BenQ MP772ST Projector - Performance

Posted on October 4, 2013 by Art Feierman

BenQ MP772ST Projector - Brightness

The MP772ST is rated at 2500 lumens. While many projectors fail to even come close to their rated output, the MP772ST had no such problems. In Dynamic mode (the brightest), we measured 2537 lumens. As there is no zooming ability, all measurements were taken with the projector displaying a 70” diagonal image, with the projector just under 3’ from the screen.

Below, in order, to show you relative brightness and color: Dynamic mode (in User 1), Presentation, Cinema, and sRGB. All images were taken at the same exposure.

Using Presentation mode, the output only dropped to 2226 lumens, which is still quite bright. sRGB mode, which provided the best overall color, contrast between dark and light scenes and was best for video viewing, came in at a respectable 1136 lumens. Cinema mode, which oddly did not improve much on Presentation mode for movie viewing, still had a huge drop in lumens, coming in at 778 lumens. Using either Dynamic or Presentation mode, the MP772ST will more than hold its own against any other projector in its price range.

Remember the BenQ has extensive image and color controls. The two brightest modes' colors can be improved a bit with some adjustment if it's that important. Both look pretty good. Use sRGB instead of Cinema, it will look better, even for movies.

Dropping the lamp into Eco brightness mode resulted in a drop of about 25%, which still provided almost 1900 lumens in Dynamic mode. As with other DLP projectors that use Brilliant Color (BC), turning off Brilliant Color results in a huge drop in lumen output. For example, turning off Brilliant Color in Dynamic mode resulted in a whopping 70% drop in lumens (the same as Cinema mode). Fortunately, there’s no real reason to turn BC off, as the picture quality is better with it on.

Brilliant Color On

Brilliant Color Off

In the image you can see my laptop screen and (just barely) the BenQ sitting right next to it. The projected image from that distance is filling my screen from top to bottom, which works out to about 88 inches diagonal. Whle the room looks dark, it wasn't. The BenQ, for this photo is in Presentation mode. My MacBook Pro's laptop screen is pretty bright, but the projected image is brighter. The image was taken in my office, with one rear 65 watt recessed lamp on in the room. That lights up the back of the room and still throughs a modest amount of light to the front. To get a good exposures for the color charts, the room appears dark. Note that all of the test images were shot with that light on. -art

Click Image to Enlarge

Audible Noise

The BenQ MP772ST performed much better in the noise department than most projectors in its class. It’s rated at only 32 dB in Normal lamp mode, which is equivalent to many multimedia projectors in Eco mode. Subjectively, the MP772ST seemed a bit louder than that, but still below the competition. Using Eco lamp, the noise level drops to an almost home theater projector level of 27 dB. To put this noise level in perspective, it was only a few years ago that home theater projectors had this level of noise in their respective lamp modes. With the MP772ST in Eco mode, it’s equal to many home theater projectors of today in their Standard lamp mode. In either lamp mode, the MP772ST’s built-in, dual 5W speakers provide plenty of volume to overcome the fan noise.

Networking

The BenQ MP772ST supports Crestron’s RoomView network service. Connecting the MP772ST to a computer network via its RJ-45 jack and using software available as a free download from Crestron (www.crestron.com), allows the user or their IT manager network control of up to 250 networked projectors. Once set up, RoomView allows for centralized PC monitoring of lamp life, email alerts, notifications, help requests, service reminders, projector failure or theft and event scheduling. Unfortunately, there is no ability to project images via a network, either wired or wirelessly.