Projector Performance – Other 2

Projector Performance - Other 2

The Sanyo PLV-Z4 Projector Remote Control

Click to enlarge. So close

Sanyo provides a small remote. Power as at the top left and the Light button at the top right. Generally the buttons are very tightly packed, the backlight not particularly bright, and most annoying, the remote doesn’t seem to have much range. With the projector set up in my theater about 17 feet from the screen, and sitting 12 feet back, I find it almost impossible to bounce the IR signal off the front wall or screen, and get the projector to react. Instead, I have to essentially point the remote over my shoulder pointing it toward the projector. Of course there’s a solution for this: Invest in a good learning remote and program all your equipment into it.

What I do like about the remote is that it has a freeze frame, and that you can directly control most functions from buttons on the remote, bypassing the menus.

Some of the key features with their own buttons: Lamp power, Preset modes, Lens Iris, Brightness, Contrast and Color, and the User button which brings up the 4 savable User settings.

The remote control is organized into four groups. Most of the controls are laid out in an intelligent fashion although I’m not sure why one or two buttons (Lamp and Reset) were placed where they ended up. They are near the top, but I would think they should be with the rest of the Image control buttons, below the arrow keys.

When you hit the Light button all the buttons light up for something like 8 -10 seconds.

But I digress, so, moving on to the next row, you’ll find the Lamp button to control Lamp Brightness (Low or High), a Freeze image button and a Mute.

Then comes the all important Menu button, Enter (OK) and four arrow keys to control all the menu operations. Note though that the most commonly used menu items have their own buttons on the remote – in the Image Adjust area below the arrow keys.

 

Click Image to Enlarge

Single button operation will allow you to enter menus for adjusting Brightness, Contrast, Color Saturation, Iris options, and selecting the preset, or user savable options.

At the very bottom of the remote, are the 6 buttons for the six different sources that the Sanyo Z4 projector supports: two component inputs, one HDMI, S-video, Composite and Computer (PC).

All in all a perfectly respectable remote control, perhaps not the best layout, (and it lacks the learning remote functions that the Panasonic PT-AE900u has to control your other devices), but one which does a good job, and won’t aggrevate anyone.

As I indicated at the beginning of this projector review, this new Sanyo home theater projector is sporting a number of feature/benefit enhancements compared to the older PLV-Z3.

Projector Lens

The most significant physical difference between the Z3 and the new Z4 projector is Sanyo’s move to a 2:1 zoom. Simply stated, that means for any given sized screen, the closest you can place the projector, is half the difference of the furthest away you can place it. With a zoom range that long, this projector will work in just about anyone’s room. It also means, that unless you have an extremely long room, you likely have the option to place the projector on a shelf at the back of the room, instead of ceiling mounting or placing it on a table.

But while we are on the subject of the lens, this new Sanyo projector has a door that closes automatically when the projector is powered down. Nice touch. That will keep dust from accumulating on the front of the lens for the 80%-90% of the time that the projector is not used.

To focus the projector, simply turn the outer lens ring. I suggest powering up, and selecting the menu button, which will put some nice sharp text on the screen that will make it easy to get the focus right (concentrate on the part of the menu closest to the center of the screen).

There is a small bar, on the projector barrel which controls the zoom in and out.