Thursday, September 22, 2011

Vizio M320VT HDTV Review

A 32-inch Razor LED HDTV, the Vizio M320VT ($539.99 list) offers a full HD 1,920 by 1,080 image resolution and 50,000 to 1 contrast ratio. In addition, this LED, which can shine at 450 nits, comes with an ambient light sensor to conserve energy.

Vizio M320VT Specifications

Vizio M320VT Screen Size: 32 inches

Vizio M320VT Type

LCD TV, HDTV, LED
Supported Refresh Rates: 60Hz
Aspect Ratio: 16:9
Video Inputs: Component, Composite, HDMI
Vizio M320VT Speakers Included: Yes
Stand Supplied?: Yes
Vizio M320VT Height: 19.33 inches
Width: 30.32 inches
Depth: 1.61 inches
Vizio M320VT Weight: 31.31 lb

Vizio M320VT Design and Features
This Vizio TV packs all of those features into a 1.62-inch profile of glossy black with an extended, curved bottom portion. This all rests on a stationary black stand, though the LED produces a 178-degree viewing angle all-around. On top of four HDMI inputs, the M320VT comes with component and composite video ports, an RGB computer port, one USB port and more.
The Vizio M320VT displays images with a 60Hz refresh rate and an 8 millisecond response time. Not to mention that the TV packs SRS TruVolume and TruSurround HD sound. The LED within this TV was built using no mercury, a unique feature to LEDs. Of course, this helps the M320VT exceed Energy Star 4.1 guidelines.

Vizio M320VT

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Ray Lite Projector Review

Ray Displays is a small company whose product line consists of two tiny, low-brightness pico projectors: the Ray Pico Projector ($249 direct, 2.5 stars), which we reviewed in 2009, and the Ray Lite ($159 direct). While the consumer-oriented Ray Pico Projector supports only composite video input, the Ray Lite takes a different tack. Its sole connection is a USB port to link to a computer, and USB is primarily a data interface, better for transferring PowerPoint and other data files than for handling files with moving images. Thus, the Ray Lite is best as an accessory for businesspeople who need to give data presentations via their laptops to small groups. In that capacity, it provides simple, no-frills operation, and in our testing, it performed as billed.
The Ray Lite is glossy black and rectangular, with rounded corners. At 0.8 by 2.4 by 3.6 inches (HWD), it can fit in a shirt pocket with room to spare, and it weighs only 2.8 ounces. The projector’s light engine combines an LED light source and an LCOS (liquid crystal on silicon) chip; filters on the chip create the primary colors red, green, and blue.
This projector lacks internal memory, speaker, remote control, and battery; apart from focusing, it’s entirely dependent on the computer it links to over a USB cable for its operation. Yet it’s the essence of simplicity: once connected. It can emulate whatever is on your computer screen, enabling you to run presentations from your keyboard to be projected onto a screen.
The Ray Lite’s only control, its focus wheel, protrudes slightly from both the bottom and top of the projector so that one can turn it with both thumb and index finger while lightly grasping the projector in between. I was able to turn the wheel and bring the projector to a good focus quickly without problem. This wasn’t our experience with the Ray Pico Projector; it was hard to focus its side-facing wheel using just a thumb.

Ray Lite Specifications

Ray Lite Engine TypeLCoSRay Lite TypeConsumerMore

To operate, the Ray Lite needs to connect to a computer via the included dual USB Y cable, which connects through two of your computer’s USB ports to provide both power and data. (It works with a single USB cable as well, but the image is darker.)
Ray Lite Setup
As a USB-powered peripheral, you need to install a driver—which Ray provides on a mini-disc—on your PC. Per the instructions, you double-click the setup file on the disc, accept the user agreement, restart your computer, and you’re ready to go. For me, it wasn’t so simple. After setup, but my computer still wouldn’t recognize the projector. As it turned out, I had to go into a folder in Program Files named USB Projector, and click on the 32-bit executable installation file (there’s also a driver for 64-bit systems) to install the actual driver. Although I found the driver myself by searching on “USB Projector,” there’s nothing in the instructions to indicate that this last step needs to be done. Once the driver was in place, though, it recognized the Ray Lite whenever I connected it. Ray Displays says that it will make the driver available on its website for those users who lack optical drives, and clarify the driver installation procedures on the website and in the projector’s documentation.
The Ray Lite has a threaded hole in the bottom to connect to the included tripod, a small model with bendable legs. It’s easy enough to adjust the tripod to aim the projector precisely where you want it.
Ray Lite Performance
The Ray Lite has a native VGA (640 by 480) resolution. Ray claims a “typical” brightness of 10 lumens for the Ray Lite. Still, it stood up to ambient light better than the Bonitor MP302 ($269 direct, 2.5 stars), a pico projector rated at 15 lumens, when I also tested it over a USB connection. Ray gives its usable projection distance as being from about 8 inches to 10 feet; at 6 feet, the distance I did my formal testing, it projects an image at about a meter on a diagonal.
In testing the projector using DisplayMate (www.displaymate.com) software, its image quality was decent, particularly for a projector at its price. It had some trouble differentiating lighter shades of gray, doing better with dark grays. White areas showed a trace of a yellowish tinge, a not uncommon flaw, particularly with inexpensive projectors. Although focus over most of the image was sharp, it was slightly soft at the edge, particularly to the upper right. Still, the image quality is fine for its intended use.
The Ray Lite is a decidedly no-frills projector. It lacks a speaker, remote, battery, and internal storage, and its connectivity is only through a USB cable. Brighter and more feature-rich projectors, which can connect to a much wider variety of sources, are available, including the 50-lumen Optoma Pico PK301 ($400 street, 4 stars), an Editors’ Choice. But what the Ray Lite does offer is a much lower price, and simple operation for people wanting to project their presentations to small audiences.

Ray Lite

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Panasonic TC-L42E30 HDTV Review

Panasonic TC-L42E30 As HDTVs become more and more talented, including features like integrated Wi-Fi, Web apps and video streaming, and energy-efficient LED backlighting, it’s hard for any one to stand out. Panasonic’s TC-L42E30 42-inch LED LCD HDTV, for example, doesn’t have one particular feature that sets it apart. But with a price of just $1,099.95 (direct), a solid selection of Web apps, satisfying picture quality, and excellent power-consumption stats, it’s a solid choice for anyone looking to outfit a home theater on a budget. Just don’t expect 3D, integrated Wi-Fi, or any other high-end HDTV tricks.
Design
Plain, but functional, the TC-L42E30 comes with a flat black bezel and a flat black base. There are no real aesthetic flourishes beside the Panasonic logo in the center of the bottom edge of the screen, giving this HDTV a very utilitarian feel. Fortunately, what it lacks in form it makes up for in function. The left side of the HDTV holds an HDMI input, a USB port, and an SD card reader, while the right side contains a handful of control buttons. The bulk of the screen’s inputs live on the left side of the back panel, and include three more HDMI inputs, another USB port, composite and component video inputs, an Ethernet port, a digital audio output, and a DVI video input.

