Posted on September 28, 2018 By Nikki Zelinger
Sony VPL-FHZ61 Commercial Laser Projector Review – Hardware 1: Overview, Inputs and Connectors, Interchangeable Lens Options
The front of the Sony VPL-FHZ61 has the 1.60:1 standard zoom lens and two indicator lights.
The back of the Sony VPL-FHZ61 has the hot air exhaust vents and a cool air intake vent.
The right side of the Sony VPL-FHZ61 has the cool air intake vent and access to the air filter, as well as all the inputs and connectors.
The Sony VPL-FHZ61 is a commercial projector intended for use in larger venues. The front of the projector houses the interchangeable lens. The lens cavity features a bayonet mount for quick release and installation of other lenses. Also on the front are two indicator lights, and a sensor for the remote control. Access to their air filter is on the right side of the projector, just above the inputs and connectors panel. The hot air exhaust and other cool air intake vent being located on the back of the projector. There are no speakers on this Sony, so it will need to be hooked up to an external sound system, as is typical with these higher end commercial projectors.
The casing of the FHZ61 is white, but it is available in black in Europe, as well as in white. The US version, the main part of the projector is white, with the bottom being a nice, dark gray – the part that houses the inputs and connectors panel, which I talk about in the next section. The projector itself is 34 pounds, making it quite light in the realm of commercial projectors. Next up is our discussion of the inputs!
The VPL-FHZ61 has a healthy amount of inputs for business and education applications, and good connectivity. The inputs and connectors panel is on the right side of the projector when looking at the lens, and is meant to be ceiling mounted so all of the text is upside down. I have inverted it in the image so that it is easy to read, and I will be describing the inputs as if it were ceiling mounted.
I like that it is on the right side because it was really easy to access for me. This is the first projector I’ve been able to lift by myself since my hand injury in May, and it was still rather difficult, so I was glad to not have to maneuver it around too much to get the power cord and HDMI cable in. This probably won’t have too much of an effect on the way your AV techs install the projector – it was just super convenient for me, and for that, I am grateful to Sony.
The inputs and connectors panel consists of two rows – I will be starting from the top row and describing the inputs from left to right. There is an RS-232C serial port for old school command and control, followed by RGB/YPBPR input and output connectors, and DVI-D input and output ports. On the second row, we have a Control S port, a LAN RJ-45 connector, an Audio In and Audio Out input, a CVBS connector, a single HDMI, and an HDBaseT port. All of the inputs are assigned a letter that corresponds to a button on the remote control – more about that on the next page.
The lens that came with the Sony VPL-FHZ61 has a healthy 1.6:1 zoom ratio, which will be just fine for many installations. Sony does offer six options total for lenses, allowing for greater placement flexibility, and a solution that fits your specific needs.
I have included two charts for your reference. The first chart (above) shows the different specs of each lens, while the second chart (below) gives information on placement for varying screen sizes for each lens.
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