Dukane Image Pro 8052 Review About a month ago at church we ordered a projection system from ChurchMultimedia.com. My pastor scared me a little bit when he said quoted me specs on the system. But I'm glad he was wrong. Here in the next few days I'd like to review some of the equipment that they sent witht he package. Today I'm tackling the Dukane Image Pro 8052 projector. This little guy is sweet. Here are the specs. - LCD Type 0.9" polysilicon active-matrix TFT x 3 -Brightness 2200 ANSI Lumens (1,760 whisper mode) -Resolution 800 x 600 pixels (H x V), XGA -Contrast 400:1 -Keystone Correction Digital, selectable -Scanning Frequency fh 31-80kHz fv 56-85hz -Lens Manual Zoom 1:1.3 (F1.7-2.1) -Computer Compatibility VGA, SVGA, XGA/SXGA (Compressed), Mac, Mac 13" and Mac 16" -Projection Configuration Front/rear/ceiling -Aspect Ratio 4:3,16:9 Selectable -Image Control Freeze function, Electronic Zoom and pan -Correction Control Gamma and Color -Video Compatibility NTSC, NTSC 4.43, PAL, M-PAL, N-PAL, PAL60, SECAM, -S-Video, HDTV, 480i, 575i, 480p, 1080i, 720p -Lamp 200W UHB -Lamp Life 2000 Hours (typical) -Audio Speakers, 1W x 2 Stereo -Throw Distance 62" - 246" -Screen Size 40" to 200" diagonal -Inputs (1) Min DIN 4-pin S-Video, (1) RCA composite video, (1) RCA, Component Video, (2) Computer Signal; D-sub 15 pin, (1) RCA jack, audio, video, (2) mini jack audio, PC -Outputs (1) D-sub 15-pin, monitor (1) Audio, Stereo mini jack, (1) Mouse control via USB jack (b-type) -Control RS-232C (1) D-sub 15 pin -Security Kensington slot -Noise Level 37dB, ultra quiet, 34dB, Whisper Mode -Power AC90-132 V/AC220-240V, 50/60 Hz, 310W -Size (WxHxD)11.7 x 3.0" x 9.0" -Weight 7 lbs. -Shipping Weight 16 lbs. -Carton Size 15" x 13" 10.5" -Safety UL/C-UL, FCC Class B When I saw the 2200 lumens I was extremely happy. I knew that with that much light we could keep all the church lights on and still see the image great. In wisper mode it drops to 1780 lumans but that still is very bright. Stupid me made the mistake of looking straight into the light, I was bumping into things for 30 minutes after that. Included with the package from Dukane is -Remote control with 4-way mouse -Batteries -Power cord (U.S., UK, Euro) -Video cable -RGB cable -Compenent Cable -Mouse cable (ps/2) -Handle strip and carry case -Operator's manual They give you just about everything you need to run the projector. The remote allows you to scroll through the numerous inputs, change slides if control cable is hooked up, navigate the menus, black out the screen and zoom. The remote is very simple and easy to use. I had the control sceme down in about 4 minutes. They give you a varity of cables to get you started. These are short cables that won't allow you to mount it to the ceiling but it will allow you to get it hooked up for a board meeting room. This projector is a power house yet still light enough to take with you. Weighing in at 7 lbs and sizing at (WxHxD)11.7 x 3.0" x 9.0". It's small enough to throw in the included padded carring bag and run to a meeting and then super easy to setup once you get there. They send power cables for 110 and 220 lines so if you travel abroad you are covered. For our testing we used the 100' VGA cable sent with the ChurchMultimedia.com kit and the 100' RCA cable from them as well. We also ran a 100' conrol cable which plugs into the serial cable on the computer and allows you to change inputs and setting on the projector from your PC screen. We had a throw distance of 15' and a 10.5' Dalite (which is located in the town we live) screen. The test room is our 60X30 church sancuary, it is lit with 8 X 200 W bulbs and 4 white stage lights. For our testing these were set at full brightness. The screen was 10' away from the closest light in the room so it was not effected too much by the room light. Our first test consisted of a color wheel and greyscale test comming off a Asus 3800C laptop. The colors were very vibrant and the grays had incredible seperation. We were very impress how no matter if the lights were off or on, the projector continued to produce a cript bright image. Whereas other projectors would wash out with the added light. Our next test was a DVD in the laptop running at 1024X768 32bit win WinDVD 5 Plat. The picture again was solid, blacks conveyed well, the color was right, yellows were surpisingly bright (used widescreen version of Finding Nemo). We then took this same DVD and placed it into our Go.Video DV3130 DVD+VCR combo box. We used the 100' of RCA cable. Now this is a progressive scan DVD player and we could have moved it by the screen and used compenent, but decided against it because we will be using the RCA for the aucual setup and wanted to see what it would look like in real use. I don't know how much 100' of compenent cable would cost, but there is no way we would drop that kind of cash. Some critics have said that the Go.Video units lack when it comes to image quality. I would disagree. Even over the 100' of RCA cable we still got solid quality and nice color. While testing this we tested such things as the freeze mode which freezes the current frame. The zoom, which has a very high powered zoom that can be reset to normal with one touch of a button. Next I'd like to discuss the remote. I'm in love with this remote. It is just soo handy yet is credit card sized and easy to use. I will admit that I will set it down at times and lose it, but that isn't Dukanes fault. It has here's the highlights -Power -RGB select -Video select -Zoom functions -Menu and arrows -Blank button Probably my favorite part of this remote is the blank button. It comes in handy if we come to a part of the service where the projector isn't needed I can kill what is on the screen but keep my spot in the powerpoint file. You can select different blank out colors from the OSD menu. Our test room we have 60' X 30' room with 8 X 200 watt bulbs. These are hanging fixture in the back of the room, in the frong by the screen we had to replace the 2 hanging 200w bulbs because of washing out of the screen. But once we replaced these lights with ones we could aim, the image look beautiful even with all the lights up. With the house lights killed the light from the projector is enough to light the entire room. I'm very impressed by the light output of this box. We for mounting, we used the stock mounting kit that came with this package. The Dukane unit mounts upside down, then the image must be flipped within the menu system. We are using a Da-Lite 10.5' electric screen and a throw distance of about 15'. The Dukane's auto functions, the width and height settings, and keystone technology made it easy to square up the image even though because of the rooms layout we couldn't center the projector. Pros -Very bright -Excelent color -Slew of inputs -Each to mount -Nice menu system Con -Having electric zoom and focus would be nice since it is mounted and requires a scissor lift to adjust. -Having buttons on the remote for EACH input, instead of having to press the RGB or Video button over and over until you hit yours. -Kinda loud in regular more I continue to add to this review as I use the projector more and more. Posted by chris at 09:00 PM Church • (0) Trackbacks