Acer K330 Projector - Physical Tour

Posted on August 7, 2013 by Phil Jones

Acer K330 Appearance

The Acer K330 has a square, white plastic case. The lens is located slightly right of center and protrudes from the front of the projector and has a cap to protect it when not in use. The lens is surrounded by a focus ring. To the right of the lens, just above it, is an IR receiving eye. There is a single height adjustable screw foot in the center for adjusting the height. On the left side of the front panel is an exhaust vent and fan.

On top of the projector, toward the rear, is a control panel with basic control functions. There are buttons for Power (with indicator light), Source selection, Menu and menu navigation (Up/Down/Left/Right buttons). The Menu button also acts as a Select button once a menu item has been highlighted. The Up/Down buttons also function for keystone correction adjustment. There are also buttons for Resync (for syncing the projector to a new source) and an “e” key for accessing Acer empowering technology (see “Special Features” above).

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On the right and left sides of the projector are intake and exhaust vents and fans.

The rear panel packs a lot of connection options into a small space. Starting on the left side, there is an SD card reader, with the AC power cord connector and a Kensington lock port below. This is followed by a USB Type A jack for displaying from a USB thumb drive and a USB Type B mini jack for displaying from a PC via USB. Next up is an HDMI input, a standard VGA input, a composite video input and a 3.5 mm mini jack for audio output to external speakers. Along the bottom of the rear panel is a small, built-in, two watt speaker.

Acer K330 Setup and Menus

The K330 (and mini projectors in general) does not have any zoom capability (other than a digital zoom), so setup can be slow as the projector must to be positioned at both the correct height and distance from the screen. The additional issue is that the K330 only has a single front height adjustable foot, thus complicating the task. So, if a quick setup is desired, the use of keystone adjustment is necessary. Fortunately, the K330’s auto keystone correction works quite well and combined with the relatively small image displayed, does not cause noticeable distortion. Also, in the menu there is an “Installation” section that displays a grid that can be used while positioning the projector and making adjustments with the manual keystone correction to properly align the displayed image.

Once it’s in position, the user can select the desired display mode from the main menu and make the usual adjustments (contrast, brightness, color and tint) to the picture. As we noted with the K11, there are a great number of adjustments available for such a small projector. There are six picture modes (plus a User mode) and five wall color settings to choose from. An advanced menu gives you a choice of different color temperatures and degamma settings. Overall, this is an impressive array of control for any low priced projector, much less a mini projector.

Acer K330 Setup and Menus Slideshow

Picture Menu

Advanced Menu

Acer K330 Remote Control

The K330’s remote control is a very small, black remote with a one-piece button pad. Buttons are appropriately grouped and cover all the important functions without accessing them through the menu.

In addition to the usual Power, Menu and menu navigation buttons (the Up/Down buttons also adjust the built-in speaker volume), there are also buttons for aspect ratio, source, video “hide” (which blanks the display), image re-sync and freeze. Additionally, there are buttons for playback of media files, toggling between media on a USB drive or SD card, individual source access and to access the Acer Empowering menu feature.

As is the standard for remotes of this type, the buttons are not backlit or glow-in-the-dark.