Viewsonic PJD7822HD DLP Projector Review – Hardware Tour 2

PJD7822HD Remote Control

Viewsonic’s remote control is a slightly smaller than average remote, with black finish. Since this projector can be used for business/education, or home, we would have liked to see it backlit for home use, but in all fairness, at this price point very few remotes will be.  Looking at it another way, at least Viewsonic has provided a “real” full sized remote, not one of those small credit card remote types.

Let’s look at the controls.  As usual, we’ll start at the top, and mention an occasional tidbit about the function of some of those buttons.

The Power button is top left.  Press once for On, twice to power down.  Across from it is the Auto (sync) button, mostly used if you aren’t getting a stable image from an analog PC input.  This is one button you may never have to press.

The next three buttons relate to Source selection.  There’s Computer on the left, and Video across from it.  Video toggles you through not just Composite and S-Video, but also both HDMI inputs.

Below and on the left again, is a Source button which brings up the full Source menu.  Across from it is the Mode button which brings up your choices of Color modes (Dynamic, Movie, etc.).

Moving further down, you’ll find the navigation controls.  There are four arrow keys in a diamond configuration, with the Enter button in the center.  Just below to the left is the Menu button blue), and to its far right, the Exit.  In between those is Viewsonic’s “My Button” which is a short cut key allowing you to select a shortcut to a feature you expect to use frequently.  Selecting the function is done on the On Screen Display menu.

Click Image to Enlarge

Next up comes some buttons showing off this Viewsonic’s cross-over – business type functions.  There are  left and right remote mousing buttons, and Page Up and Down to their right.  To take full use of this, you’ll be running USB between projector and computer, which is standard stuff for remote mousing capabilities.  Just below on the left is a button labeled Mouse – yep, press that to engage the remote mousing functions above.

Ten buttons to go.  Three run down the right side – Volume Up, Down, and Mute.  In between Mouse, and Volume Up is a button with a magnifier image for digital zoom.  That allows you to enlarge part of the image for a closer look. Pressing it brings up a zoom bar that shows you where you are in the zoom process.  Digital zoom  can be especially helpful when looking at drawings, or highly detailed images, so that folks not close to the screen can see better.  It’s easy to use, btw!

The Lock button allows you to lock, or unlock the Control Panel.  This can be handy preventing a student, or a child at home from messing with the controls on the projector.

To its right is the Freeze button – which freezes the image on the screen.

Next comes the test Pattern button (one built in pattern) and next to it, the Blank button, which as you just guessed, blanks the screen (lamp is still on).

Almost done.  Bottom left:  Dynamic-Eco, for up to 30% additional power savings.  Note this cannot be engaged for several minutes after power up, unless you are using the Smart/Restart feature.

Presentation Timer – That’s right, it brings up the Presentation timer menu.  That will allow you to have a running timer on the screen.

And finally – bottom right – the usual Aspect (ratio) button.  No surprises there.

The overall layout is pretty well thought out, but the buttons are small and well packed together.  I don’t suppose that will bother most folks but the remote mousing functions being in the center of the remote (good for balance) are pretty crowded for someone with large hands.

Range of the remote is good, not exceptional.  It would have been helpful if Viewsonic had a rear IR sensor as well as one in the front.   I could get reliable remote usage with a total distance  better than 25 feet – Standing about 18 feet from the screen bouncing the IR off of the screen to the projector about 8 feet back.  I’d probably want that total distance to be shorter if I was doing remote mousing.

Lens Throw

Viewsonic PJD7822HD Menus

The Viewsonic’s menus are reasonably laid out.  If I have a complaint, it’s that the main menu for controlling image settings, which is where most people spend time, is second, not first, creating an extra step.  Type size on the menus is a little small, but not enough to be an issue.  If you are far enough back that you can’t read the menus, you ar probably beyond the range of the remote control.  Menus could have a little more contrast.  That would be nice.

But all considered, (remember as a reviewer I spend far more time with menus than normal human beings), Viewsonic has done a good job of them.  The image player here shows all the major and most sub-menus.  I’ve added comments in the captions where a clarification or comment makes sense.