Sharp Notevision PG-B10S

Sharp's Notevision PG-B10S can fill a large screen from a short distance and put the image exactly where you want it with a joystick-controlled pivoting lens. It's also one of the quietest projectors in its class. Still, the PG-B10S suffers from low contrast and annoying LCD grid lines, making it a good but not great budget business projector.

Based on three 0.55-inch LCD panels, the 6-pound PG-B10S is of average size for the budget class, measuring 3.6 by 11.5 by 9.0 inches. It's smaller than the InFocus X2 but much bigger and heavier than the Hitachi Performa CP-RS55. With remote and cables, the PG-B10S is ready for the road at a reasonable 7.1 pounds.

The projector's battleship-gray plastic case has one thing no other projector in its class has: a joystick to move the lens position up to 30 degrees in any direction. At a distance of 5 feet, the projector can create a 4-foot diagonal image, 9 inches bigger than the InFocus X2, but 8 inches smaller than the Sony VPL-ES2, and the 1.25X zoom lens can fill a variety of screen sizes. The projector works with both the traditional 4:3 and the 16:9 format often found on DVDs.

The PG-B10S's 11-button control panel seems a little daunting at first, but it's color-coded, and Sharp includes an informational sticker along with a complete user manual. A series of ports along the back of the projector include VGA in and out, S-Video, composite video, and a serial port; there's also a minijack for audio so that your notebook's sound can be played through the projector's 1-watt speaker, but it isn't very loud or clear. The PG-B10S comes with cables for AC and VGA, but there's no provision for a USB connection.

The projector starts up quickly, in just 33 seconds, but its 1-minute, 34-second cool-down period is a bit long. Sharp does include a remote that offers a way to blank the screen for quick notebook changes, but it lacks a laser pointer and controls for moving PowerPoint slides forward and back. For that feature, you'll need to buy Sharp's AN-MR1EL receiver, but many other projectors provide that functionality without extra gear.

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