BenQ PE5120 - Performance: Image Quality

Posted on November 12, 2004 by Art Feierman

Menus

The PE5120's Menus Slideshow

The PE5120's Menus

Benq5120 Menu1

The PE5120's Menus

BenQ5120 Menu2

The PE5120's menus are simple, well laid out, and very understandable. Best of all, you're about as likely to use them as you are to use the ones on your traditional TV set, which is about never. Below are a couple of shots of the menus.

Noise Levels

The BenQ is one of the quietest HT projectors to hit the market. With 31db, at full power mode, that's even quieter than even BenQ's two much more expensive home theater models. In economy mode, the 27db level is absolutely as close to silent as any out there, and should not be audible (unless nothing's on in the room and you get close and listen very carefully.)

Connecting Sources

BenQ has put more than sufficient room between jacks, so that even my very heavy duty, extremely thick component cables did not create a problem. I did notice however, that the surround cutoutS for the component RCA jacks (red green and blue) don't have a lot of clearance. Still my own cables were able to be plugged in, no problem, although with more depth, they might have been able to be pushed in an extra 1/4 inch. Again, this is not a problem, just a comment.

Computers and DVI

Here's the one complaint I have. The BenQ projector has a DVI-I connector for DVI (it is HDCP compatible of course), which can also support HDMI devices. In addition, the fact that it is DVI-I, not DVI-D, means that you can feed an analog signal through that port, such as a typical signal from a desktop or laptop PC. You can, therefore, using the DVI-I port, hook up your computer and surf the internet, view documents, etc.

Here's the problem. If you have another DVI source, such as from your cable or satellite box, (or DVD player), you can't have more than one connected at a time. I have yet to see another projector with two DVI's it isn't completely uncommon for projectors to have a separate computer input (analog). If you have more than one need for the DVI port you will either have to unplug, or buy a small switch box. Most people however will be fine, you can use your component video inputs for DVD, HDTV, etc, if you really need the DVI for your computer. (Very few people even hook up their computers in their home theater.