4000 Archives - Projector Reviews

BenQ LH730 is a 4000-lumen LED business projector

The BenQ LH730 is a 4000-lumen LED projector designed for use in medium-sized conference rooms. It features a 1080p resolution, 98% Rec.709 color gamut, and a 20,000-hour LED light source [up to 30,000 in eco-mode]. The LH730 is also equipped with a number of features that make it easy to use and install, such as a 1.2x optical zoom, horizontal and vertical digital keystone correction, and corner fit.

In terms of image quality, the LH730 produces sharp and vibrant images. The 1080p resolution is more than adequate for most presentations, and the 98% Rec. 709 color gamut ensures that colors are accurately reproduced. The LED light source also provides a long lifespan and low maintenance.

The LH730 has a very simple set of menus and a hassle-free setup process. The 1.2x optical zoom and horizontal and vertical digital keystone correction make it easy to position the image on the screen, and the corner fit feature ensures that the image is perfectly square. The projector also comes with a remote control for easy operation.

“The BenQ LH730 revolutionizes the projector category as the first affordable commercial-grade projector built for all the demands of this market. It fills the gap with high brightness, native 1080p resolution, incredible color accuracy, 24/7 use, and zero maintenance with no panel misalignment or color degradation concerns. It's exactly what's needed in rigorous commercial settings where projectors are required." - Bob Wudeck, senior director of business development at BenQ

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BenQ LH730
Price	$1299.00
Technology	DLP
Displayed Resolution	1920 x 1080
Brightness (Manufacturer Claim)	4000 ANSI Lumens
Light Source	4LED
Contrast	500,000:1
Zoom Lens Ratio	1.2:1
Lens Shift	None
Light Source Life	20,000 Hrs
Sound System	10-watt mono
Weight	11.7 lb
Warranty	Two (2) Years

OVERVIEW

Weighing 11.6lbs, the BenQ LH730 is smaller than most other business projectors that we review. The contents of its box are very basic, with the inclusion of just a power cord and a remote. Simplicity is a major theme with this projector, and BenQ has done a great job in making this projector an easy and pain-free experience to operate.

The max screen size is 300”, making this a good option for medium to large-sized venues. With the price tag of $1,200, you’re getting quite a bit more than you would with other business projectors in this price range. This projector includes most of the bells and whistles that you’d expect from higher-priced models, minus the ability to upscale its image to 4K. That leaves you with a 1080p resolution, with HDR10 support, and even the ability to do 3D and 120fps.

BenQ LH Series Model Comparison
Model	BenQ LH730	BenQ LH720	BenQ LH770
Price	$1299	$1799	$3199
Brightness	4000 Lumens	4000 Lumens	4000 Lumens
Light Source	4LED	Laser	Laser
Imager Type	DLP	DLP	DLP
Resolution	1920 x 1080	1920 x 1080	1920 x 1080
Color Reproduction	98% Rec.709	90% Rec.709	95% Rec.709
Contrast Ratio (Dynamic)	500,000:1	100.000:1	3,000,000:1
Zoom Range	1.2:1	1.5:1	1.5:1
Throw Ratio	1.3~1.56	1.38~2.13	1.38~2.13

The BenQ LH730 is 3D-capable, accepting content from multiple source types. The projector is compatible with 3D Blu-ray players, 3D broadcasting, and 3D-capable game consoles. But the newest demand for this technology is in the education sector. They will be one of the largest consumers of 3D projectors in the next few years because 3D projectors help increase classroom engagement and knowledge retention. These projectors can be used in technical disciplines like design, engineering, and other specialized trades.

Optimized for modern presentations, BenQ has picture modes specifically designed for common business situations. Infographic mode will enhance your presentation by giving you the sharpest and most detailed visuals for the data that is displayed in graphs and charts. Switch to presentation mode for the best-looking PowerPoint possible. When you’re sharing a highly detailed spreadsheet, use spreadsheet mode. This will make it much easier to see small text compiled into large data sheets.

