Ricoh PJ X5371N Projection System.
Small and mid-sized houses of worship are often in a bind when it comes to projecting video for the congregation. Either they have to settle for small image or blow the budget on a projector that is meant for a much larger space, but Ricoh's $1,600 PJ X5371N seems just right with its ability to project a big bright image but still leave several hundred dollars on the table.
Based on a trio of 0.63-inch LCD panels, the PJ X5371N is made by NEC. It can not only be set up on a shelf, table or wall niche with its three adjustable feet, but you can install it upside down with its four threaded mounting points. On the downside, you can't install it at more than a 30-degree angle in any direction without running the risk of the projector overheating.
The PJ X5371N is of modest size at 5.0, 15.6 by 10.8 inches and its non-descript white and black case should allow it to hide in plain sight. It weighs less than 10-pounds, about half that of the Epson PowerLite 4650, and is perfect for one person to install, adjust and maintain.
Getting Started
The projector comes with power and VGA cords as well as a remote control and short set-up guide. There's also a CD that has software and a digital version of the PJ X5371N's manual.
To get started, the projector has a slide-open lens cover. The system creates XGA (1,024 by 768) images that are not as detailed as what HD projectors produce, but should be fine for delivering lyrics and sermon notes. Ricoh also sells a wide-XGA (1,280 by 800) version for the same price, but at 4,500 lumens it has lower output than the PJ X5371N's 5,000-lumen rating.
One thing you'll have to give up in the name of economy, though, is optional lenses to suit different locales. The built-in lens of the PJ X5371N is up to the task with the ability to fill screens from two to 25 feet, has horizontal and vertical keystone correction as well as a time-saving cornerstone set-up feature. With it you can turn almost any mildly off-center installation into a perfectly rectangle image in a few minutes.
The value choice when it comes to mid-sized projectors, Ricoh’s PJ X5371N is not only less expensive but costs less to use.
The projector's image can be zoomed by 1.7X and there's a knob that shifts the image up and down by as much as half the image's height. On the other hand, you can't shift it right-to-left, as is the case with Epson's PL 4650, there's no way to lock it in place and you can't make an image shift adjustment from the projector's remote control.
It may lack the PL 4650's array of nearly a dozen test images, but the PJ X5371N does have a single grid pattern available. There are seven projection modes as well as the ability to project onto nine different colored backgrounds. At any time you can adjust the projector's contrast, brightness and sharpness, but there's no way to change things like color temperature.
The system's plug panel is logically laid out and has connectors for a pair of HDMI, S-, Composite and VGA video as well as a VGA-out for connecting it to another projector or monitor. There's audio-in and -out and a microphone input that can turn the PJ X5371N's single 16-watt speaker into a room-level public address system, a big bonus for use in a classroom or small chapel environment. On the downside, it lacks the PL 4650's cable cover that can cover a multitude of wiring sins.
There's also a LAN port for connecting the projector to the church's network and Ricoh sells a $99 USB WiFi adapter. In addition to controlling the PJ X5371N over a LAN with the included PJ software, you can grab items to be shown. Plus, if your house of worship has Crestron RoomView hardware installed, the projector has the software built-in.
With a simple control panel, the PJ X5371N has a large circular control, a prominent Power button and LEDs that show the system's status and warns if it's overheating. The projector comes with a mid-sized remote control for doing everything from selecting the input and using the digital zoom to bringing up the menu and blanking the screen for a change in program. Unfortunately, the keys aren't backlit and you can't use an audio cable to extend its roughly 30-foot range.
Putting the PJ X5371N to Work
I connected the PJ X5371N to everything from a Blu-ray player and PC to a Google Nexus Player and an iPad and it acquitted itself well in a variety of tasks. Its focus, uniformity of illumination and video output were excellent for this class of projector.
With it set to bright mode, the projector put out 5,080 lumens of light, just over its 5,000 lumen specification, but off the pace set by the more expensive PL 4650's 5,880 lumens of brightness. Its colors in bright mode were a bit garish and dynamic or movie mode might be more appropriate with better color balance, particularly on flesh tones. On the downside, you'll also see the projector's brightness drop off by about 10 percent.
It's a bit slow to get started with the PJ X5371N taking nearly a minute and a half to put an image on-screen, and another couple of minutes to get to full brightness. Happily, it shut itself off after just four seconds. While in use it runs on the warm side with a 190-degree Fahrenheit exhaust, about 30-degrees hotter than the PL 4650 under similar conditions. While it matched the PL 4650's loud fan at 44.2 dBA, the PJ X5371N's noise was much more noticeable than the BenQ SH940's 38.2 dBA.
Budget Friendly
The PJ X5371N uses Ricoh's 270-watt high-pressure lamp that's rated to run for 3,500 hours of use and costs $400. At full blast, the system uses 347 watts of power and if your church uses the projector for 15 hours a week, its estimated operating costs add up to $121 a year, assuming that you pay the national average of 12 cents per kilowatt hour of power. That's a little less than the PL 4650's $132 estimated annual operating expenses but less than half as much as the Infocus IN 5544 projector costs to use, making the PJ X5371N an economical projector to use.
While it lacks a full-fledged video processor, the PJ X5371N automatically adjusts the projector's output to suit the image, which can reduce its power use by as much as 30-percent. There are also two low-power Eco modes that can reduce its electricity bills – and brightness – while adding hours to its lamp-life. In fact, the projector will track how much carbon you've kept out of the atmosphere by using its Eco mode.
Held in with two screws, the lamp is hidden behind an access door and can be changed in a few minutes. About the only other regular maintenance item is the projector's double-layer air filter, which requires a periodic vacuuming.
The PJ X5371N outdoes many of its peers with a three-year warranty, a year longer than Epson's coverage for the PL 4650. At $1,600, the PJ X5371N undercuts the price of the PL 4650 and other mid-size projectors by enough to be able to get a back-up lamp, making it the value choice for a small house of worship trying to stretch a tight budget.
