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Bright and powerful portable projector.
When the projector industry talks about crossover products, it's usually referring to projectors that, because of their size and cost, can (at least marginally) serve both as business presentation and home-theater displays. Yet, as manufacturers muscle more lumens and features into ever-smaller frames, old notions about portable projectors and fixed-installation projectors for conference rooms have changed, too.
Thanks to those continually increasing brightness numbers, most of today's business projectors, including those that are permanently installed in conference rooms and boardrooms, are small enough to be moved handily between meeting rooms and classrooms as well. And features typical of fixed-installation models are creeping into very portable projectors.
PORTABLE POWER
Sharp's new NoteVision XG-MB70X ($4,995 MSRP) is a good example. At 9.libs., it has one of the highest brightness specifications (3000 lumens) in a sub-10lb. projector. It also combines remote administration LAN connectivity that one might expect to find in larger business products with portable-oriented features like auto-focus and automatic keystone correction. The result is a projector that feels as comfortable moving around a university or corporate campus as it does staying put in an ivory tower.
This latest NoteVision model features an updated-aerodynamic, if you will-curved-front design with a powered 1.5X zoom/focus lens that juts out from the left side of the projector's face. There are dedicated control buttons on top for zoom, focus, auto-focus, auto-synch, volume, and keystone, as well as the obligatory navigation arrows. Oddly, the buttons are laid out in something of a compass pattern, but with the navigation arrows on the inside with the other functions positioned farther out toward what would be north, south, east, and west. It's a bit counterintuitive, and I ended up hitting the keystone and zoom...