The BenQ LH730 is designed for 24/7 use, making it ideal for businesses that need a reliable projector for use in lobbies, conference rooms, or other areas where it will be on all day long. The projector features a sealed optical engine that is protected from dust and dirt, and it has a long lamp life that can last up to 20,000 hours, or up to 30,000 hours in Eco mode.

When you first start the projector, you will land on the Wireless Display input. This shows you a screen with instructions on how to connect to the projector wirelessly. To do this, you will need an additional Wi-Fi dongle that can be used with the USB input. Without this adapter, the projector does not have any Wi-Fi capabilities, but can still be connected to wired networks.

HIGHLIGHTS

4,000 ANSI Lumens
4LED Light Source
Native 1080p resolution with dedicated presentation picture modes
20,000-hour lamp life
Display up to 300”
Digital image shrinking and shift
3D compatibility
120Hz display for high-framerate video

HARDWARE

CHASSIS

The BenQ LH730 is very lightweight at only 11.6 pounds, making it easy to transport from one location to another. It is designed to be mounted from the ceiling, which provides a number of advantages. First, it eliminates shadows and obstructions that can be caused by placing the projector on a table or other surface.

Second, it allows for a more consistent viewing experience, as the projector will be at a consistent height and angle regardless of the user's position. Third, it can be used 24/7 without the risk of overheating, as it will be well-ventilated when mounted on the ceiling. The build of this projector is very well-suited to its primary purpose, and the ceiling mounting options are ideal for a variety of applications.

At the front of the projector, you will find the lens along with a large ventilation grill. The lens sits recessed into the chassis of the projector, keeping it safe from scratches, bumps, dust, etc. Another vent is found on the right side of the projector.

The BenQ LH730 Inputs and Connections

The menu buttons and controls are all found on the left side of the unit. There are also LEDs assigned to Power, Temp, and Light. Yet another vent is located on the left side. The top of the projector has your zoom and focal lens. Flip the projector upside down and you’ll find two adjustable front feet along with the mountain screws.

The back is where you’ll find all of the ports including the power socket. The 10W internal speaker is placed on the back, to the left of the ports. The BenQ LH730 has the following ports:

HDMI in (x2), HDMI-1 (2.0b/HDCP2.2), HDMI-2 (2.0b/HDCP2.2)
LAN (RJ45) (x1)
USB Type A (x2), USB Type A-1 (2.0/Power Supply1.5A), USB Type A-2 (2.0/Power Supply1.0A/Wireless Dongle)
RS232 in (DB-9pin) (x1)
Audio out (3.5mm Mini Jack) (x1)

LENS

The BenQ LH730 is equipped with a high-quality all-glass low-dispersion lens array with a special coating that minimizes chromatic aberration. The lens offers 1.2x optical zoom with a throw ratio of 1.3 to 1,56. The projector lens does not offer vertical or horizontal shift capabilities, but the unit does feature digital shrink and shift features to help align the projected image to a screen.

The chart below shows the minimum and maximum distance your projector can be, to achieve different screen sizes.

Throw Distance By 16:9 Screen Size
80 inches	7.6 ft	9.1 ft
100 inches	9,4 ft	11.3 ft
120 inches	11.3 ft	13.6 ft
150inches	19.5 ft	23.6 ft
200 inches	26 ft	31.6 ft
300 inches	39 ft	47.3 ft

REMOTE CONTROL

The included remote is small and comfortable to use, with large rubber buttons for every option. At the top, you have your basic input buttons with navigation arrows placed directly below them. Then the rest of the buttons, including volume, zoom, and page, are at the bottom.

A convenient “ECO BLANK” button is included on the remote which puts your projector on a dark black screen without turning the unit off completely. Once you press the OK button, your projector instantly resumes normal function, saving you time from powering off and on again.

The “FREEZE” button will come in handy for presentations. Just freeze the projector on the slide that you’re on, pull up another screen on your computer, and resume when you’re ready. This saves your audience from having to see you navigate your computer to pull up new information.

