Casio XJ-M145 Projector – Physical Tour

Casio XJ-M145 Appearance

On top of the projector, toward the rear portion, is a control panel with the following functions: Power On/Standby, Input, Auto (adjust position, frequency and phase for RGB sources), Menu, Navigation (Up, Down, Left, Right and Enter) and Escape.  There are also indicator lights for Power (on or standby), Lamp (warning for replacement or failure) and Temp (warning for overheating).

The rear panel of the XJ-M145 sports, from left to right, the following: an additional IR receiving eye, a USB jack, a LAN jack, serial port for RS-232 control, a VGA computer input, 1/8” audio input and output jacks, an HDMI input, stereo audio RCA input jacks, composite and S-video inputs, a Kensington lock port, a built-in 5-watt speaker and the power connector.

Moving to the bottom of the projector, there are two adjustable screw feet in the back corners for adjusting the projector height when table mounted.

Casio XJ-M145 Setup and Use: Control Panel and Menus

The Casio XJ-M145 can be set up fairly quickly, thanks to the zoom, adjustable rear feet and keystone adjustment.  Contrary to most DLP projectors in this price range, which generally have no more than a 1.2X zoom, the XJ-M145 has a 1.5X zoom.  This allows greater flexibility in the distance the projector is positioned from the screen.  Next, if you’re using the projector sitting on a table or cart and you don’t have a fairly level surface, the image height can be quickly adjusted and leveled with the front and rear adjustment feet.  If the projector is still not level and you’re in a hurry, the auto-keystoning feature will square the image to the screen with minimal edge distortion.  We typically recommend that if you have to use keystone adjustment, you should keep it to a minimum to avoid unwanted picture distortion, so the closer you can get the projector to level, the better your image will be.  You can also use the manual keystone adjustments to ensure that your keystone correction is minimal.  Nonetheless, the auto keystone feature in the XJ-M145 works quite well for small adjustments.

Casio XJ-M145 Remote Control

There’s nothing particularly interesting about the XJ-M145 remote.  It is small and straightforward with a minimal number of buttons, all nicely spaced.  The buttons are gray on a white background, which are easily accessed even without backlighting or glow-in-the-dark ability.  There are buttons for the most important functions, which include: Power, Input/3D, Auto adjustment, Blank (to blank out the screen), Freeze, Volume, Color Mode, Digital zoom plus/minus, Keystone plus/minus, Bright and Eco lamp modes, Aspect ratio, Function, Menu, Navigation (Up, Down, Left and Right), Escape and Enter.  There is also a button to activate an on-screen pointer, which can be moved and changed by the navigation keys.

Overall, the remote is appropriate for its intended use.  Unlike many projectors in its class, the buttons are fairly well spaced and contrast well enough with the color of the remote to make locating them easy.

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