Hitachi PJ-TX100

Want to bring the feeling of the theatre into your own home without the cost of the candy bar? PJ-TX100 Home Theatre Projector could be your solution, although don't count on saving money just yet. Read our Australian review.
Coming in a stylish silver and black case, the PJ-TX100 is an attractive unit for a lounge room or office projector. The unit is not as petite as some of the smaller projectors in the office space at 34cm wide by 14cm high (including the lens) by 28.4cm deep. At 4.4 kilograms the unit is a bit on the heavy side, which might not be a big deal if the projector is to rest in the one spot but hardly ideal if the projector is to be dual purpose. Furthermore, the PJ-TX100 does not come with a carry case.

Once you unpack the PJ-TX100 is when all the "fun" begins. If you are familiar with projectors and the range of input and output devices available you'll be able to set up the PJ-TX100 with minimal fuss. However, newbies to home theatre digital projectors might struggle understanding the documentation as the instructions are quite poor. The installation guide has many pictures but is scarce to explain exactly how to set up various scenarios with the projector. If you are in this boat, seek the help of a professional or an explanation from the retail outlet to explain how to set up this projector.

However once set up, the PJ-TX100 runs quite well. A range of inputs at the back allows the unit to connect to almost any device your entertainment system can throw at it. The unit has a DVI, component video, composite video, S-Video, analogue RGB and control (RS-232C) ports. For testing purposes we successfully used a DVD player, an Xbox console, a video player to tune the television picture, a laptop computer and a stereo that allows input sound. The PJ-TX100 comes with one component cable, but it would have been nice to come with a few accessories and extensions to reach the stereo devices as the unit has no in-built speakers and considering the expense of the unit.

Adjusting the PJ-TX100 to your lounge room or office is quite flexible. We tested the unit positioned directly in front of our screen at approximately 4.5 metres and to the side at around the same circumference and found that with the 1.6x zoom lens the unit could be adjusted to a variety of setups.

Hitachi claims that the projector will work at less than 3 metres from the wall, making the projector quite okay for use in small rooms.

We're not sure why every projector we've seemed to test has the two fiddly elevation legs that screw at the base of the unit but the PJ-TX100 is no different. Surely there is a better, more flexible solution.

While the settings of the PJ-TX100 can be changed on the player itself, the small remote provided we found more intuitive to use. Users can easily change 5 different picture sizes according to the input, various automatic picture mode settings such as cinema, music, sports and dynamic. More advanced users will be pleased that users can adjust all configurations manually for optimal personal settings.

The lamp on the PJ-TX100 was quite impressive with a projected resolution of 1280x720 colour pixels. We were satisfied by both the colour balance of the images on screen during a variety tests in bright and dark settings and input devices. According to Hitachi the lamp shines up to 1200 ANSI lumens, and it certainly did make a difference as we did not have to darken the room during a our day time tests as the pictures were quite bright. A feature we particularly liked was the "my memory" option that allows users to save up to four different screen settings, particularly useful for saving daytime and nightime settings to reduce the manual configuration.

As with all projectors that lamp does not last forever. The PJ-TX100 150UHB lamp has a standard life of around 1,000 hours. With replacements costing a whopping AU$395, expect the operational costs of the projector to be between 39-45 cents (depending on the settings used) per hour.

We found the projector rather quiet. Hitachi claims it operates at 25dB, and we found that we could hear the sound of the DVD, video and Xbox console before the projector.

The PJ-TX100 is a good way to enjoy DVDs, television, and play games at home and also a satisfactory office projector. The AU$3,999 price tag for the unit and the on-going cost of the globes at AU$395 makes the PJ-TX100 a bit on the expensive side, although its versatility and quality will make the theatre experience quite attractive compared to other digital televisions such as the plasma and LCD televisions on the market.

Hitachi PJ-TX100
Company: Hitachi
Price: AU$3,999
Distributor: Selected resellers
Phone: 1800 032 689