MENUS

When booting up the BenQ LH730, you’re greeted with the wireless display menu. This screen shows you how to connect to your projector using the optional WiFi dongle. Connection instructions are included for Windows, macOS, iOS, and Android. Without the optional WiFi dongle, there’s nothing to do on this screen.

Use the MENU button on the remote to pull up the standard menu options. There are six main sections which include Picture, Audio, Display, Installation, System, and Information. Another menu button can be found on the side of the projector, for situations where you don’t have access to the remote.

The picture menu has options for brightness, contrast sharpness and advanced color settings. The different picture modes include Bright, Presentation, Spreadsheet, and Video Conference. The lack of any movie-themed picture modes further solidifies this as a strictly business projector.

The audio menu is very basic, with an option to choose your audio output and volume. Use the display menu to access the 3D settings, HDMI, aspect ratio, and source naming.

The installation menu has plenty of tools for installing and configuring your projector. This is where you’ll find the corner fit, which you can use to fit your image perfectly into a projector screen. The system menu has security, background, menu, networking settings, and more. I recommend extending the menu timeout to never, since the default 20 seconds started to become very intrusive.

PERFORMANCE

COLOR REPRODUCTION

Like many other business projectors, the primary objective of this type of product is to be bright and clear in areas that might have a lot of light in them. In classrooms, business, or retail settings, you’ll find that the colors appear vivid and bright. It isn’t until you turn the lights out that you might notice that colors appear a bit lighter than they should with the default picture modes.

Surprisingly, the BenQ LH730 has a 98% Rec. 709 color coverage, which is usually only seen in home theater projectors. 4LED projectors like the LH730 can usually produce a wider color gamut than a blue-laser phosphor-equipped projector. This can result in richer and more accurate color representation compared to many business laser projectors. Vivid, accurate colors helps take advantage of the projector HDR (High Dynamic Range) compatibility.

The LH730 includes several preset picture modes. When playing HDR10 content, the picture modes are disabled, and you’ll be using the default HDR10 picture mode. The LH730 also supports HLG and 3D, so there are picture modes for those formats as well.

Select one of the two USER color modes to achieve the most accurate SDR color reproduction. You can get even better results for movies once you adjust the colors using the advanced color settings menu. So while it’s unlikely that this type of projector would be used for a home theater, the LH730 includes advanced picture adjustments like Gamma, Grayscale, and CMS so you can create a custom user profile optimized for movie watching.

The BRIGHT picture mode produces the brightest results in SDR content. Use the PRESENTATION picture mode for better color reproduction in a bright space.

BRIGHTNESS

The BenQ LH730 has a rated brightness of 4000 ANSI lumens. To get a good estimate of the projector brightness, I switched the projector to its brightest mode, which is BRIGHT, and set its Light Output to Normal (100%). I then took three to four readings about 15-20% from the center of the screen.

The BenQ LH730 measured 3942 ANSI lumens which is very close to the unit's claimed brightness claim. With a 4,000-lumen light source, this projector is plenty capable of producing a bright image up to 300”, with no noticeable drop-off at the edges. During my testing, I didn’t notice any hotspots or issues with the brightness and consistency.

4LED light sources are compact, low maintenance and offer good color reproduction. Over the past few years, the brightness of 4LED light sources has increased dramatically. The LH730 is one of the brightest LED projectors that we have measured.

There are four different Light Source modes which include NORMAL, ECO, SMART ECO, and CUSTOM. When set to CUSTOM the light output can be adjusted between 70% to 100%. The chart below shows the measured brightness of each SDR picture with the Light Source set to NORMAL.

BenQ LH730 Brightness
Picture Mode	Brightness Measured (ANSI Lumens)
Bright	3942
Presentation	3170
Spreadsheet	3052
Video Conference	3420
Infographic	3673

BLACK LEVEL AND SHADOW DETAIL

The photos above show various dark scenes, giving you an idea of the BenQ LH730 black-level performance. The BenQ LH730 blacks were closer to grey than deep black, which is expected for a higher-brightness business/education projector. The LH730 does a good job showing details in the dark areas of the screen.

