Casio XJ-S57 Projector - Physical Tour

Posted on June 1, 2009 by Art Feierman

Appearance

The Casio XJ-S57 has its lens offset to the right side of the projector when facing it. There a manual, flip-down lens cover that protects the lens when not in use. To the left of the lens, across the front of the projector, are exhaust ports. On the far left end is an IR receiving eye for the remote. There is also a flip-down height adjustment foot in the center front, which has its release button on the left side of the XJ-S57. The left side also includes air intake vents. The right side of the projector has some additional intake vents that extend partly around the rear corner. To give you an idea of its thin, low profile, note the credt card sized remote leaning against the front of the projector.

❮ ❯

On top of the projector, in the middle rear portion, is a control panel with the following functions: Power On/Standby, Input, Auto (adjust position, frequency and phase for RGB sources), Zoom, Focus, Menu, Navigation (Up, Down, Left and Right), Escape and Enter. There are also indicator lights for Power (on or standby), Lamp (warning for replacement or failure) and Temp (warning for overheating). Also on top, just to the right of the controls (when viewed from the front), is the on-board speaker.

The rear of the XJ-S57 sports, from left to right, a small intake vent, Kensington lock, a second IR receiving eye, serial port for RS-232 control, audio/video input jack (used with a supplied cable that has standard RCA plugs for stereo audio and composite video), a VGA computer terminal, a USB port and the power connector.

Moving to the bottom of the projector, there are two adjustable screw feet in the back corners and the lamp cover is at the front in between the adjustable foot and the lens.

Speaking of appearance, the Casio menus are laid out pretty logically, but are very plain looking. No problem there, it's the image on the screen we care about, not how pretty the menus look.

Casio XJ-S57 Remote Control

There’s not much of interest to say about the XJ-S57 remote. It is small and straightforward containing 27 buttons arranged in four columns and seven rows of identically shaped buttons, with an open space to the left of the Power button, which is at the top right. The buttons are black on a black background, with no backlighting or glow-in-the-dark ability, so the presenter is going to need some light in the room to use this remote easily. On the plus side, there are buttons for just about every function. In addition to Power, there are buttons for Input, Auto adjustment, Blank (to blank out the screen), Freeze, Volume, Color Mode, Zoom plus/minus, Focus in/out, Digital zoom plus/minus, Keystone plus/minus, Bright and Eco lamp modes, Aspect ratio, Function, Menu, Navigation (Up, Down, Left and Right), Escape and Enter . There is also a button to activate an on-screen pointer, which can be moved and changed by the navigation keys.

Overall, the remote is appropriate for its intended use. As has been the case with some other projectors, the main issue I have with the remote is that with the buttons the same size and shape, and so rigidly arranged, it makes it difficult to locate them by touch in a darkened room, even if you’re familiar with the layout.

Lens Throw

This Casio has a 2:1 zoom lens, that means far more placement flexibility than most small portable projectors (which typically have 1.2:1 or maybe as much as 1.5:1).

To fill a 100 inch diagonal screen, the front of the Casio S57 can be as close as 9 feet 4 inches to the screen, or as far back as 18 feet 8 inches!