Panasonic TC-L42E30 View SlideshowSee all (6) slides

The 8.4-inch remote is almost identical to the one bundled with the Panasonic TC-P50ST30($1,499.95, 3.5 stars), with only a few small differences. Unlike the more-expensive plasma HDTV’s remote, the L42E30′s remote isn’t backlit and lacks a 3D button. Still, it’s very well-designed, with large, easy-to-identify buttons with distinctly different shapes for the number pad, the Volume/Channel buttons, and the menu/navigation pad. Audio on the TC-L42E30 is the same sound you get from nearly every other HDTV: two 10-watt stereo speakers providing a decent but not spectacular listening experience. If you really value audio quality or power, consider getting a soundbar or surround sound system to replace the built-in speakers.
Like the TC-P50E30, this set offers plenty of online apps through Panasonic’s Viera Cast service, including Netflix, Pandora, Amazon Video On Demand, Napster, CinemaNow, and others. But you’ll need to connect the set to your network via Ethernet. (Wi-Fi is only available with an optional adapter.) The TV also includes the Viera Image Viewer, a photo and video player that can load media from an SD card, and the HDTV is DLNA-enabled, so you can play media from compatible networked devices.

Panasonic TC-L42E30 Specifications

Screen Size: 42 inches
Type: LCD TV, HDTV, LED
Panasonic TC-L42E30 Supported Refresh Rates: 60Hz, 120Hz
Aspect Ratio: 16:9
Video Inputs: Component, Composite, HDMI, USB
Panasonic TC-L42E30 Speakers Included: Yes
Stand Supplied?: Yes
Height: 25.5 inches
Width: 39.5 inches
Depth: 11.4 inches
Weight: 41.9 lb

Panasonic TC-L42E30 Performance
To determine image quality, we use the DisplayMate testing software and a chroma meter to measure brightness, black levels, and color temperature. According to our tests, TC-L42E30 puts out an impressive 473.50 cd/m² at peak brightness. While it doesn’t get quite as dark as the Editors’ Choice LG 47LW5600′s ($1,699.99, 4.5 stars) 0.01 cd/m² the TC-L42E30′s black levels reached a respectable 0.04 cd/m², still very good for an LED-backlit HDTV and producing a very impressive contrast ratio of 1:11,838. Colors were generally decent, but the red and green channels tended to run slightly cool, even when set under the Warm color temperature setting.
In my tests, Predators on Blu-ray looked great on the TC-L42E30, with plenty of color and excellent highlight and shadow detail. Like most HDTVs with motion modes that go past 60Hz, the screen’s 120Hz mode made the action look smoother to the point of artificiality, with camera pans and movements looking almost superhuman. Once again, I recommend just turning off all motion-smoothing features to make the video look more natural.
We used a power meter to measure the TC-L42E30′s energy consumption under an average load— in this case, the Blu-ray of the movie Predators. The HDTV consumed an average of 78 watts, very good for any screen (and far, far less than the 280 watts devoured by Panasonic’s 50-inch TC-P50ST30 plasma), but not quite reaching the power-saving levels of the 46-inch Sony Bravia KDL-46EX720 ($1,599.99, 4 stars), which used just 67 watts with its power saving mode enabled. On the other hand, the PTC-L42E30 showed low power consumption while still running the backlight at fairly bright levels, which the Sony could not do. These numbers earn the TC-L42E30 our GreenTech approval.
Considering it costs just over $1,000, the Panasonic TC-L42E30 is a solid 42-inch LED HDTV. It’s very bright, can get sufficiently dark, and while its colors aren’t perfect, the overall picture will please the vast majority of users. If you’re looking for an inexpensive HDTV with plenty of features, pick up this set. If you’re open to paying a little more for a better picture and larger screen, take a look at the Editors’ Choice, 47-inch LG Infinia 47LW5600 for more screen real estate and incredible color and black levels along with 3D support. If you want to up your Web functionality, consider the Sony NSX-46GT1 Internet TV, the 46-inch version of the NSX-32GT1 (4 stars, $799.99). It’s only $100 more than this Panasonic set, but comes with a slick design and integrates Google TV.

Panasonic TC-L42E30

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Bonitor MP302 Pico Projector Review

The Bonitor MP302 Pico Projector ($289 direct) is a tiny, glossy white pico projector that’s compatible not just with Windows PCs but with Macs, a rarity among pocket projectors. It can show photos and videos from its modest internal memory, or emulate your computer’s screen over a USB connection. Bonitor pegs it as a consumer-oriented model—mostly for watching videos or perusing photos—that can also run business presentations off a laptop. In testing, however, it presented enough functional and performance problems to make my experience with it notably frustrating.
The glossy white MP302 uses a three-LED (red-green-blue) light source and LCOS (liquid crystal on silicon) projection technology, and is rated at 15 lumens. It measures 3.9 by 2.1 inches, is just under an inch thick, and weighs 3.9 ounces. Its sole connection is a USB port, for linking to your computer via the included dual USB cable that plugs into two of your computer’s USB ports to provide both power and data.

MP302 Pico View SlideshowSee all (6) slides

The MP302′s lens is on the projector’s side, near the righthand edge, so the projector is positioned broadside to the screen. Like many of today’s pico projectors, the MP302 comes with a tiny tripod with bendable legs. These tripods generally attach directly to the base of a projector, but in the case of the Bonitor the tripod screws into a mount that clips onto the projector, cradling it from beneath. The tripod didn’t fit snugly into the mount, causing the projector to wobble—I could sometimes compensate for this tendency by tilting the tripod, but at best it was awkward getting the projector positioned and pointed where I wanted it—and making sure it stayed that way, through focusing or other adjustments.
The focus wheel emerges from the projector’s top, above the lens, and also protrudes slightly from the bottom, but not far enough to let you control it from both top and bottom with thumb and forefinger, as you can with the Ray Displays Ray Lite ($159 direct, 3 stars). The MP302′s focusing is not as smooth as the Ray Lite, or the lever-controlled focus on the Favi B1-LED-Pico ($280 street, 3.5 stars), but it brought the projector to a reasonably good focus nonetheless.

