Posted on October 22, 2018 By Nikki Zelinger
ViewSonic PX706HD Gaming Projector Review – Performance: Brightness, Effect of Zoom Lens on Brightness, Effect of ECO Mode on Brightness, Input Lag, Image Noise
ViewSonic claims the PX706HD produces 3,000 lumens. SO CLOSE! It measured 2,972 in its brightest mode, named Brightest. Most projectors will fall up to 25% short of claim, while some will actually measure over claim. Of the projectors I’ve reviewed that didn’t meet claim, I think this ViewSonic is the first to measure so close to its intended number. Pretty cool. ViewSonic’s had a handful of little surprises for me this time.
All of the modes have a respectable amount of brightness for dealing with moderate ambient light, such as what is found in most living rooms and media rooms (with the exception of truly bright rooms, like Art’s living room). The next brightest mode is called Sports, which I didn’t really like the color of – it measured at 2,264 lumens. The next brightest modes, Gaming and Standard, measured 2,184 and 2,132 lumens respectively. Standard, as mentioned on the previous page, is one of the two best modes.
Movie Mode came in at 1,833. That’s still enough to handle ambient light, but I didn’t particularly enjoy watching dark scenes from Stranger Things and The Hunger Games with more than a little ambient light present. If you’re watching during the day, I’d use Standard, then Movie when your room is fully darkened at night, and it’s time to put on one of your favorite films. One more thing to mention – gaming during the day is just fine in Gaming Mode, with the shades drawn, and some ambient light present. You should be good with even moderate ambient light.
With only a 1.2:1 zoom, there’s minimal brightness variation as you change the zoom from wide angle (closest placement to your screen), to the furthest (telephoto zoom). The difference is barely visible, about 6% across the whole range, so it shouldn’t be much of a concern to anyone buying this projector.
As mentioned on the Special Features Page, the ViewSonic PX706HD has an input lag of 16.4ms. ViewSonic claims 16ms flat, but that’s probably because 16ms looks better on their marketing than the .4. It’s just a much cleaner look. Either way, 16.4ms is about as good as it gets on today’s projectors, and will be quite suitable for both the casual gamer and the hard-core, will-wreck-you-before-you-know-it’s-coming, competitive online gamer.
Nothing to report here. Projectors today generally perform quite well in this aspect. Image noise is background noise, sometimes called “mosquito noise,” and wasn’t noticeable on this projector.
Motion noise, however, is something to mention. This is generally found on slow panning shots, such as the one found in the early neighborhood scene in the movie Red. Though there is some slight judder as the shot pans, it’s not as bad as it could be – I’d say it’s typical. But, you’re not likely to come across this kind of shot often, so it shouldn’t be any sort of nuisance.
No issues to report when gaming!
That does it for our review of the ViewSonic PX706HD! Our final page will sum up everything discussed in the review, and provide a list of pros and cons so that by the end of this review, you should know whether or not the projector is right for you!
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