Epson PowerLite W29 Projector Review — Hardware Tour

Overview

Surprisingly small and compact considering its output, the PowerLite W29 has been designed to be carried or wheeled from room to room as needed, but it is also designed to be ceiling mounted.  It is quick and easy to set up and takes 5.6 seconds for it to start displaying an image. Two minutes later, the projector gets to full brightness.

The lens, front IR sensor for the remote, the exhaust, and a drop down button for the adjustable front foot are on the front. All the connectors are on the back.

It pulls fresh air through a filter on the side across the hot lamp and out a grille in the front. During a week of daily use, it never got hotter than 148 degrees Fahrenheit. It’s easy to open the door, remove the filter and change it. The same goes for changing the lamp, which takes a couple of minutes.

The image is inclined just enough so that the bottom is roughly at the level of the projector. This makes setting the W29 up on a table or shelf a snap.

Control Panel

On top of the projector is a control panel that goes beyond the basics. In addition to the expected on/off switch, there are buttons for selecting the source, opening the Menu and escaping to the previous screen. It has volume controls as well as a handy Help button. The PowerLite W29’s panel has three LEDs that show that the projector is running, the lamp’s status and if it’s overheating.

The stand-out addition on the control panel are dedicated buttons for vertical keystone correction. You can use them to bring the image’s top or bottom corners in or out until you have a rectangular image. In addition to an electronic control in the panel, the W29 has a mechanical lever for changing the vertical keystone correction. The projector also has horizontal keystone correction but you need to dig into the Menu to use it. It can handle adjustments of up to 30-degree up and down in addition to right and left adjustment.

Inputs and Connectors

In the projector’s back is its plug panel, which is up to date and well-marked. Overall, the PowerLite W29 has a good assortment of input ports that straddles old and new technology, but does without any DisplayPort inputs.

On top of a power cable, there are ports for:

• USB-A and B for using a thumb drive and connecting to a notebook
• RJ-45 Ethernet networking
• HDMI input
• Two analog VGA inputs as well as a VGA output
• S-Video
• Composite with audio
• Audio-in and -out
• RS-232 for maintenance and control

It worked well with a wide variety of input devices, including a Microsoft Surface 3 tablet, a Kangaroo Plus mini-desktop, a Pioneer DVD player, a Google Nexus 9 tablet, iPad Pro and a Samsung Galaxy S6 phone. In addition, I used a StarTech HDMI Pattern Generator to project sample images.

Remote Control

The 5.7- by 1.8- by 1.0-inch remote control has a good variety of buttons, but lacks key backlighting – something that should be on the remote for every classroom projector. It uses a pair of AA batteries that are included. With infrared receivers front and back, the W29 has the ability to turn either of them off.

While the remote control is mostly white with blue or black printing, the top row is cordoned off with a black background. This area has the on/off key as well as ones for doing a source search or connecting with a Computer, Video, USB or LAN content. It’s expected to the ones that will be used the most in classroom activities.

Next down is a section with a numeric keypad for things like entering IP addresses into the PowerLite W29. Its keys double for changing the Aspect ratio, the Color mode or running the projector’s Auto optimization routine. Below them is a four-way pointer with an actuation button in the middle. At its corners are buttons for opening the Menu, Escape, using the Pointer as a mouse substitute (if the projector is tied to a computer with a USB cable) and selecting which of two users is in control.

Next down, the PowerLite W29’s remote has three sets of two buttons. They can move a presentation’s pages forward or back, adjust the digital zoom or turn the volume up or down. The last row contains buttons for muting the sound and video, dividing the screen into two side by side images; you can use either of the VGA and HDMI inputs for this but not the USB input. Finally, there’s an image freeze button as well as one for Help.

Instead of the popular laser pointer for highlighting an item on the projector’s screen from across the room, the PowerLite W29 has a software pointer that can be moved around with the remote control. There are three pointer icons available: a double arrowhead, a circle and a single horizontal arrow.

Click Image to Enlarge

Audio

Lens and Image Adjustments