MP302 Pico Specifications

Engine Type: LCoS
Type: Consumer

To set up the MP302 for use with a computer over a USB connection, you need to download and install the driver from Bonitor’s Web site. (It offers both Windows and Mac OS X drivers.) Once I installed the driver, an icon for the driver, named UV Projector, appeared on my desktop, and I needed to open it each time I used the projector over a USB connection, before connecting the cable. From the projector’s menu, clicking on USB Video allows the projector to emulate whatever is on the screen. If the cable gets unplugged, you may need to open UVProjector again before reattaching the cable. Another USB-powered pico projector we recently tested, the RayLite has a simpler, set-it-and-forget-it approach: once you install the driver, the projector will automatically emulate your screen when you connect the USB cable.
One other quirk related to the USB connection is worth mention: when I’d plug the cable into the MP302′s USB port, the projector (presumably, its fan) was unusually noisy—in short, it made a racket. After a while it would quiet down, but was never silent. The MP302′s remote control is the essence of simplicity: two buttons (Enter and Return), and a controller with four arrows, left, right, up, and down—for navigating through menus. The Return key takes you back to the previous menu.
The MP302 includes a modest 128MB of internal flash memory in which you can store photos or short videos. You can show them when the projector is powered by your computer over the USB connection, or you can run them computer-free with the projector plugged into the included wall adaptor (though the video run from the flash memory will be soundless, as the MP302 lacks a speaker or audio jack). I found accessing the memory, however, to be no easy feat.
The main menu gives you 3 choices: Flash, USB Storage, and USB Video. Clicking on the Flash icon lets you open the photos and/or videos already stored in the projector’s flash memory. Selecting USB Storage is supposed to make the projector’s memory visible to the computer as a USB device, so you can add or remove files from it. When I tried that, though, I kept getting a message asking me to connect a cable, when the dual USB cable was already connected to my computer.
Finally, my PC recognized the memory as a drive, and I was able to transfer files to it, and since then it has showed up in Windows Explorer as a drive whenever the projector is connected. But I never did figure out what was causing the trouble in the first place.
Performance In my testing of the projector in a dark room with a Windows PC using DisplayMate’s (www.displaymate.com) software, the MP302 had trouble displaying very light shades of gray, and—even more so—very dark shades. In some test images, colors looked oversaturated, almost to the point of garishness.
I also projected video from DVDs on my computer over a USB connection in a darkened room. From my testing distance of about 6 feet away (about the maximum usable distance before the image starts getting noticeably washed out), the MP302 projected an image measuring approximately 1 meter along the diagonal. Colors were frequently off, looking unnaturally intense or taking on tints, while at the same time considerable detail was lost in dark areas. You might be okay with running short clips with it, but you probably wouldn’t want to use it to watch full-length movies or even TV shows. In general, pico projector image quality is mediocre at best, and this was not one of the better ones.
In ad hoc testing, the Bonitor did not stand up well to ambient light. In a room with considerable stray light, although not falling directly on the screen, even the 10-lumen Ray Lite threw a more viewable image from the same distance.
Between its wobbly tripod, quirky driver, low brightness, and sub-stellar image quality, I can’t recommend the MP302. I can only hope that future iterations of this projector provide a more satisfying user experience. As an entertainment-centered projector, I found it more frustrating than entertaining. For a bit more money, the (Windows-only) 3M Pocket Projector MP160 ($350 street, 3.5 stars) is brighter and provides better image quality, and can connect either by VGA or composite video. An easy-to-operate, Mac-compatible pico projector that provides good image quality for both presentations and entertainment would appeal to a lot of people—unfortunately, the Bonitor MP302 Pico Projector isn’t it.

MP302 Pico

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Canon REALiS SX80 Mark II Projector Review

No matter how you look at it, the Canon REALiS SX80 Mark II ($3,999 direct) business projector is anything but typical. Like the Editors’ Choice Canon REALiS X700 ($2,500 street, 4 stars), it’s built around Canon’s version of LCOS technology, which eliminates common issues with LCD and DLP projectors. Its SXGA+ (1,400 by 1,050) resolution gives it an advantage over most data projectors for images with fine detail. And it offers unusually advanced control over color, making it of particular interest to anyone who needs to get onscreen color just so. The total package is unusual in the extreme, and I mean that in a good way.
According to Canon the SX80 Mark II does particularly well in the higher education market, which is probably due to a combination of features, including the excellent image quality and the bright image rated at 3000 lumens, as well as the color control.

SX80 Mark II View SlideshowSee all (5) slides

Being able to get the color right would be a compelling feature for say, an art history class, and the high resolution would be of obvious interest for any number of other subjects, particularly in science and engineering, that need to show images with fine detail. The same features make the projector of special interest to photographers, galleries, and anyone else who needs to get the most out of photos.
The Basics
The SX80 Mark II is a little big and heavy to count as truly portable, at 11.5 pounds and 4.8 by 13 by 13.4 inches. However, it’s in the luggable range, and Canon provides a soft carrying case. Basic setup is mostly standard fare, but with a few important conveniences added. Hit the Auto Set button on the remote, for example, and the projector will automatically focus as well as sync to the incoming signal. In addition, both the focus and 1.5 to 1 zoom are motorized, so you can adjust them easily from the remote.

SX80 Mark II Specifications

Engine Type: LCoS
Type: Business

Canon put the connectors for the SX80 Mark II on a side panel rather than the back, but the more important issue is that there’s a reasonably full set, including an HDMI 1.3 port for a digital computer or video source, a DVI-I port for a digital computer, a VGA input for a computer or component video, a pass-through monitor port, and both an S-Video and a composite video port. There are also three miniplugs for stereo audio inputs, and one for stereo output. In addition, a USB type A port lets you show jpg images from a USB memory key or PictBridge camera.
Brightness and Image Quality
As already mentioned, Canon rates the SX80 Mark II at 3000 lumens, which is an increasingly common level of brightness for projectors in its weight class and lighter. The Casio Green Slim XJ-A250 ($1399.99 direct, 4 stars) that I recently reviewed, for example, is also rated at 3,000 lumens. In my tests, that translated into an image that was more than bright enough, at 52 inches across (64-inches diagonal), to stand up to bright sunlight streaming through a nearby window.
As expected, based on my experience with earlier models of Canon LCOS projectors, the SX80 Mark II sailed through our suite of DisplayMate tests without a problem. Colors were bright, vibrant, and fully saturated, color balance was excellent with truly neutral gray at all shades from black to white, and both white on black and black on white text was sharp and highly readable down to the smallest sizes we test with.
Video images weren’t at quite the same level, but that’s expected for a data projector. I saw a slight loss of detail in dark areas on screen, and the slightest hint of posterization (color changing suddenly where it should change gradually), but only in scenes we use because they tend to bring out these problems.
With less demanding scenes, which are more typical of most commercial video and movies, the projector did a good enough job to make it suitable for watching a full-length movie, although it’s not in the same league as even a mid-range home entertainment projector like the Editors’ ChoiceEpson PowerLite Home Cinema 8350 ($1,299 direct, 4 stars).
SX80 Mark II Color Management
Because of the projector’s photo mode, I put more emphasis than usual on testing it with photos. Quite simply, the results were superb, thanks largely to the advanced color adjustments.
The photo mode and advanced color controls offer far more precise control over color than the vast majority of projectors. Among other features, they let you, for example, adjust both the saturation and hue for each primary and secondary color—red, green, blue, cyan, yellow, and magenta. They’re also supplemented by features like a color temperature setting and four options for dynamic gamma adjustment, which can analyze each image and adjust the gamma setting to affect contrast differently at different levels of brightness.
Improving the color for photos turned out to be much easier with these controls than with most color management systems. Even unsophisticated users should be able to master them without too much of a learning curve. Professionals who are used to color adjustments shouldn’t have any learning curve at all.
Other Issues
More often than not, projectors in the SX80 Mark II’s weight class offer meager audio systems, but Canon’s taken that tradition to new heights of pointlessness, with a 1-watt mono speaker. The audio quality is reasonably good if you’re close enough to hear it, but for most purposes, you will definitely want to plug an external sound system into the audio output.
Aside from the severely underpowered sound system, the SX80 Mark II is an impressive beast, with excellent data image quality, better video image quality than most data projectors, and particularly good photo quality. Given the cost, most people will probably consider it overkill for business use, but for those who need the best color quality they can find, SX80 Mark II easily worth the price. Add in the advanced color management and it’s a runaway pick for Editors’ Choice.

