TECH SPOTLIGHT : Toshiba projector gives professionals great presentation
Posted on Monday, March 24, 2008
I spend a lot of time trying out products for the general consumer, but it’s time to show a little love to those hard workers that need as good a gadget at work as they want to have at home.
This week, I have a little something for the business folk, the educators, the attorneys and any professionals that need to show off their work in the best way possible.
Toshiba produces a line of projectors made for professionals as well as general consumers. One of their more recent projectors is designed especially for the business types. It’s the Toshiba TLP-XC 2000 Conference Room Projector.
The first thing I noticed about this projector is its size. It’s actually smaller than most projectors I’ve seen. It’s not tiny by any means, but at 14. 5 inches by 10 inches, it’s compact enough to fit into an overnight or carry-on bag for those outof-town conferences. The only thing that makes the projector seem bulky is its soft carrying case, which is included. The bag is pretty big because it’s wellpadded to protect the projector. Still, it’s very nice to have and a surprising inclusion in the package. Most projectors don’t include such a bag.
The package includes another great addition: the mouse. The projector comes with a wireless mouse and receiver. The mouse has the remote controls for the projector built into it, as well as a laser pointer.
The most startling feature of this projector is the arm folded on the side. It took a little effort to pull it out, but a steady tug revealed a camera at the end of a long, upright arm.
As it turns out, the camera can be used to turn this new technology into an old-school projector. The camera can point downward onto transparencies or... what’s that classic form of presentation ? Ah, yes. Paper.
It may be a bit difficult to get the arm out, but once you do, it’s surprisingly maneuverable. You can point it not only downward, but to people or other objects to display the image through the projector.
Of course, there’s more than one way to project an image. Ports on the back will allow the projector to take input from a computer, a DVD player or even a video camera.
The key to a good projector, of course, is the quality of the image it produces. Luckily, quality definitely isn’t an issue here.
The picture produced by this projector is incredibly impressive. Even without any adjustments, the colors were bright and the lines extra sharp. Even animated projects or rapid movement on a DVD produced a focused, sharp, clear picture.
Of course, the amazing picture is possible because this projector is HDTV compatible. The high-definition picture allows you to have the projector pretty far from the screen — up to 28 feet, according to the specs — yet it still can produce a nice, clear image. There’s also a manual zoom feature, 1. 2 x, around the lens that lets you increase the image size as well, though it will blur it slightly.
The picture is adjustable in the menus built into the projector, though sometimes it was a bit complicated to maneuver among all the menus and features.
This projector is one of the most adaptable I’ve seen. It’s built to work with just about any system setup, be it off a computer or a television, or even live. It’s certainly loaded with features.
The only downside to all those features is that they create quite a learning curve for this projector. The basic controls are easy enough, but camera work or image adjustment can get a bit more complicated. It took a bit of time to figure out all the features of this product and to deduce how each one worked.
Once that’s accomplished, however, you have a very impressive projector in your control. The portability, bonus mouse / remote / laser pointer and amazing image quality create a great product for any business.
There’s one more impressive feature — the price. While it might seem high for the general consumer, it’s actually average to low for similar products for businesses. The price puts even middle-size or small businesses within reach of a top-quality, versatile projector.
This device is worth raising an eyebrow or two in the business industry. And it’s not the only item raising eyebrows of businessmen. It will be interesting to see what’s coming next. Melissa L. Jones can be reached via e-mail at mljones 72 @mac. com.
Where it’s @ The Toshiba TLP-XC 2000 U Conference Room Projector requires a standard RCA, SVGA, VGA, SXGA or UXGA connection. 2 AA batteries are required for the remote control but are included in the package. The product retails for $ 1, 369. More information is available at www. toshibadirect. com.
FEEDBACK:
Something to say about this topic? Submit a Letter to the Editor online
