Viewsonic px747

At the beginning of the year ViewSonic announced its new ViewSonic PX747-4K UHD projector that, as its name indicates, allows to reproduce content with 4K resolution and HDR 10 technology to achieve a much richer and more detailed contrast. We are talking about a DLP type projector lamp and XPR technology with an incredible brightness of up to 3500 ANSI lumens. More and more UHD projectors are being seen on the market, and what is more important: at an affordable price for the average consumer. However, it is our job to assess its quality relationship with respect to the value it has, so we bring you this analysis, in which, as always, we will try to be as critical as possible.

We thank ViewSonic for giving us the ViewSonic PX747-4K for review.

ViewSonic PX747-4K Technical Specifications

Unboxing

Upon receiving the package, we find a fairly bulky and heavy box that already anticipates the size of the projector. The main color of the box is black and we only found two images of the projector, the curious thing is that the box only shows the words Home Projector in large and to want to know the model number, you have to look for it in smaller letters of the sides.

When opening the box, thick foam padding perfectly protects the projector from damage. When unpacking everything we will find:

• ViewSonic PX747-4K projector. Remote control. 2 AA batteries. European power cable. British power cable. VGA cable. Quick guide.

It is strange that a VGA cable has been included and not an HDMI cable, being this a 4K projector I do not understand that decision. A cover is also missing to cover the lens when not in use to avoid picking up dust or scratching.

Design

As previously commented, the ViewSonic PX747-4K is a bulky device, which has measures of 332 x 121 x 261, and the same with its weight of 4.01 kg. All these measures can be understood by the space necessary for its mechanisms, the lamp, the cooling and the integrated power supply, but definitely all of this makes it less manageable and transportable. Luckily, it is not something that is usually done a lot with these types of projectors, and if necessary, the ViewSonic PX747-4K has resistant manufacturing materials. The entire projector is made of thick white plastic.

At the front is the large lens on the right, while there are simply vents on the left. In the upper central we find the infrared sensor for the remote. On the sides of the projector we also find separate vents, with all the heat it needs to dissipate, they come in handy.

The back houses the different connections, you are from left to right are:

• AC power cable input.Audio input for 3.5mm Jack.Audio output for 3.5mm Jack.VGA video input.HDMI 2.0 / HDCP 2.2 input.HDMI 1.4 input.Mini USB input for maintenance. RS-232 control port. 5V / 1.5A USB port. 12V DC connector.

The less curious it is to find a VGA video port instead of more HDMI at this point, but on the other hand, this ensures the connection with older equipment, something that never hurts. Instead, some people may miss a digital sound output or optical output.

As for HDMI ports, only the first with specification 2.0 allows to reproduce at 4K and 60 fps, the other with specification 1.4 only allows to reach 4K 30 fps.

The upper part is subdivided into two areas: the first is located above the projector lamp and houses a wheel to control focus and another for 1.2x zoom. This zoom allows to increase the projected image by 20% compared to normal shooting. In the second area, located in the opposite corner, the different buttons are arranged to move and operate the projector, and two LEDs to know the status of the lamp and the temperature. Among them, there is, of course, an on and off button in a darker color and accompanied by an indication led.

Placement of ViewSonic PX747-4K and remote

Finally, at the bottom we find three legs, two at the rear and one at the front that can be unscrewed to give the projector some height at home. Likewise, in this surface the necessary holes are also placed to place and screw a support for the ceiling.

Depending on the distance at which we place the projector we can get from 60 inches, if we place it at 1.5 meters, at 307 inches, if we place it at 7.8 meters.

On the other hand, we find a remote control in white, with a fairly simple design and a measured size. The remote control keys have a blue backlight that makes them easy to use in dark rooms, something very well thought out and appreciated. As a curiosity, the remote has a green key to turn on the projector and a red one to turn it off.

Resolution and Pixel Shifting

It is necessary to clarify some aspects regarding the resolution of the ViewSonic PX747-4K. Thanks to XPR technology, a 4K UHD resolution of 3840 x 2160 pixels is achieved, giving a total of 8.3 million pixels. This technology, however, makes use of a technique called Pixel shifting or Pixel Shift to get to that amount of pixels. This means that in a very short interval of time (it is usually every half frame) and from a Full HD image, three other Full HD images are drawn but offset by one pixel with respect to the original. This technique is used in many projectors in this range, it gives a total resolution of 4k but it does not have the physical pixels of a 4K NATIVE.