SX80 Mark II

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LG 32LK450 HDTV Review

LG has released its 32LK450 ($449.99 list), a 32-inch LCD HDTV with full 1080p, 1,920 by 1,080 resolution and a 100,000 to 1 contrast among other performance features. The TV also includes an Intelligent Sensor, which automatically adjusts picture settings to match its environment’s lighting, and more.

LG 32LK450 Specifications

Screen Size: 32 inches
Type: LCD TV, HDTV, LED
Supported Refresh Rates: 60Hz
Aspect Ratio: 16:9
Video Inputs: Component, Composite, HDMI
Speakers Included: Yes
Stand Supplied?: Yes
Height: 19.8 inches
Width: 31.3 inches
LG 32LK450 Depth: 2.9 inches
Weight: 17.9 lb

LG 32LK450 Design and Features

The LG 32LK450 is similarly square compared to other LG models, but its profile is a bit thicker. The glossy, black bezel rests on a similarly thick stand that swivels to support multiple viewing angles. In back, you’ll find three HDMI inputs, one USB port, one PC input, and one component and composite video input, among others.
Inside, users will find that the LG 32LK450 puts out a 60Hz refresh rate and runs on LG’s XD Engine. The TV supports a list of viewing modes across aspect ratio, color control, picture mode and 24p Real Cinema, yet they’re all managed via picture Wizard 2, an automatic theme selector. The 32LK450 also supports Dolby Digital surround sound and is Energy Star-qualified.

LG 32LK450

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Favi B1-LED-Pico Projector review

The Favi B1-LED-Pico ($280 street) is a versatile pico projector: it can be connected to your computer’s VGA port to emulate what’s on your screen for giving presentations and the like; it can be hooked to a composite video source to, say, project DVDs; and it can display photos or video clips, or play music files stored in its 1GB of internal memory or from a micro-SD card or USB key. One thing you can’t do with the B1 is use it away from an outlet, as it has no battery.
Dimensions and Features
The B1 is rectangular, with rounded corners and a black base. At 1 by 3 by 5 inches (HWD), the 8-ounce B1 is on the large side for a pico projector; it could fit in a jacket or pants pocket, but not a shirt pocket. According to Favi, output ranges between 20 and 35 lumens, with a rated brightness of 28 lumens. It has native SVGA (800 by 600) resolution.

B1-LED-Pico

The controls on top include a focus lever, as well as five buttons to control the projector while in PMP (personal media player) mode: a button labeled M that returns you to the previous menu; a play/pause/select button; fast-forward and rewind buttons, and a button to switch modes. The focus lever is really an extension of the focus wheel that’s set behind the lens and moves it in and out. The lever has the right amount of resistance to provide for smooth motion and to let you come to a good focus without much trouble. It’s a better focusing system than the Favi E1-LED-Pico ($200 street), whose focus wheel protrudes slightly from the front of the projector, and is harder to precisely manipulate.

The B1 comes with a Y cable with both VGA and composite video/line audio connectors, for connecting to either a computer or a video source such as a DVD player. It also includes a mini USB cable for file transfer. The metal tripod, with fold-out legs, is steadier and more substantial than the flexible-legged tripods that come with many pico projectors. The tripod’s ball head allows you to precisely adjust the projector. The B1 also comes with a 12V power adapter, a black leather case, and a remote control.

B1-LED-Pico Specifications

Engine Type: LCoS
B1-LED-Pico Type: Business

The B1′s remote can control just about everything the projector can do: switch between the basic modes (PMP, VGA for connecting to a computer, and A/V for connecting to an external video source); access a menu in A/V or VGA mode to adjust brightness, contrast, etc.; view photos at full size, as thumbnails, or as a slideshow; zoom in and out; increase or decrease the volume; and more.

The B1-LED-Pico has a USB connection for transferring files from a computer, and it can also accept a USB thumb drive to run files from; it can also run media files from a micro-SD card placed in the slot on the projector’s side. To transfer files to and from your computer, you need to enter PMP mode. The screen message that comes up, “Connecting PC,” is a little deceptive in that a status bar comes up and quickly disappears, at which point you’re already connected, but the message remains, as if it’s still trying to connect, but once the projector appears as a drive in Windows Explorer, you can transfer items to and from B1-LED-Pico.
Performance
In running the B1-LED-Pico through our suite of DisplayMate Tests image quality proved to be typical of the pico projectors we’ve tested: good enough to be useful, but not without its flaws. For instance, it had trouble distinguishing between dark shades of gray, with a corresponding loss of detail in dark areas. Bright whites sometimes showed a bit of a yellow tint, a not uncommon problem in pico projectors.
I also watched some video on the B1-LED-Pico when it was connected via composite video to a DVD player. B1-LED-Pico was quite watchable; the one distraction is that the volume from the speakers was feeble, and the projector’s fan noise added to the audibility problem. It does have an audio-out jack for use with headphones or powered external speakers.
The Favi B1-LED-Pico costs less than the Editors’ Choice Optoma PK301 Pico Pocket Projector($400 street, 4 stars) but it also can’t match the Optoma’s 50-lumen brightness (when powered through an adapter) and lacks its ability to be powered from a battery, as well as flourishes such as an HDMI port. The B1 is brighter than the entertainment-oriented Favi E1-LED-Pico, which lacks a VGA connector to let you run presentations from a computer, but the E1 can be used away from an outlet when powered by 4 AA batteries. If you don’t require a pico projector that can run off batteries, the B1-LED-Pico—which can be used for both business and entertainment—should be on your short list.

