BenQ HT1075 Projector Review – Special Features 2 Posted on October 4, 2014 By Art Feierman 1. BenQ HT1075 Projector Review - BenQ HT1075 Projector - Overview - HT1075 Highlights2. BenQ HT1075 Projector Review – Special Features - Single Chip DLP Design, 3D - HT1075 Lens Shift - Projector Lamp Modes - MHL and Audio on the HT1075 Projector3. BenQ HT1075 Projector Review – Special Features 2 - HT1075 Audio and Sound Quality - Wireless HD Capability (Optional) - Sorry, No PIP and SWAP - Revised Menu System4. BenQ HT1075 Projector Review – Hardware Tour - HT1075 Hardware - Overview and Lens - HT1075 Control Panel - HT1075 Inputs and Connectors - HT1075 Lens Throw - HT1075 Lens Shift5. BenQ HT1075 Projector Review – Hardware Tour 2 - HT1075 Remote Control - HT1075 Menus - HT1075 Optional Wireless HD6. BenQ HT1075 Projector Review – Picture Quality - Impressive Out of the Box Color - Skin Tones - HT1075 Black Level Performance7. BenQ HT1075 Projector Review – Picture Quality 2 - Dark Shadow Detail Handling - HT1075 HDTV and Sports Viewing - HT1075 Overall Picture Quality8. BenQ HT1075 Projector Review – Performance - Color Temp, Cinema, Pre-Calibration - Affect of Zoom Lens on Brightness - HT1075 Best Mode Color Temperature - Post Calibration - HT1075 Gamma9. BenQ HT1075 Projector Review – Performance 2 - HT1075 Sharpness - More Sharpness comparison Images - HT1075 Image Noise - Audible Noise10. BenQ HT1075 Projector Calibration and Settings - BenQ HT1075 Pre-calibration Settings - BenQ HT1075 Calibration - Mike's General Notes - Mike's Grayscale Calibration Notes11. BenQ HT1075 Projector Advanced Calibration - About this Calibration Information - BenQ HT1075 CMS - Mike's CMS Calibration Notes - Calibration Charts (Before and After)12. BenQ HT1075 Projector Review – Summary - BenQ HT1075 - Home Entertainment or Home Theater Projector? - Picture Quality - HT1075 Brightness - The Bottom Line: Great Yet A Bit Disappointing!13. BenQ HT1075 Projector Review Summary 2 - The Bottom Line - continued - HT1075 Pros - HT1075 Cons14. BenQ HT1075 Projector Specifications HT1075 PROJECTOR – SPECIAL FEATURES: Audio, Optional Wireless HD, No PIP/SWAP, New Menu System HT1075 Audio and Sound QualityThe 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. Click Image to EnlargeWireless HD Capability (Optional)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. Click Image to EnlargeSorry, No PIP and SWAPNot that a lot of folks use it, sometimes PIP – aka Picture in Picture can be fun. I’ve used it on other projectors to project a football game on the large screen, and a different one on the insert (I have two satellite boxes). Nice. I mention specifically that the BenQ HT1075 does not have PIP because you’ll find a PIP button on the remote control. Obviously this remote is used with other projectors, at least one of which must offer PIP. The SWAP feature, of course, let’s one switch the positions of the larger image and the inserted one. No PIP, no Swap. I just didn’t want you all to get your hearts set on having PIP with the BenQ HT1075 home entertainment projector! Well, some satellite and cable boxes will offer a similar capability, if its important to you. There are also some projectors at least around the price range, that do offer PIP. Revised Menu SystemThe 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: Advanced Menu, features lots of controls, all but a handful are gone in Basic Menu mode. It’s easy to switch back and forth. Click Image to Enlarge 1. BenQ HT1075 Projector Review - BenQ HT1075 Projector - Overview - HT1075 Highlights2. BenQ HT1075 Projector Review – Special Features - Single Chip DLP Design, 3D - HT1075 Lens Shift - Projector Lamp Modes - MHL and Audio on the HT1075 Projector3. BenQ HT1075 Projector Review – Special Features 2 - HT1075 Audio and Sound Quality - Wireless HD Capability (Optional) - Sorry, No PIP and SWAP - Revised Menu System4. BenQ HT1075 Projector Review – Hardware Tour - HT1075 Hardware - Overview and Lens - HT1075 Control Panel - HT1075 Inputs and Connectors - HT1075 Lens Throw - HT1075 Lens Shift5. BenQ HT1075 Projector Review – Hardware Tour 2 - HT1075 Remote Control - HT1075 Menus - HT1075 Optional Wireless HD6. BenQ HT1075 Projector Review – Picture Quality - Impressive Out of the Box Color - Skin Tones - HT1075 Black Level Performance7. BenQ HT1075 Projector Review – Picture Quality 2 - Dark Shadow Detail Handling - HT1075 HDTV and Sports Viewing - HT1075 Overall Picture Quality8. BenQ HT1075 Projector Review – Performance - Color Temp, Cinema, Pre-Calibration - Affect of Zoom Lens on Brightness - HT1075 Best Mode Color Temperature - Post Calibration - HT1075 Gamma9. BenQ HT1075 Projector Review – Performance 2 - HT1075 Sharpness - More Sharpness comparison Images - HT1075 Image Noise - Audible Noise10. BenQ HT1075 Projector Calibration and Settings - BenQ HT1075 Pre-calibration Settings - BenQ HT1075 Calibration - Mike's General Notes - Mike's Grayscale Calibration Notes11. BenQ HT1075 Projector Advanced Calibration - About this Calibration Information - BenQ HT1075 CMS - Mike's CMS Calibration Notes - Calibration Charts (Before and After)12. BenQ HT1075 Projector Review – Summary - BenQ HT1075 - Home Entertainment or Home Theater Projector? - Picture Quality - HT1075 Brightness - The Bottom Line: Great Yet A Bit Disappointing!13. BenQ HT1075 Projector Review Summary 2 - The Bottom Line - continued - HT1075 Pros - HT1075 Cons14. BenQ HT1075 Projector Specifications BenQ HT1075 Projector Review – Special Features BenQ HT1075 Projector Review – Hardware Tour