To maximize viewing dark content in a dark space, you could switch the Light Source output to SMART ECO, which automatically adjusts the light source power depending on the brightness level. You could also select one of the higher GAMMA settings like 2.4, 2.5 or 2.6.

If you want to make BRIGHTNESS, CONTRAST, and SHARPNESS adjustments to optimize BenQ LH730 for your room, several free test patterns are available on Murideo’s website and YouTube channel. Check out our YouTube video on utilizing several of these test patterns called Optimize The Image of a Projector or TV Using Free Murideo Test Patterns. Murideo also has written instructions located under the resource section of its website.

VIDEO IMAGE QUALITY

To test the overall picture quality of the BenQ LH730, I used a number of different media sources. I hooked up a Blu-ray player, a Chromecast, and a PC with a Plex server. The content was played from local files, and Blu-rays, and streamed from platforms like Netflix and YouTube. What I learned is that there isn’t one single solution that will take full advantage of all of the features that this projector has to offer.

The LH730 supports Dynamic Range content mastered in HDR10 and HLG (Hybrid Log-Gamma). The LH730 can automatically adjust the brightness levels of HDR image according to the input source. However yu can also use the HDR BRIGHTNESS setting to manually adjust the brightness level to display better picture quality. When the value is higher, the overall image will be brighter but some bright highlight information will be blown out. When the value is lower, the overall image will darker but more hightlight detail will be visible.

Apple TV, Chromecast, and Roku devices are perfectly acceptable to take advantage of the 1080p HDR display at 60Hz. But if you want use the 120Hz or 3D features, you’ll be looking at using something like a Bluray player or a computer. If this were a 4K projector, I can see how opting for a heftier media source would make sense, but given the max resolution of 1080p, I think most users will opt for simpler sources like smart dongles. This means that the 120Hz and 3D features might go completely unused in most cases.

Watching videos in areas with lots of light is a great experience. This is one of the projector's biggest strengths and the ideal environment for users. If you’re displaying content on a screen larger than 100”, this is where small details in your video begin to get fuzzy, but not beyond what you’d anticipate from a 1080p image.

TEXT AND PRESENTATION QUALITY

Connecting a laptop to the projector via HDMI or wireless cast may result in a small screen size that doesn't take full advantage of the projector screen. If your computer properly has been properly configured to display Full HD (1920 x 1080), the text appears sharp and easy to read, with even small fonts as small as 8 points having sharp edges and minimal blurring.

You can use the built-in zoom feature to maximize your computer display, ensuring that all the text in your documents is clearly visible from a distance.

Each picture mode that is included with the projector is designed to display different types of presentation material. This includes charts, graphs, slides, text, etc. Every picture mode does an excellent job of displaying clear and readable text, with the different picture modes being effective at enhancing their specific content.

AUDIO QUALITY

The BenQ LH730 has a single 10W speaker. While this might not be sufficient for larger spaces, it's certainly more than adequate for small to medium-sized conference rooms and classrooms. The speaker delivers clear and intelligible audio with good volume and minimal distortion, making it ideal for presentations, lectures, and video conferences.

In terms of fan noise, the projector produces a low hum that is not distracting or overpowering, allowing you to focus on the content being displayed. According to the manufacturer's claim, the audible noise is 32 dB in Normal mode and a maximum of 28 dB in Eco mode. This is relatively quiet, making it perfect for use in quiet environments or settings where audio clarity is essential.

Overall, while the built-in speaker may not be the most powerful, it is still capable of delivering clear audio that is sufficient for small to medium-sized rooms. Additionally, the low fan noise ensures that the projector doesn't disrupt or distract from your presentation or movie

SUMMARY

The BenQ LH730 is 4000-lumen 4LED projector designed for business applications. In addition to up to 30,000 hours of nearly maintenance-free operation, its LED light source can also deliver 98% of the REC709 color space. Benq also claimed that colors produced by the LH730 LED light source also seem brighter and more saturated due to the H-K (Helmholtz–Kohlrausch) effect. This results in rich, accurate colors even in rooms with moderate ambient light. Features like 2D & Auto Vertical keystone, Corner Fit, and Digital Shrink enhance the LH730 installation flexibility.