B1-LED-Pico

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LG 55LV5500HDTV Review

LG offers its LG 55LV5500 ( $1,799.99 list), a 55-inch LED HDTV with a 1,920 by 1,080 video resolution and 120Hz refresh rate as well as the Smart TV series of web apps. This TV also includes a 5,000,000 to 1 contrast ratio and the LG Magic Motion Remote among other features.

LG 55LV5500 Specifications

LG 55LV5500 Screen Size

55 inches
Type: LCD TV, HDTV, LED
Supported Refresh Rates: 120Hz
Aspect Ratio: 16:9
Video Inputs: Component, HDMI
Speakers Included: Yes
Stand Supplied?: Yes
Height: 30.6 inches
Width: 51.1 inches
LG 55LV5500 Depth: 1.2 inches
LG 55LV5500 Weight: 51.1 lb

LG 55LV5500 Design and Features
This LG TV sports a square, black bezel design with a clear frame edge resting on a glossy stand with a clear column that supports swivel. The included Magic Motion Remote allows users to point at and select individual options on the screen, much like the Nintendo Wii remote. Connections include four HDMI inputs, two USB ports, component and composite video inputs, LAN input, PC RGB input, and more.
The 55LV5500 sports 24p Real Cinema and several modes for picture modes, aspect ratios and color controls powered through picture Wizard 2 automatic calibration. In addition to LAN support, this TV also packs built-in WiFi to access content from Smart TV like Facebook, Netflix, and Hulu Plus. The 55LV5500 can link with other DLNA-certified devices as well. This LED TV is also Energy Star-qualified and uses 30 percent less energy than units on average.

LG 55LV5500

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Samsung ST80 Camera Review

Samsung ST80 The $249.99 (list) 14.2-megapixel Samsung ST80 makes a compelling case for Wi-Fi in a digital camera. Thanks to its built-in Wi-Fi, you can easily e-mail photos or upload them to your Facebook photo albums when you’re near a Wi-Fi hotspot. But the ST80 doesn’t offer optical image stabilization—an ever-present feature in cameras in this price range. This can mean blurry photos when shooting high-speed or low-light images. But if you’re shooting in good lighting, images from the ST80 are surprisingly sharp.
Samsung ST80 Design and Interface
One of the smaller compact cameras you can buy, the ST80 is comparable to the tiny Canon PowerShot HS 300 ($249.99, 4 stars). Measuring 2.2 by 3.6 by 0.7 inches (HWD) and weighing only 4.3 ounces, this camera fits easily in your pocket, but its all-plastic construction makes it feels flimsy. Most of the camera’s functions are controlled by the touch screen on the back, and you’ll have no problem figuring out what each physical control does; there are only three: Power and Playback buttons, and a zoom trigger.

Samsung ST80 View SlideshowSee all (13) slides

Most compact digital cameras use some form mechanical image stabilization—where either the lens or the image sensor shifts to help reduce blur. Not the ST80, and without it, you’ll have to use a faster shutter or higher ISO setting to get good results when shooting in low-light settings. The ST80 offers 3x optical zoom via a f/3-f/5.6, 35-105mm (35mm equivalent) lens. It’s not a particularly wide-angled, long-reaching, or fast lens for any class of camera.
Despite a good-size 230K-dot 3-inch LCD, framing pictures feels very cramped. The LCD has a 16:9 aspect ratio, but the camera’s sensor has a 4:3 aspect ratio; if you’re shooting at full resolution, the camera shrinks the on-screen image to a pillar-boxed 2.5 inches. To compare, the low-cost General Electric E1480W ($169.99, 3 stars) offer a 3-inch LCD with a 4:3 aspect ratio so you can frame and review shots using the entire LCD.

Samsung ST80 Specifications

Type: Compact
Megapixels: 14.2 MP
Media Format: Secure Digital, microSD
Samsung ST80 35-mm Equivalent (Wide): 35 mm
35-mm Equivalent (Telephoto): 105 mm
Samsung ST80 Optical Zoom: 3 x
LCD size: 3 inches
Samsung ST80 Video Resolution: Yes

The touch-based user interface on the ST80 feels snappy and intuitive, but is limited because of the mediocre LCD, which is a resistive touch screen, not capacitive one like you’ll find on the Bloggie Touch pocket camcorder ($199.99, 4 stars). The resistive display doesn’t feel as accurate, and requires a little more pressure—turning the flash on and off, for example, isn’t difficult, but typing in e-mail addresses is frustrating. The Editors’ Choice Samsung TL225 ($349.99, 4 stars) offers the same UI, but it’s presented on a larger, higher-resolution (3.5-inch, 1.04-million-dot) LCD.
Samsung ST80 Other Features
One of the features that truly sets this camera apart is its ability to e-mail and upload photos wirelessly. The camera has an address book so you can enter and store contacts. The feature is simple to use, but you can only send one photo at a time, and you can’t send files in their full resolution; instead they’re sent as 1.9-megapixel files (1600 by 1200 resolution).You can also upload images to Picasa, Facebook, PhotoBucket, and Samsung Imaging. The Facebook experience works well with photos—you can login, create an album and upload multiple images to that album, and you can even browse all of your Facebook albums (not just the ones uploaded from the ST80).
The ST80 can also be used as a DLNA media server; when connected to a Wi-Fi network, devices that can act as DLNA clients (Sony’s PlayStation 3, and some HDTVs and Blu-ray players)can view pictures and videos from ST80 wirelessly, or even download the files directly to local storage. The upcoming Samsung SH100 will ship with an app and a Windows application that will automatically retrieve all your new photos when your computer and camera are on the same network. If you don’t want to wait and want a simpler wireless solution, consider an Eye-Fi card, an SD card with built-in Wi-Fi that can automatically backup your pictures when on your home Wi-Fi network.
Samsung ST80 Performance
The ST80 isn’t particularly fast. The camera can start up and shoot in an average of 3.1 seconds, once on, it averages 3.8 seconds between shots. The comparably priced Canon PowerShot HS300 shaves a second or more off each these times—it booted up and took a picture in an average of 2 seconds, with 2.2 seconds between shots.
Samsung ST80 In the PC Labs, we use Imatest to collect objective information about image quality. In our tests, the ST80′s photos were very sharp; the camera offered an excellent center-weighted average of 2,053 lines per picture height. That even outperformed the much-pricier Editors’ Choice Canon PowerShot S95 ($399.99, 4 stars), which captured a center-weighted average of 1,858 lines per picture height. Like the Canon S95, the ST80 can be pushed all the way up to ISO 1600 to collect more light without producing too much noise. Imatest measured less than 1.5 percent noise up to ISO 1600, which is a good result. Video recorded by the ST80 can reach up to 720p resolution (1280-by-720 at 30 frames per second.) It sounds good, but there are caveats. You can use the optical zoom, but the audio is cut out while zooming to avoid capturing loud noise from the lens motor. The camera also doesn’t refocus while recording video, likely because you’ll also capture noise from the lens. While the ST80 can record high-definition videos, they can’t be wirelessly uploaded in HD or even 640-by-480 standard definition. The ST80 uploads only 320-by-240 QVGA-quality videos and only to YouTube, not Facebook.
The ST80 has a single port. Using the included proprietary cable you can plug the camera into the included wall charger or a USB port on a computer to transfer your images. Many other compact cameras offer distinct mini-USB and mini-HDMI ports. Also unlike most cameras, the Samsung ST80 writes to microSD cards, not standard-size SD, so your SDHC card reader won’t help you avoid connecting the camera via a cable unless you have a microSD adapter.
If you really need a way to send or upload photos to Facebook right from your camera, the Samsung ST80 might be a good fit for you. But the lack of image stabilization is a big negative in a $250 camera. If you want to add Wi-Fi features to your current camera, take a look at an Eye-Fi card. If you want something a little more reliable with optical image stabilization for the same price, give the Canon PowerShot HS 300 a try. The Samsung ST80 produces sharp images in bright light and has some innovative features, but it comes with some flaws that are tough to ignore.

