Movie Night - Acer Pico Projector Review

[Java Jack]

I picked up an Acer Pico Projector for work related stuff. I think it will work pretty well for outdoor movie nights when camping.

I posted a YouTube review of it here for those interested.



https://youtu.be/36Zo6xpwNEw

[M C Toyer]

Thanks for the tip and review.

I could have used one at my last presentation when I realized my host supplied projector was not compatible with my laptop at showtime. Had to resort to a chalkboard.

In looking for one to buy for myself I was not sure the mini would do the job and did not want to pay the big bucks for the standard size. The Acer looks to be a workable compromise.

M C

[Java Jack]

Thanks. Glad it helped.

Overall, pretty good projector. Certainly good for most presentations. I haven't tried it yet for outdoor movie night but will be doing that pretty soon I think.

The throw ratio seemed pretty good. It was almost 1:1, however far back you were from the screen was about the diagonal size of the image and there did not appear to be too much loss in brightness.

[bdosborn]

I bought a Benq LED projector a couple of years ago and really like it. It has a short throw so I managed to install it inside the trailer. I mounted it over the reading lights to hide the mounting hardware a little. I take it all down when traveling:



I made a screen out of a black-out window shades:



The picture is great at 60" diagonal:



We can mount the screen on the outside of the trailer for movie night.

Bruce

[Java Jack]

Awesome. Looks like it works great. The image is nice and bright, how many lumens is the projector?

[bdosborn]

200 lumens. Good enough for a dark room, not anywhere good enough with the lights on. I've had it out to 70" or so and it's still looks good.

http://www.projectorcentral.com/BenQ-Joybee_GP2.htm



It's already out of production though.

Bruce

[capnTelescope]

Amazon has several projectors with 200 Lumens and 800 x 480 native definition in the $100 neighborhood. Haven't found one with external 12V supply, yet.

[lrrowe]

Bruce, your trailer setup and results is neat!

[Java Jack]

Awesome. What are you using as your source? Your PC?

I just posted a brief blog on how I am using the Pico project and Roku (as a local media player).

http://cre8tiveapps.blogspot.com/2015/08/lights-camera-action-its-movie-night.html

[bdosborn]

Bruce, your trailer setup and results is neat!

Thanks!
Bruce

[bdosborn]

Awesome. What are you using as your source? Your PC?

I'm using a WD TV Live with a USB drive attached. AND, unfortunately its out of production too. Which is a shame as it plays just about any file format, streams Netflix and runs on 12V. WD has a replacement version that's not quite as flexible with file formats and doesn't have Netflix. I'm phasing it out of the home theater setup and replacing it with an HTPC running Plex. The trailer might see something like an Intel NUC running Plex someday down the road.

Bruce

[Java Jack]

Awesome. What are you using as your source? Your PC?

I'm using a WD TV Live with a USB drive attached. AND, unfortunately its out of production too. Which is a shame as it plays just about any file format, streams Netflix and runs on 12V. WD has a replacement version that's not quite as flexible with file formats and doesn't have Netflix. I'm phasing it out of the home theater setup and replacing it with an HTPC running Plex. The trailer might see something like an Intel NUC running Plex someday down the road.

Bruce

You know Roku does something similar to the WDTV box. It plays most file formats, has a USB port so you can play content off a USB drive and has Netflix, Amazon Prime, etc.

[bdosborn]

I've been trying lot of different media boxes lately, its kind of turned into an obsession.

I tried the Roku for streaming to the bedroom TV but I didn't like it as much as the WDTV. I didn't like how half the start screen is an ad and it seemed like the search function always steered me towards pay-per-view. I didn't try it with a the USB drive, I'll have to take another look at it. I replaced it with an Amazon Fire Stick, which I like a lot. It has a snappy interface, runs Plex and hardly ever needs to be rebooted.

I played around with a Rasberry Pi 2 running Plex. It has potential but I found mine needed to be rebooted *a lot*. I got sick of hoping it would work each time I fired it up.

I tried a Chromecast for the HT and its a pretty good streamer. It will stream 1080P Plex from my phone but I have an older audio amp that doesn't have any HDMI connections. As a result I couldn't get 5.1 surround using the Chromecast. It was replaced with an HTPC so I have a fiber-optic connection to the audio amp. The HTPC looks like a keeper for the HT.

The WDTV really shines playing from a single USB drive or streaming Netflix. It usually just works, all though the interface is slow. It doesn't work nearly as well connected to a NAS (crashes a lot). The WDTV is sitting there unplugged while I make up my mind about which device I like best for each TV. The WDTV in the trailer is connected to our home network so I can transfer movies to the connected USB drives while sitting on the couch. That's a cool feature of the WDTV, Windows sees it as as a network hard drive.

My wife goes crazy trying to watch TV as I'm always changing something. I'm getting closer to cutting the cord, I just need to get a setup that the wife buys into.

Bruce

[Java Jack]

I've been trying lot of different media boxes lately, its kind of turned into an obsession.

I tried the Roku for streaming to the bedroom TV but I didn't like it as much as the WDTV. I didn't like how half the start screen is an ad and it seemed like the search function always steered me towards pay-per-view. I didn't try it with a the USB drive, I'll have to take another look at it. I replaced it with an Amazon Fire Stick, which I like a lot. It has a snappy interface, runs Plex and hardly ever needs to be rebooted.

I played around with a Rasberry Pi 2 running Plex. It has potential but I found mine needed to be rebooted *a lot*. I got sick of hoping it would work each time I fired it up.

I tried a Chromecast for the HT and its a pretty good streamer. It will stream 1080P Plex from my phone but I have an older audio amp that doesn't have any HDMI connections. As a result I couldn't get 5.1 surround using the Chromecast. It was replaced with an HTPC so I have a fiber-optic connection to the audio amp. The HTPC looks like a keeper for the HT.

The WDTV really shines playing from a single USB drive or streaming Netflix. It usually just works, all though the interface is slow. It doesn't work nearly as well connected to a NAS (crashes a lot). The WDTV is sitting there unplugged while I make up my mind about which device I like best for each TV. The WDTV in the trailer is connected to our home network so I can transfer movies to the connected USB drives while sitting on the couch. That's a cool feature of the WDTV, Windows sees it as as a network hard drive.

My wife goes crazy trying to watch TV as I'm always changing something. I'm getting closer to cutting the cord, I just need to get a setup that the wife buys into.

Bruce

That I totally understand. I used to work at AMD for a number of years. One of the projects I helped with was AMD's HTPC platform that integrated an Amp into a PC design. It was actually quite nice and the amp was really nice. We integrated TV Tuners into it for OTA content. We were working on a cable card like solution when the resources were pulled from it. I managed all the partners we worked with on the project. I had remote control guys, motherboard guys, audio amp guys, Msft and several chassis guys all helping out. I had a couple of them running at home and they were awesome. We just couldn't get traction in the market without the cablecard solution in place.

[Vedette]

Wow, you guys have a language all of your own??? ops
Wish the rest of us, that might just be looking to have something we can plug into our 12V on a cold rainy night, could understand a word you are saying.
Good Roads
Brian & Sandi