Viewsonic PLED-W500 LED Pocket Projector Review

Viewsonic PLED-W500 Projector Highlights

Viewsonic PLED-W500 Projector Overview

The Viewsonic PLED-W500 projector is an WXGA (1280 X 800) DLP mini projector.  The term “mini” refers to the fact that the PLED-W500 has no external dimension just over 9” and weighs under 3 pounds.  The PLED-W500 features an LED light source that is rated to last 20,000 hours.  As we’ve noted with other projectors of this size, the PLED-W500 uses a fixed lens, so there is no zooming ability (only digital zooming on the image).  This requires the projector to be placed at the proper distance for the screen size desired.  There is automatic keystone adjustment that relies on a level sensor to aid in proper height positioning.  The PLED-W500 can project up to a 100” diagonal image from under 10 feet.

The PLED-W500 features a full-sized HDMI input for easy connection to HDMI-equipped laptops and other sources.  It can project from a USB thumb drive or SD card.  You can also transfer files to its built-in one GB memory for presentations without an external source, using its media player feature known as Media Arena.  This makes the PLED-W500 very versatile as it can be used for a wide variety of presentations that can be loaded on to the projector in advance.  There is a built-in two-watt speaker for minimal audio output, so external speakers are a must for all but the smallest venues.

To further enhance portability, the PLED-W500 comes with a protective travel case.  Unfortunately, as seems to be the case with this class of projector (and level of brightness), the PLED-W500 does not have a battery option, but the power supply is built into the projector, thus removing the need for a bulky power brick.

Viewsonic PLED-W500 Projector Special Features

3D Ready – The Viewsonic PLED-W500 is 3D ready via its implementation of DLP Link.
20,000 Hour LED Life – The Viewsonic PLED-W500 uses an LED light source that is rated to last 20,000 hours.  This is likely longer than the life of the projector.
Built-in 1 GB Memory – The PLED-W500 has a 1 GB memory for external source-free presentations.
Media Arena (Built-in Media Player) – When the input source is the projector’s internal storage, a USB thumb drive or MicroSD card, the PLED-W500 can display various types of media.  A selection screen comes up when the storage device is inserted offering the following options:

• Movie – Accesses a built-in movie player that displays multiple movie formats, including AVI, MKV, TS, MPEG, MP4, RM and WMV.
• Photo – Accesses a photo viewer (supporting JPEG and BMP formats) that also has slide show functionality.
• Music – Accesses a music player that supports a variety of audio file types, which include MP3, WMA, OGG, AAC and WAV.
• Office Reader – Accesses a document viewer that displays documents in Microsoft Word, Excel and PowerPoint file, as well as Adobe PDF and standard text (.txt) files.