Samsung ST80

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Kodak EasyShare Mini M200 Camera Review

The 10-megapixel Kodak EasyShare Mini M200 ($99.99 direct) is one of the smallest, lightest, and simplest digital cameras you’ll find. Designed for a generation of users who take photos of their friends and upload them to Facebook without a second thought about image quality, Kodak EasyShare Mini M200 a fine camera for the price. Be forewarned, though: there’s no image stabilization, so unless you’ve got a tripod, or perfect lighting conditions, you’ll either need the flash or you’ll end up with seriously blurry photos. Much can be forgiven on a sub-$100 camera, but between that, and the Mini’s lack of HD-video recording, it’s tough to recommend unless you’re on a strict budget. If image quality is at all important, you should save up for a low-end, but more-full-featured camera, like the Canon PowerShot A3000 IS ($149.99, 4 stars) or the Editors’ Choice Kodak EasyShare Mini M200 (4 stars), which Kodak sells for just $120 these days.
Kodak EasyShare Mini M200 Design
When I first grabbed EasyShare Mini, a co-worker turned around and said, “It looks like you have giant hands!” Hence the name, the Mini is that small. Measuring 2.0 by 3.4 by 0.7 inches (HWD), and weighing 3.5 ounces, it will fit easily in pretty much any pocket. If you’ve got larger-than-tiny hands, though, its size might be a problem—my thumb frequently wandered over top of the screen, and the camera was even a bit difficult to hold at times.

Kodak EasyShare Mini M200 View SlideshowSee all (6) slides

Type: Compact
Megapixels: 10 MP
Media Format: Secure Digital, Secure Digital High Capacity, Secure Digital Extended Capacity
35-mm Equivalent (Wide): 29 mm
35-mm Equivalent (Telephoto): 87 mm
Optical Zoom: 3 x
LCD size: 2.5 inches
Video Resolution: No

The Mini comes in red, blue, and purple models—mine was red. The camera’s front is very glossy, filled with the lens, flash, and a small mirror for self-portraits. There are buttons on the top and back of the camera, dedicated to adjusting the most obvious modes—switching from video to still photos, toggling the flash, and the like. That’s a smart move from Kodak, as most people buying the Mini will probably shoot in automatic mode and only toggle the flash.
The lens offers 3x zoom, starting at 29mm and extending to 87mm (35mm equivalent), with corresponding aperture of f/3.5-f/5.9. Not all that impressive, but it’ll work fine in most situations. The LCD on the back of the Mini is a 2.5-inch display that’s filled with 230,000 dots, which is typical point-and-shoot-camera resolution, but since the screen is smaller, it looks sharper than normal. The half-inch size decrease (from most compact cameras’ 3-inch display) does make a difference, though, and will cause a lot of scrolling through menus and a fair amount of squinting at photos.
All on-screen menus fall into two sections—Capture, which controls everything involved in picture taking, and Setup for functions like changing the date and time. Other than the button for shooting mode toggling, there are only a few controls on the camera: a zoom rocker, two menu buttons, dedicated Playback and Delete buttons, and a Share button. Kodak’s sharing functionality is one of the camera’s flagship features, allowing you to earmark photos and videos for upload to services like Flickr, Facebook, YouTube and more—and when you connect your camera, they’re automatically sent to their respective destinations.
Performance
Calling the EasyShare Mini “fast” is a bit of a stretch, but its shooting performance isn’t bad for a sub-$100 camera. It can boot up and shoot a picture in 3.2 seconds, and you’ll wait an average of 2.8 seconds between shots, with 0.5 seconds of shutter lag. There are certainly faster compact cameras, but the Mini doesn’t feel particularly slow. Other activities are pokier, though: Some of the UI elements lag when you’re scrolling or pressing a button, and playback of images and videos was very slow in my tests—I often saw a red “processing” bar.
At PCMag we use the Imatest testing suite to collect objective information about image quality. Imatest’s first test is image sharpness, measured in lines per picture height. The EasyShare Mini scored a center-weighted average of 1,664 lines, which is a solid sharpness score, especially for such an inexpensive camera. The Canon PowerShot A3000 IS scored a super-sharp 2,173 lines per picture height, and the Kodak M580 scored 2,127. Regardless, the Kodak EasyShare Mini M200 score is good enough for most casual use.
Imatest also measures noise at various ISO sensitivities, calculating the camera’s low-light shooting abilities. If there is more than 1.5 percent noise within an image, that image will likely be visibly noisy or grainy. The Kodak EasyShare Mini M200 settings only goes up to ISO 1000—a giant red flag meaning this might not be a camera you’ll want to use indoors, without a flash. However, it stayed under the 1.5 percent threshold with every photo I snapped—even at ISO 1000.
There’s a caveat to this surprisingly good performance, though: despite its good numbers, you’ll likely have trouble taking usable pictures in anything other than perfect light. That’s because the camera lacks image stabilization, which corrects for motion from both the photographer and subject. Unless you’re shooting in excellent light (and can use lightning-fast shutter speeds), or using a tripod and shooting still subjects, even the slightest motion can render your photos unrecognizably blurry. Using a flash helps mitigate this problem, and with the Kodak EasyShare Mini M200 ,Kodak EasyShare Mini M200 really your only option for anything but brightly lit shooting situations.
Video recording is unimpressive on the Kodak EasyShare Mini M200, which is frustrating for a camera that connects so easily to YouTube, Facebook and Twitter, but not surprising for a $100 model. The camera records only at VGA (640-by-480)resolution, so HD video is out. It does have autofocus available during video recording, as well as digital zoom. (Don’t use the digital zoom, though—it will decimate the already-low quality footage.) Video is recorded as MPEG files, which can be natively uploaded to most video sites.
Kodak EasyShare Mini M200
The Kodak EasyShare Mini M200 reads SDXC cards, which are backwards compatible with SD. There’s also a micro-USB port for syncing the camera with your computer, and for charging the battery—a nice feature, so you don’t have to lug around a separate charger. There’s no HDMI port for playing photos and video back on your HDTV, but that’s not surprising given the camera’s price or its video-recording capabilities.
Kodak EasyShare Mini M200 Like I said earlier, much can be forgiven in an under-$100 pocket camera. If you’re happy using the flash, and only want Facebook-sized images and videos, the Kodak EasyShare Mini M200 will serve you well. For $50 more, though, you can take a giant leap forward in image and video quality with the Canon PowerShot A3000 IS and the Kodak EasyShare M580.

