Labs

An Iiyama model won our last projector Labs, so we had high hopes for the LX150. This is the only machine on test that's long and thin so it can sit lengthways, but its design isn't exactly cutting-edge and even feels rather flimsy. Worse still, this was one of the projectors that generated a significant amount of heat.

The video connections are placed along the right of the unit's rear; its VGA, composite video and S-Video ports all offer video-in but have no pass-through ports, while audio is handled through a standard 3.5mm socket.

Speakers on projectors are never going to be that great, but even the maximum volume of the LX150's speakers

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was too low to get an accurate idea of how good or bad it may have been. This speaker would be next to useless in a large room unless everyone huddled around the projector.

The remote offers a range of features and a laser pointer. Buttons on the top of the device access power, source selection, keystone correction and the menu system.

The LX150's controls were by far the easiest to navigate, which is just as well, as we had to make a lot of adjustments to get decent-quality images from this device. With the default settings, there was a distinct lack of detail and a yellow caste in the results from our video image. We had to make even more adjustments to get good picture quality from our PowerPoint slide show, as colours bled and were oversaturated. In its favour, though, greyscales were very accurate across the board.

The amount of adjustment needed to make image quality acceptable when switching from one source to another was really disappointing. Worse still, even after significant adjustment, the image quality was still no better than average. A VGA-out port wouldn't have gone amiss, either. The low price point of this unit makes it an attractive proposition, but look elsewhere if image quality is top of your list.