NEC UM352W Ultra Short Throw Projector Review - Hardware Tour

Posted on February 15, 2016 by Art Feierman

NEC UM352W Projector - Hardware Tour: Appearance, Connector Panel, Control Pad, Remote

Appearance

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The NEC UM352W is a moderate size classroom and business class projector packaged in an attractive white colored case. Although not a ‘portable’ projector, this model is still compact and light enough to be easily moved into a conference room or classroom when needed, if not permanently installed using a wall or ceiling mount. The projector’s lens is located on the top, toward the left-rear (when placed on a table and viewed from the front). When placed in this table-top position the image is projected upward at a sharp angle, as necessary for its required placement just below and very near to the screen. A ceiling or wall mount, for placing the projector above the top of the screen, is the more ideal placement for this type of projector. When mounted in the inverted position above the top of the screen the image is projected sharply downward and the projector is kept out of the way for presenters using the interactive features on the electronic white board.

The front of the projector, as seen in the 1st gallery photo above, has an air inlet vent with the projector's air filter located behind that vent. The right side of the projector (2nd photo) has air exhaust vents. The rear of the projector, as shown in the 3rd photo with the cable cover in place and in the 4th photo with the cable cover removed, is where all of the input connectors are located. The 5th photo shows the left side of the projector where the speaker is located toward the rear and the focus ring is located along the lower edge just forward from the speaker.

The projector's lens and control pad are located on the top of the projector, as can be seen in the 1st and 3rd photos.

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Connector Panel

The rear of the projector is where all of the signal and power connections are made. The connector panel includes (from top to bottom and left to right):

Three USB ports for the optional Wi-Fi adapter, memory drives, PC, etc.
Network (Ethernet LAN) port
Two HDMI ports (one with MHL support
Serial communications port (for PC control)
Analog audio output
Analog PC video (VGA) output and input
Analog audio input
S-video input (limited to 480i video)
Composite video input (limited to 480i video)
Stereo analog audio input
Microphone input
AC power connector

Control Pad

The UM352W's control pad is located on the top of the projector and has the buttons and status LEDs as shown in the photo above. The power button, input source select, Eco mode and auto adjust (for use with analog PC input) is located to the left along with the status LEDs. The 4-way menu navigation ring is on the right with an enter button in the center of the ring. The ring also allows for control the speaker volume, when a menu is not being displayed. Just below the navigation ring is the menu button and the exit button (to go back to the previous menu). Finally to the right is the black square window for the remote control's receiver.

Remote Control

The supplied NEC remote control is a compact size with no back light.

The Power On and Off (standby) and the Input buttons are located at the top of the remote.

Below that is a group of buttons that do double duty as either a numeric keypad and for selecting the specific signal input source. Note this is a somewhat generic NEC projector remote and certain buttons do not function with the UM353W (e.g., HDBaseT input).

Below those are buttons to bring up the on-screen menus, AV Mute, Freeze (to freeze the current on-screen image), and Exit (to go back to the previous menu).

Below that is the 4-way navigation buttons with an enter button in the center.

Below that are rocker buttons for Digital Zoom and Page (for use with a connected PC).

Below that are two button for mouse right and left click functions (for use with a connected PC)

The final two rows of buttons are for placing the projector in Eco mode, making keystone corrections, making picture adjustments, controlling the speaker volume, displaying the Help information, displaying the digital zoom bar, and selecting the display aspect ratio.