Wednesday, May 12, 2010

Your presentation is ready for Prime-Time. Great! Is your projector?

Optoma PK301 Pocket Projector, A quick review:
Great for on-the-spot presentations but barely adequate for a room of 20 – 30 and that's if the lighting is right.
I tried out the Optoma PK301 pocket projector last night for a Toastmasters speech I gave. I chose it because a) I needed a projector for part of my speech and b) a pocket projector is really cool! Actually it would be very helpful to have this for business.  My company is developing a unique service called “Ties” and it does not come across NEARLY as well by merely describing it or even printed media. Using a pocket projector, I would always be ready to show prospective investors a short video presentation of the service. So aside from being very cool, it’s just plain smart!


Here are a few clips recorded from the presentation. The video recording was set up on very short notice (about 10 seconds) so it’s not too great but you can see the PK301 in action.

Here are the conditions:
  • Piccadilly Cafeteria at night
  • Unit plugged into a/c power rather than on battery (giving an additional 30 lumens).
  • The wall it is being show on is a darker mustard color
  • The ceiling has an overhang causing the wall to be slightly darker
The image displayed was barely adequate for someone sitting 20 – 25 feet away which is where the camera was positioned. If not for the overhang, it would not have worked.


Here are the actual clips which the PK301 is showing:

Pros:

  • 20 lumens on battery is pretty good for a pocket projector right now
  • 50 lumens on a/c power is much better
  • USB to PC
  • 2000:1 ratio
  • VGA, HDMI, Video, Component
  • Takes a USB stick using adapter cable (not incl)
  • Remote control capability (not incl)
  • Takes SD micro directly
Cons:
  • Plays Power-Point but only if you use the conversion software included but it which eliminates some of the PPT effects (like swipes) you might have in the presentation
  • Does play MP4 but the converter included converts video files to AVI creating a huge file
  • Does not take an SD mini or SD card
  • Does not take a USB stick directly
  • $400 considering limitations
If it didn’t have the PPT conversion issue (or better yet, could play them directly), converted videos to MP4 instead of AVI and had a little more light when plugged in, the $400 wouldn't be too bad. It’s a great portable projector and sub-par presentation projector. For me, it's still not two projectors in one and it’s still not ready for prime-time.


Now go out and do great things.
Mike Snyder
  


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