Viewsonic does well to announce that it has a projector that manages to display the 8.3 million pixels that a 4K image contains, but along the way it forgets to mention the Pixel Shift technique used. The final quality is higher than that of a Full HD projector or that of a projector that rescals to 4K, but lower than the quality offered by a native 4K projector.

The good thing that this technique achieves is to lower costs at the cost of losing some quality since it is not the same to pay the € 1, 100 of this projector as the more than € 2, 000 or € 3, 000 that other higher-end projectors with a native 4K resolution cost.. In that case, it is to be praised, what was achieved by Viewsonic at that price. It would not be bad if the company, in its next project, managed to launch a native 4K projector to the market.

Picture modes

Before talking about the viewing quality, it is necessary to review the different default image modes. We find three pre-set modes to choose from and two other modes to be modified and saved by the consumer. The modes already preset are: Standard, it is the most neutral of the three modes, it does not have a great brightness or low contrast, it is the most optimal way to display content that does not require high visual quality, such as sports and television programs; Brilliant, it is a mode that, as its name indicates, makes the most of the projector's lumens for situations with a lot of light pollution, at the cost of sacrificing other aspects such as colors, which are more washed out and lackluster; The third and last mode is the Movie mode, which reduces the amount of brightness compared to the standard mode and provides greater contrast, this mode goes without saying what kind of videos it fits in, as its name suggests.

Standard mode

Movie mode

Undoubtedly, they are modes that will save us configuration work, but they may have some deficiency if we are more exquisite with respect to the image quality, in that case we will have the user modes already mentioned above. With a good calibration of the settings it is possible to improve the image quality.

Other menu settings

It is important to mention that in another section of the settings, we can configure the light modes and choose between: Normal, Eco and Dynamic. Full brightness is maintained in Normal mode; in the Eco mode, the energy consumption of the lamp is reduced by 30% and the brightness and noise of the fan are reduced, which contributes to a longer lamp life; Lastly, the Dynamic mode reduces the consumption of the lamp automatically by up to 70% when no input or use signal is detected. With these energy saving methods, it is possible to achieve that the useful life of the lamp exceeds 4000 hours of life up to 15000 hours.

The ViewSonic PX747-4K allows you to adjust the vertical keystone correction of the screen using the menu or the knob and to choose both the aspect ratio (4: 3, 16: 9, 2.35: 1) and the projection mode: Front, front roof, rear or rear roof. A setting that is not available is the Lens Shift, to align the projector with a projection screen.

Picture quality

Despite the use of pixel shift mentioned above, the resolution and level of detail seen in the ViewSonic PX747-4K has been as expected, the qualitative leap to 4K is quite noticeable. After testing some 4K movies we have seen how the increase in sharpness is very noticeable, even when playing 1080p movies.

Close up detail

Color is a section that I was concerned when reading in the specifications, that the color wheel used in the ViewSonic PX747-4K is RGBW, adding an extra segment of the white color, which produces greater brightness at the cost of losing some saturation of the colors. Finally, I have been able to verify during our tests that the color range achieved is quite good but without ever reproducing vivid or intense colors.

Speaking of the color wheel used by these types of projectors, the twist it makes to select colors has the disadvantage that some people see flashes of color in bright images. In this case, at no time have I been able to detect this effect.

The contrast in the ViewSonic PX747-4K has a ratio of 12000: 1 and in general it is good but, as it usually happens with DLP type projectors, it fails in blacks, which do not become intense and throw more gray. dark. It is a defect that, despite everything, allows you to enjoy the image and that does not draw too much attention to those not so foodies with this aspect. For the most demanding in terms of black level, they will have no choice but to get a high-contrast projector with a much higher price.

OCEANS 8 4K

Han Solo 4k

HDR and brightness

With HDR activated, we have noticed that the image showed an improvement in both contrast and color depth, in this aspect the increase in standard brightness is a great help when it is configured in dynamic mode. However, although HDR is decent enough and Viewsonic has implemented it correctly, it cannot entirely remedy the problems attributed to the lack of black intensity.

One point in which the ViewSonic PX747-4K stands out, is in its much announced brightness level, and that is that the 3, 500 lumens truly do justice to its light output. Both in rooms bathed in natural light and artificial light, this projector maintains composure and achieves image quality with little loss thanks to this number of lumens. This luminosity, as we discussed in the colors section, has as a counterpart a decrease in the intensity of the colors.

