Mitsubishi WD390U Projector Special Features

Posted on July 20, 2013 by Art Feierman

Ultra-Short Throw Projector - Lens Based

Mitsubishi's projector sits close enough to the screen to be called an ultra-short throw projector, even if it doesn't sit as close as other projectors that use a mirror system rather than a lens. But, the Mitsubishi is at least as sharp as any mirror based interactive system, and dramatically sharper than some. Many mirror based ultra-short throw projectors have a lot of problem trying to have the entire scene reasonably sharp. Not so this WD390U which looks great in terms of sharpness.

Typically the WD390U will be mounted on a telescoping wall mount slightly above the projector screen. It can also be set on a table right in front of the screen, but no closer than about 20 inches back from the screen to the lens. It's not going to work, for example sitting on a credeza that's only 24 inches deep, but if you've got 36 inches, you are in business. I am most impressed with this ultra-short throw implementation.

WD390U is Cloud Capable

As the saying goes: "That's why you are paying the big bucks!"

Image right, The WD390U-EST projector is projecting a Powerpoint presentation housed on a server. Neither the Mac Book nor the iPad in this image are being used to project the presentation.

The WD390U projector has a built in thin client, making it very network friendly. Add a keyboard and mouse to the projector, and you can surf remote servers (including cloud based ones), (or local servers) that are part of your network.

Click Image to Enlarge

Mitsubishi provided me with a small server (image on the right) to "simulate" accessing files from across the Cloud. I could open folders, insert passwords as needed, and select documents to show on the projector, as if they were sitting on a local computer connected by a typical analog computer input, HDMI, or USB Display.

Click Image to Enlarge

Wifi Doc: Projecting Documents from iOS/Android/files stored on networks

The Wifi Doc App, which can be run from iOS or Android devices, and also the Wifi Doc program to place on your server, will allow the WD390U to run a number of popular file types, without using a computer. WiFi Doc supports: Txt, PDF, PPT (Powerpoint), XLS (Excel), DOC (Word), and of course JPG type image files. It works!

Image provided by Mitsubishi

Click Image to Enlarge

LAN Display An application for interfacing to your projector, over a Network

With LAN Display sitting on your computers, you may display as many as four computers at once or select any one computer to fill the whole screen. This makes for a very nice collaboration feature, especially when combined with interactive capabilities using iOS or Android devices to control a local, or remote computer that you have designated to be the source you are projecting.

PC Free Presenting

Plug in a thumb drive, SD card (with adaptor), or USB hard drive, and you can present using Mitsubishi's PC Free solution. Many projectors today offer this ability, with built in media players, so it's hardly a unique feature but, it is there, and it does work rather easily. You can run powerpoint presentations, view PDF files, text files, jpg files, word docs and more. PC Free Presenting offers similar capabilities as the Word Doc application for running files off of the "cloud" or other network.

main menu for PC Less Presentations

Projecting a .jpg thumbnail from a thumb drive

the image filling the screen

USB Display

I often fail to mention USB Display. The short version is, first there was analog computer as a source - aka "VGA". Now, of course there's HDMI, but HDMI still has some limitations in terms of distance without serious work arounds, so many projectors can now project the computer's output via USB rather than VGA or HDMI. Low cost, lightweight USB cable sure beats expensive HDMI or heavy VGA cabling, especially if you need 10 - 15 or 50 feet between computer and projector for larger room presentations. The Mitsubishi WD390U will project using USB display, and provides a USB type B input for the purpose.