Kodak EasyShare Mini M200

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RCA 46LA45RQ HDTV Review

The RCA 46LA45RQ ($699.99 direct) is a 46-inch LCD HDTV boasting a 1,920 by 1,080 resolution, 4,000 to 1 contrast ratio and other performance features. In addition to a built-in tuner and 3D noise reduction, this TV sports a 6.5 millisecond response time.

46LA45RQ Specifications

46LA45RQ Screen Size: 46 inches
46LA45RQ Type: LCD TV, HDTV, LED
46LA45RQ Aspect Ratio: 16:9
Video Inputs: Component, HDMI
Speakers Included: Yes
Stand Supplied?: Yes
Height: 27.8 inches
Width: 43.7 inches
Depth: 4.3 inches
46LA45RQ Weight: 55.1 lb

46LA45RQ Design and Features

RCA’s TV sports a black glossy sheen on its bezel, but a red glowing light lines its bottom edge. This sharp, angular frame is supported by a chrome, stationary stand. In the back, you’ll find four HDMI inputs, one VGA port, component and composite video inputs, one USB port and more.
The 46LA45RQ features a 16 by 9 aspect ratio and a 500 cd/m2 brightness level. The set also supports different viewing modes including sports, games and cinema. This RoHS-compliant TV, meaning it was built with fewer hazardous materials, is VESA mountable as well.

46LA45RQ

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Cinemin Screen Projector Review

Cinemin Screen With more and more pico projectors becoming available, both as standalone projectors, like the Editors’ Choice Optoma PK301 Pico Pocket Projector ($400 street, 4 stars) and as extras embedded in other products, like the Nikon Coolpix S1000pj ($429.95 list, 2 stars) camera, there’s more and more need for something to project the image onto. Sure, you can use any handy blank wall, or even a piece of paper, but you won’t see the best possible image from the projector. That’s where the Cinemin Screen ($25 direct) comes in, as a small screen that’s highly portable and easy to set up.
When it’s closed up for storage or for carrying, at 9.75 by 12.75 by 0.4 inches (HWD), the Cinemin Screen is roughly the size, shape, and thickness of a clipboard, without the clip, and it looks like nothing so much as a black vinyl binder. To set it up, you open the flap, which is held in place by a magnet, then lift the front cover to reveal the actual screen, and continue to rotate the cover to the back, ending at an angle behind the screen, so it becomes a support.

Cinemin Screen

The flap folds into two parts, with one becoming the base for the Cinemin Screen as a whole and the other folding up flat behind the section with the screen itself, once again being held in place with a magnet. In this open position, the cross section is a right triangle, so when you set it down on a flat surface, the screen itself is perpendicular to the surface, ready for whatever image you want to project on it.
The screen measures only 14 inches diagonally, or about the same as a letter-size sheet of paper. (The screen is 8.3 inches high by 11.7 inches wide.) Bigger might be better in some ways, but 14 inches is an appropriate size for ensuring a reasonably bright image from a pico projector. More important, if the screen were any bigger, it wouldn’t be anywhere near as portable. Larger screens, like the EPSON ES 1000 ($129.99 direct, 4 stars), aren’t even in the same league when it comes to portability.

Cinemin Screen Specifications

Cinemin Screen Type: Business, Consumer

Cinemin Screen Gain
If the Cinemin Screen did nothing but make it easy to set up a white vertical surface to project images onto, it would still be a big improvement over using, say, walls with random paint colors or trying to hold a white piece of paper in place with one hand or mount it on something with a piece of tape (all strategies I’ve used with pico projectors). But because the screen material has a 1.1 gain, it actually does a bit more than that.
Screen materials can have positive or negative gains, or be neutral in that regard, with a gain of 1.0. By definition, a screen with 1.0 gain reflects the same amount of light as a standard white (magnesium oxide) board. A screen that reflects less light, as with gray screens that are meant to help increase contrast, has a negative gain, with a number lower than 1. A screen that reflects more light has a positive gain, with a number higher than 1. A 1.1 gain translates to a slightly brighter image than you would see with a standard screen.
Cinemin Screen Another way to understand gain is that a 1.0 (or lower) gain screen offers the same brightness from any angle, because it reflects light evenly in all directions. A higher gain screen reflects more of the light along the centerline between the screen and projector, which is what boosts the brightness. But with more photons being reflected along the centerline, fewer are left to reflect at other angles, and the brightness falls off at increasing angles to the screen—much like early LCD screens, which offered relatively narrow angles of view.
I confirmed in my tests that the Cinemin Screen’s 1.1 gain is enough to make a subtle, but noticeable, difference in brightness compared with, say, a piece of white paper that you might otherwise use. It also has the benefit of making the image appear just a bit crisper compared to using a sheet of white paper.
Ultimately, if you have a pico projector, the Cinemin Screen is well worth getting, whether for business or personal use. It’s small, lightweight, highly portable, big enough for showing presentations, photos, or video to a small group of people, and it improves the image compared with ad hoc choices you might otherwise use. In fact, if you have a pico projector, you might even think of it as a must-have accessory.

