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With its 4,000-lumen brightness rating, the Hitachi CP-WX4041WN ($1,199) is an obvious candidate if you need WXGA (1,280-by-800) resolution and an image that’s both suitably large for a midsize conference room or classroom and bright enough to stand up to ambient light. The bad news is that the projector’s color balance in our tests was off enough to show as a tints in some (mostly gray-scale) images. But unless you need top-tier color quality, that won’t be an issue.
The WX4041WN’s ($899.99 at Amazon)(Opens in a new window) toughest competition includes two models that bracket it in terms of brightness. The Epson PowerLite 1940W WXGA 3LCD Projector ($1,374.95 at Amazon)(Opens in a new window) offers a little higher brightness rating and the Epson PowerLite 955WH WXGA 3LCD Projector ($921.00 at Amazon)(Opens in a new window) , which is our Editors’ Choice lightweight WXGA projector for a small to midsize room, offers a bit lower rating. Each of the three is built around a three-chip LCD engine. That makes brightness comparisons straightforward, since, unlike most DLP projectors, they each deliver the same color as white brightness. (For more this topic, see Color Brightness: What It Is, Why It Matters.) It also means that none of them can show the rainbow artifacts (flashes of red, green, and blue) that are always a concern for DLP models.
The key disadvantage of the design is that, as with most LCD data projectors, none of these models offer 3D support, a feature that’s all but standard on most DLP projectors today, including the NEC Display Solutions NP-M363W ($702.50 at Amazon)(Opens in a new window) . However, this won’t matter in most cases, since few data applications include 3D material.
Setup and Brightness
At 3.4 by 12.6 by 9.7 inches (HWD) and 6 pounds 13 ounces, the WX4041WN is small and light enough to carry easily. However, it’s in a size and weight class that’s more likely to wind up permanently installed or on a cart.
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Setup is standard, with a manual focus and a manual 1.2x zoom. Image inputs on the back panel include two HDMI ports for computers or video sources, two VGA ports for computers or component video input (one of which can also work as a monitor-out port), and a composite video port. In addition, there’s a USB Type B port for direct USB display and mouse control, a LAN port for sending images and audio, as well as for controlling the projector over a network, and two USB Type A ports for reading files directly from a USB memory key or for connecting an optional Wi-Fi dongle ($99).
The WX4041WN is easily bright enough to throw a suitably large image for a midsize room. According to the Society of Motion Picture and Television Engineers (SMPTE) recommendations, and assuming a 1.0-gain screen, 4,000 lumens is enough for a 241- to 326-inch image (measured diagonally) in theater-dark lighting. Even with moderate ambient light, it’s bright enough for a 160-inch image. For smaller screen sizes, you can use one of the projector’s two Eco modes, one of its lower-brightness predefined modes, or both.
Image and Audio Quality
In testing, image quality for the WX4041WN qualified as good for data images, but well short of excellent because of the problem with color balance. Most projectors show some tints in some shades of gray between black and white on our standard suite of DisplayMate(Opens in a new window) tests, but typically only in one or two of their predefined modes. With the WX4041WN, I saw obvious tints in every mode, with the tints more noticeable in some than in others.
See How We Test Projectors
In real-world use, however, unless you have a critical need for colors being just so, the color balance being off won’t be a problem using most predefined modes. However, you may notice a tint in some levels of gray in gray-scale images or even a color shift in color images. In Dynamic mode in my tests, the color shift was obvious enough to give full-motion video a blue bias.
In most other ways, the WX4041WN scored well on our tests. Colors were suitably saturated and bright in all modes, and images that tend to cause pixel jitter and dynamic moiré with an analog connection were as rock solid when using a VGA port as it was when using an HDMI port. Most important for most data images is that the WX4041WN retained detail well. White text on black was highly readable at 7.5 points on my tests, and black text on white was crisp and readable at 6.8 points.
Full-motion video is watchable with the WX4041WN even for long sessions, but not particularly high quality. As with any WXGA projector, the resolution without scaling is limited to 720p HD. More of an issue, however, is a noticeably low contrast ratio. In my tests, the contrast ratio was a little better with the Dynamic predefined mode, but whatever the mode gained in overall quality from the better contrast ratio, it lost from having the blue tint.
One other small plus is that the 16-watt mono speaker offers reasonably good sound quality. However, the top volume is only suitable for a small room. For higher volume, you can plug an external sound system into the stereo audio output.
Conclusion
Consider a DLP projector like the NEC NP-M363W if you need 3D functionality. If you don’t need 3D, be sure to look at the Epson 955WH and the Epson 1940W. Both delivered better color balance on our tests than the Hitachi CP-WX4041WN for better overall color quality. However, the WX4041WN offers its own set of strengths. It did a better job on our tests maintaining detail than the Epson 1940W, and it gives you a noticeably brighter image than the Epson 955WH at any given size.
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The Hitachi CP-WX4041WN WXGA projector is easily bright enough for a midsize room, and despite some color-quality issues in our tests, it delivers solid image quality for data, as well as watchable video.
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Source link : https://www.pcmag.com/reviews/hitachi-cp-wx4041wn
