Posted on August 3, 2021 By Philip Boyle
The nice thing about ultra-short-throw projectors like the PowerLite 725W is that there is less shadow interference from the presenter interrupting the projector’s light beam. UST projectors have been around for a little while now from Epson and others.
I like Epson’s implementation of UST in this projector because they didn’t cut corners. Geometrically, the image is tight. If set up correctly, there will be only minor artifacts. You can’t get perfect geometry from any ultra-short-throw, but Epson did a good job building on what they learned from previous models, like the 675W.
Ultra-short-throw is a valuable feature for classrooms and the boardroom alike. The Epson PowerLite 725W can project an image up to 120″ in the projector’s native 16:10 aspect ratio and is more than big enough for the audience to see the screen in the typical sized classroom or boardroom, allowing presenters to get pretty darn close to the screen with little visual consequence.
The Epson 725W is designed to provide a collaborative experience. It has built-in wireless with no add-on Wi-Fi adaptor required. With Epson’s Moderator software, up to four devices can be connected and simultaneously displayed on the screen. This projector can handle content thrown from iOS and Android mobile devices, as well as Chromebooks, PCs, and Mac. The 725W’s built-in wireless connectivity is a nice improvement from the PowerLite 685W. This is a great feature to have, as it makes PC-free presenting available to viewers.
As Epson has introduced new offerings in this class of projectors, they have expanded on their interactive capabilities. For example, many older UST Epson projectors could only support two attendees displayed simultaneously, which made collaboration more complicated in bigger groups. By increasing the number to four a larger number of students and teachers can annotate together, making group work more effective.
The meeting moderator can manage and display content from a maximum of 50 local and remote users on devices compatible with Epson iProjection software. The moderator can also assign presenter designation to any meeting attendees, regardless of where they are. Suppose presenter status is changed. In that case, the new presenter can choose to display content from up to four devices at one time or freeze displayed content for comment or annotation.
The 725W’s built-in Miracast functionality allows compatible devices such as phones and tablets to throw content to the projector. Miracast allows users to display their multimedia content wirelessly, including high-resolution pictures and HD (High-Definition) video content. Even if a Wi-Fi network is unavailable, local attendees can throw content from a compatible device to a conference room projector in real-time. Miracast also supports premium content such as Blu-ray feature films, live television shows, and sports, as well as other copy-protected premium content, allowing you to watch what you want, where you want.
Miracast is an industry-wide solution, allowing technology to work across many types of devices regardless of brand. Connections are pretty easy to set up and use since most Miracast devices choose the appropriate settings automatically.
Only devices marked Wi-Fi CERTIFIED Miracast™ have been certified by the Wi-Fi Alliance to work well with other Wi-Fi CERTIFIED™ devices.
The PowerLite 725W produces up to 1.07 billion colors necessary for good picture quality. 3LCD projectors are a considerable part of the current projector market. They make up more than half of all projectors manufactured in 2020. 3LCD dominates almost all categories of projectors, except the extremely high-end such as 3-chip DLP and the Pico projector category.
The PowerLite 725W features a solid-state optical design with no moving parts compared to other technologies like DLP.
The value proposition of using a laser light source is undeniable. Lasers are often brighter than lamps. Even as the quality of laser light output declines over time, it remains brighter longer and offers more accurate color versus projection bulbs. Comparable to a new car’s devaluation once it’s been driven off the lot, lamp brightness tends to drop precipitously after initial use, and it never gets better. Also, lasers offer a wider color gamut and improved contrast compared to lamps. And lasers are practically maintenance-free, as they almost never require replacement.
Lasers also don’t overheat when used heavily, making the 725W an excellent choice for a classroom or lecture hall and many other spaces where the projector might run all day without a break. And, as I stated above, lasers’ color and brightness remain more consistent over an extended time.
The PowerLite 725W is the latest in Epson’s line of award-winning projectors for modern classrooms. Capable of displaying up to a massive 120 inches wide, 1280 x 800 image with unique split-screen capabilities, the 725W offers nearly two times the display size of standard 75-inch panels.
You can use the PowerLite 725W projector on a typical whiteboard, so you don’t lose valuable classroom or meeting room whiteboard space when it’s not in use. The whiteboard is still available when you shut off the projector.
Although WXGA (1280 x 720) is part of the high-definition specification, is the PowerLite 725W’s WXGA resolution acceptable for a business or education user? Probably. Please keep reading for my opinion in the performance section of this review for a more detailed answer.
After you’ve done the initial setup of the Epson 725W, you might need to improve the image alignment further. Fortunately, Epson provides handy tools to help you quickly and easily get it done.
Screen adjustment on the 725W is as simple as pressing the Menu button, selecting the Installation option, and then Geometry Correction. Then you can use the following built-in tools: Vertical and Horizontal Keystone, Quick Corner adjustments, Arc Correction, and Image Shape from Point Correction or from Memory.
As usual, we at Projector Reviews strongly urge you to square the 725W to the screen by adjusting its physical position before resorting to using these digital adjustment tools. Tools like Keystone adjustment and Quick Corner are easy to use but come with the trade-off of some brightness loss.
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