Light on

As a subject aside from image quality, it is necessary to mention the dark gray border or halo that the projector creates around the projected image and that consists of about 14 centimeters on the sides and 9 centimeters above and below. At no time is it something that bothers you, but if you have a projection screen mounted, it is ugly to see how that edge is projected outside the projection screen, if you have a very tight image.

Sound

The ViewSonic PX747-4K has a single side speaker with 10 watts of power, a fairly decent power, and the same goes for its equalization, which is very fair and does not give more of itself. They are speakers suitable for situations without much noise and will save us in those moments when we do not have a good sound equipment on hand.

Be that as it may, an aspect that can help or spoil a viewing is the noise caused by the fans that usually cool this type of device. In this case, we must say that we were greatly surprised by the low level of noise that is perceived from the fans of the ViewSonic PX747-4K. Under normal conditions, the fan noise can reach 40 decibels, an amount that can be reduced to 27 decibels if Eco mode is also activated. If still, we decide that we need even more silence, it is possible to activate the silent mode, this will have as a counterpart a reduction in image resolution, leaving this in 1080p. It is understood that noise reduction is achieved by disabling the pixel slip technique.

Apart from the noise of the fans, it is necessary to take into account that the projector dissipates a good amount of heat, capable of heating small rooms.

Connectivity

The connectivity section is one of the most deficient in the ViewSonic PX747-4K, not because it does not have several wired connection options but because at this point, wireless options such as Bluetooth, Wi-Fi, Miracast, WiDi, are missing. etc. Technologies very present at present and that come in handy on occasion to share some multimedia content through streaming. The same happens with the impossibility of uploading any file through the miniUSB or USB ports, which are respectively for maintenance and power supply. All this irreparably means that we can only transmit content through a device connected by HDMI or VGA. In that regard, this projector is somewhat limited.

ViewSonic PX747-4K Conclusion and Final Words

We found in the ViewSonic PX747-4K one of the cheapest projectors with UHD and HDR resolution on the market. This implies, on the one hand, offering high resolution at a competitive price, but it also implies that there are characteristics that must be adjusted or reduced along the way. The resolution is one of the most outstanding sections of this projector, and the truth is that the increase in sharpness and detail is noticeable both in the UHD content and in the 1080p, however, as we commented in the review, we are before a non-native resolution but conformed using the pixel slip technique. A detail that will not matter to the average buyer but to those who are looking for something native, although at this price it is almost impossible.

The same duality is found in the image quality, which in general is good and where brightness prevails, but by making a more rigorous analysis other details to improve such as light colors or a lack of purity in blacks are observed. HDR comes out pretty well for a projector in this range.

We recommend our guide to the best protectors on the market

Although it seems like a projector for home theater lovers, sometimes it seems that Viewsonic tries to sell this projector as a device for entertainment venues or offices where the high brightness plays an important role for use in places with a lot of external light. Added to them is the strange incorporation of both a VGA port and a compatible cable in the box.

Despite everything, it is important to note that the size of the projector is quite large and that the 10-watt speaker is useful for situations where there is no other choice, on any other occasion it is better to use a sound system that will give more sound power.

To conclude, we can say that once the pros and cons are known, and for those who want a 4k projector as similar as possible to a native one without leaving a large amount of money on the way, this is your projector. It can be found for a price of around € 1, 200. At that price little of this type can be found.

ADVANTAGE	DISADVANTAGES
+ COMPETITIVE PRICE.	- IT IS NOT 4K NATIVE.
+ GREAT BRIGHTNESS.	- BLACKS COULD BE BETTER.
+ GOOD HDR AND SHARPNESS.	- WITHOUT WIRELESS OPTIONS LIKE BLUETOOTH, WIFI, ETC...
+ LITTLE NOISE FROM FANS.	- LITTLE INTENSE COLORS.
+ CONTROL WITH BACKLIGHT KEYS.	- INCLUDES VGA CABLE BUT NOT HDMI.

The professional review team awards you the gold medal and recommended product.

ViewSonic PX747-4K

DESIGN - 78%

IMAGE QUALITY - 84%

CONNECTIVITY - 67%

NOISE - 91%

PRICE - 76%

79%

A 4K projector at a competitive price

The ViewSonic PX747-4K is committed to a 4K DLP projector in which high brightness, HDR and price prevail.