BenQ MH733 Projector Review - Performance

The BenQ MH733 performed admirably on the light test. I was hoping the brightest setting would be a little bit higher but it was respectable nonetheless, as well, the MH733 delivered some very strong performance in Presentation and Cinema Modes, which are the modes you want to perform best anyway. Even though the measurement of the brightest setting is only about 77% of the manufacturer claim of 4000 lumens, make no mistake, the Bright Mode on this projector is very bright, it will absolutely light up any dark room, and should have little issue showing a clear, sharp picture in most well-it rooms with artificial or ambient light.

So let’s take a deeper look at those exact numbers. On Bright mode, with Wide-Zoom, typically the brightest, the MH733 clocked in at 3093 lumens, a 23% reduction from the manufacturer claim. Switching to Mid-Zoom, Bright Mode fell a bit down to 2826 lumens, only 71% of the claimed 4000 lumens. On Presentation Mode, the projector put out 2254 lumens. Cinema and sRGB both ended up measuring 2350 lumens, both more than I expected. Lastly, both User 1 and User 2 actually came out the brightest at 2858 lumens. These can be adjusted ******** and saved.

The BenQ MH733 as mentioned earlier has 4 different energy modes, Normal, Eco, SmartEco, and LampSave. Eco Mode clocked in at 1889 lumens and is your basic reduced lamp, light mode meant to conserve lamp hours with a lower brightness. SmartEco Mode analyzes input content to determine the brightness required for optimal color and contrast performance, conserving up to 70% lamp power. During the light test, SmartEco measured out to 2826, the same as Bright mode in Mid-Zoom. Finally, LampSave Mode, BenQ’s lamp mode that lays claim to the 15,000 hours of lamp life, acts similarly to SmartEco Mode by adjusting lamp power according to the content. Difference being SmartEco tries to get your best combination of brightness, color, and contrast, while LampSave’s bigger goal is simply maximizing lamp hours. LampSave mode came in the same as Eco mode at 1889 lumens.

Overall, the light readings seemed to hit my expectations based on the results I’ve seen from similar projectors in this class and price range, most recently the Epson 990U and InFocus IN2128HDx, the former which performed incredibly while the latter was thoroughly disappointing. I would throw the BenQ MH733 pretty close to the middle, but also suggest it’s closer to the Epson 990U than it is to the InFocus IN2128 HDx.

For some reason I could not find the decibels measurement anywhere but on the whole, I did not find the MH733 to be particular loud.  Start up and shut down were noticeably louder processes compared to basic operation on brightest lamp settings.

If you're presenting with sound, it is unlikely that the fan noise is going to affect you much.  If you're presenting without sound, while you will certainly hear the fan, it's not going to be loud enough to bother anyone.