This is a review of the Discovery Wonderwall Multimedia Projector, demonstraiting it's capabilities, and shortfalls. What's included: * Projector (of course) * Composite A/V Cables (analog NTSC, USA version displayed) * Special 3-episode DVD (DVD player not included in PJ, unlike Jaks Pacific version) * Instruction Manual (inside DVD package) The projector itself has a handle, which you can use for aiming the centered image higher than flat down (no keystone correction, it's a toy, after all), and can be placed vertically, to project images on a ceiling. You twist the lens to focus the image, up to at least 120" (can go farther), but you'll have to do a lot of twisting. Due to the terrible design in the halogen lamp's reflector, you are left with a blurred piece of video in the center, while the edges are clear. When viewing a solid color (black, most noticable), the uniformity is terrible, but won't be too noticable when you're watching a video, displaying images, etc. The high point of this projector is the sound quality. Granted, it's nothing special, nor has superior range, it's what you'd expect from small speakers, which isn't all too bad. With I could say the same about the video. It's a low 320x240 LCD with Delta-Pattern RGB elements, which stands out like a sore thumb when video gets about 32" in size. The dot pitch is demonstrated on a approximate 120" image on a farther surface. The lens isn't cut well enough for you to see the individual colors, although some colors will show a separation of the individual RGB elements. Purity is not very good, but it's more because of the use of a halogen lamp, which generates a more reddish-yellow light, rather than pure white. The design could've allowed for individual RBG bias to correct this. As the white balance on the camera shows, by whitening the yellowish light, the LCD's color reproduction is very good, almost dead on. It's that halogen bulb that ruins it (reds are strong, greens are less, and blues are greenish-blue). Unlike the predecessor (Jaks Pacific model), not only can you adjust the volume of the internal speakers, you have actual control of color intensity, and contrast. Upon setting up for this review, the display was set to monochrome (black and white), and the contrast was severely oversaturated (everything was pretty much "white"). With adjustments, these can be brought to good levels. Also on the box, there's a misleading feature, where you can adjust the image size. There is no control, like a fancier projector, to allow you to physically adjust the image size. Only way to do this, is to move the projector closer, or farther from the wall. This is a BIG negative. Misleading "feature" by Discovery. Another problem is, it comes with a DVD to watch, yet the projector comes with no player, like the Jaks Pacific version had. You'll need a separate DVD player to view it. Some poeple can be mislead here, if they don't read the box carefully. Overall, the video is blurry from both a low resolution LCD panel, and a blurry center spot, due to uneven light from the bulb's reflector. It's a judgement call. For a portable display for general use, it's probably good enough. If you want a better projector, about equal brightness, spend the extra money on a 3M Mpro120, or 150 (or equivelant). This is good enough, on the cheap, but expect shortfalls. This is a good attempt on reinventing the orignal Jaks design, but falls short in other ways.

• published: 03 Dec 2010
• views: 77656