BenQ has developed several picture modes specifically designed to showcase text and graphics to maximize the appearance of infographic-heavy presentations.

The LH730 is also compatible with an optional Wi-Fi dongle which allows the projection of Full HD multimedia content wirelessly from any mobile device. The wireless technology is able to accommodate up to four presenters in four split screens for highly collaborative and effective meetings.

Another business projector in this price range is the Epson Pro EX10000. The Epson Pro EX10000 and the BenQ LH730 are two projectors priced at $1,299 each. Both projectors offer a native resolution of 1080p (Full HD) for sharp and detailed images. However, the Epson Pro EX10000 has a slight advantage in brightness, providing 4,500 lumens compared to the BenQ LH730's 4,000 lumens.

The Epson Pro EX10000 uses a laser light source, and the BenQ LH730, on the other hand, utilizes a 4LED light source with a normal lifespan of 20,000 hours and an extended lifespan of 30,000 hours in Eco mode.

Both projectors offer keystone correction to adjust distorted images caused by angled projection. They also provide various connectivity options, including HDMI and USB ports, ensuring compatibility with a range of devices. The Epson Pro EX10000 features USB Plug 'n Play functionality for easy audio and video projection, while the BenQ LH730 offers LAN (RJ45) for network connectivity.

Consider your specific needs and preferences when choosing between the Epson Pro EX10000 and the BenQ LH730. If brightness and a laser light source are crucial, the Epson Pro EX10000 may be the better choice. On the other hand, if a higher contrast ratio and advanced picture modes are more important, along with the need for 24/7 usage, the BenQ LH730 could be the preferred option. Assess your room environment, screen size, and intended usage to make an informed decision.

The BenQ LH730 is designed to fill a gap in the projector market. It is one of the brightest 4LED projectors that we have reviewed. The LH730 delivers high brightness, good picture, and low maintenance at an affordable price. The 4,000 lumens, 30,000-hour max light source life, and flexible installation options make the LH730 a very good solution for a meeting or classroom.

PROS

4,000 lumens of brightness
98% Rec. 709 color coverage
Zero maintenance
Easy to install and set up with built-in tools and software
Up to 30,000-hour LED life in eco mode
Different picture modes for specific types of presentations

CONS

No built-in WiFi capabilities
No 4K

BenQ LH730 - SPECIFICATIONS

Full Specifications
Projector Model	BenQ LH730
Price (MSRP)	$1299
Imager Type	DLP
Displayed Resolution	1920 x 1080 pixels
Native Resolution	1920 x 1080 pixels
Brightness (Manufacturer Claim)	4000 ANSI lumens
Light Source Type	Laser Phosphor
Light Source Life	20,000 hours
Contrast Ratio	500,000:1 (Dynamic)
Zoom Lens Ratio	1.2x
Power Zoom/Focus	No
Lens Shift	No
Interchangeable Lens	No
Ultra-Short Throw	No
Native Aspect Ratio	16:9
HDTV/4K	720P/1080i/1080P, 2160P
DVI or HDMI	HDMI
3D	Yes
Blu-Ray 3D	Yes
Speakers	10 watt Mono
Noise Level (-dB)	33 dB (28 dB Eco)
Low Lag Gaming	Yes (33.4 ms at 1080p60)
Smart Functionality	None
Business	Yes
Classroom	Yes
Portable	No
Special Features	2D & Auto Vertical keystone, Corner Fit, and Digital Shrink
Networking	No
Dimensions (HxWxD)	16.5" x 5.2" x 11.3" (420 x 131.7 x 286.7mm)
Weight	11.7 lb
Warranty	1 year

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