ViewSonic Launches Sub-$1000 XGA Projector

ViewSonic joins the low-cost XGA projector crowd with its new PJ658, introduced at InfoComm. Aimed at the small business and enterprise markets, this 6.6-pound projector carries a street price of $999.



The unit features auto vertical keystone correction, and support for WXGA input--handy if you're hooking up a widescreen notebook. It can also automatically or manually detect the resolution of the notebook; and it has easy maintenance, with a sliding filter and lamp access from the top (convenient if you choose to ceiling mount the unit in a fixed installation). Other key specs: The unit is rated at 2500 lumens brightness, has a 500:1 contrast ratio, and offers dual-VGA inputs for projecting from two sources and one monitor output.

If you've already made the switch to a widescreen notebook and you're eager for native widescreen projection, stay tuned: Jeff Muto, product manager, says, " The next product we're evaluating is a WXGA widescreen business data projector. The easiest solution [to achieve this] right now would be to drop in a 720p chip set to replace the XGA chip set."