazed that how many devices the PJ can accomodate! Be it your set top box, PC, camera, DVD player, iphone, ipod, ipad, memory card, external HDD, flash drives...you name it & I connect it! I am yet to find a device at home which cannot be directly connected to this PJ. Definitely thumbs up for connectivity options. Another thing that amazed me is the short throw. Only with a distance of 4-5 feet, it was doing ~85 inches of diagonal screen. With a distance of 8-10 feet, screen size became gigantic ~ 150 inches, more than what most of us need for home entertainment.
I plugged my Laptop with HD content with VGA port as my old lappy lacks an HDMi connectivity. I connected the audio out of the laptop to the PJ's audio in through a simple el-cheapo 3.5mm connectors. Good to notice that the PJ has an audio-out option too. I was already impressed with connectivity options anyway but its a great tool while playing through HDMi or other input modes which support direct audio through same channel. Audio-out will be handy to connect to the home theater system for great sound. So definitely gets some brownie points esp when some more expensive pjs lack this support.
The image quality & the experience:
Before taking a demo of this pj, I was reluctant to buy a PJ with just 200 lumens on it. But with ambient light in tight control, I had my doubts cleared. It really didnt feel like just a 200 lumen pj when in action but with no light. Images were bright enough with fairly good contrast. Black levels were good. Images were crisp enough.
But I noticed focusing issues with this PJ. Though not at all noticeable while playing videos, but while reading documents I noticed slight blur in text at some areas, esp near the edges. I adjusted the focus ring which in turn made the edges crisp but now the text in the middle became blur. I waited for the PJ to become warm enough but this did not improve and I accepted it as a fact. However, while playing videos, this is not an issue at all. To compesate this, Brightness uniformity across the whole screen was great.No fading edges at all.
Ambience light is an issue with all LED pjs & this PJ is not different. Turn on any of the lights & the image is severely washed away. However, slight light squeaking from another room will not hamper the image much & it is very much watchable & enjoyable.
Image quality is fantastic & colors are thrown with precision. HD content playback was exceptional. Colors, contrast, brightness, temperature of color can be adjusted and saved as 'user' along with basic audio settings. I switched on the auto keystone correction to obtain a picture of perfect dimension and it worked like a charm.The fan noise is not high enough to disturb you; hence a good thing. The remote control is full function hence you dont have to touch the pj, once set in place. But the remote sensor in built in front which is ridiculous for home theater PJs esp with short throws. This will be taken more kindly in office presentation environment, but absolutely a bad placement for home theater use. The remote also has a set of keys to access your iphone/ipad. However, placement of sub-menus is fantastic & accessing them is simple & quick. To change the input source, there is only one place - The Home Screen.
Audio quality is more than what you will expect from a small unit as this one, but 2X2W speakers are adequate while enjoying in a less sophisticated setup. No complains with the audio.
Can be switched off without much waiting & it will ask once for confirmation, if you really want to switch it off. However, its instantaneous.
The PJ has an in-built document viewer which can handle MS Office documents. Also it has an inbuilt 2GB memory accessible by USB cable supplied but only with a Windows PC. What I have heard but not tested is that this memory is not accessible through Mac environment. This memory comes handy for storing documents for presentation, or any other multimedia content. The pj does not heats up much even after long usage.
One major cause of concern: It has mounts to be mounted on the ceiling, inverted. But I did not find any option to correct the inverted projected image upright
Probably a bug(??) So ceiling mounting is not possible for this PJ.& now the price which you were waiting for. I was quoted a price of 37,600/- initially for the unit. But I negotiated the price referring them to flipkart & finally scored it @ INR 36,500/-. With 14% VAT slapped on PJs in our state, I was satisfied with the price. Map Type 6X4 screen costed INR 1500/-. So total damage: 38K.
Am I happy? (Positives)
1. yes, as my viewing will be at night mostly, controlling ambience light will not be an issue.
2. Have no worries of burning lamp life- 20K hrs. in normal mode & 30k Hrs in eco mode. Eco mode is pretty much watchable too, should you want to extend 10K hrs more of lamp life, though not required.
3. Happy with connectivity options & Audio-out port.
4. Great image quality.
5. Good self-Audio.
6. Satisfactory price.
7. Uniform brightness.
8. Ultra short throw creates huge images from very short distances. Handy for bedroom viewing too.
9. Good full function remote.
10. Fully adjustable video attributes.
11. Good menu-sub menu set up
12. Does not heat up too much.
Negatives:
1. Focus issue while dealing with small font texts.
2. Short cables.
3. Glossy black top is difficult to keep finger print free.
4. No ceiling mounting possible.
5. Bad placement of IR remote sensor.
I hope you like my review and I have tried to cover everything in detail. Now attaching all the pictures & screen shots as I was not sure where the pics will show up in my post. Now Pics at your service with 'Yours Truly' in one of them.
Thanks for all your contributions for selecting a nice PJ. A big thanks to all.
Regards,
Saket.
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