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Using pico projector as gaming displayFollow

#1 Jul 16 2012 at 4:52 PM Rating: Decent
Hi, I have a dv6 laptop with ATI 7690m video card. Instead of using a monitor at night, I was considering getting a small-ish projector to play games on. I thought this would be useful too if I was going to a lan party at a friend's house and instead of lugging my monitor around, I could just bring my projector.

I was specifically thinking of this:
AAXA P4-X Pico Projector
Amazon.com: AAXA P4 P4X Pico Projector, 80 Lumens, Pocket Size, Li-Ion Battery, HDMI, Media Player, 15,000 Hour LED, DLP Projector: Electronics

This seems to be pretty good considering it has
1. HDMI input
2. 80 lumens
3. Battery powered
4. Small form factor

I was also considering the Optoma PK320 (Amazon.com: Optoma PK320 Pico Pocket Projector: Electronics).

My only concerns are on brightness, and whether I have to have the lights completely dim or just lowered in order to get a good display.

Can anyone give me any input?
#2 Jul 16 2012 at 5:48 PM Rating: Excellent
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It's doable, brightness is going to be a major issue, as is refresh rate. They make good toys, and the price has come down alot, but they aren't a viable replacement for a monitor at this point.
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#3 Jul 17 2012 at 4:02 PM Rating: Decent
Dread Lörd Kaolian wrote:
It's doable, brightness is going to be a major issue, as is refresh rate. They make good toys, and the price has come down alot, but they aren't a viable replacement for a monitor at this point.


Thanks for the reply Kaolian. Are you sure about the brightness? I was looking at youtube trying to find some videos displaying the capabilities of a pico projector and this is what I got:

http://www.youtube.com/embed/Z7xjAtylfJE

That's a video of some guy playing wii sports on his aaxa p4. It seems pretty decent in low light (at the beginning of the video), and only got better once the lights were turned off. Now wii sports isn't exactly a fast paced gaming, which will really be affected by any ghosting issues caused by the refresh rate. I also found this video, though, that's a bit faster paced.

http://www.youtube.com/embed/zFgUEJ0kSFs

This guy's playing GTA on his Optoma pk301 projector. You can see that when he's zooming in and out, running around, there doesn't seem to be much ghosting problems. I really wanna find out as much as I can before I pick one up, but these two videos are kinda convincing me that projector's are getting to the point where they can be a viable alternative for a monitor.

Have you personally had any experience with them? Also, which unit would you recommend?

Edited, Jul 17th 2012 6:03pm by megusta7
#4 Jul 17 2012 at 5:09 PM Rating: Excellent
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I've played with the #m one and some of the Optoma ones. Also that one they had that would attach to the bottom of an ATT phone that I forget the name of a few months back. With the lights off they aren't horrible, but they really aren't great either especially if you are used to 3,000 lumen autofocusing NEC projectors. I don't find the brightness level to be acceptable for me, for any of them.

Most of the pico projectors share the same internal projector, so its really a matter of features, asthetics. and quality of the rest of the components. I'd get one of the cheap ones and then see if you like it before spending money on one of the more expensive ones.
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#5 Jul 17 2012 at 5:26 PM Rating: Decent
Thanks Kaolian. I'm gonna get one of the ones I mentioned to test it out. I'll post a video once I get it to show the brightness and screen tearing for anyone else who is interested in this topic. I'm most likely going to go with the P4-X.
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