Cinemin Screen

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Olympus E-PL2 Camera Review

Olympus E-PL2 Back in September of 2008, Olympus and Panasonic announced the Micro Four Thirds standard. The companies promised to produce interchangeable-lens cameras that would deliver D-SLR-quality speed and images, but in smaller-than-D-SLR bodies. Panasonic’s products, most recently the Lumix DMC-GF2 ($699.95, 4 stars), have so far been superior to Olympus’s three attempts: the Olympus E-PL1 (3.5 stars, $599.99), E-P1 and E-P2, all of which were hampered mostly by slow autofocus. On its fourth try, though, Olympus got it right with the 12.3-megapixel, $599.99 (direct) Olympus E-PL2, which includes a new (M.Zuiko ED 28-84mm f3.5-5.6 II) lens that delivers fast autofocus, which is even silent during video recording.
Olympus E-PL2 Design
The lure of an E-PL2 over a high-end compact camera like the Canon PowerShot G12 ($499.99, 2.5 stars) or the Olympus XZ-1 ($499.99, 3.5 stars) is its image sensor. Compared with compact cameras’ CMOS sensors, Micro Four Thirds models sport comparatively giant sensors. The only way to get a bigger sensor without a true D-SLR is a camera like the Editors’ Choice Sony Alpha NEX-3, a competitor to Micro Four Thirds models, it houses an image sensor the same size as what you’ll find in a D-SLR.

Olympus E-PL2 View SlideshowSee all (10) slides

The E-PL2 has interchangeable lenses, and looks a lot like a mini D-SLR, but it’s not. SLRs use a mirror box to send the image to the optical viewfinder, and employ a secondary smaller image sensor specifically for autofocusing. Micro Four Thirds or Sony NEX series cameras cut down on bulk by removing the mirror box, optical viewfinder and secondary image sensor; they use the main large image sensor to autofocus, and use an electronic viewfinder on the LCD. Micro Four Thirds lenses are also a little smaller than lenses for the Sony NEX cameras and SLRs, because the lenses are proportional to the size of the image sensors.
With the lens attached, the E-PL2 weighs 1.03 pounds—much lighter than a traditional SLR with a comparable lens. (The Editors’ Choice Canon EOS Rebel T2i, with the 18-55mm kit lens weighs 1.60 pounds.) The camera’s 2.86-by- 5.54-by-1.65 inch (HWD) body is mostly rectangular with a small grip on the right side.

Olympus E-PL2 Specifications

Type: Compact Interchangeable Lens
Olympus E-PL2 Megapixels: 12.3 MP
Media Format: Secure Digital Extended Capacity
35-mm Equivalent (Wide): 28 mm
Olympus E-PL2 35-mm Equivalent (Telephoto): 84 mm
Optical Zoom: 3 x
LCD size: 3 inches
Olympus E-PL2 Video Resolution: Yes

Olympus limits the buttons and dials on the E-PL2 to only the essentials. The control layout looks just like a compact point and shooter: dedicated buttons for playback and video recording, and a dial for automatic, manual, scene modes, and more. There’s a ring on the back of the camera that lets you spin through shutter speed or aperture in manual modes. Cleverly, Olympus offers two different menu structures: one for experienced shooters, and one for beginners. The beginner mode replaces terms like “aperture” with “background sharp” or “soft.” This is a nice feature if you want to experiment, but aren’t well-versed in photography lingo.
The 3-inch LCD on the back of the E-PL2 is by far the best LCD on any Micro Four Thirds camera from Olympus—it’s filled with 460,000 dots, and is incredibly sharp (most cameras fill the screen with 230,000 dots). But it pales in comparison with the Sony NEX Series—its articulating display has 921,600 dots, and to my eye, has much higher contrast than the E-PL2.
Olympus E-PL2 Performance
Autofocus on previous-generation Olympus Micro Four Thirds cameras was a mess. Bringing an object into focus on the E-P2 took nearly a full second, and the whole time you could feel the lens struggling to focus. The revamped E-PL2 cuts that time in half. The breakthrough, it seems, is solely because of the lens included with the E-PL2: I snapped it onto the E-P2′s body, and it was just as fast as the E-PL2.
With the autofocus problem solved, the E-PL2 feels much faster than its predecessors, but Panasonic, Samsung, and Sony’s mirrorless cameras move still handle shutter lag more effectively. Those cameras can snap with barely 0.1 seconds of shutter lag, while the E-PL2 is closer to 0.4—more like a really fast point-and-shoot camera. The E-PL2 can capture three images per second, and averages 2.47 seconds to power up and shoot—both good scores.
In the PC Labs we use Imatest to objectively evaluate image quality. At ISO 200, the E-PL2 averaged a center-weighted average of 1,983 lines per picture height. The NEX-3 edged it out slightly, averaging 2,248 lines per picture height, but both scores are quite good. In terms of image noise, the E-PL2 was able to keep levels below the 1.5-percent acceptability threshold up to and including ISO 1600. This means it will perform nicely in subpar lighting. Once again, though, the NEX-3 does better, shooting up to ISO 3200 without significant image noise.
Video recorded on the camera looks great; it’s captured in high-definition 720p30 as .AVI files, which can be natively uploaded to YouTube and Facebook. A few models from Panasonic and Sony allow you to use multiple codecs (for higher bit rates) and variable frame rate captures like 24, 30, and 60 frames per second. And some models, like the less-expensive Canon PowerShot Elph HS 300 ($249.99, 4 stars) offer 1080p video capture, but that’s not commonplace.
The new lens on the E-PL2 has a silent iris, so you can refocus while recording and not hear any noise—no D-SLR can do that. If you zoom in and out slowly, it’s similarly silent, though fast zooms will result in audible noise. When set to manual mode, you can control aperture and shutter speed, so you can control the depth-of-field and level of blur in your videos. There are also plenty of effects available—grainy film, soft focus, pinhole, and more.
Olympus includes a digital accessories port, allowing you to use nifty add-ons like a Bluetooth adapter for wirelessly sending images to other Bluetooth devices, or an optical-style viewfinder. The camera also offers a hot shoe for external bounce flashes. There’s a mini-HDMI port for connecting the E-PL2 to your HDTV, and a proprietary USB port for connecting the camera to your computer. Don’t lose your USB cable, because you’ll need to go to Olympus to replace it, but that might not be a problem if you have an SDHC card reader. (The camera writes to SDHC media as well as the new, faster, higher-capacity, more-expensive SDXC cards.)
Overall, the Olympus E-PL2 is the least-expensive Micro Four Thirds camera I’d recommend. It’s like a poor man’s Panasonic GF2; just a little larger and a $100 less expensive. Still, the E-PL2 is a very solid option given its good performance and large selection of lenses, along with its hot shoe and accessory port. But if you want maximum image quality for the price, go with our Editors’ Choice for mirrorless cameras—the Sony NEX Series.

Thursday, September 22, 2011

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