BenQ HT1075 Projector Review – Special Features 2

The BenQ HT1075 has a single 10 watt speaker.  It happens to be located on the right hand side (if you are facing the front of the projector).  What’s impressive is that it throws a good deal of sound.  Certainly there’s plenty to fill my 400+ home theater, and there was plenty last week in my front yard, watching some 30 Rock on a warm “summer” night.

Now that I have commended the projector for having significant volume to carry a good sized room, let’s talk about sound quality.

There’s plenty of mid-range, and not a lot of real high end, so it sounds reasonably balanced, not tinny.

That’s a good thing, of course.  What the HT1075 does not have, however, is any serious bass.

OK, it’s fine for watching the average movie, but when it comes time to “rock the house” you just can’t expect a projector that’s a lot smaller than a small subwoofer, to produce real bass whether Lord of the Rings, or Transformers, or any action flick for that matter.

The good news is that there is an audio out, so you can feed the sound (if it’s coming from an MHL device) to an external speaker system.  If your source material is coming from cable/satellite, or DVD/Blu-ray, then you can run audio directly from your source to your AV receiver to “rock that house.”

One disappointment, as with many home entertainment projectors, although there is that audio out, it disables the internal speaker.  Too bad, otherwise, you could buy a small, inexpensive powered subwoofer, to add the bass the internal speaker lacks.  It really is a shame, and I’ve complained every time a manufacturer auto disables the speaker when plugging something into the output.

Smart move BenQ!  I fully approve of Wireless HD, as an alternate solution for many.  Making it optional keeps the HT1075’s cost down.  The unfortunate part is that the Wireless HD kit isn’t available yet, nor is the price set.  I had spoken with someone at BenQ who expected it to be in the $100 range, but that doesn’t seem right.  Sure enough, BenQ managed to confirm a projected list price of $349, right before this publication.

Most wireless hdmi solutions are in the $300 or under range, give or take.  There are two pieces – a transmitter and a receiver.  The transmitter goes with the rest of your sources, and transmits the them to the projector.  Whether the receiver on the other end can send audio from an MHL device plugged into the projector, we’ll have to wait to find out.

There are 3rd party Wireless HD solutions available for a lot less, so you aren’t obligated to use BenQ’s or have to wait until December 2014 for its availability.  Third party alternatives tat will work with pretty much any projector (as will the BenQ).  For example, we’re waiting right now to review a DVDO Air3C-Pro Wireless HD setup, which is inbound, and loaded with features.  The DVDO Air3 we reviewed in April, is likely more in line feature wise with BenQ’s new offering.

The primary menu system, now called Advanced Menu, is very similar to a long list of BenQ home and business projectors.  What’s new for the HT1075 is the Basic Menu system.  When selected, it offers up only some basic controls on the left side of the screen.

This is for folks that aren’t interested in tweaking color, or the other advanced features.

It keeps things simple!

Still, you can always switch back and forth, should you desire to change something only available on the Advanced menu.   We’ll look at images of all the Advanced Menu features and also the Basic Menus on the Hardware Tour page.

Shown here:  the Advanced Main Menu: